Meet Fran, the finest creation of the brilliant mad scientist, Dr. Madaraki. When the "good" doctor goes missing, leaving Fran alone in a house full of stitched-up monsters and scientific equipment, who better to take up his scalpel? With a combination of enthusiasm, skill, and heart that just can't be beat, Fran wields mad science with a sunny disposition to solve the problems of the lonely, downtrodden and lovelorn people who come through her door. But the people seeking help aren't always what they seem, and Fran's solutions are rarely what they expect...!
Katsuhisa Kigitsu (木々津克久 Kigitsu Katsuhisa) is a manga artist best known for his work on horror-comedy series Franken Fran (フランケン・ふらん Franken-Furan), about a mad scientist who tries to use her skills to do good, to disastrous results.
Despite the often pornish, moe exploitation covers, this is one of my all time favorite manga series. Never released stateside and cancelled way before it's time, Franken Fran is a fascinating horror show and the very epitome of "be careful what you wish for, or you just might end up a reanimated head grafted onto a slug's body."
Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. We follow Fran, the creation of the mad scientist with a serious God complex, as she carries on her beloved Dr. Madaraki's work while he travels the world. Being the compilation of the several teenage girl corpses, Fran's opinion of a successful operation would make Mary Shelly blush. As the series continues, the cast grows to include her bio-assasin younger sister Veronica and the part-wolf genetic experiment/mass-murder Gavrill. Though the sisters never quite have a Full-House moment of bonding, they show their love for each other in their own sadistic, homicidal way.
Even Fran herself oscillates between sympathy and apathy for her charges, taking a hostile stance towards a couple notable victims, though she lacks the outright murderous nature of her sisters as she is a doctor, enamored with life in all its forms. The vignettes rarely relate to one another or require prior knowledge of the series, so it's very easy to jump in anywhere along the 7 volumes. However, if you like you manga to tie up all the loose ends, this is not the tale for you. The series was cancelled (likely related to new Tokyo city ordinances restricting extreme gore and violence from the weekly manga serials) and as such the final chapter is more a thank you to fans than a proper farewell.
I don't care. This series is bloody, warped, deeply terrifying, but still smart, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt. It's tough times for manga, but I can only hope there's a publisher daring enough to license this little gory gem.
As with all my manga reviews, this is an overview of the whole series!
Franken Fran is not typically the sort of media I'd gravitate towards, what with it being a rather graphic sci-fi horror manga with plenty of gore and repulsive visuals/themes, but I took a chance on it as a teenager and ever since, it's remained a favorite manga of mine for its originality and creativity. Somehow, the author managed to fascinate and grab me despite my aversion to things like animal gore.
The manga is episodic in nature, with each chapter covering a new plot line that has Fran helping a new cast of characters or tackling a new problem. There's not much connection between the stories in the chapters outside of Fran and a few reoccurring side characters. There's also no overarching arc amongst the plot.
Our heroine, Fran, is a cheerful and seemingly imperious to death Frankenstein's monster who was created by a world-renown scientist, Dr. Madaraki, to be his lab assistant. Fran herself is incredibly talented, gifted scientist in her own right, so while the doctor is away, she takes up her creator's footsteps and uses her abilities to try helping others. She's aided by a small cast of reoccuring characters in her pursuit of science and being helpful: Okita (a human-headed cat), Veronica (a bio-weapon created by Dr. Madaraki who is Fran's "little sister"), and Adorea (a girl once modified by the doctor whose zipper-covered body allows her to keep tissue and organs viable for Fran's surgeries and experiments)
The only problem is that Fran's solutions for the problems she's tasked with solving generally are in direct conflict with the wishes of those she's helping, often with disastrous results and no truly happy ending because there's some manner of consequence involved for everyone.
You can think of how encounters Fran go as a sort of monkey's paw parallel: you'll get what you want, sure, but you might not like how you get it or the consequences of having it.
The way the author thinks up all these solutions and in the process examines things about human nature is brilliant! The stories are always so fascinating and well constructed.
Fran is a delightful heroine who, while well-meaning and always cheerful, is delightfully sinister in her way of thinking: she usually prioritizes scientific advancement over typical ethics. Although it's clear she's aware that the results of her actions might be horrific, she always justifies them in her own way and operates under her own code of morals.
For example, Fran will never outright kill anyone. She thinks that life is precious and that as long as something can be kept alive, the form itself doesn't matter (for example, reviving a young woman so she's just a head, cramming organs into the skull cavity so she can function at the cost of a large chunk of her brain).
However, despite this view on life, Fran is in no way above leaving people in a physical state so horrendous that they wish they were dead or a state of being that might eventually lead to their death in some way. In fact, she often will punish people through her scientific pursuits and surgeries who she thinks deserve to suffer for their actions.
