Zine Review: Goosebumps Issue Six: Guide to The Sea of Trees
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Zine Review: Goosebumps Issue Six: Guide to The Sea of Trees is an A5 black and white zine about Aokigahara – The Sea of Trees aka The Suicide Forest in Japan.
Goosebumps Six opens with an introduction to Aokigahara from the Wikipedia page as well as photos from inside the forest. I couldn’t help thinking even from the first glance inside that black and white printing suits this zine completely. I also like that the intro – even though it’s from the Wiki page – gives a subtle reminder that there is more nuance to this place than has been put forward in the recent past.
However, that in no way means that this zine avoids or in any way side steps the dark history and dark mythology of Aokigahara.
A collection of Photos and text snippets touch briefly on various topics associated with the forest. From it being used as the location of the horror movie ‘The Forest’ to the souls that are said to wander amongst the trees, I appreciated the inclusion of sources with most of the text clips so I can read the full articles.
There is one section of text that left me a little confused. It ends with ‘so have a look…’ at the story that follows, but no stories follow. I was looking forward to them. That being said, this zine still left me with more knowledge than I started with not to mention a sense of unease and sadness.
This isn’t a zine to be taken lightly, with some photos containing disturbing content. As someone who has been fascinated by the dark and the paranormal since childhood, I found this to be an interesting zine about Aokigahara.