History Manga / TheKurosagiCorpseDeliveryService

Twenty-one volumes have been released in Japan so far, completing the series. The first 14 were released in the States through Creator/DarkHorseComics. The initial release then ended, but in 2022 it was announced that they would be releasing omnibuses containing at least one of the remaining seven volumes, allowing for some hope that the entire series might be published in English one day.

Twenty-one volumes have been released in Japan so far, completing the series. The first 14 were released in the States through Creator/DarkHorseComics, but have since been dropped, meaning that the last seven volumes [[NoExportForYou likely won't be translated any time soon]].

* BaldOfAwesome: Karatsu, who is bald due to being a student of a Buddhist university, and has PsychicPowers.

* PerpetualPoverty: The Kurosagi team is good at what they do, but they aren't that good at doing anything else, which means they have to resort to odd jobs when the bodies dry up. It doesn't help that dead people can't really pay in cash for their services. [[RealityEnsues One of them ends up being kicked out of his previous home for failing to pay rent]].

* RealityEnsues: The Kurosagi gang's PerpetualPoverty status eventually results in Numata losing his previous home and having to look for a new one when he couldn't pay rent on time.

* InfantImmortality: You wish. Given the manga deals with dead bodies, not even children are safe from becoming corpses.

* FunnyAfro: The guy from Vol. 10 [[spoiler:who carried a MagicalDefibrillator with him]] had an afro.

* TheCoroner: Given that the protagonists work outside the law, they obviously don't have professionals to rely on. Makino (as an embalmer) usually fills this role in regards to the plot, but for professional aid, they usually have to pull Sasayama into the case.

Twenty-one volumes have been released in Japan so far, completing the series; as of July 2015, the first 14 have been released in the States through Creator/DarkHorseComics.

** One chapter in Vol. 8 had a young girl who applied for the Buddhist college the Kurosagi gang is attending, and later becomes a member of Kurosagi. [[spoiler:The gang later discovers that she is actually a ghost, who committed suicide out of shame of failing her studies and being unable to get into a good college. The Kurosagi gang [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming offer to take the girl back to campus, and she cries knowing she finally found a place where she was truly accepted]]]].

* DemonicPossession: A ghostly one, to be specific, and also fairly benign. [[spoiler:Karatsu is haunted by a scar-faced spirit called Yaichi, who gives him his powers to bring the dead back to life and seems to be devoted towards protecting him. The little girl from Shirosagi is also possessed by a similar ghost, and it is implied in volume 13 that Sasaki may be as well.]]
** [[Keerellis is implied to be an alien who's possessing Yata through the felt sock puppet on his hand. Either that, or Yata is suffering from some kind of mental disorder and is ''really'' good at ventriloquism.]]

** Yata loves science-fiction and ''Franchise/StarWars'', and has lots of related merchandise. But [[InsistentTerminology he prefers to be called "nerd" since they're smarter]].

* TheGlassesComeOff: Numata -- who is normally [[SunglassesAtNight never seen without his shades]] -- [[spoiler:takes them off once to identify himself to his old master]].
* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler:Vol. 14 involved WetwareCPU - a politician was trying to create an efficient political system by [[OffWithHisHead taking the heads of people]] with some of the brightest minds, storing them in canisters and hooked up to electronics, and programming them to only serve Japan]].
* GrayRainOfDepression: [[spoiler:In Vol. 10, when Numata finally finds the burial site of his murdered parents and older brother, he starts crying due to being unable to retrieve their bodies and the fact that his old dowsing master (who knew all along) had lied to him for years. At the same time, it starts raining in a downpour]].

