A brilliant collection of horror
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Junji Ito
Translation: Jocelyn Allen
What They Say
An old wooden mansion that turns on its inhabitants. A dissection class with a most unusual subject. A funeral where the dead are definitely not laid to rest. Ranging from the terrifying to the comedic, from the erotic to the loathsome, these stories showcase Junji Ito’s return to the world of horror.
Technical:
Here the front cover uses the theme of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, while also incorporating several elements from the book. This continues onto the back, as well as the inside flaps. This already makes for a fantastic cover, however it’s improved further by the way that an extra image from the story “Futon” is included as a raised picture, creating a sort of “phantom” bit of imagery over everything. And furthermore, this image is included underneath the dust jacket as well. All this combines to make an absolutely amazing cover. The book is also hardcover, and the paper quality is especially high. Text reads smoothly, honorifics are not used, and sound effects are translated into stylized text.
The art style here very much fits in with Junji Ito’s other works, which is to say that it absolutely nails the horror angle. Mutilation and creepy imagery abound and come across fantastically, as do the various expressions. Add to this frequent and well done backgrounds, and you get a nice, eerie looking book.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
In the first story from this collection of horror, we join a woman taking care of her lover, who refuses to leave his futon. It’s a short little story and is probably the most generic and mediocre of the entries in the book. For the next story, though, the weirdness factor ramps way, way up. A girl and her father live alone in a house that’s been registered as a cultural property, until one day a strange woman shows up to look at the building. She moves in with them, starts taking care of them, and eventually marries the father and is accepted into the family. However, the daughter soon learns that the woman loves the house a little more literally than expected, and things start to go to hell.
Next up, we get a quirky story that takes a fun approach to raising tension by forcing the main character to literally hold his head on to stay alive. Following this, we change gears a little and get a somewhat more emotional story, revolving around a girl who fears her father’s death marrying into a family where they create “afterimages” of the dead to help them mourn. It’s actually far more creative and intriguing than it is horrific. The tale that comes after focuses on a strange girl who wants nothing more than to be dissected, which makes for quite an unusual story.
We once more entire into the realm of bizarre and disturbing horror with a story in which a hiker survives an extended period of time while unable to move. Another man befriends him, and it soon becomes clear that the key to his survival was an eerie bird woman feeding him a mysterious meat. However, even now that he’s safe, the woman still keeps coming to him. Following this we shoot past horror into the purely bizarre, with a crazy chapter centered around an eccentric author focused on “tics”. Finally, the collection comes to a close with a tale about a girl who needed to be told what to do constantly, and the woman who took care of her despite the enormous strain.
In Summary
This collection is a fascinating and unique work that really manages to play well with the idea of horror. In fact, a few of the stories actually seem to toss aside a focus on horror, and instead use its trappings to focus on ridiculous comedy or an emotional story. And of course, a few chapters manage to make for some really powerfully disturbing tales. Most of all, though, this volume oozes creativity, which is what helps to make it so fascinating. Outside of the slightly weak first short story, every chapter contained within manages to craft a truly unique and intriguing scenario. As a result, this book is sure to keep the reader’s attention, and makes for a very enjoyable and engrossing experience. If you’re looking for the bizarre than look no further, as this is the work of an absolute master in the field.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 16th, 2015
MSRP: $17.99
