Grand Guignol Orchestra

Grand Guignol Orchestra
Cover of the first volume published by Hakusensha in Japan on February 19, 2009, depicting Lucille
人形宮廷楽団
Genre	Horror[1]
Manga
Written by	Kaori Yuki
Published by	Hakusensha
English publisher	AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media
Magazine	Bessatsu Hana to Yume
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	August 2008 – June 2010
Volumes	5

Grand Guignol Orchestra (Japanese: 人形宮廷楽団, Hepburn: Guignol Kyūtei Gakudan) is a gothic horror shōjo (targeted towards girls) manga series written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki. Appearing as a monthly serial in the Japanese manga magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume from the August 2008 issue to the June 2010 issue, the eighteen chapters of Grand Guignol Orchestra were collected into five bound volumes by Hakusensha—together with Yuki's romantic one-shot manga "Camolet Garden", which had appeared in the April 2008 issue—and published from February 2009 to August 2010. Set in a world where a worldwide epidemic of a virus has turned part of the population into guignols (zombies which resemble marionettes), Grand Guignol Orchestra focuses on singer Lucille and his orchestra, which destroys the guignols through music.

At the 2009 New York Anime Festival, Viz Media announced that it had licensed the series for an English-language translation. It published the series under its Shojo Beat imprint, from October 2010 to December 2011. The series has also been translated into other languages, such as German and Mandarin. Grand Guignol Orchestra has been positively received by English-language readers, with three volumes placing on the list of the top 300 bestselling graphic novels. The series has received a range of reviews from English-language critics. Yuki's illustrations and premise were generally well-received, with criticism of the series focused on the narrative and page layouts.