** [[spoiler:Makino watched her mother commit suicide by train and had her mother's blood splattered all over her as the train ran her over. The train workers gave Makino a bag containing her mother's head so carrying the body will be easier]].
** [[spoiler:Sasaki discovered the mutilated corpses of her parents and one of her sisters when she was eight, and was so traumatized that she's still taking therapy and antidepressant medicine even as an adult]].
** [[spoiler:Yata was the SoleSurvivor of his parents' MurderSuicide, due to having his window slightly open while his family's car was running and spouting toxic exhaust fumes. Because he didn't know what a corpse was at the time, he thought his parents and sister were sleeping and [[PleaseWakeUp tried waking them up]]]].
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Vol. 13 featured a young girl who fought against sexual predators [[spoiler:because she was killed by one. After she was revived by the Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service, she went back to her killer (who was a brilliant inventor) and used his prototype mind-control device to kidnap and take control of men who targeted vulnerable young girls. Yata and Numata end up as her victims for investigating her and nearly killed but Karatsu managed to save them. The girl later dies at the hands of the men she "punished" thanks to Karatsu's powers]].
* HauntedTechnology: [[spoiler:One case involved a "helper robot" built by a trio of engineers who stole a corpse of a fanatic video-gamer and used it as their base, while the "brain" was supplanted using a game console and cartridge. The robot, controlled by the spirit of the body inhabiting it, went on a rampage in an anime convention. Karatsu had to expel the spirit so it can gain closure]].

* KarmicDeath: Practically almost all the culprits that die are killed either by their own victims, or by the motive or method they themselves used to kill their victims.

* LamePunReaction: During a case involving a [[BrownNote suicidal song]], the Kurosagi gang find an ear in an erotic magazine. Makino questions if they should play the case ''[[{{Pun}} by ear]]''. Sasaki's reaction is to tell her "NeverSayThatAgain".

** Shinuhue may be an aversion as he's revealed to be a man covered in severe burns who really knows a lot of Eygptian rituals, though he also might play it straight.

* TheBait: Yata, at one point. Also see GotVolunteered.

* BareYourMidriff: Some of Makino's outfits do this; also, see MsFanservice below.

* BittersweetEnding: Due to the nature of ''Kurosagi'',some of the endings echo this trope. Most of the Kurosagi gang's clients were murder victims who, thanks to Kurosagi, were able to find closure. [[spoiler:One case in Vol. 8 had a girl who committed suicide out of shame of failing her studies and not being able to please her parents by getting into a good university. When the Kurosagi gang accept her into their fold and offer to show her around, she cries TearsOfJoy knowing she finally found a place where she belonged]].

* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: It's all part of the service.

* TheCoroner: Given that the protagonists work outside the law, they obviously don't have professionals to rely on. Makino (as an embalmer) usually fills this role in regards to the plot, but for professional aid they usually have to pull Sasayama into the case.

* CreepyChild: Mei in Vol.11, although she has a good excuse for it.

* DangerouslyCloseShave: The crew had a run-in with a psychotic hair stylist who knocked out his victims, locked them in his back room and amputated them limb by limb with his razors.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Practically a requirement to be part of the Kurosagi group.
** It's suggested eventually that Sasayama's actually seeking out people with tragic pasts after enough experience with Karatsu and co., seeing as they tend to be the ones with supernatural powers.

* DueToTheDead: Giving the dead their due is what the service is for.

* EvilCounterpart: The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service, which performs the opposite service of the main characters (Kurosagi helps the dead find closure so they can move on; Shirosagi just gets rid of everything including the corpses, forcing their souls to be stuck in the physical world) and appear to have hostile intentions towards them. It's even referenced in their names - ''kurosagi'' means "black heron", the {{Psychopomp}} who brings the dead to the afterlife, while ''shirosagi'' means "white heron", who brings souls to the living.

* UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan: Referenced frequently. As the Kurosagi gang specializes in (literal and figurative) skeleton-digging, some of their cases turn out to be connected to Imperial Japan or its fall in some way. Two of such cases mention Unit 731 and the Rape of Nanking, which are big taboos in Japanese media.

