Bizenghast
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| Bizenghast | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Drama, Horror, Psychological, Shōjo |
| Original English-language manga | |
| Authored by | M. Alice LeGrow |
| Publisher |   Tokyopop |
| Serialized in | |
| Original run | August 9, 2005 – |
| No. of volumes | 5 |
Bizenghast is a manga-influenced comic written by M. Alice LeGrow about a young teenage girl, Dinah, who lives in Bizenghast, a haunted New England hamlet.
LeGrow's first published comic appeared in the second installment of TOKYOPOP's Rising Stars of Manga, and was titled Nikolai. Although it is similar to Bizenghast, the two storylines are apparently unrelated. The first volume was published by TOKYOPOP in 2005. The second volume was published in June of 2006. There is also a "Bizenghast Sticker Book and Paper Doll Extravaganza" to be released with book 2. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Brief Plot Summary
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While a psychiatrist talks to her aunt about Dinah's mysterious "fits," Dinah sneaks out of the house to visit Vincent.
While taking a path through the woods surrounding Bizenghast, Dinah and Vincent find a mausoleum. After unknowingly signing a contract that makes her property of the mausoleum, Bali-Lali, a spirit that looks like a spider-jester, appears and informs Dinah and Vincent that if Dinah does not free the unhappy spirits, she will die. If she succeeds she receives "a big fat reward."
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main characters
- Dinah Wherever's parents were killed in a car crash when she was eight years old. She now lives with her aunt, Jane Addison, in the remaining building of what used to be an asylum and then a boys' school. She suffers from fits caused by the ghosts that haunt her and is currently seeing a psychiatrist. Her relationship with her aunt appears somewhat estranged, and she does not seem to have any friends excluding Vincent.
During the first issue, Dinah appears to be easily frightened and even selfish, wishing to rely mainly upon Vincent. However, towards the end of this issue and into the second, her personality becomes more mature and she becomes more headstrong and independent, even to the point of arguments between herself and Vincent. She has long, wavy dark brown hair (which has also been bobbypinned up, resembling a bob, and brushed straight) and blue eyes and tends to wear forms of Gothic Lolita.
Little Known facts: Dinah is an avid butterfly collector. Dinah's favorite fabric to sew with is satin. Dinah's favorite rock is moonstone. Dinah's favorite song is Life in Mono by Mono. Dinah doesn't like peppermint anything. Dinah's room is on the first floor and not the second because her bedroom is part of a convalescent mini-apartment within the house, which includes her own bathroom. Dinah's favorite story is Le Petit Prince
- Vincent Monroe is Dinah's champion/admirer. His parents do not live with him and instead he lives in the family house with a housekeeper who is yet to be seen, but Vincent prefers living in a small house he has formed of discarded parts of the city, and apparently collects antique bikes. Judging by a telegram his father sends him, Vincent is Vincent Monroe Jr., his father being Vincent Monroe Sr.
Though he wants to protect Dinah, she often has to or wants to do things herself. In one chapter of the first issue, he is seen both with a sword resembling a rapier and also two pistols (which he is seen reaching for), which suggests he has some skill in both areas. He has light blonde hair and blue eyes and most often wears male forms of the Gothic Lolita and Aristocrat, occasionally integrated with more modern items of clothing. In the final chapter of the second issue, he is seen wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, which is the most modern outfit he has currently been seen wearing. Little Known Facts: Vincent is an expert gardener. Vincent collects bicycles and wants to race in the Tour de France someday. Vincent's garden includes a topiary maze, upper and lower hanging walkways and a hidden tea garden, all of which he made himself. Vincent's favorite song is Knock 'Em Out! by Move. Vincent's favorite color is yellow. Vincent's favorite game is soccer. Vincent's family is wealthy because his grandfather owned a chain of successful international hotels. Vincent's worst subject is chemistry and his best is geography. Vincent's favorite possession is a stuffed fish named Skippy, that he's had since he was four.
