Junji Ito Manga Reviews – Page 2

Anything but a Ghost

Anything but a Ghost tells the story of a woman who is discovered by the side of a mountain road covered in blood. But when that woman revisits the one who found her, she reveals that not everything is as it seems with her.

She died giving birth to me. When I came out, she was already a ghost. But she still cared about me. Even after that, she would come to breastfeed me.
Misaki tells Shigeru about her twisted past.

Anything but a Ghost — synopsis

Whilst driving through a mountain area, Shigeru finds a woman stood at the roadside with her back to the road. On leaving his car and walking up to her, he sees that she seems completely stunned whilst being covered in blood. Without hesitation, he drives her to the nearest hospital to get her checked out. As it turns out, the blood is not hers and she isn’t even injured in the slightest.

After some time has past, Shigeru and his wife are going about their lives — they even have a child on the way. Then out of nowhere there is a knock at the door. On opening it, Shigeru sees a beautiful young woman standing there, but fails to recognise her straight away. She introduces herself as the woman he helped by the roadside that day, and tells him her name is Misaki.

But it seems that she is to have a negative impact on his life. Her and Shigeru begin seeing each other in secret and soon reveals a strange, twisted secret about herself — one that he simply doesn’t believe. However, as the closing pages of this manga reveal themselves, not only does her secret show itself to be true, but things also get a whole lot stranger and a lot more darker.

A twist on the ghost story

Anything but a Ghost is a ghost story where the ghosts are not the ones to be feared. Misaki is a young woman who seems to be somewhere between that of a ghost and that of a human. And even though she is drawn as a very innocent and delicate looking woman, she always has an air of creepiness to her. This is helped largely due to how she is introduced to us. We know something is not quite right — we just don’t know what it is at this point.

When she mentions that she can see Shigeru’s ghosts following him, I immediately thought of them as malevolent things. I was sure these ghosts she talked about would be grotesque monsters that live in the next plain of existence, just waiting to come through. But the truth is far more sinister than that.

I always enjoy how Junji Ito seems to be able to take our preconceived ideas of what typical sorts of horror stories are, and turns them on their head.

Strange food cravings

In horror fiction, I think we are used to seeing monsters that prey upon the weak before eating them. Whether that be vampires, werewolves, other-worldly beasts or even cannibals. But this is the first time, as is a lot of the times reading Junji Ito’s work, that I have seen the idea of eating one’s victims in quite this way.

The very idea of having a person who feeds on ghosts is an incredibly inventive one and, dare I say it, genius in it’s own way. But it doesn’t just end there. I absolutely loved how, when Misaki would bite down into her ethereal feast, somehow blood would spill out and cover her face. It’s almost like she is able to pull the ghosts of those who have passed, into our world, if only for a moment — for one last taste of pain and suffering. As if death wasn’t enough.

And without giving too much away, the visions that Junji Ito was able to put into my mind, purely by suggestion, were pretty horrific. When she bites into what she eats towards the end, I could see every single blood-curdling inch of it, yet Ito drew none of it. He is truly a master of not only his own imagination, but of toying with his readers’ imaginations too.

Shigeru finds the blood covered woman beside the road

In Conclusion

This is an excellent stand-alone story from Junji Ito that is as unsettling as it is inventive. What was perhaps most noteworthy for me, was how it is completely grotesque — especially with what she eats towards the end — but without you actually seeing the action itself. Kind of like how Quentin Tarantino was able to gross out early 90’s audiences with his famous ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs. Despite never even seeing the cut.

You never actually see her biting into any pound of flesh. But the result is no less effective. If anything it’s perhaps more so.

I would highly recommend this as a first read from Junji Ito’s catalogue of work. It is readable out in public without attracting people’s concerned stares, with no real displays of gore and flesh. However, it will perhaps leave you feeling like you have seen as much.

Anything But A Ghost is anything but a standard ghost story.

You can read Anything but a Ghost here. (Please support Junji Ito by buying his manga in your own language where available)

The Snail (Uzumaki part 8)

In The Snail, we meet a school boy named Katayama. He only comes to school when it’s raining — and today it’s pouring down.

Get off my back! He’s just a slug now! He’s not human anymore!!
Tsumura justifies himself poking Katayama with a long stick

The Snail — Synopsis

Katayama is a bit of a joke amongst his classroom peers — one of which is Uzumaki main-stay, Kirie Goshima. One morning Kirie and her friend remark on how it is raining for the first time in a while, and that they predict that Katayama will come to school that day. Sure enough he walks in, late as always, and slowly takes his seat.

As each day passes, with the rain continuing, Katayama keeps arriving later. However, his appearance begins to change with each passing day. Firstly a spiral bulge becomes visible from underneath his wet school shirt. Until, by the end of the week, he has somehow managed to transform into a giant snail. Yep, the title of this chapter is very literal.

Just how will the other school students deal with this very odd turn of events? Will they attack or will they try to help? And what will happen once another one of those very students begins to display signs that they may be going down a similar path?

The Spiral Rises

There are two starting points for the spirals in Uzumaki, as I can see. The first is in spirals that already exist in the world. Like with small whirlpools in water, snail shells and in coiled springs. Then there have been the appearances of spirals that have seemingly come from nowhere. Like with Kirie’s hair problems and the girl with the scar.

In The Snail, we see the latter — a large spiral mark on Katayama’s back seems to point to the origin of his grotesque transformation. Once this mark is discovered, after Tsumura drags a naked and humiliated Katayama into the hallway, the transformation seems to speed up. Presumably, to get the reputation of being slow, it would have to have been a part of his personality for a while before this chapter begins. It’s almost as if the spiral speeds up the transformation process once it is discovered.

There was one thing I noticed that I found very interesting to note too. Once Katayama turned, and was given sanctuary in the shelter on school grounds, Tsumura starts poking him with a stick. Soon afterwards he himself begins to show signs of slowing down. Then later on, when another character destroys the snail eggs left behind in the woods, they too seem to be targeted.

