▪	RELEASED BY:		VIZ MEDIA
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		SHIN MASHIBA
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE/ B&W
		▪	PAGES:		186
		▪	RATING:		T
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		10/07/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		10/01/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Hifumi’s childhood friend Seiichi comes to the tea house to get rid of his bad dream. However, on closer inspection, this dream of a tram going around in circles and a woman Seiichi wishes to leave with prove to be a comfortable trap. It is a lesson that sometimes even when a person is shown the reality behind their nightmare, they will still choose a easy trap over a feared reality.

Another customer claiming to wish freedom from the nightmare that plagues her comes to the tea house. However she is a returning customer. She knew the Baku when it was Azusa, Mizuki’s lost brother. It raises painful memories for Mizuki. However, it is Hiruko who should be the most afraid. A simple trial of a girl with lost memories shutting them behind closed doors reveals a door that shows Hiruko Azusa and opens his door to the person he used to be before the Baku. A nightmare of truly horrific proportions, Hiruko is thrown into the despair and madness of his past. It is only Mizuki’s own selfish selflessness that saves him. It is on oddly contrary story, where nightmares and dreams blend, where love and hate can prove to be a thin line indeed and where the most selfless acts can stem from the most selfish of places in the heart and vice versa.

A rather gruesome job is undertaken when Hiruko investigates the nightmare of a woman with a lost love. The letters she keeps receiving are the body parts of her departed beloved in bottles to reassemble. It gives a whole new meaning to ‘message in a bottle’.  It proves the personal horrors of love and loss.

Later a mother’s request shows a twisted road in discovering what the true nightmare and identity of the client is when Hiruko must return to Delirium to help answer a daughter’s plea and a mother’s madness. The final tale involves a young boy who must escape the shadows trapping him in his nightmares. But even nightmares can prove an odd denial that take root and flower for disturbing tales of psychological upset. At each turn these stories have little to do with happy endings and more to do with the painful living and facing the harsh truths around the characters and in their lives. It is deft writing and entrancing to watch unfold, but definitely not for the faint of heart.

IN SUMMARY:
The nightmares only become more tragic and hit closer to home in the latest volume of Nightmare Inspector. A riveting horror series. It is both psychologically enthralling and disturbing.