What They Say:
Episode 9
“Painter / Blood-bubble Bushes”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
She is beautiful, mesmerizing, tantalizing, irresistible and you will not be able to stop thinking about her eternal beauty. So, I guess it’s pretty clear to those who’ve been waiting, just whose turn it is in the Junji Ito collection anime. Yes, Tomie finally makes her appearance.
In Painter we meet Mori Mitsuo, a… well… painter who is currently basking in the limelight thanks to his talents and the beauty of Nana, his chosen model. It all changes one day when a gorgeous black haired beauty with a beauty mark under her left mark shows up at his exposition. The reason I describe her is that they take their sweet time in actually introducing her which is kind of unnecessary for any Junji Ito or j-horror fans. She is kind of a big deal. Alright, you might be thinking not everyone is or has to be familiar with this content, but my point is, if you don’t know who Tomie is, you’d still be kind of scratching your head at the ominous way that they drop her name. However, I do wonder if my appreciation of this adaptation would have been different had I not known who Tomie was.
In any case, when he asks her for her opinion on his work, she laughs at the silly face his model has which he takes in good nature, even laughing at himself, that is until she shows up at his home and practically proceeds to fire the model. He is, understandably, mad, but then she offers herself as a model. You see, what Tomie truly wants, at least on the surface, is for someone to recreate her beauty and render her eternal. According to her, no one has been able to do this but she has faith in Mori. When she rejects what he believes to be a masterpiece and actually leaves him, he goes crazy. He can paint anything that isn’t Tomie and he is never satisfied. It gets even worse when he finds out that Tomie is being portrayed by Iwata, a mediocre sculptor that has now achieved fame because of his beautiful muse.
Just like its titular character, no matter how many times, Ito re-imagines it, Tomie is a very interesting story. It would seem pretty simple, the story of a supernatural beauty who causes men to go crazy with desire, but there’s something here, a little bit intangible, a bit obvious, about the nature of relationships, or even people. Tomie can be cold and brutal, but there’s a deep loneliness in her eternal pursuit of adoration. As she says, the men who fall in love with her eventually try to destroy her, would you blame her for being bitter?
Now, I’m not saying she is a misunderstood angel, more like a creature who’s asking for the impossible to the point where it destroys those who try to please her. I did love that tiny moment when she pauses, her eyes coldly surveying her best options right before deciding to throw herself into Mori’s arms, sobbing like a lost child. Although it should also be noted, aside from her overbearing powers of seduction, she does literally nothing to these men, they are always the attackers and because of this, they tend to self-destruct.
I found it especially telling that after a while, Mori seems to be the only one able to see the true nature of Tomie and he still liked her, but when he shows her his vision, she rejects the monster on the canvas. Could it be that what she’s looking for is confirmation that she is not a monster? Denial maybe? Does Tomie even look like that or was it something more metaphysical he was seeing? Is Tomie a metaphor for the destructive nature of obsessive desire? I’m talking about the type of desire that can never be satiated and here it works well for both carnal and artistic lust. No matter what you do, there will always be the next thing and it will never be perfect. I could go on but there are vampires to discuss or something like it.
Blood-bubble Bushes is not very subtle with its title. The setup reminded me of Children of the Corn, but this story is a bit different. I said it had vampires, didn’t I? Well, it does, in the sense that there is blood, and eating blood and eternal life, maybe. I wasn’t’ too certain of that last one.
What it does have is two of the most unfitting main characters for a horror story, it almost turned into comedy because of them. Anzai and Kana get stuck in the middle of nowhere when their car breaks down. They start walking hoping to find a town or a house so they can borrow a phone. Kana keeps asking if they’re lost, Anzai keeps saying no like she’s being annoying. This is important because that is how they react to everything and it’s kind of hilarious.
Before long they come upon a group of children. Okay, not just children, weird, creepy children who go from ignoring them to laughing at a perfectly normal question to following them. At this point, I’d be running for my life but they just keep walking until the kids attack them with thorny vines and then jump on them to bite them. Next scene? Kana is talking about how she can’t believe they sucked her blood. She says this in the same way you might complain about the weather being bad. Anzai answers with “They did it to me too…”, with a tone of voice that just oozes annoyance at Kana, like she complains about every little thing. The same thing happens when they finally reach a town with obvious blood stains everywhere and Kana just wonders what that is, while Anzai basically tells her not to be melodramatic. What the hell is wrong with these two?
Eventually, they meet the only inhabitant of the village. He does not have a phone but invites them inside so he can take care of their wounds and then proceeds to tell them the story of his life. The fact that he is the one to mention how it must seem strange he’s the only one in town should tell you nothing new about Anzai and Kana. But then again, things are about to get a whole lot weirder. I know it seems pretty straightforward up to here, but let me assure you, this is how you take a tired old subject, such as vampires, and turn it on its head. What’s more, I still don’t know if this guy’s story was true, half-true or completely made up.
In Summary:
I enjoyed this week’s episode much more than the last one. I’m not sure if the adaptation is great or if I just enjoyed Painter because Tomie is such a fascinating character, and Blood-Bubble Bushes because it doesn’t know when to stop with the weirdness (or maybe it’s because Anzai and Kana have never seen a horror movie in their lives). The technical aspects were the same as always, but I didn’t notice any glaring mistakes or off-model moments.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