I wonder whether the spiral is completely self aware and is actually beginning to target these people out of malice or revenge. If so, it would indeed give some new angles from which to view other chapters in the Uzumaki collection.

Katayama is bad at sports due to his slowness

Enter the grotesque

There haven’t been too many moments in Uzumaki so far, where I have had to squint from disgust. Save perhaps for when Shuichi’s mother stabbed herself in her ears and cut her own finger tips off. But with how Junji Ito manages to capture the depictions of human-sized snails, he almost got me wincing from the page.

Everything from the bumpy slimy textures of the bodies, to the bulging, elongated eye sockets. Even down to the way he shows Snail-Katayama peeling slowly off the school’s outer wall as he is forced off by students with brooms. These Kafka-esque depictions of spiral-controlled snails display a horror manga artist at the top of his game.

There was another thing that I found worked at both the grotesque and the dark comedy levels too. The moment when both Katayama and Tsumura, both fully-transformed, are kept together in the pen. They soon begin to mate, as snails do, which brought a whole new layer to the story. Not only are these both young men at heart, or at least they were, they were also the complete opposite of friends. The idea that you have a bully and his victim now mating as human-sized snails, brings a whole new level of horror, and dare I say comedy, that only someone like Junji Ito could conjure up.

In Conclusion

I feel like The Snail is more of a mid-level entry into the weirdness of Junji Ito’s worlds. You are safe from the violence and body horror found elsewhere, however, instead you are treated to spine-tingling depictions of gross transformations.

I think it works really well as a standalone story too. The fact that Katayama is slow by reputation, means that the story doesn’t need to rely on the surrounding spiral nightmares of the town of Kurouzu-cho. This could just as easily be a one-shot nightmare of Ito’s.

If you are feeling particularly brave you could go in with reading The Snail first. It will give you some great examples of Ito’s artwork and indeed his comedy-aware writing style. Or you could start at the beginning of the Uzumaki Collection and let this one sneak up on you slowly. Give it a read if you think you can stomach it.

Summer time graduation trip

In Summer time graduation trip, an eerie bathhouse beneath a picturesque inn hides a mysterious secret.

Not a single person speaking… And during the whole time we were there, not a single person got up…
Hezi describes her experience in the bath house

Summer time graduation trip — synopsis

A woman recalls her time after her graduation thirty years ago. During that time, she and a friend took a trip to a holiday inn towards the north-west of the country. The place was relaxing and surrounded by beautiful scenery. However, hidden beneath the inn was a bath house with an eerie secret.

On arriving at the inn, the pair decide to investigate the local facilities — first on their list was the bathhouse. As they descend the steps towards the bathhouse below, they notice how the stairwell seems to take far longer than it should do to get down. In fact, the further they go down, the darker the bottom seems. Then as they look back up the way they came, nothing but darkness there too.

Before long, they pass a strange woman who is walking towards them up the steps. This woman is lit only by a small lantern she is carrying. She nods to them that they are heading in the correct direction to the bathhouse. Then as if by magic, they are at the foot of the steps, feeling the steam from the bath behind the door.

The main character then takes off her glasses before entering the large bath, severely limiting her vision. It is one of those large public steam baths. Sat in the water, she can make out shapes of people close to her, but can make out none of their facial features. She just sees shapes and shadows in the steamy water around her.

Suddenly, her friend Hezi taps her on the shoulder and urges her out of the water and to leave with her immediately. But what did Hezi, with her much more attuned eyesight, see in the bath’s waters? What was it that the main character could not see? And just who was that mysterious figure in the stairwell?

Almost a ghost story

At first read, I couldn’t really think of how to approach writing about Summer time graduation trip. You see, it kind of ends just as it seems to begin. We get introduced to the location of the inn, then we see the mysterious lady who passes them in the hall. Following that we get the reveal of the strange people in the bath, all with their heads facing away from the girls. And then just as the inn worker seems to be about to reveal a clue to move the story along, it ends.

After reading some comments by others, I was introduced to the idea that this could actually be a troll ghost story. In fact, it’s a ghost story where the characters actually make smart decisions and get out before anything bad happens to them. If the story had taken a normal route, then perhaps the maid would have revealed a history of the building and the origins of the lady on the stairs. This would probably have led to some investigation, followed by some trouble with ghosts.

But what’s almost funny is, is the girl just stops the maid in her tracks and screams “Never mind, Ma’am! […] If we continued to listen to her, it might turn out to be really scary, right?”. In fact, the more I think about this story, the more I’m convinced that it is in fact a comedy. But it’s only a comedy in the punchline, like a dry-witted comedian who you didn’t realise was telling a joke until you find youself laughing at the end.

Lost potential?

Although I respect Junji Ito for taking a chance on the story in how he ended it, I cant help but want more of the story revealed. If only the girls had taken the other route, and pursued a line of enquiry that would have inevitably meant risking their lives and possibly their sanity.

I loved the imagery of the bath house full of people too, all with their backs to the girls. We are left to wonder whether they are perhaps disfigured or dead… or both. Maybe it’s like a nightmare where if they are turned around they would reveal nothing more than the backs of their heads once again.

And that lady on the stairs too. She seemed like an interesting chaarcter, carrying her small lantern and apparently disappearing up the steps behind them. What was her purpose? Was she some kind of overseer of the dead below? Was she evil? Good? Or maybe an impartial lost spirit just searching for rest?

Maybe it was all some lost potential for a longer tale? Or maybe it was further strokes of genius from Junji Ito, in letting us imagine for ourselves just what was happening at that inn.

In Conclusion

Summer time graduation trip is one of Junji Ito’s manga stories that has had to take time to grow on me. I don’t think I really “got it” on first reading. I may have even thought I didn’t have the complete version — I don’t remember. But it has grown on me and even makes me smile when I think about the ending to this one.

