Language Japanese Media type Print Adaptations Dark Water (2002) | Publication date 1996 Originally published 1996 Genre Horror fiction Country Japan | |
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Original title ''From the Depths of Dark Waters (仄暗い水の底から, Honogurai mizu no soko kara) Similar Koji Suzuki books, Other books | ||
Dark Water is the English title of a collection of short stories by Koji Suzuki, originally published in Japan as Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Kanji: 仄暗い水の底から; literally, From the Depths of Dark Waters). The book was first published in 1996, and released in 2004 in English translation.
Contents
The collection contains seven stories, and an extra plotline forming the prologue and epilogue.
Stories
Themes
Suzuki is concerned with the atrocities committed by humans themselves rather than by otherworldly forces. There are themes of urban decay, family troubles and domestic abuse running throughout the stories. The characters themselves are often selfish, cruel and self-absorbed. Suzuki uses these characters to explore emotions such as rage, fear and longing. His stories often take as their theme life after the Japanese asset price bubble burst, as they were written shortly afterwards.
The one thing that all the stories have in common is the repeated use of water imagery. Many of the events take place at sea, but even the land-based plotlines have a connection to water. In Watercolors, for instance, the characters are plagued by water dripping through their ceiling. While its generally believed that water drips through the ceiling in Floating water, this is not true; this was just an element put into the films.
Manga
Dark Water (仄暗い水の底から, Honogurai mizu no soko kara, "In the depths of dark water") is a manga version of Koji Suzuki's book Dark Water from 2002, illustrated by Meimu. Just like the book, it's a collection of short horror stories linked to water.