Junji Ito thread

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Cat Diary supposed to be coming out this week.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

There's another book called Dissolving Classroom coming January next year.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Tales coming out in a week or two.

[ToALonelyPeace]

Just when I finished purchasing 6 books this morning, a new Junji Ito will come out. Damn

[ToALonelyPeace]

I've read the new Shiver collection. There are 10 stories (1 is a bonus), each has author's commentary and sketch included.

Used Record-about people becoming obsessed with a mysterious record. The story has an urban legend tone where real and unreal elements combine together. It's more about atmosphere.

Shiver-breathing holes with insects crawling within them. It's not the first time I've seen human holes in manga ( the other story is Shintaro Kago's Punctures) but the origin of these holes is different each time.

Fashion Model-a man is repulsed by the bizarre looks of a model in a magazine. Unfortunately, he ends up meeting her again in a film project. The model has the scariest face I have encountered in Ito's works. I will remember her face for some time.

Hanging Blimp-giant blimps in the shape of people's faces appear and hang them. Ito's drawing of the giant faces are horrifying in an appealing way.

Marionette Mansion-do puppet masters control the puppets or do puppets control the masters? The story is quite Ligottian.

Painter-the starting point of Tomie series. Tomie wants someone to capture her beauty in art, but every artist who attempts to do so has gone insane. I don't like the Tomie series but it can't be helped if Ito wants to put it in.

The Long Dream-a man suffers from his dreams becoming longer and longer though in real life they last only one second. The story and drawings make a good case for a dream sub specie aeterni.

Honored Ancestors-an amnesiac girl dreams about a giant caterpillar visiting her every night. She suspects her memory loss is related to the caterpillar and the boyfriend she has forgotten. The story is compelling but it has an anticlimactic ending.

Greased-horror variations on the theme of oil. Atmosphere is great. I can imagine the grease and sticky oil permeating the air and the suffocation of living there.

The 10th story is Fashion Model Bonus.

Overall, it's a good collection compiled by Junji Ito himself. I wish they'd translate Lovesick Dead already. It's one of Ito's best long series, in my opinion better than Tomie.

[Bleak&Icy]

For those interested, the Junji Ito Collection, an anime anthology series, is currently airing:

Junji Ito Collection - Wikipedia

YouTube

(Subtitled episodes can be found online, if you know where to look.)

[ToALonelyPeace]

Naoki Urasawa (author of 20th Century Boy and Monster) discusses the drawing process with Junji Ito.

Urasawa Naoki no Manben: Itou Junji (S4E2, 2017) [english subs] - YouTube

[Metaphysical Mutant]

I've been reading Junji Ito lately; recently finished Gyo, Uzumaki and Shiver and just finished Fragments of Horror. I'll read a graphic novel now and then but these are the first manga I've read. He definitely brings the horror/weird fiction short story format to a visual medium well, where the story is based on a particular concept that culminates in an especially disturbing image, suddenly revealed after the turn of a page.
There is one story in Shiver which I thought had a Ligottian touch to it, called Marionette Mansion, because, you know, are you controlling the puppets, or are the puppets controlling you? Pack that in your pipe and smoke it.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Two more books from Viz
- Frankenstein (with Oshikiri story cycle included) - 18 Oct 2018
- Smashed (a collection) – 16 Apr 2019

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

In December, Viz releases Junji Ito's adaptation of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human. I had no idea he had done such a thing.