* KarmicDeath: Practically all the culprits that die are killed either by their victims or by the motive or method they themselves used to kill their victims.
* KubrickStare: Karatsu. When he does this, it's a sign you're gonna get an ass-kicking from the (often very angry) dead.

* MillionToOneChance: The evil insurance agent has learned how to manipulate the odds to make this a method of murder. [[spoiler:So naturally his KarmicDeath involves such an unlikely event.]]

* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Vol. 8 had a popular female idol whose nice and cuddly persona hid how bitchy and insensitive she is. [[spoiler:Her cruel rejection of one of her fans caused him to commit suicide, and the deceased fan's sister, wanting revenge, stole some dolls left at a temple and sent them over to the idol's apartment as part of an urban ritual. Kurosagi later aided the sister in fulfilling her brother's wish of spending time with his favorite idol by sending the idol a bunch of dolls containing his spirit, creeping out the idol enough to do a change in career]].

* PerpetualPoverty: The Kurosagi team is good at what they do. They aren't that good at doing anything else, which means they have to resort to odd jobs when the bodies dry up. It doesn't help that dead people can't really pay in cash for their services.

** The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service.

** {{Seers}}: Vol. 9 featured people called "Listening Ears" who can foretell the future by "listening" with their ears. [[spoiler:Most of them were young children used in Japan to predict the outcome of World War II, but they were killed by their handler because it was considered blasphemy in Japan for someone other than the Emperor to accurately foretell the future. But their handler was also a Listening Ear, so after he buried the children and cut off their ears, he tried to commit suicide, but he ended up surviving and was used by political parties]].

* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror

* SunglassesAtNight: Numata. [[spoiler:This being ''Kurosagi'', there is a genuinely tragic explanation for why. When he was a kid, Numata's parents and older brother were murdered and their bodies were buried in a construction site. Numata, who didn't understand death at the time, thought they "disappeared" and took up dowsing to find them. He later revealed his reasons to his old dowsing master and started crying while doing so. His dowsing master gave him a pair of sunglasses, telling him that a man should always hide his tears, no matter what]].

* {{Yakuza}}: A group appear in volume 6, running an operation [[spoiler:that uses magic to kill people to provide people's dead relatives with a marriage post-mortem.]]

[[caption-width-right:315:"Just your ordinary, everyday delivery men". From the bottom and up: Karatsu, Sasaki, Makino, Numata, and Yata/Kereellis.]]

Answering an ad for volunteer work for extra credit, five students of a Buddhist university meet up at Aokigahara Forest, a real-life suicide spot. Kuro Karatsu, the viewpoint character, appears normal, but the rest are slightly...unusual. Ao Sasaki runs an internet chat room for people who like to share pictures of corpses. Makoto Numata can use a pendulum to dowse, but can only find dead bodies. Keiko Makino is a licensed embalmer in a country where close to 100% of bodies are cremated. And finally, Yuji Yata constantly wears a hand puppet that he believes is possessed by an alien called Kereellis.

* {{Badass}}: Numata, who once punch-stopped a ''cargo truck''.

Twenty volumes have been released in Japan so far; as of July 2015, the first 14 have been released in the States through Creator/DarkHorseComics.

As Karatsu decides that he doesn't really want to get mixed up with these weirdos, he turns to leave...and finds a corpse has crawled up behind him. His secret's out -- he can talk to the dead and listen to their last wishes. Sometimes, the dead come to him. When the events caused by the dead man's testimonial have all finished, Sasaki gets an idea: There's not much demand for what the group can do amongst the living, but there's ''always'' dead people. Some are bound to be grateful, in the folding-cash way, for what they could do for them--generally by giving the group permission to sell their belongings (after all, it's not like they'll need them anymore).

Thus is created the concept of the {{Psychopomp}} For Hire, and so begins a dark, gory, {{squick}}y, yet frequently funny exploration of death and dying in Japan, and quite a few horror tropes as well. It's interesting for its episodic style; apart from the characters' back-stories and the arc regarding the origin of Karatsu's powers, most chapters are self-contained. The realistic art style and top-notch translation makes it something definitely worth reading, for those with a strong stomach.