It’s a risky choice to write a ghost story but then end it before any meaty ghost encounters occur, but if there’s one thing I’ve come to expect from the master is that he isn’t afraid to take some chances. If you want gory or ghosts, or people with seemingly doomed fates, then you can find those aplenty amongst his other works.

However, with Summer time graduation trip what you are getting is, as I believe, a tongue-in-cheek ghost story. I can even picture Ito watching your reaction as you approach the end, just to see if you get it. I mean, I could be completely way off, but these are just my opinions. Let me know in the comments if you have any other takes on this one.

Mountain of Gods: Precipice of the Unknown

Mountain of Gods is one of the chapters in an anthology of manga stories about mountain demons called Yama Kaidan. Yama Kaidan roughly translates to “Mountain Stairs”.

That man wasn’t smiling. He was sneering at me with immense hatred.
Ishida describes his encounter with The Sneering Man

Mountain of Gods — Synopsis

This story tells of three hikers who are comparing their past hikes with one another. However, the story soon veers into the spooky as the subject of a recently-missing woman hiker comes into the conversation. All that they know is that she went out hiking from the same cabin they now sit in, happy as can be – according to the cabin manager, but who was discovered dead at the foot of a snowy drop.

This brings to mind eerie encounters that each of them has had on their past hikes, which they each describe in turn. One tells of becoming alone on a mountain-top path before seeing a very thin, sneering man coming towards him at an unnatural pace. Another tells of a similar face pressing its way through his tent, Freddy Krueger style.

But will the mystery of this sneering man (is it even a man?) or the death of the lady hiker ever be solved?

Ghost stories

I think that this story is supposed to do what nearly all ghost stories do. It tells of an unnatural occurrence with some malevolent force, but never gives any explanation of it. This is told purely from the perspective of the hikers in the cabin and their own memories and imaginations on what they think could have happened. We are left to wonder whether there even is such a person as the sneering man, or whether it is a common hallucination from being up so high in the altitude.

It felt almost light in content when I first read it, partially due to the static nature of the main characters. But as I re-read it multiple times, the grimacing face of the sneering man began to grow on me. And once I learned it was actually part of a larger anthology from multiple artists, it all came together. Although I do enjoy this for what it is, a short ghost story about a hiking urban legend, I believe that it would sit much better when read along with the other stories in its collection.

Ishida tells of his past hiking experiences

I haven’t been able to find any of the other chapters from the Yama Kaidan anthology. All I know is that it is a collection of mountain-related ghost stories about gods or demons that could live in the mountains. If you find any of the other chapters, please do let me know in the comments below. Thank You. 🙂

The Sneering Man

The Sneering man, like Fuchi from Fashion Model, is a character that I would love to see much more of. It’s almost teasing that we get the short glimpses of this person in Mountain of Gods.

Despite this being a lesser-known Junji Ito work, I think it is one of the best examples I’ve seen of him slowly revealing horror on the page. If you look at the first glimpses of the sneering man, and the switching between it and Ishida as they get closer, the way in which the true nature of the strange figure is revealed is incredible. The way that the smile reveals slight arching in the corners of the mouth as it comes into focus. The darkening of the facial features as the distance between them shortens. Then that horrific grimacing full-page face that almost scares you out of your seat.

A big part of me is always glad when a menacing figure such as this remains mysterious. There’s nothing worse than having everything explained to you when your own imagination can be so much scarier at times. But there is a small part of me that would kind of like to know where this sneering man came from.

The lady hiker found dead in the snowy valley

In Conclusion

Mountain of Gods: Precipice of the Unknown is a great short story to give you the creeps before bed time. The character of the Sneering man will surely stick with you after reading — I think that face is almost etched on the back of my eyelids. 😀

Due to it’s minimal graphic horror, I think this would be perhaps a good introduction to Junji Ito’s work, for those who haven’t read his stuff before. I mean, it in no way represents the crazy imagination that you will find in say, Uzumaki or Tomie. But if you are looking to tread lightly into Ito’s world, this could be a good choice for you.

I’ve only been able to find this story in a translated version for my own language on Manga Rock. But please always support Junji Ito where you can by buying his official works.

Be careful when you go out walking…

Jack in the box (Uzumaki part 7)

Kirie’s admirer is just like a Jack in the Box — he keeps jumping out at her at inappropriate times. But what happens when he takes it too far?

My love for you will stop this car!
Mitsuru believes strongly in his love for Kirie

Jack in the Box — Synopsis

Kirie Goshima has an admirer, and an annoying one at that. His name is Mitsuru Yamaguchi and he has a very frustrating habit. He keeps on jumping out and surprising Kirie at moments when she least expects it. One such time is during the walk home from school with her friend Shiho. Shiho warns him off, but he continues to annoy Kirie nonetheless. For him, this is how he shows his love for her.

After a little time, he decides to send Kirie a present in the mail. However, instead of opening it she decides to meet up with him to return the gift. He seems sincere in his affection at this point and decides to prove his love once and for all. Declaring that his love is strong enough to stop traffic, he jumps out into the path of a moving car. A final jump that sees his body wrapped around the front wheel of the unsuspecting driver.

After Mitsuru’s funeral, Kirie is wracked with guilt over his untimely death. But it may not be the last she has heard from him – this is Kurouzu-cho after all. The spiral is ever-present and can make all sorts of things possible.

One evening while talking through the grief with her boyfriend Shuichi, she gets a terrifying vision from the gift that Mitsuru had left her. She discovers that the present is a very apt one for it’s sender — it is a Jack in the Box. The Jack in the Box seems to tell her that his death was indeed her fault. And not only that, but that Mitsuru will come back for her too.

Deciding to find out the truth behind the Jack’s whispers, and to try and rid her head of its voices, Kirie and Shuichi take a shovel to Mitsuru’s grave to ensure he is in fact dead. But they are not prepared for what they find in the ground.

