Embalming

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by WATSUKI Nobuhiro, with occasional writing assistance from his wife Kaoru Kurosaki. It has been running in Shueisha's monthly Jump SQ since the magazine premiered on November 4, 2007. In December 2011 it was announced that after the March 2012 issue of Jump SQ., Watsuki is putting Embalming on hiatus until the fall, so he can work on the "reboot" of Rurouni Kenshin.

Two one-shot stories were first created: Embalming -Dead Body and Bride- (エンバーミング DEAD BODY and BRIDE), which was originally published on November 1, 2005 in the first issue of Jump the Revolution! and later added to the final volume of Watsuki's previous manga series, Busou Renkin; and Embalming II -Dead Body and Lover (エンバーミング -DEAD BODY and LOVER-), which was released in the second issue of Jump the Revolution! on November 1, 2006. The series is largely based on the famed novel Frankenstein, but also features references to Sherlock Holmes and the Diogenes Club, Jack the Ripper, Frederick Abberline and Mary Jane Kelly.

Plot
Embalming takes place in the last decade of the 19th century in Europe and is based on the idea that Victor Frankenstein actually existed and created an artificial human from bodyparts of dead people (see Frankenstein's monster) and that even 150 years after this event, numerous scientists across Europe are using what's left of his notes to try and create their own monsters. These creatures are referred to as Frankensteins. The series follows several main characters who are all involved in the Frankenstein research in different ways. Their stories are told in separate, but interconnected episodes or story arcs.