Junji ItoBesprekingen

More funny/creepy than stomach churningly grotesque, which I’m not mad at.

Pretty great collection of Japanese urban legends, adapted in Ito’s wonderful house style.

Easily the best US release of Ito’s work. A must-read for horror and comic fans alike.

Absolutely hog wild. Some of the most absurd images I’ve seen in the medium.

Thanks, I hate it.

Gonna go try not to have nightmares now.

Merged review:

Thanks, I hate it.

Gonna go try not to have nightmares now.

So many of these characters' problems could've been solved with some good, old-fashioned ✨therapy.✨

Ito's art is fantastic as usual, but I'm unsure about the story - a wild, nihilistic ride written by Osamu Dazai in 1948, and believed to be semi-autobiographical. I'm used to the usual outlandish Ito horror, but the horror in this one comes from realistic situations caused by human beings that occur relentlessly. You really don't get a break from the fucked up situations the characters cause/find themselves in. Overall, glad I read it in my quest to read all things Ito, but it was pretty depressing and not very fun to read.

CW: sexual assault/rape, child abuse, suicide/suicide attempts, graphic sex scenes, drug/alcohol abuse, murder, body horror... And others I'm probably forgetting.

A cult-cosmic-horror mash-up, about a girl who encounters a village "blessed" by golden hair that spews from a volcano where a Christian missionary was martyred. (Phew, that was a sentence.) The volcano blows up, and everyone dies but the girl, who is protected by the hair and given clairvoyance and insight to the secrets of the universe.

Pretty convoluted plot, but art-wise some of my favorite of Ito's so far. Also significantly less body-horror than his other works, (of course there is still some.) The story was OK, it's a very short one so a lot of the plot is left vague. The tone of the story eminded me a lot of Remina in the cosmic horror aspect - the characters are haunted by an ominous, god-like entity that exists somewhere in the universe. I liked that the female lead was neither evil, nor met a completely terrible end like some of Ito's other female leads.

Finally, 10/10 for design, this is probably the most visually stunning Ito hardback to be published. Definitely check out a physical copy for that reason alone.

This is a collection of some of Ito's "best stories". They were all new to me, except one Tomie repeat, (but a good Tomie story). These were all standalone stories, and I found most of them to be creepy and entertaining.

I really enjoyed "Marionette Mansion", about a family of puppeteers; the title story "Shiver" about a cursed object that sickens its owner; and finally "Honored Ancestors" was really unsettling. I kinda hated the story "Greased" - really grossed me out

When a girl in one of the stories bangs her ceiling with a stick and yells at the rats in the attic to start paying rent, I felt Ito was at his most relatable.

This collection consists of some of Ito's earliest works. Each of the stories is a standalone this time, with none seeming to be continuations or related to each other. Some of them truly felt like early works, and didn't really grab me like some of his others have. Others really pulled me in and had that trademark Ito feel.

My favorites in this collection were the title story "Deserter," about a man seeking revenge on the Japanese army deserter he agreed to hide. Another was "Unendurable Labyrinth," where two friends find a mysterious group of ascetic Buddhist monks while hiking. Finally I also really liked "The Long Hair in the Attic," that had the aforementioned rat scene. It also had the most body horror of any of the stories in the collection.

Overall this was the least gory Ito collection I've read yet, so if you're unsure about the guy, this may be a good place for you to start. It isn't too gross, but still pretty spooky.

A relatively faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, with Ito's artistic interpretation. I don't think I need to describe the plot of Frankenstein to you all, but I was glad to see how close it was to the original - though much abbreviated. And of course Ito does a great job of making the monster truly monstrous.

The second half of the book is a collection of short stories, primarily centered around a character named Toru Oshikiri. Oshikiri is a teen who struggles to fit in because of his height and boyish appearance. He also happens to live alone in a house that acts as a portal to alternate dimensions. Nothing like dealing with teenage angst and your alter ego being out to kill you and your friends!