The subtleness of the Spiral

When seen from above, a coiled spring will display the shape of the spiral. Not only that but the spring can also represent the releasing of stored energy. This idea could well be what gave birth to the character of Mitsuru. But it isn’t until the closing pages when this becomes apparent. Once you’ve read it once, the spiral can be seen throughout this chapter. He is the metaphorical coiled spring jumping out at Kirie again and again. But until you’ve read it, the spiral is indeed subtle.

Inanimate objects with human likeliness always have the potential for horror. Just think ceramic dolls and old toys in the attic. But what I loved in this chapter was that not only did Junji Ito manage to depict an otherwise innocent Jack in the Box as demonic and foreboding. He also managed to have it perfectly represent the key character, Mitsuro.

The spiral has had a very visual presence in the town so far. It has appeared in cremation smoke, pottery and even throughout victims’ hair. But this is perhaps the most subtle that the spiral has been up till now. In fact, I would be so bold as to say that this chapter could almost be read outside of Uzumaki altogether.

The way in which Ito ties the character of Mitsuru to that of a Jack in the Box was a stroke of genius. Especially when he later makes use of the spring from the car that killed him to make his complete transformation. Yes, the spiral is present in the springs throughout, but take the spiral obsession out of the equation and you still have a strong horror nightmare with an almost self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mitsuru believes his love for Kirie can stop a speeding car

Coiled up terror

As I began writing up my thoughts on ‘Jack in the Box’, I began to notice how the chapter’s structure itself felt just like a coiled spring. With each unwanted jump scare from Mitsuru winding up the metaphorical coil until he is stopped dead in his tracks by that car. That impact and his winding quickly around the front wheel of that car are the first glimpses of horror we see, and the first release of the coiled spring of the chapter.

Once the funeral is done with, Kirie’s descent into guilt and the foreboding presence of the Jack in the box toy, wind up the chapter’s final spring. It is wound up tightly and held with each step that her and Shuichi take through that graveyard. Until those final pages and the explosion of energy that shoots out towards them. The second spring is released and the two of them are directly in its path.

I may be reading too much into these stories, and perhaps seeing things that I want to see, but that is precisely why I’m writing these thoughts up. I just love seeing what my mind can find beneath the surface of Ito’s work — and as I have quickly come to realise, there is always more to find beneath his expertly-drawn panels than meets the eye.

In Conclusion

Jack in the box is definitely a chapter that can be enjoyed on its own and without any prior context to the preceding Uzumaki chapters. Yes, there are mentions of the spiral cremation smoke trails from The Spiral Obsession opening chapters, but they are only mentioned in passing. And they are not needed to be fully understood for this chapter to be enjoyed.

Jack in the Box is one of my favourite chapters from the Uzumaki collection. Something about the character of Mitsuru and the enjoyable absurdity of his constant jumping out at Kirie have stuck with me. I think that, along with the following chapter The Slug, are images that have stayed with me the strongest since my first time reading Uzumaki some years ago.

One of the great things about this chapter for me, was how it is almost ambiguous in its final half. With both Kirie and Shuichi having already come face to face with the spiral, who’s to know if what they experience in that graveyard is real? (it probably is).

Was it just a nightmare? Who knows? (probably not). But one thing is for certain – Junji Ito sure knows how to tell one hell of a great story.

Buy Uzumaki from Amazon today.

Flesh Colored Horror

Flesh Colored Horror focuses on the suffering of a young boy at the hands of his twisted and skin-obsessed mother.

I’m not tearing. This is the peeling…
Chikara as he destroys other childrens’ artwork.

Flesh Colored Horror — Synopsis

Momoko Takigawa is a school teacher who teaches young children at the Hikariyama Kindergarten school. Her students are all regular, everyday children… except for one — Chikara.

Chikara is a scary-looking child, whose veins trace dark lines over his bald head. His eyes are blank white and piercing, and his mental state is violent and unstable. Chikara often lashes out at his fellow students and is unable to form any sort of positive bonds with them.

After a bloody incident involving Chikara and another student, Kosuke, he is expelled from the school and instructed to never return. However, one day he follows his old teacher Takigawa home from the school, and she agrees to take him inside before escorting him back to his own home.

But when the teacher starts to become more involved in the boy’s life and in his well-being, a horrifying and violent secret is revealed about the boy’s family. We learn of his mother’s obsession with beauty. And we learn the lengths she’s willing to go, in order to give her son that beauty. All with no care as to the cost of his mental or physical well-being.

But what lengths will his mother go to, to finish what she has started? And how much can her son endure before he finally snaps?

A tortured young boy

The subject of a child’s abuse is always a delicate one to approach in fiction — and rightly so. Junji Ito has dealt with these before with stories like The Bully and the Tomie chapter Boy. But in Flesh-colored horror, the pain that Chikara endures is on a whole new level from those — at least in my opinion.

I felt that Ito approached this subject very tastefully. He seemed to keep it grounded but still within his story’s crazy boundaries. My initial feelings towards Chikara were those of disgust — the desired effect, no doubt. But by the end I was fully on his side after having learnt his story. And not only that, but it even taught me something about not judging people too quickly.

Chikara doesn’t know how to make friends in the playground

Although the tearing of the school paintings was a spiteful act, it was only what Chikara had picked up from home. We see his mother’s obsession causing her to peel away their home’s wallpaper — a metaphor for the peeling away of skin to what lies beneath.

And when Chikara attacked Kosuke and caused his face to bleed all over, it was a dreadful thing to do. But again, although I don’t condone it, this too was a learned behaviour from his mother. From all of the peelings away of skin she has forced him through.

This is normal life for Chikara, and it truly is a shame — both for him and those around him.

Skin deep

There is a saying that goes “Beauty is only skin deep”, which means that a person’s character is more important than how they look. This saying is no more apt than in Flesh Colored Horror — albeit in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way. I loved the insane idea of going to the extremes of trying to preserve one’s beauty by removing the skin and bathing it in saline solution. Then admiring the muscles and tendons beneath as a thing of beauty. Ito definitely has a way of creating these fresh and crazy characters with very unique quirks. And he often does so by taking very normal behaviours, like using skin cream to maintain one’s complexion, and turning it up to crazy.

