Uketsu

Hey beauties and beasts, welcome back to the show.

So have you ever heard of the best-selling Japanese novel, Strange Houses? It's a mystery thriller written by an anonymous author and YouTuber who goes by the name Uketsu.

So the story begins with a young couple preparing to buy a new house.

They find a place they like, but quickly notice something odd about the floor plan, an enclosed dead space between two walls.

Without waking Yuta, Mariko slipped out of bed and made her way slowly downstairs.

The floor below was hidden in shadow, but once she reached the hallway, she screamed.

Yuta woke up at once, he faced downstairs to see what was happening, calling Mariko's name.

There, the hallway was filled with crayons, tens of them, maybe a hundred or more, all of them seeming to hemorrhage from the back wall into the short hallway.

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Lucky's Book Lounge.

I am your host, Lucky N. Today's book is titled Strange Pictures by Uketsu.

That's U-K-E-T-S-U.

I found out that this author is only found online.

It's titled Strange Pictures.

I think you have to read it for yourself and look at the pictures.

It's by Uketsu.

U-K-E-T-S-U.

I guess it's not a series.

It's a collection of books by a Japanese YouTuber named Uketsu, and it's with strange pictures, strange buildings, and strange... strange houses and strange buildings.

I it's also very hard to describe, but there's lots of pictures and and like analyzing the pictures and murder mystery.

And it's so good.

Yes, that is an accurate description and one that I think pretty solidly identifies it as a work of horror of the mind.

The work of YouTuber and novelist Uketsu is also psychological horror that scares mostly by invoking an atmosphere of intense unease in the reader.

Uketsu is a man, confirmed by his English-language translator Jim Ryan, who only appears in public clothed entirely in black and wearing a white papier-mâché mask – The mask is blank with holes for eyes and a mouth and a peak for the suggestion of a nose.

He speaks in an artificially processed saccharine voice and posts uncomfortable videos on YouTube.

I think his entire persona is supposed to evoke the uncanny, human but not quite persona.

Uketsu's novels have been bestsellers in Japan for several years, and then also in the last couple of years in English language translation.

They include Strange Houses, Strange Pictures, Strange Buildings.

Strange Maps is expected out in English next year, 2027.

Last but not least, really quickly, two honorable mentions that are from the same author.

It's Strange Houses and Strange Pictures by Uketsu.

Uketsu is this anonymous Japanese author whose books have gone viral, and they all involve, similar to Hidden Pictures, illustrations as part of the story.

And in Strange Houses, you're looking at layouts of different homes and, like, floor plans, and in Strange Pictures, you're looking at these different illustrations to help figure out what happened.

I'm not gonna really go into the details about what these books are about, but they do involve murder, and they're creepy and bizarre and unhinged.