The Thriller Family

Frontispiece to chapter 1.

**The Thriller Family** (スリラー一家 *Surira Ikka*) is a short gag work by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, serialized in Shojo Friend.

## Overview

The Hakaba Family are a most unusual, chilling family that live in a rather morbid and run-down house in the neighborhood. They give off a most unsettling and yokai-esque impression to anyone that may set foot in their home, but what happens when they come face-to-face with a family with yokai themselves?

This was the third and final "Family" feature of the magazine, only lasting two chapters in comparison to its predecessors.

## Characters

### Bakezo Hakaba

A rather spooky salaryman father with fangs. He wears the white triangle headband best known for being on that of a dead body, and a special "business suit"-themed version of the white gowns the rest of the family wear. He uses a bone to hold and smoke his cigarettes out of.

The Rokurokubi yokai attempts to frighten him in his sleep, but Hitotama bites her neck and causes her to become entangled. After the attack on their house, the Hakaba family decide they'll always have to live with their lights on inside.

### Okyou Hakaba

The mother of the family, characterized with her long mane of black hair that initially hides her face from the teacher. She faces off against a one-eyed yokai, using her pepper to blind him.

### Yuko Hakaba

The older daughter of the family, wearing her hair in a long black bob. She and Hone are the first family members to greet Yamitaro's teacher, to his shock. She, Yamitaro, and Hitotama construct a "blanket ghost" to scare the Karakasa yokai.

### Yamitaro Hakaba

A young boy with bowl-cut hair and a missing tooth. He is the first character to be mentioned in the feature, when his teacher makes his way to pay a home visit. He and his sister are quite mischievous and know how to use skeletons and other morbid paraphernalia to frighten normal humans with.

### Hone Hakaba

The grandmother of the family. She has one eye, with the other side of her face marred by a swollen growth, and sparse teeth. She turns out to be quite tough when a yokai goes to attack her, using her fighting skills to defeat him quickly.

### Hitotama Hakaba

The black cat of the family. His name is a pun on "hitodama", the type of spirit fireballs seen in yokai and ghost lore.

### Teacher

Yamitaro's unlucky teacher, who has to experience the family's unsettling nature and funeral-style practices that occur in their home (such as him being placed in a coffin after fainting and Yamitaro trying to recite a sutra).

## Serialization

* Shojo Friend: Issues #11 and #12 for 1967

The second chapter's frontispiece and some panels are removed in reprints, along with the "next series" notice of Jajako-chan's relaunch. This is also the case with the most recent eBookJapan version.

## Reprints

* Akebono: First reprinted as part of the "Mean Family" kashihon in 1967. It was later offered through the "Complete Works" collection in 1970 (with other "Family" stories compiled as extra content), followed by the further "Mean Family" release in 1975 and a bunko edition in 1976.
* Shogakukan: The Complete Works edition was digitized for the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set, along with having a print-on-demand edition through ComicPark.
* eBookJapan: Appears in volume 1 of the "Fujio Akatsuka Family Collection" 2-volume eBook release

## External Links

* "The Thriller Family" write-up at the Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)