The manga adaptation of the Higa Shimai series, based on the original concept by Sawamura Ichi and illustrated by Kataoka Jinsei and Kondo Kazuma, centers on a young woman named Higa Makoto who works as a bartender at a bar called Deracine in Koenji. Makoto is a psychic medium, though her abilities are overshadowed by those of her older sister, Higa Kotoko, a formidable exorcist. Together with a freelance occult writer and editor named Nozaki, who becomes Makoto’s partner and later husband, the sisters confront a variety of supernatural threats that invade everyday life.

The manga rearranges and reinterprets key storylines from the original horror novel series, streamlining them for a visual format. The opening arc begins with Makoto responding to a request from a station attendant, boarding a crowded morning train. In a car packed with commuters, she notices a priority seat that everyone avoids. The moment she touches a ring she wears, an invisible, hostile entity emerges and attacks. This incident introduces the recurring pattern: ordinary urban spaces hiding dangerous, often folkloric, phenomena. Nozaki, who investigates unusual cases for magazines, becomes a regular ally, using his journalistic skills to trace the origins of each curse or monster.

Notable narrative arcs adapted in the manga include the “Zuu no Me Ningyou” episode, in which a cursed manuscript about a doll spreads death to everyone who reads it, forcing Makoto and Nozaki to untangle the story behind a series of gruesome deaths. Another major arc revisits the sand-filled house “Shishiriba no Ie,” where a family’s home becomes contaminated by an ominous grit that erodes reality and memory, and Kotoko’s own traumatic childhood experience with the place is revealed. Later chapters draw from the “Bakuu do no Akumu” storyline, a nightmare that bleeds into the waking world, afflicting children with fatal sleep. The manga also includes material from the short story collection “Nadoraki no Kubi” and the wedding-related events of “Zenshu no Ashioto,” which ties back to the first novel’s aftermath.

The setting ranges from Tokyo’s nightlife districts and cramped trains to rural villages and cursed houses, grounding the supernatural in contemporary Japan. The central characters—Makoto, who is more approachable and operates by instinct; Kotoko, who is cold, powerful, and cryptic; and Nozaki, who provides a rational investigative perspective—form the core of each conflict. The narrative arcs often explore how human weakness, family trauma, and buried grudges create openings for ancient, named entities like “Bogiwan” or “Zuu no Me” to enter modern life. The manga balances visceral horror with mystery-solving, delivering self-contained episodes that also contribute to the larger tapestry of the Higa family’s history and the recurring threat of violent, intangible forces.