Chikara’s Mother always seems to have just gotten out of the bath

I also enjoyed the exploration of the mother’s obsession with her beauty — an obsession which ultimately leads to her undoing. I believe that the loss of her husband in the way that he went, directly led to her strange form of body dysmorphia. It was just a shame that her twisted notions of beauty were then forced upon her child.

But what I found most interesting in this story, was how we initially see Chikara. We see him as violent and almost-grotesque looking. But later we learn how both his appearance and his actions are a direct result of his terrible upbringing.

And on the flip side of that, we see his mother and his auntie — both beautiful women, who initially come across as friendly — who are later revealed to be the most despicable characters in the manga.

Beauty is only skin deep.

I’m glad that Chikara got to have some kind of revenge on his mother. Burning away his mother’s skin before tearing her exposed tendons with his bare hands was a hell of a way to go. But strangely enough, it felt like the logical result of what the boy had to endure. She created this viscous animal within her child, and now that very same animal is being unleashed on its creator. It is so crazy and so unbelievable, but it is so very enjoyable to read too, and definitely very Ito-esque.

In Conclusion

Flesh Colored Horror blew me away when I first read it, I wont lie. The serious tones of a child in danger drew me into the story — I knew it was going to be a thought-provoking and heavy piece. But it was it’s crazy ending and visceral imagery that moved this manga up into my top ten.

This isn’t one for the casual manga reader, I don’t think. If you like your horror to be dark and visceral, then great. But if you prefer easy jump scares and a minimal amount of flesh and blood, then tread carefully; I don’t think this is for the feint-hearted.

Any fan of Junji Ito’s who hasn’t read Flesh Colored Horror yet will get a real kick out of this one. And if you do enjoy it, you are sure to end up reading it multiple times.

p.s. Bonus Points to Ito for reminding me of Hellraiser 2 with this one. The image of the woman’s skin being pulled off like an all-in-one body suit immediately made me think of Julia’s demise from that film. 🙂

Medusa (Uzumaki part 6)

In Medusa, Kirie becomes directly affected by the town’s Spiral curse. And it is through a very strange means — her hair.

You should know I take this as a challenge… I’ll stand out too… you wait and see.
Sekino gives Kirie a thinly-veiled warning about her new hair.

Medusa — synopsis

Up until now, the Spiral has been affecting the people around Kirie Goshima. Her boyfriend Shuichi’s parents; her own father; a friend at school. But in Medusa, the Spiral is finally catching up to her and has it’s sights set directly on a particular part of her body — her hair.

After a school boy’s death and some discussions with a friend over people’s sudden desires to be noticed, Kirie’s hair begins displaying the cursed Spiral in its curls. This seems to have happened out of nowhere, after a sudden growth of her hair. Will she now finally fall victim like so many before her?

When the curls in her hair are threatened, they begin to take on a life of their own — the spiral protecting itself. The hair grows faster than is naturally possibly and even physically fights back against those that would do it harm. But when a school friend of Kirie’s see’s these ever-growing curls as a threat to her own dominance, that friend decides to challenge her in one of the craziest showdowns I’ve ever seen in a manga.

A hairdresser’s nightmare

The subject of hair in Junji Ito’s body horror is something that you may have seen before. In his Tomie chapter “Hair“, characters attach strands of Tomie’s hair to their heads in order for them to obtain her beauty. But in Uzumaki’s Medusa, the Spiral is drawing these people’s own hair out of their heads in order to seduce and mesmerise those around them.

The idea of parts of one’s own body being out of ones control is a scary one. These have been explored in horror before, whether it’s the classic “arm transplant but the arm is that of a murderer’s” or “an eye transplant that lets you see ghosts”. But the idea of using hair against the person who owns it is a fresh one to me.

I loved how the hair became so flamboyant and ridiculous as to lure in those around it. But what I found even more effective was how the hair, whilst growing at such a fast rate, took its toll on the owner. You could see it in Kirie’s eyes as the hair lusted after a bigger audience. But it wasn’t until the closing pages that you see its true effect on a host.

Kirie’s hair fights back against the hairdresser

The spiral effect grows

We’ve seen pretty isolated cases of the spiral at work until now. Limited to families and those closely related. Even the episode with Shuichi’s mother in the hospital could be written up as a woman’s madness on the doctor’s report. But the actual encounters with inexplicable spirals has been limited save for those involved.

In Medusa, however, the hair that grows from Kirie, and later her friend Sekino, is so unnatural that it just can’t be explained away. No amount of hair spray could have kept those curls up. It would have been plain to all that this is some unnatural force at work. Could it be that the Spiral curse is ready to show itself more widely now? Is it no longer content with appearing in the corners of Kurouzu-cho and instead now wants a larger audience for itself?

Interestingly, the Spiral only seemed to target Kirie after she had been clear to her friend about not wanting to stick out. She was content with just moving along in life. The idea that her friends’ obsessions with being noticed was intrinsically linked to the spiral’s presence, seemed to be confirmed when she was made the centrepiece of the Spiral’s plans within the Kurouzu-cho school.

Kirie’s hair becomes infected with spirals

In Conclusion

The image of the woman with the large curls floating over her head is a common one from Uzumaki. When seeing images from the manga or even clips from the Uzumaki film, it is a pretty staple image. Indeed it does represent both how incredibly inventive and at times ludicrous the world within Kurouzu-cho becomes.

Medusa is a calmer story than most from Uzumaki with absolutely zero gore. The goriest image is that of a girl whose life is visibly drained from her face; her skin and eyes sunk back. But nothing more than how you would expect a mummy to look in a museum. In fact, the story is home to more humour than gore. Granted it is a particular kind of humour, but it is there nonetheless.

This story seems to be opening up the Spiral to a wider array of people within the town. Many more are becoming affected by it, and it’s only a matter of time until the Spiral’s full force is released. I think Kirie will still serve as the central character, but the curse looks to be spreading its wings wider and wider from here on out.

