Maternal Monstrosities in Horror Manga: Umezu Kazuo’s Snake Ladies and Scary Mommies

Horror-manga master Umezu Kazuo catapulted to success in the 1960s with comics that terrified younger readers, especially those featuring girl protagonists stalked by snake women in his “Hebi Onna” series. Umezu’s “Snake Women” pose as the girls’ mothers as they torment them. Umezu thus mischievously toyed with expectations of the girls’ comics and “mother stories” (haha mono) genres, as the familiar becomes a dark unknown. These mommies morph into evil and serpentine versions of the perfect parent with their monomaniacal desires to scare, corrupt, and even kill their young. His manga mock the veneer of the paragon of Japanese mother as mommy dearest becomes mommy devourer. Umezu’s long-lasting power originates from his talent to harness and twist the tropes of the girls’ comics genre, just as he transforms female bodies into serpentine forms, in order to question why Japanese society requires women to be similar, perfect, perfectly cute, and innocent.