January 22, 2008

Dream Cruise (1996 story)

Written by Koji Suzuki.

This starts off a nice social satire as Masayuki Enoyoshi has the misfortune of being conned onto a yacht by a well-to-do couple, the Ushijimas, who are trying to lure him into their pyramid scam. Suzuki plays to his strengths, with morally grey characters and rich descriptions of Tokyo Bay.

Then the supernatural kicks in and things take a dip (which is Suzuki playing to his weaknesses). Seriously, a ghost pops up out of the middle of nowhere with no motivation, no real reason to be there, other than a weak, throw-away metaphor of putting snobs in their place.

As with other supernatural stories, Suzuki fails when it comes to ghost logic. Why this ghost? Why those victims? If a ghost can do this so easily, then why isn't it happening more often?

Thankfully, things wrap back around to satire for an appropriate ending.

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