At The Mountains of Madness: The Manga (A Deep Dive)

As the closest thing to a Christmas themed video (snow!), today we'll be looking at one of Tanabe Gou's phenomenal H.P. Lovecraft adaptations and a damn fine horror manga in it's own right.
As part of the Cthulu mythos and also wider Lovecraftian lore, At The Mountains of Madness is definitely a massively important part of cosmic horror fiction, inspiring a ton of media down the line such as John Carpenter's The Thing and some of Stephen King's better work.
And yet, a lot of folks have never actually read Lovecraft. Fortunately, Tanabe Gou is here to bridge the gap.
I do not own the rights to any materials contained within this video, and am utilizing them under Fair Use. If you have any issues with my usage of said materials, please do not hesitate to contact me and I'm certain we can make a plan together.
If you want to help myself and Mrs. Owl to fund improvements to my setup, pay our rent, buy Baby Owl the necessaries and ensure this channel's survival into 2024, you can - via our Patreon!
/ frightranker
#review #manga #horror #lovecraft
You can also come and join our Discord: / discord
Intro Song:
• JAde Wii - Miniscule P...

[@CheddarGoblin]

Definitely going to be buying this one now!! Thanks for the great video as always!!

[@frightranker]

He's got a whole lot, most of which are bloody amazing.

[@brandonmouton-7698]

So glade i found this channel. Really helps me sleep watching your videos. With heavy insomnia it helps, thank you.

[@planclops]

So happy to see Lovecraftian Horror done manga style 😁

[@terencetensen3832]

Please do Terra Formars, love your content! Keep it up always man.

[@frightranker]

It's on the 'maybe' pile for this year, there's a LOT to say about that one.

[@hunting4r2d2]

Fantastic video. I love Gou Tanabe's works and I thank you for introducing them to me. His manga are easily some of the best adaptations of Lovecraft's original works, and it's a treat to see you covering one of them. At the Mountains of Madness is a great one to start with, and does an excellent job at filling the reader with dread of what's to come, yet intrigued to know more. And, as is tradition, it ends off with something beyond human comprehension just to emphasize how small we are compared to the eldritch entities in the great beyond. Just the kind of storytelling that grabs me for some bizarre reason. Also, just as a fun fact, despite the many Lovecraftian elements present in Made in Abyss, the author himself hasn't read any of Lovercaft's work (at least as of 2019), instead taking inspiration from stories inspired by said works such as Bloodborne. Just goes to show you how deep this mythos' influence runs.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Everybody always goes on about Call of Cthullu, but I find Mountains of Madness and Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath to be much more interesting, with The Colour out of Space, Cool Air and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward going close behind.

[@saicharan.durusetti]

Art on this manga is insane,

[@OneMadApple]

pretty sure 'frieze' is pronounced the same as 'freeze.' (way to make things clear, English)

[@thronezwei4412]

Read this on a trip to Canada recently. Well worth picking up.

[@cruddddddddddddddd]

These are great adaptations - probably some of the best STRAIGHT adaptations of Lovecraft out there. Glad to see you cover these. At the Mountains of Madness is kind of a continuation of the 'lost world' trope that was popular in Lovecraft's day. Only, instead of dinosaurs, indigenous tribes, and ape-men, we get eldritch, unknown horrors. It's pretty awesome.

[@noneed4me2n7]

I discovered Lovecraft in HS in the early 90s. Didn’t have too many adaptations at that point and I was and still am a voracious reader. I didn’t get all the subtext at that point and was more interested in the abyss stuff. My dad being a horror film fan introduced me to a lot of what are now considered classics and Reanimator movies were one of them. Now at 50 I still love watching and listening to adaptations and original works in audio and animated shorts. Lovecrafts influence has grown so much. Seeing the manga adaptations a while back was something of a surprise as I am a huge weeb. They are some of the better adaptations I feel as they lean closer to the source material.

[@Locaneo]

Presumption is the doorway to conflict.

[@frightranker]

Mm?

[@jerryspringer6096]

Love the production

[@ramseydoon8277]

2:23 now that's a flick right there! Hoowee!

[@planclops]

Why haven’t I heard of this manga?! This looks like an amazing read. Gonna have to get it NOW!

