Genre Horror
Age Rating 18+
Price $10.95

Publisher's summary of volume from the back cover: Shigo kekkon--marrying the dead! It's a quaint old country custom in Japan that's becoming the next big fad in Tokyo . . . and that makes it the business of the Corpse Delivery Service! And meanwhile back on campus, since they're technically a college club, the kids from Kurosagi host a membership drive during the school festival! But you've got to like corpses, you know.

If you haven't been following this series, Volume 8 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is the perfect jumping point.

The first chapter smoothly introduces the cast of characters (no prior knowledge needed) and gives us a taste of what it is this Scooby Doo gang does. It's then followed by two short story arcs, each one  self-contained and doesn't really draw upon the events in the previous volumes, making it quite accessible yet filling at the same time. The artwork is standard for the series and while there are corpses, there are no overtly gruesome scenes, also making this a good entry point for new readers.

That aside, how does the entire volume fare? Well, it's nice to see that we're getting lengthier stories and in that sense, Kurosagi Corpse Deliver Service Vol. 8 doesn't disappoint. Premonitions in the previous volumes though aren't put to use here and instead we have a conventional story, sometimes a tear-jerker, but otherwise nothing remarkable. We don't have off-the-top concepts or vomit-inducing horror.  Rather this maintains a steady pace. Of course, noteworthy is how the two story arcs references Japanese culture and practices although those facts are well-explained, either in the comic itself or in the laborious footnotes at the end.

Overall, the die-hard reader can skip this volume as it doesn't really propel the meta-plot although it's certainly a welcome addition to their collection as it fleshes out the characters . On the other hand, this is a great gateway drug to introduce non-fans.

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