Perhaps the Penultimate Sequel to the Exorcist, .REC or any of Stephen King's classics.

Perhaps the Penultimate Prequel to Death Note.

The hallmark of a true heavyweight manga is to leave the reader out of breath before they finish it.

For MW to do this before hitting it's 3rd volume just speaks volumes for how good Tezuka really is.

Don't get me wrong, depending on what movie, book, synopsis, genre you associate with this book prior to reading the first panel will decide how high or low you consider this manga to be but considering how MW matches up to the above titles - it's safe to say that even modern day manga readers will find something that will shock them once they are done with this series.

Shock is the key word here.

I think it's hard to find someone who doesn't know the name Osamu Tezuka but I was one of those people.

Most of my Tezuka knowledge comes from Paul Gravett's Manga: 60 years of Japanese Comics.

The rest came from the more childish Astro Boy that is strongly associated with him and even then it could be said that I've learned more of Astro Boy because of the gba treasure game Astro Boy: The Omega Factor in which I have a first glimpse of Tezuka's ability to portray mature themes from the secret ending since I never followed any of the other Astro Boy anime/manga/merchandise.

Whether otakus consider this sacrilege or not, the reality is that Tezuka's art doesn't appeal to me very much and the fact that he is often highly praised gave me an impression that he was more of a "sweet" Hayao Miyazaki mature theme writer rather than the more vicious gekiga artists. (Where I had the assumption, Black Jack is the most mature themed manga he's ever made)

This is why it took spotting an omnibus of MW that got me to consider acquiring this manga and at the time it was mostly so that I can say to myself that I checked out the "classics". (The fact that I never knew Tezuka wrote a horror manga also helped and the other fact that I couldn't afford many manga series and this was 3 volume cemented my decision)

It is safe to say that from the way I'm writing this review that I've been humbled but let me just help better contextify my humility.

There are always the top names in any type of storytelling genre but they aren't always cut out from how they are hyped.

For every Citizen Kanes that may be "great" if the modern audience isn't bored by the premise, there will always be those certain over-hyped entities that do not "wow" a person either because it doesn't age well, it's too mainstream, it's just flashy, it's just lengthy...blah blah blah other reasons but nonetheless whether you approach it from lack of hype or approach it due to the hype...it's always at best "ok to great" but rarely shockingly "...wow" including the aforementioned Citizen Kane.

This was how I see many of Kubrick's movies, King's books, Miyazaki's animes...I just didn't really feel "impacted" by many of their works even if I try to come at them with lowered expectations. I'm not saying their works are "bad" - just not something I would rate highly of.

MW is an exception to that because in the context of many of the above series, it managed to exceed my expectations beyond what I consider the genre of thrillers or horrors in general can reach.

The closest analogy to any modern mainstream manga series that I can think of remains Death Note.

However where this manga separates itself from that series (going as far as being a series I wouldn't submit as a recommendation for Death Note despite it's structure being perfectly good enough to do so) is the lack of..."rule of cool". Obviously there's still elements of exaggerations in here and there's no convenient book murdering tool but the prime reason why this is more down to earth is because of the lack of "invincible bishounens" in it.

Don't get me wrong, there's a hard to beat antagonist/protagonist/anti-hero here but call it preachiness or some other flaw but the layers of the scenes are very society-connected rather than combat or institution competing. Think of it as more TinTin than Shonen.

If this were it's only qualities though, I would assume many would just claim this is textbook Tezuka but it's really when you consider it from a horror or thriller manga perspective that you may start to appreciate why this book is a 10. (and not a 10 because it's a masterpiece but a 10 because it's outstanding)

Here's another classic I feel is overrated: The Exorcist.

Again, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who feel that the Exorcism of Emily Rose is way better just because the technology got better and is able to produce scarier effects.

Not aging well is but a part of why I consider The Exorcist overrated. The main reason though was that the height of it's "horror" was less due to how the film is made but how people feared "the devil" during those periods when it was first showing.

This is why I feel MW is a penultimate sequel. (Setting aside both the dates they were released since I never check those)

This manga didn't just become a worthy associate of that film - It managed to bring that dread back even if you're a modern reader who may not believe in Christianity or demonic possession.

...and in many ways, it brought that back while having events that are the lengths of a King novel.

...and having the premise and staying around the premise of the original .REC (not the poorer sequel)

No shaky cam though but lots of dread.

That said, this manga is still a Tezuka manga and whether you consider that a pro or a con, the bottomline here is that you're not getting several of these:

-the hot blooded eruption of shonen (or cold blooded if you are thinking of Death Note's Yagami Light)

-the willow mystery of shojo

-the boyish feel of seinen (despite the tag)

-the depths of mysteries in thrillers

-nor the psychological nor disgusting bits of horror

...yet many of those elements are still packaged into this series and the combination of it all is what makes it a 10. It would be like enjoying a Golgo 13 except dealing with demonic possession. (Don't let the premise of a schizophrenic monster fool you - unless you're one of those who fear Hannibal Lecter because you think he mimics a serial killer semi-accurately especially the Hopkins version - this is as close to a down to earth semi-realistic demonic possession portrayal you can get from a horror manga)

P.S. Sci-fi fans (those who are less into spaceships but monsters) will also be pleasantly surprised by this manga. I haven't read any quality sci-fi books or manga that deals with this subject matter so let's just say this is like the Outer Limits TV show (the classic as far as consequences go with mixes of the more modern version as far as the horror goes)