Is Goth Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read

Overview

Goth adapts the first half of Otsuichi's award-winning horror novel, with Kendi Oiwa handling the art. The narrator, Itsuki Kamiyama, and his quiet classmate Yoru Morino share an interest nobody else their age has: they're both fascinated by murder, and specifically by a serial killer currently active in their town. When Yoru finds the killer's diary, the two start chasing down the case themselves -- not to stop it, exactly, but because they can't look away. The manga collects several linked cases rather than one long mystery, each building out the two leads' strange, careful friendship.

What it does well

The central relationship is the best thing here. Itsuki and Yoru aren't drawn together by romance or even real warmth -- they recognize something broken in each other and that recognition is the whole bond. Oiwa draws both of them with a stillness that fits: wide, flat panels, faces that give away almost nothing, violence kept mostly off-page and implied rather than shown in detail. It's a horror manga that gets its unease from tone and restraint rather than gore.

The structure, a handful of linked short cases instead of one sprawling plot, works in its favor. Each case gets to make its own point about how Itsuki and Yoru think, and the manga doesn't need padding to get there. Morino in particular is a genuinely unsettling character study -- her flat affect and total lack of empathy are never explained away or softened for likability, which is rarer than it should be in this genre.

Where it falls short

Because it's adapting only part of the original novel, the manga ends on a case that functions more as a strong stopping point than a real conclusion -- readers who want a tidy ending from the manga alone will come away wanting more. The deliberately flat, restrained art style also means the emotional beats land quietly; readers who want visceral horror or more overt scares may find it too controlled to really unsettle them.

The side cast outside the two leads is thin by design -- teachers, classmates, and victims mostly exist to be investigated or interviewed -- which fits the story's cold focus on Itsuki and Yoru but leaves little else to hold onto if their dynamic doesn't grab you early.

Verdict

This is horror built on dread and character rather than shock, carried almost entirely by two leads who are compelling precisely because they're hard to like. If a story about two people quietly recognizing the worst in each other sounds interesting, it delivers that better than most horror manga manage. If you need your horror more visceral or your plots more resolved, it'll feel incomplete.