#crimson-shell

[ecargmura]

Crimson-Shell Manga Review - Mochizuki's Debut Work You've Probably Never Heard Of

Every great creators have their small starts before becoming big. Take God, for example, he started off small on the first day of creation by creating light and then went off to create more things until he got to Adam and how humans came to be. Jun Mochizuki is no exception to this. When people think of Mochizuki, either Pandora Hearts or The Case Study of Vanitas comes to mind. However, did you know that Pandora Hearts is NOT Mochizuki’s debut work? Yes, she actually has another story that’s her debut work and it’s a one shot. Meet, Crimson-Shell, Mochizuki’s long forgotten first child.

The story is about a world where people have powers given to them by roses. There is a special organization called Crimson-shell and its members who are trying to capture the Black Roses. The star member of the group is Claudia, the Crimson Rose. Her mission is to capture Black Roses as they are dangerous and rampant, but there is a rumor that someone in the organization possess the Black Roses and suspicions lie on her dearest friend Xeno.

While I love Mochizuki’s works, I can tell that this isn’t her best one at all. It makes sense given it’s a one-shot and her first dabble as a mangaka. It’s practically a sounding board for her writing style and storytelling prowess in a way. Think of Crimson-Shell as like an experiment of sorts. If you look through it, you can tell that a lot of Pandora Hearts’ details and story-telling came from this story, making it a Mochizuki signature before she became more polished.

Out of all of her three stories, Crimson-Shell is the fastest in terms of pacing and development. Heck, it’s way too fast. There’s never really time to develop a concrete plot or delve into what Roses are in general. It was definitely a story with a lot of potential, but alas, it was never meant to be.

Reading this manga really shows what Mochizuki got better at and what she’s not good at. Mochizuki’s style needs to be a slow-paced story that needs a lot of buildup before dropping plot twist bombs. Crimson-Shell had a lot of interesting concepts that fell flat. The story has a lot of interesting characters, but only Claudia, Xeno, Shion and Wilheim are of interest. Everyone else is just there. Though, I can tell Mochizuki LOVES plot twists given what happens at Chapter 5 with a big reveal on who the Black Rose traitor is.

Regarding her characters, I can tell Crimson-Shell has a lot of characters with characteristics and details that Mochizuki likes. Claudia has long black hair, which is practically a staple of Mochizuki’s story. There’s also Xeno, the tall protector of sorts, which is present in PH and VNC. There’s Shion, a cute twink. There’s Wilheim, the mysterious and suspicious person. These four character types are probably her favorite because you can find them in her succeeding works. However, because this is so short, not much comes out of them. The ending with Xeno and Claudia did get me a little emotional, however.

The story’s art is also good because there’s a lot of details and the scenery is good too. One can tell Mochizuki’s art was already good from this debut work alone. Mochizuki is good with expressions, hence why not everyone looks too same-faced.

Anyways, you can tell that this is the foundation for what Mochizuki becomes present-day. It’s crazy how much she has improved since her debut and I’m just so glad I was able to discover a wonderful mangaka because she works so hard. I honestly wouldn’t recommend Crimson-Shell because it’s a one-shot, but I would tell people who like both Pandora Hearts and The Case Study of Vanitas to read Crimson-Shell at least once in their lifetime to get a sense of how Mochizuki started and compare the past to her present. This is probably the only three-star story that I’ll give to a Mochizuki work. If you have read this manga, what are your thoughts on it?

[kaurwreck]

jun mochizuki and kafka asagiri are both sage kings, but where kafka asagiri is painstakingly layering profundity and humanity into literary criticism adapted into pop mediums with didactic diligence informed by euphoric existentialism, jun mochizuki writes gothic fairy tale erotica drenched with rhapsodic nihilism that serve as strikingly atmospheric kaleidoscopes into the human heart because intimacy is immensely erotic and her aesthetic sensibilities are unmatched.

their overlap is that they're both super into classic lit, but where kafka asagiri likes cracking open lit's rib cage and eating its innards, jun mochizuki skins it with a dexterity and precision belied by her preference for removing the organs and musculature to wear lit's bones and flesh like a Victorian hoopskirt. occasionally, she curls the intestines with scissors like they're polysatin ribbon and tucks them into the front of her collar to wear as a jabot, but she doesn't venture much further than that.

[aghostsdestiny]

A solo piece for @d2artevents annual art event! 💙💚

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[ashvalentine16]

She was even the voice of Kainé from NieR since 2010... So, now I'm going to cry even hard when I finish the JP playthrough and reach ending D.

Azur Lane is gonna have to recast for HMS Hood and KMS Tirpitz if there's going to be any future skins for them.

Aug 20th is just not a good day for me now. 2nd reason for me to be depressed. I also wonder if this is why the Azur Lane discord hasn't posted anything all day.

[torterrachampion]

We're celebrating 20 years of Mochijun manga this year! I'm so happy for her.

[choujinx]

CRIMSON SHELL (2005-2006) by mochizuki jun

[emily-nightray]

New Crimson Shell art in 2024.

[existingtm]

Pandora immortality-is-at-hand-yet-somehow-doesn't-prevent-the-separation-brought-by-death Hearts

Vanitas no immortality-is-at-hand-yet-somehow-doesn't-prevent-the-separation-brought-by-death Carte

Jun immortality-is-at-hand-yet-somehow-doesn't-prevent-the-separation-brought-by-death Mochizuki

[darkstarshine]

MochiJun fans:

We on Brazil lost access to Twitter. So, please, if y'all could help us and share on other social media, like threads, here tumblr, or bluesky every official content shared there, please. Help us.

[most-likely-fandom]

the jun mochizuki urge to give characters big ass bows

[chrimsone]

theyre the same image

[grassbreads]

Main takeaway from reading Crimson-Shell is that Jun Mochizuki has never once in her entire life been normal about master/servant relationships (positive)

[mochizukifanhub]

Calling all Jun Mochizuki fans

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[mikakissiekiss]

he's so real for that

[difranco]

Good morning Pandora Hearts, Vanitas, Crimson Shell fans.

It’s the Fanclub’s third birthday 😈

Come join us