A collection of three tales of shojo horror from the early 1970's, this manga is a dreamy-eyed look at the past. This is the Rose of Versailles school of manga with wild emotional swings, cross-dressing and planetarium eyes full of love, tears or both.

The title story revolves around a face growing on a young woman's shoulder. She is a circus performer who fortunately has a long-sleeved costume. This face compels her to do evil things such as commit murder against her will. She is afraid that her prospective lover will discover her terrible secret and shun her. In the meantime, there's a mysterious doctor trying to operate on her.

Faces, heads or bodies growing out of human bodies has long been a horror theme. Edward Lucas White's weird tale, "Lukundoo" (1922) comes immediately to mind, with its hideous, grinning, toothy head implanted on a man's swollen chest. In Takashina's story, the face has a mystical connection to Kannon, the Buddhist "goddess" of mercy. Not really a goddess, Kannon listens to the supplications of the oppressed, seeing and hearing all.

As for drawing style, it is all soft curls and flowers, with more highlights in the eyes than stars over Tokyo. Both male and female characters are pretty, lithe and have impossibly long, thin legs. They seem to lack the hideous stigmata of fertility so it's hard to tell the girls from the boys. Ms. Takashina makes no pretense about fine art but specializes in facial expressions, outstanding page layout and image progressions. She uses the flexibility and raw power of manga with great impact.

The next tale is a brief story of a homely, bullied servant girl whose soul a mad scientist transfers into a beautiful body. Her hair seems to emit flowers and she attracts a pretty boy as a lover. But such miracles always come with a terrible price, don't they.

The third tale is about a supernatural fox (kitsune). This is Japanese horror after all, and fox tales go back many centuries, or millenia if you count China. The title roughly translated is "The Fox Who Danced in the Darkness". The heroine indeed is possessed by the irresistible fox spirit and only true love, the universal shojo trump card, can save her now.

Forget the girly eyes and dreaded 70's fashions, this book is interesting for its splashy layouts and artistic design. As horror, it does not compare the wrenching manga of recent years, though it gives one a dizzying perspective to look back.