Set in the haunted New England town of Bizenghast, the story follows Dinah, an orphaned teenager who is tasked with returning each night to an ancient mausoleum to free the ghosts within the building.

Several adaptations of Bizenghast have been released, including a novel by Shawn Thorgersen, animated episodes, and a tabletop roleplaying game.

Critics praised Bizenghast for the gothic atmosphere and art, but noted the traditional elements and varying quality of the series.

Over the course of the series, they meet two of the guards: Edaniel, a grinning cat-like creature, and his brother Edrear, who secretly likes Dinah.

Later, the hooded angel, which normally guards the entrance to the mausoleum, appears as two stones that talk to Dinah and help her overcome the depression which resulted from Vincent's death.

Dinah continues searching the vaults and discovers that Edaniel and Edrear's sister, Eniri, is missing, and that the seed of the mausoleum—its link to the Host in the afterlife—has been stolen.

After Edaniel and Edrear lock down the mausoleum, they send Dinah home and she discovers that Maphohetka, a girl hanged for witchcraft and who now as a ghost can control minds in the real world, is manipulating Eniri and the townspeople.

An enraged Edrear attempts to kill her, but eventually halts when Dinah points out that he's crying for his brother, something that he's normally unable to do and that's being caused by Maphohetka's influence.

Maphohetka, taking the opportunity, destroys Dinah's scythe (the only thing she had that could potentially kill her) and ends up mutating into a large monster.

[10] Tired of thin female characters in comics, LeGrow designed Edaniel's girlfriend, Nareesha as "super full-figured".

[13] LeGrow comments that the series "is about life, death and fabulous outfits (not in that order)" and notes that there are "a lot of religious themes" present.

I'm afraid the person who authored that piece felt they were doing me a favor and putting an edgy spin on my persona, but had I known about it prior to printing, I would have never allowed it to go into the book.

[22] However, Tokyopop's North American branch stopped publishing on 31 May 2011;[23] because of it, the final volume of the series is being released through a print-on-demand agreement with RightStuf.com.

On 13 February 2007, Tokyopop also released a 72-page limited-edition art book, Bizenghast: Falling into Fear (ISBN 978-1-59816-748-1), which included stickers and pinup pages.

[33] The television network iaTV acquired the seventeen two- to three-minute-long episodes as part of a "program acquisition deal and strategic ad sales partnership with Tokyopop.

[35] Other merchandise included posters, scarves, playing cards, a plushie, postcards, a signed puzzle kit, and T-shirts.

[37] Additionally, a two-and-a-half-hour DVD commentary about the first Bizenghast volume, with Tokyopop editor interviews and bonus material, was planned to be released in mid-August 2010.

The first volume debuted at the 79th spot on a list of the top 100 best-selling graphic novels of August 2005 with an estimated 1,434 copies sold.

[43] Coolstreak Cartoons's Leroy Douresseaux described the series as "belong[ing] to a fantasy subgenre sometimes referred to as 'pop Gothic'" and relying on atmosphere and looks.

"[45] Johanna Draper Carlson, a longtime reviewer for Publishers Weekly, found the art reminiscent "of classic fantasy indy comics" and noted "stock elements" in the story.

[46] Reviewers found Dinah's character design "striking" and with the potential to appeal to fans of the Gothic Lolita fashion.

[43][51] Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy heavily criticized Bizenghast for the "slightly modified generic monster-of-the-week cliché" plot, one-dimensional characters, and art.

[4] David Welsh compared Bizenghast to "a cosplay of a horror manga", and wrote: "It's got a handle on the cosmetics, but central elements of story and character are vague and underdeveloped.