![kurosagi corpse delivery service 13 kurosagi corpse delivery service 13](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/cmx-images-prod/Item/232503/Previews/00755a7a0fb92b52c11f5d741d2b351f._SX1280_QL80_TTD_.jpg)
Still, it’s hard not to be disappointed by how the ongoing plot is advanced in the first story.
![kurosagi corpse delivery service 13 kurosagi corpse delivery service 13](https://pajcat.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/image0001.jpg)
I don’t mind that so much as the interplay between the characters, Horn’s always entertaining localization, and the sheer strangeness of the material kept me engaged throughout the volume. Of course, such bizarro subject matter is sometimes used best to enliven a formulaic plot and that’s also the case here. You’d think that such disparate subjects would lead to narrative chaos, but “Kurosagi” thrives on this kind of thing. The three tales told in this volume involve message boards where runaway girls look for places to stay, hats that control your body’s movement, Sasaki as a lay judge in a murder case, synesthesia, rice growing on the site of Japan’s failed bid for the 2012 Olympics and the ancient rites that allowed it to do so. We get three solidly entertaining stories that continue to mine the same vein of horror, comedy and Japanese culture that is the title’s stock-in-trade, but the promised revelations are delivered in such a perfunctory manner that it makes you wonder why writer Eiji Otsuka bothered in the first place. I was excited beyond the fact that we were going to get another volume of this perpetually low-selling-yet-excellent title! Unfortunately, these elements turn out to be the most disappointing part of the volume. The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service was even set to show up again. After being put solidly on the backburner for the last several volumes, it looked as if we were finally going to get some momentum on the ongoing subplot of the origin of the spirit behind Karatsu’s powers. Carl Horn’s notes from the previous volume gave me the indication that this one was going to be something special.