* TheResenter: One of the villains in Vol. 7. [[spoiler:The villain is Koyama, an assistant film director who wanted to make his own career, but due to Japan's seniority system in filmmaking, he was stuck in his current role because his mentor, a famous film director himself, had not retired yet. He killed one of the actors who was going to star in a film his mentor was making because he hated how his choice was passed over, so after the actor left production, Koyama cut the breaks of his car so [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident his death will be ruled as a car accident]]. Later he killed the film's makeup artist and another actor to invoke EnforcedMethodActing. He was eventually exposed by the Kurosagi team and killed by his own victims]].

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Karatsu was about to do this in the beginning of Vol. 1 when he heard about Yata's alien-channeling hand puppet, but then the puppet exposed Karatsu's talent. The rest is history.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Practically a requirement to be part of the group.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:One chapter in Vol. 8 had a young girl who applied for the Buddhist college the Kurosagi gang is attending, and later becomes a member of Kurosagi. The gang later discovers that she is actually a ghost, who committed suicide out of shame of failing her studies and being unable to get into a good college. The Kurosagi gang [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming offer to take the girl back to campus, and she cries knowing she finally found a place where she was truly accepted]]]].

* DeathByFallingOver: One of Kurosagi's clients in Vol. 8 was a woman who tripped and fell down a staircase. [[spoiler:She was subject to a marriage ritual that weds two spirits after death, and the ghost she was supposed to "marry" killed her by pulling on her leg as she was climbing down]].

* HotScientist: A [[PhenotypeStereotype stereotypical blonde American]] entomologist, wearing a bikini, in the fourth volume. Still didn't compensate for the BodyHorror in the same chapter. For bonus points, said bimbo scientist is named Reina {{Gorn}}.

** The mummies in one chapter for Volume 5 play it completely straight. [[spoiler:They're victims of Makino's history teacher who runs a scam by tricking people, killing and mummifying them against their will, and dressing them up like authentic mummies so he can make enough money to fund an expedition for ''real'' mummies. Once he's outed by the Kurosagi gang, his mummified victims kill him. Complete with shambling]].

* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Vol. 8 had a popular female idol whose nice and cuddly persona hid how bitchy and insensitive she is. [[spoiler:Her {{Jerkass}} behavior and her rejection of one of her fans caused him to commit suicide, and the deceased fan's sister, wanting revenge, stole some dolls left at a temple and sent them over to the idol's apartment as part of an urban ritual as payback for her brother's death. Kurosagi later aided the sister in fulfilling her brother's wish of spending time with his favorite idol by sending the idol a bunch of dolls containing his spirit, creeping out the idol enough to do a change in career]].

* OffingTheOffspring: A couple of cases had a mother murdering their child. [[spoiler:However, in one of those cases it turned out that the dead child's mother was killed by her former friend for having an affair with her husband, but the woman was initially unable to kill the baby due to its mother's spirit possessing her. One day the woman gained control over the spirit and suffocated the baby, hiding it in a train locker where the Kurosagi gang found the body]].
* OffWithHisHead: One chapter in vol. 14 revolves around a form of [[WetwareCPU organic computer]] created from people's severed heads. [[spoiler:Sakaki narrowly averts having this happen to her; the politician she was working with wasn't so lucky.]]

* OverprotectiveDad: In the Kurosagi gang's very first case, a father of a teen pop idol who committed suicide greatly disapproved of her boyfriend, who he believes "stole" her daughter away from him. Since this is ''Kurosagi'', the truth is ''far'' more sinister. [[spoiler:The father is actually in love with his daughter in a [[ParentalIncest not so very platonic way]], and even hid her corpse in his house when it was time for her to be cremated so he will love her forever. Numata [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it by calling the father the "[[SarcasmMode World's Greatest Dad]]"]].
* ParentalAbandonment: All of the Kurosagi crew, except possibly Karatsu, suffer from this in one form or another. [[spoiler:In volume 11, it's hypothesized that having your parents die violently when you're a small child increases your chance of developing odd abilities.]]