[edit] Other Living Humans
- Jane is Dinah's aunt. She is the sister of Dinah's mother, Catherine. She is concerned about the ghosts and Dinah. In volume one her last name is given as both Addision and Audrey on separate pages. According to an interview with the author, she went through a divorce and reverted to her maiden name. She promises Dinah that they will move to a less depressing home when they have enough money. In the second volume, she is seen speaking to Dinah about the events that led to her being adopted, but Dinah shows no response until she later speaks to Vincent, who briefly mentions her aunt - only for Dinah to correct him, stating she's her mother. However, at the time, Dinah is suffering due to her latest period of time in the mausoleum, and we are left unsure as to whether she truly means this.
- Dr. R. Morstan is Dinah's psychiatrist.
[edit] Mausoleum Staff
[edit] Manager
The Manager of the mausoleum is personified as a hooded angel statue. The statue is found above the entrance to the mausoleum. To enter the mausoleum Dinah and Vincent have to give it gold.
[edit] Tower Guards
There are four tower guards, two of which have been introduced. In volume one Edaniel tells Dinah, "I'm the first of the four Tower Guards that you must unlock before your tasks with the mausoleum are complete." Edaniel can only give advice, but he states that the other three guards "fight." A new guard is introduced every ten ghosts, but freeing the ghosts becomes harder the further Dinah gets. The last two guards are Edaniel's sisters: Elala and Eniri (who have yet to be revealed). As revealed in volume two, the guards have an animal and a human form.
- Edaniel is the first of the mausoleum's staff. He usually appears as a grinning cat (but he claims he has no connection to the Cheshire cat.) He is not shaded, but pictures online have revealed him to be green. Throughout volumes one and two his face is only viewed from the front. According to LeGrow, he "thinks he looks fat in three dimensions. I say he's being picky." [2] Edaniel is a joker who frequently confuses communism with television. He never calls Vincent by his correct name. Edaniel's power includes casting spells. In animal form he often conjures bizarre accessories as a means of expression. Edaniel's human form is that of a handsome, shirtless youth with a tail. He uses this form when greeting Nareesha. He casually asks Dinah if she wants to "make out" while Vincent is absent.
Little Known Facts: Edaniel has a TV, a DVD collection and a fuzzy cat bed monogrammed with the name Robert. Edaniel votes as a US citizen under the name Liam Q. Branford. Edaniel's favorite food is cupcake wrappers. After Edaniel eats exactly three-hundred and eighty six Oreos, he turns orange. This is also the same number of hats he presently owns. Edaniel can eat his own weight in kippers. Edaniel has two middle names but no last name. Edaniel once wrote a book about his adventures at sea, but never gave it a title. Edaniel's favorite sibling is his sister Elala. Edaniel has a pet rat named Sprinkle.
- Edrear is the second guardian of the tower, and his first appearance in full is on the final page of the second book. Although very little is known about him as of yet, he seems to be quite powerful. He has a very low regard for humans. Edrear is shown as dark-skinned and dark-haired. He wears armor and a cape and carries a sword. LeGrow has let out that Edrear has "The hots for Dinah". This hints there might be romance in this series in books to come.[citation needed]
Little Known Facts: Edrear's favorite food is boschuken, a marzipan cake decorated with moth wings. Edrear often paints, using paper and paints he makes himself. Edrear's favorite rock is obsidian. Edrear makes most of his possessions himself, including furniture, weapons and clothing. Edrear's favorite sibling is his sister Eniri. Edrear likes to hunt in the woods around the Mausoleum. Edrear does not know how to read or write, but does own several picture books.
[edit] Caretakers
- Bali-Lali resembles an anthropomorphic spider in a jester's costume. She is in charge of cleaning the mausoleum. She apparently has "friends"; smaller spiders with human heads.
- The Cleaners, obviously, clean the mausoleum. They are grotesque creatures who were vandals or trespassers to the mausoleum. If Dinah does not clean out the vaults, she will become a cleaner.
- Erzebet is a red-haired woman who apparently lives under the mausoleum and cares for a huge cavern of flowers that disguise the smell of the rotting corpses which are stored there. Vincent is the only one so far to meet Erzebet and it is not actually known whether she is a real person or a trick of the mausoleum.