A lot of the stories have really graphic imagery that can be really unsettling despite the big-eyed, almost shoujo style of the art, but the science and explanations is always engaging and the topics are far and wide. The story takes the time to explain what Fran has done, what her thinking is, and we get to see things play out once Fran tries to help someone.
I think the manga was ultimately cut short and didn't make it too long (edit: a sequel series was made! It reportedly picks up right where this one left off and is still episodic in nature), but I still very much enjoyed it and find it a gruesomely well executed manga.
I wouldn't recommend for the faint of heart because we get blood, guts, gore, violence, nudity, body horror, etc. etc. etc. I think it's worth checking out if you're into science fiction based around medical procedures and you aren't easily grossed out by drawings.
The covers are generally drawn to be sort of sexualized, but the actual content of the manga doesn't tend to lend itself towards being purposefully sexual--the covers are more for fun and to draw in potential readers, rather than an accurate representation of what's inside (for example, Adorea appears on a cover with a face, which she doesn't have in the series aside from a flashback of her origins), which is a lot more creative and smart than most, if not all sci-fi horror hentai.
If there's nudity or sex it involves the side characters for that chapter's story and usually doesn't get more than a few panels, maybe a whole page, without anything being overtly graphic.
Quite a strangely fascinating find in the manga world!
In Franken Fran 1 we follow Fran Madaraki , an anime girl iteration of Frankenstein's monster , in her daily shenanigans which most of the time include her doing impossible and sometimes whimiscal surgeries on people. Despite the interesting premise it turned out to be a dull and dreary read. It also has lots and lots of visceral and gory imagery so be prepared before reading this.
Honestly if you really need a shock horror manga to make your stomach queasy, this is one of them! My god the amount of blood, gore, murder, you name it that Ms Fran herself tries to help out different unfortunate souls within each chapter, is definitely not family friendly!
I gotta say, I really admire Fran, Gavril, Veronica, Okita and Adorea as characters because they just have their own uniqueness. Our main gal Fran is a really smart doctor who just wants to fix others and her nice laid back attitude makes her pretty likeable. Gavril is like a pretty cheeky villain who has no filter, pretty hot tempered but a badass. Veronica is a cute shy young girl but she doesn't take any crap either. It's hard to believe that these three girls are sisters x)
Anyways with Adorea, she's pretty much a useful mummy that helps out with Fran and the gang when they are in deep s*it by transforming as a monster (Gavril does this too). I honestly can't remember why she turned into a mummy in the first place but yeah, she's a badass like the rest of em! Finally with Okita, yeah nothing much about him but he's a good looking chap in a dog body....yeah I'm not kidding...his body is a dog body folks. PS I totally ship him and Fran together omg 😍
This story for me was really enjoyable for the 61 chapters that makes me appalled the author even more for making it an addicting horrific read! Although we did experience an abrupt ending, at least this story is continuing by having a sequel! I'll have to check it soon ^^
man, this series is great. I love the concept and how imaginative the author gets with Fran's experiments. While I'll admit the cover put me off at first, the actual book itself is outstanding. The characters are memorable and I like some of the reoccurring minor characters and jokes (the cockroaches, the police woman, Rolling Land, etc.). A lot of the stuff in here, from experiments to small plots, are creative and well done, the usage of body horror and a new twist on the idea of an "evil scientist" is really refreshing to see.
Yeah, I know the cover art makes it look like porn/erotica, but the actual content is not. I remember enjoying these when I read the first volumes way back and I still do. It's a bunch of good and imaginative horror stories, much like the Creepshow except with the same cast returning in every chapter. (I'm shelving the Japanese paperbacks because for some reason Goodread claims that all the kindle editions are 384 pages, uh, which mine definitely aren't. But maybe there's an edition that is, who knows? Not me).
Franken Fran delivers all the things one would expect in Horror. There is no shortage of blood guts,mystery, and strangeness. There is not much of what one call a happy ending here. Its has some comical aspects crossed into its darkness. Good and Bad are blurred very much here. Some stuff just does not make no sense. with in this madness there some very addictive at it core here.
This is one of my favorite manga series of all time as it takes all various types of horror from its respective genre and weaves it into a thrilling, charming, and addictive story with really impressive art to boot.
If you like horror and manga, you need to pick this one up.
Absolutely interesting manga! I devoured whatever I could get my hands on. I love the wicked twists and dark humor that freely infused the volumes. Hilarious and lined with just a tint of a moralistic caution to be careful for what you wish for.
what is up with the covers to these? They look like hentai! There's nothing whatsoever erotic in Franken Fran, iirc. Some silly people are going to be really disappointed if they pick these up for their covers...
i heard this was a really good series but then i saw the awful covers and almost didn't pick it up. glad i did because the fan service covers have nothing to do with the stories. dark, gory, fun, sometimes Twilight Zone-esqe, definitely worth checking out.