** A young girl [[spoiler:who was adopted by Nire]] had Karatsu's ability to raise the dead. [[spoiler:Unfortunately they come back as savage {{Revenant Zombie}}s]].

* TheResenter: One of the villains in Vol. 7. [[spoiler:The villain is Koyama, an assistant film director who wanted to make his own career, but due to Japan's seniority system in filmmaking, he was stuck in his current role because his mentor, a famous film director himself, had not retired yet. He killed one of the actors who was going to star in a film his mentor was making because he hated how his choice was passed over, so after the actor left production, Koyama cut the breaks of his car so [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident his death will be ruled as a car accident. Later he killed the film's makeup artist and another actor to invoke EnforcedMethodActing. He was eventually exposed by the Kurosagi team and killed by his own victims]].

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Karatsu was about to do this when he heard about Yata's alien-channeling hand puppet, but then the puppet exposed Karatsu's talent.

* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Kikuchi from Vol. 8 was the only survivor of a plane crash, except that while seven people survived the initial crash, only Kikuchi was physically well enough to survive the aftermath. This childhood incident led to her developing similar powers as Karatsu's]].

* SunglassesAtNight: Numata. [[spoiler:This being ''Kurosagi'', there is a genuinely tragic explanation for why.]]

* VerbalTic: The attractive blonde American [[HotScientist entomologist]] often rolls out the 'r's a lot.

* AmateurSleuth: The Kurosagi gang are young adults fresh out of a Buddhist university, but thanks to Karatsu's ISeeDeadPeople ability and Numata's dowsing, they often get roped into investigating situations that are usually left to professional authorities. Their only ally is [[Manga/MPDPsycho Sasayama]], a former police detective who's now a social welfare worker.

* BaldOfAwesome: Karatsu.

** [[spoiler:Numata's dowsing master, when he confesses that he knew where Numata's parents' corpses were all the time and didn't tell him for fear of the killers.]]

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The 'ghost member'.]]

* DysfunctionJunction: [[spoiler:So far we've one whose entire immediate family, save for one sister, was murdered (Sasaki); one who lost his sister and both parents to a murder-suicide and barely survived; one whose mother committed suicide in front of her; one whose parents and older brother 'disappeared' (and later discovers where their corpses are buried, but is unable to retrieve them) and the BlessedWithSuck entry above (Karatsu). [[WildMassGuessing His parents are probably dead too]].]]

* TheGlassesComeOff: Numata -- who is normally [[SunglassesAtNight never seen without his shades]] -- takes them off once to identify himself to his old master.

* RevenantZombie: Karatsu's strongest use of his power can temporarily raise them.

-->'''Numata''': H-How are you able to walk in and out of their ''party headquarters''?
-->'''Sasaki''': Lies. Couture. Forgery.
-->'''Numata''': I ain't gonna visit you in prison, you know.

** From Volume 1, [[spoiler:Kei Tsutsui, Makino's classmate when she was studying embalmment in America overseas, was misusing his skills to create what he called "perfect corpses" by taking parts he found desirable and stitched them together into one body. Makino, who looked up to him, was devastated to learn this]].

** [[spoiler:Nire employs a girl]] who can bring back the dead.

* {{Badass}}: Numata.

* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:Numata's dowsing master, when he confesses that he knew where Numata's parents' corpses were all the time and didn't tell him for fear of the killers.]]

* CaptainObvious[=/=]{{Understatement}}: The MadDoctor, surrounded by the animated (and angry) corpses of his victims: "No... This isn't right."

* CoolOldGuy: Sasayama.