Tomio Red Turtleneck

In Tomio Red Turtleneck, a young man cheats on his girlfriend and almost loses his head.

Tomio Red Turtleneck — synopsis

Tomio Red Turtleneck is one of the more nightmarish short horror manga stories from Junji Ito, as well as being one of my favourites. Taken from his excellent Fragments of Horror collection, it tells the story of a young man dealing with a very strange injury.

We join Tomio’s story as he is walking down a street, grasping at both sides of his head, looking very distressed. His eyes are fixed and his teeth are gritted together as he makes his way to his girlfriend Madoka’s home. On arrival he pleads for her help, but it seems as though he’s been a bad boyfriend. She tells him simply to just “go back to that woman”.

Flashing back to some days earlier in this couples life, it is revealed that Tomio did in fact begin having an affair with a fortune teller. This same teller foresaw their relationship as being “doomed”. But this seems to have been a fortune reading designed for one thing — to get Tomio into bed with said teller.

And it worked.

However, after they had made love, the fortune teller reveals her true evil intentions towards Tomio. He has no choice but to run from her, but not before she manages to curse him.

But just what happened when Tomio and the fortune teller met up? What evil secrets does this cursed woman hold and why did she target Tomio? And just what has she done to cause him to go running back to Madoka with his head clutched between his hands?

Strong Women

Ito has a talent for bringing strong women to the forefront of his stories, perhaps none more so than Tomie — the immortal, self-replicating demon girl who drives men to go crazy over her. However, Tomio Red Turtleneck displays two very strong women too.

The first is the fortune teller, who manages to captivate Tomio into having an affair without any real effort on her part. Perhaps it was magic but nonetheless she had that power over him. She is an imposing figure over the story and is definitely someone not to be messed with.

The Fortune Teller reveals her true intentions

The second is Madoka. Despite being cheated on by her boyfriend, Madoka isn’t saddened or feeling sorry about the situation. Instead she kicks him out in anger and is even the one to save his skin towards the end. It’s unsure whether she will remain with him after this is all resolved, but one thing is for sure — she sure knows how to handle herself and wont go down without a fight.

Monogamy

If ever there could be a horror manga allegory for not cheating on your partner, then Tomio Red Turtleneck is it. Tomio doesn’t come across as a particularly nice person in the opening pages. He screams at his girlfriend Madoka that the fortune teller is “way hotter” than her, before running off to her bed. I personally couldn’t wait for him to get his just desserts.

I found that the fortune teller and the affair with her was a great metaphor for, and even a warning against, being unfaithful to your partner. Tomio sees the teller and is taken with how beautiful she is. He ends up in her bed as he probably believes himself to be “upgrading” his lover in his mind. But of course, once he discovers her true intentions, and the severed heads of other men whom I could only assume cheated on their partners too, he realises he has messed up.

I don’t for one second think that what he ends up going through can reconcile how he treated Madoka, but perhaps having his head almost removed is a little bit too far a punishment. Perhaps.

Children of the flames

I loved the imagery of the three children that were revealed once the fortune teller had been stabbed. Were these malicious spirits that were in control of an otherwise innocent fortune teller? Or were they in fact unborn children of hers who’s presence was still felt by those around?

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Madoka and Tomio too. Yes, even Tomio. I think that the fortune teller had some kind of control over him. Whilst I don’t excuse his actions, or his attitude towards Madoka, I did feel that he was a very naive person — almost child like. And while Madoka came across as more head strong, she too felt not much older than a child.

The fortune teller on the other hand seemed much older and infinitely more in control of her self. Although her motives were never revealed, she definitely had control over the situation. Of course, she did underestimate Madoka at the end. So I guess she couldn’t have been that much in control.

In Conclusion

Tomio Red Turtleneck is a quintessential Junji Ito manga that I think you should definitely read. Whilst it’s not in my top 5, it is definitely up there towards the top of my favourites. The imagery of Tomio stumbling down the street clutching at his almost-severed head is one of those Ito images that I just won’t ever forget.

Junji Ito has created such iconic imagery through his career so far, and no-doubt will continue to do so. But I think that Tomio and his red turtleneck are, at least for me, one of the most memorable.

Marionette Mansion

Family reuinions and creepy puppets. Junji Ito delivers a strange and enjoyable story with Marionette Mansion.

That’s right. Just let yourself go limp. Turn yourself over to the puppeteers.
Yukihiko enticing his siblings to his way of life.

Marionette Mansion — synopsis

In Marionette Mansion we follow Haruhiko — a boy from a travelling entertainment family. Him and his family move from town to town putting on their puppet shows for the townspeople. Because of this, Haruhiko is unable to settle down and make any lasting friendships.

Whilst staying in one particular town, he befriends a girl before having to move on again. Whilst they have their short time together, he shows her his family’s travelling home and the puppets that they work with. One puppet in particular creeps the girl out, causing her to knock it to the floor out of shock. This puppet’s name is Jean Pierre — more on him later.

Years later, after his older brother had left and the father had passed away, Haruhiko and his young sister Natsumi are living a simple life together. No more travelling from town to town. Everything is fine, when all of a sudden he bumps into the girl he had befriended all those years earlier. With them now both adults and seemingly settled in their lives, they start to grow closer. But this is a Junji Ito story, and you know that their story doesn’t just end there.

Kinuko and Haruhiko renew their friendship

Haruhiko discovers that the brother who had left the family years earlier, has in fact been living close by for some time and urges him and the young sister to visit.

They accept their older brother’s offer.

To Haruhiko’s and Natsumi’s surprise, the door is answered by none other than Jean Pierre. Yes that’s right — Jean Pierre the puppet. They discover how the older brother and his new family live the lives of puppets on strings — quite literally. They seem to be getting controlled by some unseen entities in the ceiling above, the strings being lowered through a system of grids.

