But as lively and gruesome as these stories can be, and as witty and self-deprecating as their artist comes across in his commentaries, there is a sadness in this book that accrues from all the doom sagas that Itō has selected. "Honored Ancestors" (purportedly 1997) is the darkest thing in Shiver, following an amnesiac girl's interactions with the sunny classmate who insists that he used to be her boyfriend. His impression is that amnesia is good, in a way, because you can relive all the fun things in life for the first time; the girl, though, is overcome with anxiety and nightmares. There is good reason for that, because the boy's intentions are not pure, and the philosophical conflict of memory loss as terrifying vs. hopeful soon uncoils into a grotesque meditation on women as necessary chattel: wombs incubating the preservation of tradition -- cultural 'memory' -- as physical issue. Nobody escapes from this situation unscathed, including ruminating Itō himself, whose commentary is startlingly frank: If you’ve been interested in the work of Osamu Dazai, Ito’s adaptation is a fine place to begin. It blends the soreness of Dazai’s writing with Ito’s own uncanny and unsettling art masterfully. Sure, the woman is a seven-foot tall, shark-toothed monster woman, but it stands that we spend more than half the story not exactly knowing this as fact; instead, our story protagonist has a ghastly premonition that something awful will happen one day—and the something awful turns out to be that he sees an unattractive woman in a magazine, and the very thought of the woman repulses him so much that her memory haunts him for weeks following. This is the story in which the fashion model originated, and she is exactly what you’d expect her to be. The story is told by a nervous and twitchy young man who is working with an amateur film crew. This is another Ito short story that’s found in the Shivercollection. It’s also one of the very best Junji Ito manga to showcase his incredible approach to body horror.

This is a short story collection which revolves around a pair of siblings who cause chaos everywhere they go. What would it mean for humans to become the true puppets? Ito doesn’t just ask this question but answers it with unnerving scenes of human beings going about their days ensnared in wires, supposedly controlled by figures who are always out of sight in the dark of the ceiling. What would it mean to move about as a human puppet, and how would one’s physical strength and general health be affected? Ito takes a supernatural premise and ponders its tactile implications, making the story feel all the more unnerving and close to home even as it fully embraces the fantastical.

Used Records

Speaking of violations of propriety, I do still sometimes look at unauthorized translations. Not long ago, subtitles were release for the Junji Itō episode of Manben, an NHK television series hosted by the manga artist Naoki Urasawa, where small cameras are placed in a manga artist's studio as they work, and the resulting footage is matched with a process-oriented discussion between Urasawa and the artist. I'm unsure as to the likelihood of something like this appearing on western television or home video anytime soon. In his episode, Itō describes his work in terms of stewardship of horror manga traditions, drawn from the likes of Hino, Shin'ichi Koga, and his idol, Kazuo Umezu; Itō's goal is to create images that nobody has seen before, and bring them to life. Until reading this collection, Junji Ito existed as a myth. His intense, otherworldly horror stories had created this singular presence that was known even among the biggest manga newbs. Una recopilación brutal. Me han gustado absolutamente todos y cada uno de las historias, eso si que hay una (la del aceite) que woow!! me ha dejado completamente asqueada. Found in the Smashedshort story collection, Earthbound is a Junji Ito manga that really leans on the eeriness factor. While many of his stories rely on cosmic horror or body horror, this one is more of a slow, creeping dread. If you’ve ever done a passive search for Ito, or if you’re already a big Ito fan, then you will have seen all the jokes and memes that have grown out of this story.

This is an upcoming collection of nine stories adapted from author Hirokatsu Kihara, famed in Japan for his telling of urban legends. Junji Ito retells these tales in his unique style and perspective through the lens of university student Mimi and her boyfriend Naoto. Each story is a different encounter, which supposedly happened to someone in real life.Through Junji Ito’s manga, he forces us to confront the demons of his imagination, and it seems like he enjoys it. Some of the best horror and monster stories tap into this idea of uncharted, unknown parts of time and space. When he wakes up, those dreamed years have added to his body’s physical age, thus rapidly turning his body into something completely unknowable: a thing that has aged thousands of years and yet is still alive. While his stories of terror share much in common with Lovecraft, Umezu, and even writers like Kobo Abe and Stephen King, it’s Ito’s distinct ability to bring what he imagines to life in staggering, chilling detail.

Hanging Blimp reminded me of the later parts of Gyo, and not in a good way - where the monsters are just slightly too silly to be scary. Maybe it works, it's hard to say - a lot of his stuff sounds ridiculous, and even is ridiculous, but can also be terrifying. Maybe if I re-read some of it, or had been in a different mood, it would've worked for me. I'm in two minds about a lot of Tomie, as to whether I'd prefer it if it followed one story, or if I can just enjoy the (largely) separate stories.

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Shiver/The chill: un relato con un objeto maldito, body horror extremo y un atmosfera tetrica y asfixiante. 3.5/5 Unlike other popular Japanese writers like Haruki Murakami, whose debut works are often overlooked today, Ito’s earlier works are still treasured.