| Summary | - In "The Road Home", Azuki's cat Tamala runs away and returns to his past home, where his previous owner who had abandoned him, had lived. Azuki goes into denial, but after the daughter of a woman embalmed by Shinjyurou arrives and speaks of the peace she found after seeing her mother one last time, Azuki accepts Tamala's death and holds his body. "Liars" details Shinjyurou's first love, who told him that her father was an undertaker and wanted her to be one. Shinjyurou is able to connect with her, but she soon reveals she had lied and her father was a police officer; however, Shinjyurou believes that they are both liars, remembering that he had lied about various injuries inflicted by students. In "Pandora's Box", a couple is given a doll to remember their child, who was too severely damaged to be embalmed. The dollmaker Tsubaki argues that dollmaking is superior because people have something that lasts forever. However, the mother of the child begins to treat the doll like her own, which leads to her finding out that her husband had had an affair with her best friend. The mother proceeds to kidnap her friend and husband's child. Shinjyurou relishes Christmas in "The Miracle of Nothing Happening", despite facing criticism from a woman for his profession, because the day is usually a busy time for embalmers. "The Freedom of Loneliness" details a son's wish to break free from his father and locate his mother; however, she refuses to treat him as family, and he realizes how lonely he is. "Match Made in Heaven" reveals the doctor Koyuki's past, in which she tried to marry the hospital director when he became sick and was doomed to die. She planned to embalm him after, but found that he did not send in the marriage application, and therefore she was not able to give permission for the procedure.
- In "Sleeping Beauty", a friend of Azuki is killed in a car accident, thus ending her chance at performing in the ballet "Sleeping Beauty" and marrying her fiancé. Through Shinjyurou's embalming, her fiancé is able to see her whole and beautiful before kissing her farewell. Shinjyurou's first job as a professional embalmer is explained in "The Old Man's Watch"; an old man allows Shinjyurou to embalm him when he dies, understanding the importance of practice as he repairs watches. He wants to protect one clock in particular which reminds him of his friends, but it is planned to be replaced by a digital one. He keeps it from being torn down until 10:08, which he claims is when the clock looks its best. He dies soon after, and Shinjyurou turns the man's watch to 10:08 before placing it on his wrist. "Narcissus" tells the story of a man who deeply thinks of himself as beautiful and above others. He drowns after falling into a bathtub while staring at his reflection, and Shinjyurou is given the instructions to make him beautiful. In "A Love Without Embrace", a sick man is unable to see his wife and child, who often draws him pictures. After he dies, Shinjyurou embalms him and has him embrace a picture of the child that the child had drawn. "Sweets Memories" introduces Azuki's brother, who promised to be a male role model in their father's place, and whose protectiveness towards Azuki leads him to dislike Shinjyurou. He falls ill and quickly recovers, and Shinjyurou inwardly confesses that he could never embalm Azuki because he fears embalming someone he loves.
- Upon his return to Japan in "Gate of Flowers", Shinjyurou meets Azuki's grandfather who allows him to work and live at the church, on the condition that he keeps the outward appearance the same because he had promised Azuki that she could have her wedding there and he would walk her down the aisle. The man is later diagnosed with Alzheimer's and often grabs hold of the nurse's hands. After he dies and Shinjyurou waits in a hallway, he realizes that, in his mind, he was trying to walk with Azuki on her wedding day. In "Gothic Lolita Complex", a girl named Aria distances herself from her friends and plans her own suicide. She wants to never grow old and look beautiful, so she asks Shinjyurou to embalm her. He refuses and allows her to come to the funeral of a young tennis player; Shinjyurou explains that embalming is meant to make a corpse natural and for the benefit of family. Later, Shinjyurou checks Aria's website, where she had posted about her desire for death, to find that the message had been removed. In "Sandcastle", a man steals the embalmed body of his deceased wife, seeing that she looked alive. Renji helps to calm him and retrieve the body, and later speaks with Shinjyurou on how people continue to love, even after their loved one dies; he compares this phenomenon to the creation of sandcastles. "In Out of the Rain" details a small experience Shinjyurou has with Azuki when they take shelter from the rain; he enjoys it and wishes the rain never to end because it keeps them together. "Unforgettable Bond" is the story of a daughter of a famous composer, who lies to her peers about how her father treats her, telling them he spends time with her and composes music in her name. After her father is involved in an accident, he loses his memory but keeps writing music notes on walls; after his death, the song is performed and its title is revealed to be "Fuer meine Tochter" . In "A Rose that Never Dies", a woman in a hospice plans her funeral, and asks for preserved roses she made to be added to the coffin, and also requests that he attend the funeral because she has no close relatives. At the funeral, however, several people arrive, and are allowed to take roses for mementos, in the end leaving the coffin empty handed .
- After the death of his father, Shinjyurou decides to transfer to an American university and become an embalmer, since there is no place to learn the profession in Japan. While he had previously hated his father's profession and felt that he had no love for his family, Shinjyurou realizes that he had been wrong, and realizes the importance of embalming after seeing his father's corpse. He finds a roommate and takes classes, but realizes that his lack of English skills will hurt his chances. Despite this, he gets several books on embalming and studies often. He becomes roommates with a man named Chan, who often asks him if he could ever embalm someone he loved; Shinjyurou cannot answer this, and later learns that Chan's inquiries stem from when his brother's embalmer had done a poor job, causing the body to start decomposing by the time the funeral was held. After his first practice embalming, Shinjyurou realizes the happiness of finishing and knowing the family members will be happy. He is advised to never forget the feeling, as it is an embalmer's greatest reward. Shinjyurou passes his final exams and graduates from the university as the valedictorian, and interns in San Francisco under a man named Peter Rabbit. Peter talks to the corpses while working, and describes it as listening to them. He later commends Shinjyurou as an embalmer who can also "understand" the corpse. Shinjyurou eventually leaves to return to Japan, and meets Chan at the airport; Shinjyurou asks him if he could ever embalm a loved one and, taking Chan's long silence as a "No", agrees.
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| abstract | - The Embalmer(死化粧師Shigeshōshi) is a manga series written and illustrated by mangaka Mitsukazu Mihara. It was originally published serially in the magazine Feel Young, and later released under the Feel Comics label by Shodensha. The Embalmer is licensed for English release by Tokyopop, and four volumes have been released. The company Hanami has released five volumes in Poland. A 12-episode live-action drama adaption called Shigeshōshi was produced and ran on TV Tokyo, Aichi Television Broadcasting, and TVQ Kyūshū; it was later released in a boxset by the company VAP. Two CDs containing music from the series were released in November 2007. A 6-episode WEB show was produced as a spin-off, originally released on the TV Tokyo web page for Shigeshōshi and later as part of the Shigeshōshi boxset. The Embalmer follows the life of Shinjurou Mamiya, an embalmer in Japan. Traditionally, cremation is the usual technique reserved for the dead, and, as a result, Shinjyurou faces discrimination for his line of work. Shinjyurou also feels the need for warmth after his job, and constantly has sexual intercourse with women to fulfill his desire. However, he refuses to have a romantic relationship with Azuki, a woman he loves. The Embalmer separates each chapter into separate stories surrounding Shinjyurou's experiences as an embalmer and the effects these experiences have on his life. Mihara found inspiration to create the series after a friend died and she began to research embalming. The series has received relatively positive reviews from Western critics, and the first four volumes have sold cumulatively over 300,000 copies.
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