Overall I enjoyed this one - the Frankenstein part of the book was my favorite.

I don't know where to begin . . .

I love Junji Ito's twisted mind, and his writing is classic horror. His work is becoming a hit and a miss with me these days. I do enjoy his short stories a lot more than the completed manga. Soichi became like Tomie - when does it stop because it gets repetitive.

Soichi is a weird kid who spews curses at anyone mean to him. His brother bullies him to apologise with minor violence. His whole family thinks he is weird, and they often ignore him, which leads to him cursing them or playing pranks. He also sucks on nails, and he likes to spit nails at people. (This happens in all of the chapters.)

I . . . just didn't get excited to finish this book quickly. I silently wished it ended sooner.

A horror manga about a town that slowly succumbs to a weird and supernatural obsession with spirals.

I read this one for the first time years ago and loved it, and I’ve reread it now because one of my Tuesday Teens has chatted it up as a favorite. It definitely holds up: creepy and weird and imaginative and really well done.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ebook!

I mistakenly picked this book up too late in the evening and stayed up way later than I intended because I couldn't put it down! Junji Ito has a great way of giving you just enough of strange things happening in the story to keep you intrigued and reading to the point that you can't stop. I definitely enjoyed the majority of these stories, but there were a few that I felt were lacking. I go to Junji Ito for terror and some of the stories just didn't deliver that for me. That being said, I'd still highly recommend this if you want some creeps!

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easy to read (obvs). Cool story but wish they had interlinked a bit more. Pretty!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Junji Ito is always a classic! The art is an obvious standout, and the stories work really well as well. A great addition to Ito's collection of short stories.

Junji Ito is always a treat! How he designs the page, the characters, the stories, they're all so unique and individual. Each stands out on it's own. I also love how he can go back and forth between totally horrifying to totally horrifying and goofy at the same time. A true master of horror.

The over the top = automatically funny thing isn't really my style, and I kept being surprised when the stories were over because they hadn't really gone anywhere. Many of the cat drawings are great though, especially Mu going from sweet to bitey.

Are the straights OK? No, they definitely aren't. At least they have cats.

Painful to read. He lies, he runs away, he betrays, he pays for it all, people die. Spirits haunt him. Despicable people haunt him. Torturous existence. A glimpse of hope - a bucket of suffering. He gives up - it doesn't work. He finds love - it withers. He achieves solace - he loses it. Hurt. Bitterness. Unbearable addiction. Loss. Betrayal. Hopelesness.

Wild ride! I wonder if Junji is trying to be weird or if its just his way of thinking? Damn, i'm such a fanboy.

Junji has this special atmosphere in all his works. Everyone is miserable. It feels honest for some reason.

Junji Ito is a genius. With every page i'm asking myself: "You could do that in a story? Is it even legal to be so creative? Jeez, that's amazing, why isn't everybody doing that?"

Uzumaki transcorre em episódios razoavelmente independentes, mas que seguem cronologicamente e cuja dimensão do horror se amplia, da fixação bizarra por espirais de um dos cidadãos, até o desfecho cósmico que engole a cidade. Nisso estabelece o sobrenatural e sua crueldade como acontecimento, como algo que vai tomando as pessoas, como um ambiente que vai se estabelecendo. A maldição se alastra, e é com maestria que Ito retrata a mistura de ridículo com pavoroso das situações desconcertantes aos quais os personagens se vêem enredados. Aqui, afinal, não é o indivíduo e sua autodeterminação que devem descobrir como derrotar o monstruoso, essa visão demasiada subjetivista do terror. Pois o sujeito é ele mesmo moldado pelo ambiente, sendo remoldado quando este se torna amaldiçoado. Suas fascinações e desejos mais impulsivos tornam-se a morada do monstruoso - da espiral. E é talvez aí que o que é menos impulsivo e mais terreno - o amor fruto da convivência, que mostra um papel de resistência importante.