[edit] Other Guardians
- Nareesha is "the most beautiful woman in the world" according to Edaniel. She is the keeper of Lazarus Island and dresses in an Indian sari. LeGrow meant to make a point [3] when she designed Nareesha with a full-figure.
[edit] Notable Ghosts
- Addie Clark is a ghost that haunts St. Lyman's School, where she was a governess. She was suspected for being responsible for the deaths of students.
[edit] Setting
Bizenghast appears to take place in present-day Massachusetts. The fashions that Dinah and Vincent wear are often similar to Gothic Lolita and its subforms, occasionally becoming a historical replica (most often from the Rococo or Victorian era), but they have cell phones and electricity. Dinah's aunt and psychiatrist wear normal clothing. The town itself is built in an old fashioned, sometimes Gothic style, and the mausoleum itself is High Gothic. It has cathedrals and fountains that need repairing. The houses are also very antiquated. Bizenghast is near the actual Watertown, Massachusetts.
Dinah's home dates back to 1848. It was first an asylum and then a school. The school was called St. Lyman's School for Boys. It was supposedly related to the real Lyman's School for Boys (the original Lyman's having split off into two different branches, St. Lyman's and Flagg Farm). Both schools suffered fires and most of St. Lyman's burned down. The ghosts from the asylum and the school haunt Dinah. Little Known Facts about Bizenghast: Bizenghast was once a thriving mill town. The remains of a thread mill are located just outside the town, south of the path towards the Mausoleum.
Bizenghast has a library, a general store/post office, a genealogical society (disbanded) and a town hall, but no police station. Any call for assistance is handled by police from the next city over, which is largely why Vincent has never been arrested for looting the abandoned houses in town.
There are 64 residents of Bizenghast.
The phone lines of Bizenghast are notoriously unreliable and often neglected, so very few residents have a phone. There is a public phone at the general store that works most of the time. Cell phones often do not work inside the town, only on the outskirts and on higher ground.
Most residents of Bizenghast are either retired, living on assistance or work in the nearby cities.
There is a mineral deposit underneath the northern half of the town that wreaks havoc on the accuracy of quartz watches.
There's only one abandoned house Vincent has never been able to get inside, because it was built on the edge of an enormous sinkhole, which later collapsed and took the entire house down with it. The house is now buried under three feet of earth, at the bottom of a 20-foot pit.
[edit] Secret Text
On different pages of the book there are snippets of strange text in a made-up alphabet called Babbleghast. The letters look a little like Greek, but they are an original invention of the author. When decoded they spell out hidden, often humorous, messages. For example: In chapter 3, on the statue holding the key ring, there is text that says: "This ones for you, Paul Hudson." Another reads, "Please do not feed the zombies."
At the end of the first volume there is a picture of Dinah surrounded by text that resembles the Voynich manuscript.[4]
[edit] Trivia
- In one chapter 20X6 can be seen on Dinah's Aunt's newspaper. This is a reference to Homestar Runner.
- In the first chapter, there is a shot of a cathedral. A silhouette of the Marvel comics character Nightcrawler is perched on the roof of the cathedral at the top of the panel. Nightcrawler is one of LeGrow's favorite comic book characters, as shown in her mini comics. There are other references to the author's favorite comic book characters throughout the book.
- The numbers four and nine often appear on clocks in the first volume and on clothes in the second. D is the fourth letter of the alphabet and I the ninth, spelling "Di," Vincent's nickname for Dinah. [5] In a related note, nearly every clock in the series is always set to 4:45, apparently because 4:4+5=9, or 4:9, again spelling out DI.
- Little known facts about the characters can be seen here: http://www.bizenghast.com/series/littleknownfacts.html
[edit] Other media
In Argentina, a popular newspaper on - line Telégrafo del Sur, was edited "Bizenghast in Buenos Aires", a weekly comic.
![[4]](http://www.bizenghast.com/gallery/Voynich.jpg){kind=link}