But how will Haruhiko adjust to not only getting back in touch with his brother, but also getting used to their very unconventional way of living? And how is he going to keep his little sister safe from the danger that is sure to be near?

Who’s pulling the strings?

This is without a doubt one of the weirdest stories of Junji Ito’s that I’ve read for a while. It raises the question “Who is pulling the strings”. Of course, the family at the start literally pull the strings of the puppets in their travelling show. But in the later years of the siblings’ lives, that role is reversed.

The fact that Jean Pierre – a seemingly inanimate puppet – welcomes them at the door, let me know that this was going to be an odd one. I realise that Junji Ito is known for how strange and infinitely imaginative his mangas tend to be. But in Marionette Mansion there seems to be a sense of whimsy to the whole thing. Like he is simply having fun playing with these characters and literally pulling their strings for his own, and by extension our, enjoyment.

After reading this in the Shiver Collection, I also read the accompanying backstory of the manga that comes with each chapter. In it, Junji Ito says:

…I’d like to hang my upper body from the ceiling. How lovely would it be to leave my body like that and get the work done? This story came from thoughts like these…
Junji Ito talking about the origin of the story for Marionette Mansion

Interpretations

Despite Ito’s explanation of the story’s genesis, I still can’t help but try to find extra meanings. I thought that the “family on strings” was an interesting metaphor for not being in control of one’s own life. From the start the siblings had no choice but to travel with the family and their puppet shows. Then later the older brother, although the first to leave the family, still relys on his strings being pulled for him.

The welcoming of Haruhiko and Natsumi into the house presented a danger to their way of life. This danger is especially true for Natsumi, who is still very much young and impressionable. Although Haruhiko comes across as being very headstrong and wishing to be in control of his life, Natsumi perhaps wont see the long-term effects of having one’s decisions and movements made for her.

I think of Marionette Mansion as a tale about fighting the urge to have everything in life done for you. To fight against handing over responsibilities to others for the sake of living an “easy” life. And to always strive to be your own person — not imitating or relying on others for your own sense of self.

In Summary

This is an enjoyable story that came across as a lighter read than other mangas in Ito’s large body of work. Nothing in this story made me want to look away in disgust. However, there are still some nice gruesome moments to keep your pallet salivated.

I loved how the main character fought his side of the argument and does his utmost to protect himself and Natsumi, no matter what pressures get placed on him. He is a great conduit for the lessons that I believe we can learn from this story:

Never be afraid to be yourself and always be willing to fight for your independence and dignity.

Twisted Souls (Uzumaki part 5)

In Twisted Souls, Junji Ito brings into the town of Kurouzu-cho a Romeo and Juliet kind of story. Except with a little twist.

Twisted Souls — synopsis

Yoriko and Kazunori are deeply in love, but are from two families at war. To make matters worse, these two families share the same row house within the town of Kurouzu-cho — separated only by a thin dividing wall. The row houses are long, wooden, single-level buildings that can be found throughout the town. Some are hidden away in the towns forgotten places, whilst others sit on its outer edges.

Each attempt that Yoriko and Kazunori make to be with one another, is ended with their families ripping them apart. They have no care for their families’ age-old feud, and simply want to be able to live out their lives together in peace.

Kirie stumbles upon a fight between the families on her way home one day. She soon decides that she will help these two attempted lovers to escape their respective families and start their own lives once and for all. These controlling family members are, as Kazunori puts it, twisted souls; their hearts are bent out of shape.

However, it may be that embracing the spiral is the only way for them to escape once and for all.

A Shakespearean tale

The focus in this story is completely removed from the previous chapters so far. The families in Twisted Souls are separate from both Kirie and Shuichi — it was only through chance that Kirie stumbled upon them. But the spiral is still at work in this story. It is obvious after reading this that the spiral is in fact all over Kurouzu-Cho.

The star-crossed lovers in this chapter reminded me instantly of Romeo and Juliet. It’s a pretty common Shakespeare story that influences a lot of popular fiction, but it was nice nonetheless to see it woven into the world of Uzumaki.

Junji Ito’s work is often compared to the work of acclaimed horror author H.P. Lovecraft. However, I believe there will be many parallels with Shakespearean tragedy in Ito’s work too. Although I can only recall this reference to Romeo and Juliet currently, I will start to look out for other references going forward.

Red herrings

On first reading this story, when I saw what Kazunori was saying about his and Yoriko’s families, I thought I’d immediately guessed how the ending would go. “Their hearts are bent out of shape”, “You can’t untangle them”, “They shield themselves by becoming warped”.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong about my predictions in Twisted Souls. It was an interesting spin and, dare I say it, a relief to see the spiral being used by these people as a way for them to finally realise their own dreams.

In Conclusion

I very much enjoyed Twisted Souls. It was a slightly different story to previous chapters and didn’t lean on much body horror at all, save for the ending. But even that felt to me like the lovers welcomed their destiny. It was their dream to be together; to become one with each other through sickness and in health. They got their wish.

For once in Uzumaki, amongst the death, horror and gore, the Spiral actually helped two people in need. And not only that, but it did so of their own free will too.

The Firing Effect (Uzumaki part 4)

In The Firing Effect, Kirie’s father is producing some very strange, twisted pottery. This isn’t surprising when we find out where he gets his clay from…

The Firing Effect — Synopsis

Kirie’s father, the pottery maker, has been producing some very strange pieces recently. What were once clean, solid pieces of hand-crafted clay, come out of his kiln all twisted and spiralled out of shape. They also bare strange markings — not only the hypnotic pattern of the spiral, but the faces of the recently deceased too.

After some investigation it is discovered that the father has recently been getting his clay from the neighbouring pond of water — Dragonfly Pond. This is the very same pond that seems to have been absorbing the smoke and the ashes of the dead on the day of their cremation. It looks like the spiral has found its next victim.

