ALBAWABA - PTSD Radio is a horror manga published by Japan's Kodansha Comics and created by Masaaki Nakayama. This piece of fiction forced its own author to quit after the events he and his assistants experienced.
Kodansha Comics first serialized it on July 7, 2010, with six published volumes available physically as three omnibus editions (two volumes in one book). The last time we saw an update from Nakayama's PTSD Radio was in 2018 before he quit.
This manga is so scary that its creator quit
PTSD Radio/Kodansha/ Maasaki Nakayama
Each chapter of PTSD Radio is named after a specific radio frequency as they intertwine smoothly despite each offering a different storyline. Masaaki Nakayama's eerie artwork focuses on body horror and creepy character designs, similar to the legendary Junji Ito.
What makes this manga so terrifying as well is that Nakayama creates horrific characters of everyday objects. Imagine a radio device with horrific human expressions.
Why did Maasaki Nakayama quit the manga?
PTSD Radio/Kodansha/ Maasaki Nakayama
It all started when Nakayama decided to rent out a studio for himself and his assistants in order to work on the manga together in a more spacious place.
After a while, the mangaka got into a quarrel with his landlord because of the rent which made the old man angry giving Nakayama a character design inspiration for his next chapter.
Both Maasaki and his assistants noticed a broken shrine close to the rented studio.
In Japan, shrines are sacred, so the mystery of why it was smashed remained, but he was too busy meeting deadlines to think about it.
Later, the whole team started experiencing paranormal events including scratching around the ceiling, the smell of horrid raw sewage, and lights turning off on their own.
Things escalated quickly after those incidents, his assistants started seeing unexplained shadows in the building leading to some quitting and the mangaka suddenly fell ill when he changed places.
PTSD Radio/Kodansha/ Maasaki Nakayama
Masaaki Nakayama started drawing the events in the manga and explained them as follows:
"Black, Gelatinous Blood Blisters formed all over my lips, tongue, and gums and wouldn’t stop bleeding."
"On top of that, my body was covered in hematomas (clotted blood spots) and I started seeing blood in my urine and stool."
"I knew this was no joke, so, I got checked out at the hospital"
The doctor further explained that Nakayama needed intensive care and had to be admitted to the hospital immediately since there were no blood platelets in his body!
It was later explained that Masaaki developed a disease named Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a condition in which platelets decrease vastly in the body leading to sudden blood clotting stops and internal and external bleeding.
An end to a horrific paranormal experience
PTSD Radio/Kodansha/ Maasaki Nakayama
After this horrid experience, Nakayama developed another disease where half of his face swelled up and his body temperature dropped. Although it was a bad idea.
Masaaki still mentioned the events in his manga but decided to finally quit with an "unofficial hiatus'' although he's still working on his other manga, Fuan no Tane which is still receiving chapters to this day.
Read PTSD Radio here.
Sources: Kodansha Comics, Anime Senpai.
