Matarou ga Kuru!! Review: The Curse That Comes for Everyone Who Wrongs the Weak
by Fujio Akatsuka
Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.
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What if the most terrifying thing in the room was the quiet kid who hadn't said anything yet?
Quick Take
- Fujio Akatsuka's horror-comedy — famous for gag manga, here working in a genuinely dark register
- Matarou's curse is the series' engine: every bully gets exactly what they gave, returned with supernatural interest
- 5 volumes of dark comedy that works because the revenge is always proportional to the cruelty
Who Is This Manga For?
- Fans of dark comedy who want the punchline to have genuine menace behind it
- Readers of Akatsuka's work who want to see his range outside pure slapstick
- Anyone who was ever bullied and fantasized about consequences arriving for the right people
- Horror-comedy fans who want the horror to actually work
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Horror themes, bullying, supernatural revenge. Dark comedy with genuinely unsettling moments. No graphic violence, but the tone is darker than Akatsuka's other work.
Suitable for teen readers and above.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★★★☆☆ |
| Art Style | ★★★★☆ |
| Character Development | ★★★☆☆ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★★☆ |
| Reread Value | ★★★☆☆ |
Story Overview
Matarou Fudou appears to be exactly the kind of person who gets bullied: quiet, mild, apparently harmless. He is, in most respects, harmless — until someone wrongs him, at which point he invokes a curse that delivers consequences to the offending party with a precision and scale that the offense entirely deserved.
The structure is episodic: a bully or abuser targets Matarou, underestimates him, and receives the curse. The comedy is in the gap between their expectations and the outcome — they expected a pushover, they get something else entirely.
What makes the series interesting rather than simply gratifying is the tone Akatsuka maintains. Matarou is not enjoying the revenge. He is not gleeful or cruel. He simply activates a mechanism that already existed in the universe — one that corrects imbalances when they become intolerable. The curse is not malicious. It is proportional.
Characters
Matarou Fudou: A protagonist whose passivity is not weakness — it's patience. He waits for the appropriate moment, invokes the appropriate response, and returns to being mild. His calm in the face of his own power is the series' most unsettling element.
The bullies: Each episode's antagonists are drawn with enough specificity to make their comeuppance satisfying rather than generic.
Art Style
Akatsuka's art shifts register here — the clean comedy lines of his gag work are present, but the horror panels have a darkness that serves the material. The contrast between Matarou's ordinary appearance and the supernatural consequence of wronging him is visually effective.
Cultural Context
Matarou ga Kuru!! ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1972 to 1974. It appeared during a period when Akatsuka was exploring darker registers alongside his established comedy work — demonstrating that the same creative instincts that produced absurdist gag manga could produce genuinely effective horror-comedy.
What I Love About It
I love that the curse is proportional.
The revenge fantasy genre has a problem: it often scales the punishment beyond what feels just, turning the victim into someone as unpleasant as the original aggressor. Matarou ga Kuru!! avoids this by keeping Matarou calm and the curse precisely calibrated. He doesn't destroy people for minor offenses. He doesn't enjoy watching them suffer. He invokes something that delivers exactly what they earned.
This restraint makes the horror stick. A rage-filled revenge fantasy is cathartic but forgotten. A calm, proportional one stays with you.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Not known in English-speaking markets. Among readers of Akatsuka's complete work, Matarou ga Kuru!! is recognized as the clearest demonstration of his range — proof that the creator of Tensai Bakabon could work in genuinely dark material.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
A scene where someone who has been systematically cruel to others, not just Matarou, receives a curse that makes visible to everyone around them exactly what they are. The public unmasking is both horror and comedy — and the fact that Matarou watches it happen with the same mild expression he always wears is the scene's whole point.
Similar Manga
| Title | Its Approach | How Matarou ga Kuru!! Differs |
|---|---|---|
| GeGeGe no Kitaro | Ghost defending humans from supernatural threats | Quiet human wielding supernatural response to human cruelty |
| Ushiro no Hyakutarou | Protective spirit attached to a bullied boy | Internalized curse invoked by the victim himself |
| Dokonjou Gaeru | Comedy about a frog stuck to a shirt | Same era, different register — pure comedy, no horror |
Reading Order / Where to Start
Volume 1. The structure is episodic — you can read it in any order, but the premise is best established from the start.
Official English Translation Status
Matarou ga Kuru!! has no official English translation.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Akatsuka demonstrating genuine range beyond gag comedy
- The proportional revenge structure keeps it from becoming unpleasant
- Matarou's calm is more unsettling than any rage-filled protagonist would be
- Short and complete — 5 volumes
Cons
- No English translation
- The episodic structure doesn't build dramatically
- The horror-comedy blend may not satisfy pure horror fans
- Not for everyone — if revenge fantasy isn't your register, this won't convert you
Is Matarou ga Kuru!! Worth Reading?
For Akatsuka fans and dark comedy readers, yes — this is the clearest evidence of his versatility, and the restraint of its revenge formula makes it more effective than the genre usually manages. For readers who want pure horror, look elsewhere. But as a horror-comedy that actually respects both halves of the genre label, it delivers.
Format Comparison
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| Physical | Japanese editions available |
| Digital | Limited availability in Japanese |
| Omnibus | Collected editions available |
Where to Buy
No English release yet. That just means you find it before everyone else does.
*Affiliate link — I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.