Throughout The Firing Effect, Kirie’s father seems almost obsessed with his kiln and will not leave the cooking clay alone. He even panics when others try to go near it. Kirie decides to do some digging one evening to try and get to the bottom her father’s strange movements. However, nothing could have prepared her for what she finds inside her father’s kiln.

Like a phoenix from the flames

Just when we thought we’d heard the last of Shuichi’s parents, it seems they were never too far away after all. In any usual place the cremation of the deceased is a sure-fire way of disposing of the body. Whether they are human, vampire, zombie, whatever. Complete incineration normally does the trick. But this is Junji Ito we’re talking about.

With Dragonfly Pond seemingly sucking in the dust and smoke of the town’s cremations into its centre, it seems that the spiral is never really done with its victims. This made me think — perhaps Kurouzu-cho is a form of purgatory for the people who live there.

Shuichi knows that Dragonfly Pond is infected with spirals

When we finally get a glimpse inside the kiln we see, and later hear, Shuichi’s parents screaming in pain for help. They seem to be reliving their cremations only being fully aware of the heat and the pain it is causing. However, we had already seen their faces imprinted on pottery earlier in the chapter.

Maybe their souls are forever trapped in Dragonfly Pond. Are they destined to forever be burned again and again? Or are these just phantoms of the spiral simply using the images of the dead to torment those still living in mourning?

More drama for Shuichi

Although he hasn’t been a central character for the last couple of chapters, Shuichi’s presence is always felt. This is no doubt due to his seemingly mystical connection to the spiral. That shape seems to follow him everywhere and just wont leave him in peace. He also seems to be the one most in tune to its effects.

When it is later revealed that the father’s clay is being dredged out of Dragonfly Pond, Shuichi instinctively responds by stating that the pond is infested with spirals. He seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to this evil pattern, as demonstrated in the opening chapter. If this is some kind of purgatory for the folks in Kurouzu-cho, perhaps Shuichi is the one at its centre? Perhaps he is the key to unravelling this mystery?

Mr Goshima getting his clay from Dragonfly Pond

It felt good to see him being able to fight back against this deadly shape as well. Although destroying the kiln is a small action on the grand scheme of things, a little destruction may be just what he needed. Perhaps that was what Shuichi needed in order to lay his demons to rest — both figuratively and literally. Hopefully his parents can now be free from their eternal flames and escape this cursed town. But something tells me this wont be the case.

In Conclusion

I started to feel Kurouzu-cho was a kind of twisted second home for me after reading this chapter. The characters were now firmly etched in my mind and I even felt like I knew them somewhat. I am really enjoying digging deeper into this town and getting to know these people as the time goes by.

One thing that stood out to me in The Firing Effect was the complete lack of violence. Despite the disturbing images that certain characters see inside the kiln, they are only really shown to us as ghostly apparitions and shadows.

As I have mentioned before, it is good to have these relatively calmer chapters as a kind of breathing space for us readers. If it was crazy body horror all the time, I think I would just get desensitised to the shock and maybe even a little bored.

What I am finding though, is I’m anticipating a crazy chapter very soon. Something to knock me out of my chair as the opening chapters did. I feel something dark and grotesque is coming soon, and I hope I’m not kept waiting too long. 🙂

Wooden Spirit

In Wooden Spirit, Junji Ito takes us on a strange journey of love. Specifically, the love between one woman and a house that she finds desirable…

Wooden Spirit — Synopsis

In Wooden Spirit, we are introduced to Megumi and her father. They live together in an old wooden house that has recently gained cultural recognition. Despite them being the only ones who live there, the house has eleven rooms to its name. And they take very good care of each and every square inch.

In the story’s opening scene a woman knocks on their front door and asks to take a look inside the house. This woman, Manami Kino, immediately falls in love with this house. And when I say “falls in love with it”, I really mean it.

Before long, she and Megumi’s father become an item and she eventually moves in.

What is most strange here though, is Manami’s behaviour towards the house itself. This woman takes house proud to a whole new level. But just how far will she go with her strange antics?

One with the elements

This is a house that has been given cultural status for its historic importance. And then when this mysterious woman comes by she remarks at the elegance of the wood work. She sees the walls; the floors; the joists and remarks at how “sexy” they are.

At first read of this story last year I took it at face value. I saw it simply as a woman who makes her home within this house, before beginning to make love to it. I enjoyed the read for how ludicrous it was and thought nothing more of it at the time. However, on revisiting it with my new appreciation for Junji Ito, I am seeing deeper into the material.

One wild theory

Later on when she reveals herself for the demon she is — with an almost wood-like appearance — I came to an interesting thought. What if she was some kind of tree spirit? Yes, I know the story is called “Wooden Spirit”, but I thought I’d dig a bit deeper. What if her love for this house is not as a result of the building, but of the materials instead? Could her love towards the walls and the beams come from them being made from a former partner of hers when they were once both trees?

My theory does take a few leaps in imagination, but that is precisely one of the biggest things I enjoy about Ito’s work: the new connections he helps to form in my brain. Yes, this is a bit of a crazy theory, but is it so unbelievable within the world of Junji Ito? I don’t think so.

I loved how the story ended too. It felt almost poetic for me after I’d been on this theoretical journey in my mind. Let’s think for a moment how the wood has been taken from its natural place: the forest, and forced to become something fit for humans: a house. From this idea we could suppose that what this demon / spirit woman is doing in the end, is herself turning the wood back into something that she could then love again — flesh and blood.

In Conclusion

Wooden Spirit is one of Junji Ito’s strangest stories when taken at face value, as I once did. But when I began asking myself questions about its world, I managed to build up that world even more in my mind’s eye.

Whether Ito had any similar thoughts behind this story as the ones I have discussed here, I’ll probably never know. But what I do know is, is that no matter what physical images someone sees on this story’s pages, his stories have the power to create unique and interesting visions in the minds of those readers… if you’ll let them.

As the second story in his Fragments of Horror collection, Wooden Spirit will open you up to new experiences within Ito’s work. To a very unorthodox and, dare I say it, beautiful love.