[@frightranker]

It's awesome, and he's adapted a bunch of stuff too.

[@ErdriedDeirdre]

I would love it if you covered the other manga adaptations of HP Lovecraft's work. I didn't even know they existed and this artwork is gorgeous!😮

[@frightranker]

Got a backlog of months lol, but I'd love to one day.

[@lordshell]

Damn. Why have I never heard of this? I'm a Lovecraft freak and this is entirely new to me.

[@frightranker]

I really should do more of Gou's adaptations, they are so bloody good.

[@lordshell]

@@frightranker Well, now I gotta go buy the damn manga books.

[@pandaberserk3390]

would any one know a lovecraftian story continuing the shadow over innsmouths story. its not winter tide, its about a deep one who is preparing to return back to the undersea city. there daughter finds out shes half deep one and wants to go to. its called something tears or hearts of salt ? haves like 2 ppl on a boat on the cover.

[@battydude]

I gotta see more of this manga artist's work now :3

[@frightranker]

It's really, really good.

[@Brecondo]

Merry Chrimbo 🎄

[@vindurza]

I absolutely love that story so I may have to look into this one

[@eyeoftheswarm5708]

Interesting are there more Lovecraft story is the main made into manga?

[@frightranker]

Yeah he's done a whole bunch.

[@eyeoftheswarm5708]

Do you have a link so I Seen them.

[@frightranker]

Not exactly, look on Amazon@@eyeoftheswarm5708

[@eyeoftheswarm5708]

OK I’ll@@frightranker

[@turtleanton6539]

Yes😊

[@mistingwolf]

I've read Buick 8, but that was a long, long time ago. These days I tend to prefer King's short stories. Anyway, this manga looks like a really interesting one! I've heard the terms/names Cthulu and shoggoth because of cultural osmosis, but I've never bothered to check into the original lore, so this was fun!

[@andrewfornes5320]

Just know going in, Lovecraft was a very Xenophobic man. He felt like every other person was below him & used outdated terms and science to back his thoughts. I'd start with Dunwhich Horror or Shadows Over Innsmouth if I were you.

[@mistingwolf]

@@andrewfornes5320Thanks for the head's up and the recommendations!

[@andrescalderonsanchez6515]

This art 🎨 it drives me...MAD....🦑

[@outurk2002]

From a Buick 8 is one of my favorites....but you're wrong. There are at least 4-5 great King books after.

[@turtleanton6539]

Yes they are 😊

[@danny_decheeto8300]

I’m sorry the WHAT

[@frightranker]

?

[@danny_decheeto8300]

I was not aware they made a manga of ATMOM, that is so sick@@frightranker

[@AG-en5y]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@AG-en5y]

❤❤❤

[@michaelmoore4043]

Skibidi Toilet

[@frightranker]

K?

[@assmuddafukkinhole2]

Lovecraft + horror manga = nightmares come true (in a good way obviously)

[@smoss9813]

So sad that people parrot the same old acceptable narratives about criticisms of Lovecraft and his writing style. You should read what other, well respected writers through the years have said, maybe even listen to what del torro said, then have a go at popularizing a whole genre with something you wrote. Then maybe read up on the man himself, how much he changed, how complicated and damged he was - instead of just regurgitating other peoples views. I dont blame you, its easier this way

[@frightranker]

Kay.

[@Royed]

Yeaah no. This anime does cosmic horror absolutely TERRIBLY. The one RULE in cosmic horror is when you give your monster an clear cut image it ruins and throws away the idea of COSMIC horror. It needs to be something that you cannot comprehend. It's beyond human understanding and comprehension. So when the author draws these REALLY BAD LOOKING creatures it just poops ALL of the idea of cosmic horror. PLUS when artists try drawing cosmic horror that's usually a cop out for not being creative enough to actually draw something scary and not just a HUGE mess of lines and shapes that don't make anything at the end.

[@frightranker]

Shrug. And yet the image of Cthulu is both popular and recognizable.

[@cynicalsenpai]

You really deserve more views and subscribers Lovecraft is is in my top 5 for favorite authors. Lol even though he was racist 💀 I prefer to think of him as a misanthrope 🫶🏾😭