The Story Log
ZOO1

ZOO1

Details
Author 乙一 (おついち) · Otsuichi
Language Japanese
Format Short Stories
Published 2003
Pages 272
Read 2026-05-06 → 2026-05-11
Finished ♥ Favourite ★★★★★
Short Stories
1
カザリとヨーコ
Kazari to Yōko
2
Seven Rooms
3
So-far そ・ふぁー
4
陽だまりの詩
Hidamari no shi
5
ZOO
Awards
Translation
Title Zoo
Translator Terry Gallagher
More

Zoo is one of Otsuichi most famous works, it was adapted into film and manga. The bunko edition was published in two separate volumes.

Review

★★★★★
♥ Favourite

I found all 5 short stories in the first volume of the collection to be fascinating and unique. I read a lot of mysteries and similar sub-genres, so it’s rare to find a story that feels new or features something I never read before. Seven Rooms, So Far and Zoo all falls in this category, and the other two were also excellent, so it’s really an amazing collection. All short stories also have very impactful endings.

I’m also really surprised by the language level of the whole collection: it is very easy to read. Definitely something to recommend to language learners though it contains topic like child abuse, and some stories felt really depressing, so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Updates

100%

I finished the last short story, the one that gives its name to the collection, Zoo. It was such a unique idea, I loved it very much. It was fascinating and strange, and at the same time disturbingly relatable? Obviously, not in the same context, but lying to oneself is really a commun thing we’re all doing, it’s just pushed to extremes in this short story.

74%

I finished the fourth short story 陽だまりの詩, a story of love and death. My least favourite so far, maybe because of the SF elements, though again, the end was excellent.

59%

I finished the third short story, So-far そ・ふぁー, and it was so depressing and so good at the same time. Such a unique idea, I found it really fantastic, but it was quite sad… Similarly to the first two stories the end was really really great.
Now I’m wondering if all the short stories of the collection are going to be so powerful, this would be crazy. I’m also not sure if it’s going to be a common theme for the whole collection, but so far protagonists have all been children or teenagers.

46%

I finished Seven Rooms, and wow, this short story was so intense! Very suspenseful and almost suffocating, difficult to put down. I think that good horror stories are not necessarily scary, but they have that moment when the reader realises something (either before, after or at the same time than the characters) that sends a cold shiver running down your spine. It’s not just about fear, but the realisation of what is truly happening, or that something horrible is going to happen. This short story gave me exactly that feeling.

20%

I finished the first short story, カザリとヨーコ. I wasn’t expecting something so depressing to start the collection, but it was very good, and I loved the end very much. Very easy to read too. In the end, the character of the mother was an interesting one, but it’s not the focus of the story. I wish we knew more about her, and there are still some questions left unanswered.

0%

I’m starting ZOO1!

Post

I’m just realising now that I’ve already read 4 short stories of Zoo 1, and only the first one had character names. And even those were in katakana, so I didn’t really need to do a character list.

Characters

カザリとヨーコ
エンドウヨーコ
Endō Yōko
big sister
エンドウカザリ
Endō Kazari
young sister
スズキ
Suzuki
Woman who lost her dog
エリ
Eri
Suzuki’s granddaughter

Quotes

ママがわたしを殺すとしたらどのような方法で殺すだろうか。

— ヨーコ