Warning: SPOILERS for Shibuya Goldfish chapters 1-3!Mangaka Hiroumi Aoi has written a zombie-style manga – published by Square Enix – that puts such a surreal twist on The Walking Dead‘s classic monsters, readers will find themselves as flabbergasted by its deadly premise as the story’s human victims. Instead of zombies, the people of Shibuya are preyed upon by giant, floating goldfish, which explains why Aoi decided to call the series Shibuya Goldfish.
Shibuya Goldfish borrows many common tropes from zombie fiction but incorporates its own fish-themed flair. For example, Japan decides to quarantine the infected city to keep the rest of the country safe by condemning the poor souls who remain inside. But instead of building giant walls or forming a barricade that’s heavily protected by tanks, the Japanese government constructs a circular glass container around the city, essentially creating a massive fishbowl. Despite entering a zombie-fiction landscape defined by the epochal The Walking Dead, Shibuya Goldish doesn’t borrow the same concept of introducing the infestation in full swing. Instead, Shibuya Goldfish‘s hero Hajime Tsukiyoda is present to witness and even film the very first moments of his hell on Earth.
Aoi’s goldfish actually have more human characteristics than Walking Dead‘s zombies. While most zombies moan incoherently, these goldfish eerily say random words or phrases, and rather than stumbling they ‘swim’ at high speed. Thankfully, they have poor eyesight, but like Walking Dead and 28 Days Later‘s zombies, they have enhanced smell, swamping buildings full of survivors. A major difference, besides being goldfish, is how Aoi’s creations turn their victims into more of the same. They populate by implanting eggs into humans, causing baby fish to eventually pour out of their victims.
The Swimming Dead
Aside from the obvious draw of giant, man-eating goldfish, what captures the readers’ attention immediately in Aoi’s manga is its perfectly executed romance. The hero Tsukiyoda is a stereotypical nerd who ends up bonding with the most popular girl in school over their shared love of film. Of course, the moment they connect is when the goldfish attack. Already, readers were inclined to sympathize with the story’s characters given the horror they suffer through, but the fact that their romantic relationship also develops through the manga (in some surprising ways) ensures that – like The Walking Dead before it – the human characters remain the focus of the story, and readers care about individual characters as much as the wider situation.
Although Shibuya Goldfish does ultimately hew close to a classic horror formula, any fan of The Walking Dead needs to check out a series where the cannibalistic undead are replaced by giant, voracious goldfish, pursuing the likable and relatable protagonists with all the fervor of their zombie inspiration.
Check out Shibuya Goldfish on Square Enix‘s official Manga UP! app.