I haven’t read a manga in years and found Franken Fran via a twitter thread. I really enjoyed all the chapters and Fran’s unique sense of right and wrong. The mangaka did a fantastic job of combining gory and horrifying art with compelling and fun stories.
Disgusting, creepy, sickening, hopeless, yet compelling. Franken Fran gives you everything you need for a sci-fi horror! It's like Black Jack's evil cousin.
Franken Fran von Katsuhisa Kigitsu ist purer Bodyhorror, Körper werden zerhackt, zerrissen, neu zusammengestellt, ein Kopf wird am Körper einer Katze befestigt und alles mit guten Absichten. Das alles erinnert etwas an Re:Animator oder auch die frühen David Cronenberg Filme. Jedes Kapitel erzählt eine andere Geschichte und bauen selten aufeinander auf, wir bekommen Liebe, Rache, Verbrechen hier wird sehr viel Abwechslung geboten, wie es sich für eine Anthologie Serie gehört.
Die Zeichnungen sind sehr gut, auch die Blutigen Gore Szenen und davon gibt es einige sehen wirklich großartig aus. Die Monster Designs sind Abwechslungsreich und sehr gut gelungen und Fran ist trotz ihrer Narben und Bolzen im Kopf sehr Niedlich.
Die Hauptfiguren bekommen leider sehr wenig Hintergrund Story, auch wenn einige davon wirklich gut sind, bei den Nebenfiguren, ist alles Bund gemischt, von Idioten und Verrückten bis zu Netten und liebenswerten Figuren bekommen wir einiges geboten. Fran selbst ist ein toller Charakter, sie ist Liebenswert, verrückt und ihre Experimente, macht sie nicht, weil sie Böse ist, nein sie will nur Helfen.
Franken Fran ist makaber, blutig und auch komisch, und welche Kreaturen sie erschafft ist wirklich einfallsreich und genial, dazu schaut aber selbst in die Bücher rein. Wer Dr. Herbert West mag wird Fran Lieben. Von mir ☆☆☆☆☆
Story: Hauptcharakter dieser Horror-Komödie ist Fran, eine aus Haut- und Körperteilen zusammengenähte Schönheit. Ihre Fähigkeiten in anatomischer Rekonstruktion mithilfe von diversen Techniken sind enorm und ab und an recht komisch und zum Teil auch gruselig. Diese Fähigkeiten erlernte sie von ihrem Vater/ Schöpfer, dem weltbesten Chirurgen Dr. Naomitsu Madaraki. Während seiner Abwesenheit hat sie seine Arbeit und sein Zuhause übernommen und führt dessen Arbeit weiterhin fort.
Positives: I liked the horror and dark comedy aspects. It was a lot gorier than I was expecting though. I also like Fran.
Negatives: The fan-service parts. I don't understand people who say there isn't any. Occasionally, fine, it's body/surgical horror, it's bound to happen. Other parts were unnecessary, especially since the victims were almost entirely women. My other nitpick is that the endings of each story were kinda rushed - I would have just liked a bit more from them.
Anyway, my favourite stories were Cosmetic Surgery and Unhappy Birthday.
I'm up to volume 4 right now, but unless the last volume pulls a rabbit out of its hat, here's my opinion for the entire series:
It's not bad, but it could be a lot better.
You've got a great cast of characters and the episodic nature of the story is good. It's quite obviously a horror version of BlackJack and if you're familiar with the series then you'll get an extra kick out of the parodies of the characters and situations.
However at times this just seems a little "gore for gore's sake" and goes too overboard in trying to go in different directions. (Satire, horror, thriller, action, etc) The series really doesn't need the extra oomph- it's great just as it is, although it's better in small doses.
It's a shame that this series will probably have a hard time finding a publisher because it's so hard to pin down an exact audience and some of the content might be seen as a little objectionable to some. Not that this stops many manga publishers, but let's face it: the more marketable something is, the more likely it is to be picked up and this is more of a niche manga at times.
This is absolutely worth reading at some of the various scanlation sites and if it ever gets brought over to the states officially, I'd recommend it as a read for fans of horror manga.
English Title: "Franken Fran" Book description: "Fran can make anyone into anything, raise the dead, switch heads and bodies and give you those eyes that you've always wanted. But do you actually want them? Is it a good thing to raise the dead? Do the ends justify the means? And does Fran care?"
The cover was very deceiving since the nudity involved in this volume was more in relation to gore instead of something ecchi-related. I liked this more than I initially expected myself to and find all of the characters to be very interesting and complex. I’m curious to see where this series goes since it’s only 8 volumes (& 4 omnibus volumes).
Fun silly body horror. I wonder why i enjoy seeing bodies transformed in various ways. Perhaps body is the most sacred form and seeing it morphed into something else is like breaking the matrix. A feeling of power perhaps? A freedom to become anything you want, endless possibilities.