Title: The Demon Consort: “I Love You” Are Frightening Words Vol. 1
Author: Risako Natade (Story), Toshiko Machida (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Genre: Supernatural, Horror
Publication Date: August 25, 2026
The Story
Ako always wanted to be a narrator. While living in a small village, she stayed over at her best friend Chikage’s house. That night, she heard a strange voice beyond the wall, even though Chikage’s room was the only one on the second floor. Years later, she moved to Tokyo and began narrating stories and posting them online. Desperate for views, she told the story of her experience, passing it off as an urban horror legend. Shortly after, she received a phone call that Chikage had died.
When Ako returned to the village, Narumi, her other childhood friend, confronted her, knowing she’d told the urban legend. She blamed Ako for Chikage’s death, and soon, the entire village began to turn against her, stating that she brought about a curse to everyone. While Ako was getting ready for Chikage’s funeral service, they received another phone call… another death occurred, and the curse, and Ako, were blamed for it once again.
She began to think that there was no way that the curse could be real; however, her aunt Mayu came storming into her room at night and attempted to kill Ako via strangulation. In the room was Ako’s niece Serena, who witnessed the act. Just when things were about to turn grim, Mayu began to levitate above the floor, her skin began to burn, and her body was ripped clean in half!
At that moment, Ako knew the curse was real, and it was only going to get worse from there. What could she do about the curse, and what did her brother Kazu mean when he discussed a Demon Consort with Mayu before she died?
Characters
Ako is just an innocent girl with a dream. When she lived in the village, she cherished her friendship with Chikage and Narumi. They had even made a promise that even if they were to drift apart in life, they would always be friends forever. Living in Tokyo was tough for Ako, especially when she was trying to make her dream of becoming a narrator come true. She never believed in curses, so she innocently used her village’s urban legend mixed with her personal experience as the basis for a story. In any other situation, this is completely normal with little to no consequences, but now, Ako has become the focal point of so much rage and hatred amongst the villagers. You see that sweet innocence slip away little by little as she begins to realize that the curse is, indeed, real, and that there is a demon haunting her village.
After she cycles through the horror and realization of the pain she was causing everyone, a new emotion is born within her… a determination to set things right. Instead of slipping into madness and depression, blaming herself for everything that happened, she became determined due to the unbreakable bond that she formed with Chikage and Narumi. She feels that she owes it to them, and to everyone in the village, to get to the bottom of the mystery and see if there is a way it can potentially be solved for good. This brings her back to that good-natured demeanor that we saw in her at the beginning of the volume, but now, there is something a bit more mature in her. I like how well-rounded she seems as a character, and I’m looking forward to seeing how she intends to fight against the curse.
The rest of the cast are not really shown for long periods of time, but I will touch upon them since they all played their roles in this story.
Chikage (or Chii-chan as she’s been nicknamed) is just as sweet and innocent as Ako. Outside of being childhood friends with Ako and Narumi, the only quirk about her was that she had bad legs. She would often stumble around; sometimes she would drop things, but none of that mattered to them. They all knew how nice Chikage was, and it was because of that they were all able to remain strong friends.
Narumi seemed just as sweet as Ako and Chikage; however, when Ako returned, that sweetness completely disappeared. It is obvious that Narumi believes in the curse, and with the way she made a scene at the wake and blamed Ako for everything, it was easy to tell that she threw that friendship out the window and wanted nothing to do with Ako anymore. What was once a friendship built on love and trust became a bitter hatred.
Kazu is Ako’s older brother. He is married to Mayu, which makes Mayu Ako’s aunt. Together, they have a daughter named Serena, and while Kazu is just the typical kind-hearted big brother, we learn that Mayu is anything but kind… to explain that, let’s talk about Serena.
Serena loves Ako unconditionally. She enjoys the stories that she narrates, and admits that she listens to all of Ako’s videos. Because of this, Serena looks up to Ako, and they share a special bond with one another. After Mayu is attacked by the demon, Serena opens up and admits that Mayu was vindictive and abusive towards her. Whenever she smiled wrong, she would pull Serena’s hair and hit her. The same happened when Serena’s eyesight worsened. There seemed to be no love, only malice, toward her daughter. She must have hidden it from Kazu because, knowing how caring Kazu is, there was no way someone like him would stay with her had he known the truth. In a way, it made her death feel justified because at least Serena no longer has to suffer. Serena is definitely the “protect at all costs” character in this series… she’s just too adorable.
Final Thoughts
Wow… what a way to start a series, and I mean that in a good way. What started as a simple telling of a story quickly spiraled out of control, which led to disaster, heartbreak, and fear within a small village. While some deaths were needed to really sell the impact of this curse, I kind of got Akame ga Kill vibes in the sense that there was no point in getting attached to several characters because they weren’t going to be around all that long. Sometimes this is good for shock value, and other times, it just feels a bit excessive.
I can’t really tell which of the two cases it is right now because things have just gotten started. It had been established that Ako is the source of the curse… or at least she has some involvement with it… and she left and went back to Tokyo, so it is possible that the deaths will cease for the time being, but something tells me they won’t. After all, she was in Tokyo when Chikage died, and it was all thanks to her posting the story online and making the curse known to the public. It was also mentioned that the Tatezaki family (Chikage’s ancestors) were the ones who had sealed the demon, but since it is free, it is quite easy to conclude that recanting the legend was the key to undoing the seal… or maybe the twist here was that the demon was never sealed to begin with. The talk of there being a Demon Consort supports this theory, which means… did the previous Consort die? Who was it? How did they die?
There are a lot of questions left to answer, but that’s what a good first volume does… it makes you think, it makes you question, and it makes you want to see more, and this did all of that and then some! If you want a gritty horror series with a lot of personality, pick this one up!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
