Shintaro Kago explains fashionable paranoia and walking the line between satire and horror

Shintaro Kago is a Japanese guro manga artist, known for his enthralling and unique horror works, as well as his comedy and satire. His style has been labelled as "fashionable paranoia," but speaking with Kago at Comicon Napoli this year, we found out the truth behind the label.

"This is not a definition that I gave myself and actually in Japan it's not used at all," Kago explained. "Japanese people don't refer to my art as fashionable paranoia. It's a term that has become more and more popular to describe my works here, outside of Japan. And I just thought that I didn't mind and so I've been using that."

Kago isn't just known for his grotesque horror works, and often writes experimental comedy manga as well. He's known for breaking the fourth wall, and changes the layout of a page for comedic effect. Kago is best known for his horror works, but if he had to pick a genre for the rest of his days, he'd actually choose more satire.

"If I had to choose, I would choose the element of satire. I think that the element of horror is something that I do more for the public," he said. Even though his style may lend more towards horror, the grotesque elements of his drawings can be used for comedic effect, too. "I would say that there's a childish element to it because it's as if if I had to explain it, I would compare it to like kids building a castle of sand and then just for fun breaking it. And I do the same thing with bodies. So, it's something that's kind of childlike," Kago described.

Check out more secrets of horror and comedy magna with Shintaro Kago below: