Lie re the manga

Posted by Peter Quennell

Page 78

Before I had time to ponder what the knife seizure meant, Chiacchiera pulled me into the bedroom, where I had a backpack full of books, including some of my beloved Japanese manga comics. Most of these were unremarkable: fantasy stories, futuristic thrillers, run-of-the-mill stuff. But Chiacchiera also found a four-volume set titled Urotsukidoji, a series of highly sexualized horror stories with lots of blood, and monsters copulating violently with humans. He flipped through a volume and demanded, “What is this revolting crap?” He didn’t wait for the answer, which was that the series was a collector’s item from the 1960s, a present from my friend Gianluigi Ceraso, which I hadn’t even taken out of its wrapping. Horror manga was not my thing. But Chiacchiera didn’t want to know. Instead, he threw the book in my face. “You’re a real piece of shit, aren’t you? Well, we’re going to take care of you.”

A good while back, I remember you said words to the effect that Sollecito’s reference to “Sailor Moon” could a code for something else, as in something much more extreme. I think you may be correct.
I’ve just finished reading Honour Bound. In it Sollecito makes mention of one of his “unopened collector’s editions”, which he describes as such. He claims one of the cops waved it in his face calling him a sicko and that it was an “unopened collector’s edition” that was from the 1960s.
Only the manga in question is from 1986 and is Urotsukidoji, which is a pretty out there manga involving lots of rape. (With tentacles actually if you can believe that).
Telling that Solly puts out a disclaimer that it’s from the 1960s, implying that it’s pretty tame. He also says in his book that “Horror Manga wasn’t my thing”, neglecting to mention that Urotsukidoji, while horror in the broadest sense, is still mainly concerned with lots and lots of rape and sexual violence. Extreme sensations you might say.
He also neglects to mention the Manga that the cops had the most interest in, Blood: The Last Vampire, the plot which has broad similarities to the circumstances of Meredith’s murder.
He comes across as quite psychopathic and narcissistic in his book. I wish the prosecution had have focused on him more, he may well have proven the weaker link.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/19/15 at 02:44 PM in