** Numata's pendulum, which works either on a ring or hanging from the rearview mirror of the Service's vehicle.

* DrivenToSuicide: Several of the service's clients are suicides, including their very first.

* DysfunctionJunction: [[spoiler:So far we've one whose entire immediate family (except one sister) was murdered, one who lost his sister and both parents to a murder-suicide and barely survived, one whose mother committed suicide in front of her, one whose parents and older brother 'disappeared' (and later discovers where their corpses are buried, but is unable to retrieve them) and the BlessedWithSuck entry above. [[WildMassGuessing His parents are probably dead too]].]]

* EvilCounterpart: The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service, which performs the opposite service of the main characters and appear to have hostile intentions towards them.

* HumanPopsicle: One chapter is devoted to cryogenics, and feature a few of these.

* JapaneseRanguage: Karatsu mishears Nire as Nile, but is quickly corrected.

* LaserGuidedKarma: After helping their first suicide victim and (with his permission) taking a lottery ticket from his corpse as 'payment', the group discover it's a winning ticket. It turns out to be just enough money for starting capital for the service, and the group continues to do their good deeds for promises of karmic payoff. Almost all the villains also get defeated in a very karmic manner.

* MagicPlasticSurgery: The criminal conspiracy in Volume 12's MMORPG arc specialises in this. Just don't ask them where they get the replacement faces from...

* MeaningfulName: Mr. Shinuhe the embalmer and suspected mummy, whose name is composed of the kanji for 'death' and 'door'. As the translation notes, '[[SarcasmMode not foreboding at all]]'.

* ParentalIncest: The villain of the very first chapter.

* PerpetualPoverty: They're good at what they do. They aren't that good at doing anything else, which means they have to resort to odd jobs when the bodies dry up.

** Yata, who is a channeler.

* {{Revenge}}: [[spoiler:The female spirit possessing the girl in Shirosagi]] is ''pissed'' at [[spoiler:Yaichi]] for some reason, and their scheming is mainly to trap him so she can avenge herself on him.

** The anime/manga ''Magical Maid Girl Mumume-tan'', whose lead character Makino sometimes {{cosplay}}s for pay.

* TheStoic: Sasaki. It's often lampshaded sarcastically by the others, and may be justified due to the medication she is taking [[spoiler:to suppress her childhood trauma]].

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Sasaki is still going to therapy for [[spoiler:finding the corpses of her murdered family when she was eight]]. She's one of the saner members in the service.

* UndeathAlwaysEnds: Karatsu's ability doesn't last for long, but usually long enough for the dead to do what they need to do to set things right.

* VerySpecialEpisode:

* WaxMuseumMorgue: A very disturbing example. [[spoiler:Makino almost becomes a victim.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Makino suggests marketing the suicidal song to people who aren't quite ready to take the final step. Sasaki is not amused.

* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Except for his scar being on the lower half of his face, Sasayama's cousin looks exactly like him, down to the glasses, cheapness and using a cane.

** A similarly bandaged character [i]also[\i] named Shinuhe shows up in the side story at the end of volume 6, which is set in 1901.

* StrawmanPolitical: Judging by the occasional foray into political storylines, it's a fair bet that the author doesn't [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePoliticalSystem vote LDP]].

* AuthorAppeal: Judging by the occasional foray into political storylines, it's a fair bet that the author doesn't [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePoliticalSystem vote LDP]] or is a big fan of nationalism/patriotism.

* AuthorAppeal: Judging by the occasional foray into political storylines, it's a fair bet that the author doesn't [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/JapanesePoliticalSystem vote LDP]] or is a big fan of nationalism/patriotism.

* LaserGuidedKarma: After helping their first suicide victim and (with his permission) taking a lottery ticket from his corpse as 'payment', the group discover it's a winning ticket. It turns out to be just enough money for starting capital for the service, and the group continues to do their good deeds for promises of karmic payoff. Several villains also get defeated in a very karmic manner.