Namae no Nai Kaibutsu: Kumo to Shoujo to Ryouki Satsujin

As someone who is always in search of something new, something obscure, or ideally both. I was pleasantly surprised as I was on Reddit (I follow r/ Yandere, yes you should be concerned for me) and seen a page from a manga. Naturally, the good community had the sauce ready and wasting no time I went searching, thrilled to see what this Yandere-filled story had to offer. But once I started flipping through the pages of Namae no Nai Kaibutsu: Kumo to Shoujo to Ryouki Satsujin I quickly found myself not just amid a yandere story, but amid a creepy, beautifully drawn world that had me speechless as I went from chapter to chapter.

Now for those who don’t know Namae no Nai Kaibutsu: Kumo to Shoujo to Ryouki Satsujin is the debut writing from Kuroki, Kyouya, and as the time of this post their only work that has been publishing since 2018, sitting at 26 chapters (that I have found) So now I am going to try my best to not only describe this story but do my best to paint exactly why I have fallen so in love with it.

Namae No Nai Kaibutsu follows college main, Rei. An average dude doing average dude things until one night he has a bit of a nightmare. Dreaming he was being slaughtered he wakes in a frenzy to find a giant spider in his room. Shocked he quickly tries to process what is in front of him, until it’s not. Passing it off as nothing more than a post-sleep hallucination he gets up and starts getting ready for the day. However, something strange happens, a spider web wrapped around his arm. Brushing it off he looks back towards his bedroom, strange energy emitting from it.

Shook up but trying to play it off Rei meets up with his girlfriend, Kyoko Yamashiro for a date. Popular and equally gorgeous, Rei is a little unsure how he ended up dating such a beautiful gal but is more than gleeful to have her as a partner. Going to an aquarium it doesn’t take much time for Kyoko to pick up that something is on Rei’s mind. Playing it off however he assures her that nothing is wrong, he just hasn’t been sleeping well as of late and they shortly part ways. Returning home Rei is met with a mess of spider webs all over the house, and a strange, dark-haired girl in his room.

Confused and clearly rattled, he is approached by this girl who quickly hugs him, before biting into his neck, drinking his blood. Sensing the danger he throws her off and dashes towards the door only to be stopped by more webs, pulled back towards her. What follows is days of this girl hugging, kissing, and drinking his blood as he tries to think of ways to get out of this situation. Though she can’t speak, he discovers the girl is actually Yuko Maibara from the news, a high schooler that was murdered, all of her organs missing her body a mangled mess.

Matching all of her features to a T, Rei is sure that it’s her, but equally as sure that what had held him was not human at all, but some sort of monster. What follows is a roller coaster of mystery, murder, and a waifu spider-chan.

One of the biggest things that surprised me about the series is that MAL has it sitting at around 6.92 with little to no background information. There is a synopsis but it has to be one of the worst takes on this series I would hardly even consider it accurate. This story has an interesting tempo, mystery, and murder plague a town, over top gore-filled homicides that is dressed up as if Yuko, or the monster using her image, is responsible. However what quickly becomes apparent is the world is more complex than that, people in Rei’s life seemingly getting caught up in this mass murder mystery as he keeps the presence of Yuko under wraps.

Namae No Nai Kaibutsu is a fun, dark, fascinating read that has a chaotic narrative and mystery. It is a descent into submission to a monster spider that uses psychological ideology to wear down its victim, forcing them to give in completely to it. It’s an idea I’ve never seen before, but one that plays surprisingly well, as it slowly pieces all the events and characters together but at the same pace adding more mystery.

If you can’t stomach spiders, then this series may not be for you. There is a lot of gore, clear shots of Yuko being in her spider form (she is literally just a big ass spider), and plenty of Yandere vibes to boot. Personally, this series has been a breath of fresh air and I don’t think I conveyed it well because it is a hard story to explain to someone. I was asked by a co-worker how I would describe this story, a romance, ecchi, psychological, horror? And honestly, it is hard to put it in a specific category. Namae No Nai Kaibutsu is such a unique take it does have horror vibes, romantic vibes, but also decent in madness feel. A tale about a man stuck in an unwinnable spot, a man that brings pain and suffering to everyone near him at no choice of his own.

In short, I like this story, I rated it an 8/10, re-read it after doing so and keep it there. A lot of people will disagree with this as I am sure but with the story, the idea, the plot, and the general feel I think it deserves a lot more praise than it has been given.

Thanks for the read!