Maya no Souretsu

Maya's Funeral Procession dates back to 1972; Ichijo's style is very different here, a combination of the quickly evolving shoujo style still very influenced by Osamu Tezuka's designs and of the blockier Gothic horror style reminiscent of woodcuts. The blacks are very solid, the whites are very bright; there is some stippling and cross-shading, but it all looks hand-drawn rather than screen-toned, and the panel layouts are just gorgeous. On the way to her family's new country house, innocent young Reina notices a tall, dark, striking woman standing in the shadows. Soon, neglected by her parents, Reina falls under the spell of the mysterious Maya ... but family secrets may destroy any chance Reina has for happiness. This is one of the earliest examples of shoujo-ai (girls' love or lesbian romance) in manga and it is the kind of over-the-top Gothic melodrama that could easily be slipped into a collection by Edgar Allan Poe.