Under normal circumstances, I pace myself while reading. I’ll read a few pages or a chapter if I own the book.
If it’s a library book, I’ll read 100 pages or more a day! However, Karada Sagashi captured my attention as very few stories can.
I didn’t want to stop reading! The EveryStar website has the story in 576 pages; I read them all in three days.
It’s creepy, the tension is raised in every chapter, and the ending is full of delicious twists! The best part is that there is more in the Karada Sagashi series!
Halloween is a month away and the stores are already trying to drown me in Christmas, so why don’t we take back our Autumn with spookiness and a dash of blood?
There will be spoilers.
What can you do when your friend asks you to find their body?
High School is a pain. And sometimes, you’ll hear everything from ghost stories to urban legends surrounding the school and nearby areas if you’re lucky.
But poor Asuka finds out the hard way that some ghost stories are real. In a rare twist, she’s thrown into one without doing anything to cause it!
In most horror media, teenagers are stupid and are responsible for their supernatural problems. Hence, either they go somewhere they shouldn’t, do something they shouldn’t, or mess with the wrong person.
But not this group! Asuka, Takahiro, Shouta, Rumiko, Kenji, and Rei are minding their own business and sitting in their classroom when another girl, Haruka, approaches Asuka and asks her to find her body.
That’s normal to ask your friends to do, especially since there’s a story about a girl in red who kills people if she finds them alone… and then she cuts them into eight pieces and hides their body parts around the school.
However, the victim appears in front of people and asks them to find her body, and they can’t refuse to search.
Karada Sagashi is a mix between Corpse Party and Groundhog Day. The teens must find all eight pieces of Haruka’s body while avoiding the Red Girl.
If they die, the day resets and they get to look forward to seeing Haruka again, even if they kill her or don’t go to school. Of course, they can’t escape, but at least they have each other.
That is, until one of them becomes possessed, but he’s also on the Red Girl’s hit list. Thus, it all balances out and they can always try again tomorrow.
They could and should have done more!
Day 1 ends brutally and the teens quickly realize it wasn’t a dream. They have bruises on their bodies and they remember what happened.
Still, the shock factor wears off a little and they begin to form plans. Except for Day 11, each chapter is dedicated to a day.
Asuka and her friends experiment and do their best to learn more about Body Searching, but they make obvious mistakes and it always costs them!
They agree to split up and search different school floors but don’t assign who goes where until they’re running for their lives. Shouta uses Rei and Kenji as distractions while he runs away, then claims it’s okay because everyone will come back to life, and he’s smarter than them.
Takahiro reveals that he found the first body part and the next night, they force Shouta to lure the Red Girl away while the others search.
Kenji attempts to force himself on Rei and becomes possessed and tries to kill the others. It takes the group a few days to figure out he’s possessed, but they don’t try to arm themselves!
You’re being killed every night. You should be trying to bring anything that can give you an edge! And since Kenji can’t be trusted, we need to stop him from getting in the way.
Takahiro and Shouta attempt to guard him, but Kenji kills them as he has a knife! This group should be grateful they live in a Groundhog Day situation.
Karada Sagashi final twists!
Asuka believed that she was responsible for Haruka’s death because she didn’t go with her to file a report. However, she doesn’t take the satisfying way out once she learns the truth!
If I were in Asuka’s position, I’d push Haruka off the school roof, but Asuka is a lovely girl, and the ending hints at a sequel.
Which is also available on EveryStar, along with the third book, a prequel, and several other works by Welzard! I know that Karada Sagashi has a manga adaptation by the same name and a sequel manga called Karada Sagashi Dai.
However, I don’t know if Dai is based on the second web novel. A third manga, Karada Sagashi I, is set to premiere on Shōnen Jump+ on September 29, 2022.
Unlike the first two, Welzard isn’t writing Karada Sagashi I, so it may be an original story. You can read my article on it here.
A live-action film will premiere on October 14, 2022. There are also some Karada Sagashi anime shorts, but they’re no longer available on the Anime Beans app.