David Peach

We have seen the mansion twice so far, during our exploration of the Tomie Collection. First we saw a wet, slightly-dishevelled Tomie appear on the mansion’s doorstep in the opening to Photo. And from what we could tell, It seemed to be occupied by an old man and his daughter. Second, we see her run back there after the shocking events in Photo, and its follow-on Kiss. She runs back to the old man as if he were her father, meaning she had somehow taken the daughter’s place.

What is Tomie : Mansion about?

In Tomie : Mansion we delve deeper into the story behind that mansion, exploring the secrets within its depths. Tomie mentions to the old man, who I’ll refer to as father from now on, that she has tracked down Tsukiko. (Tsukiko is the girl from the previous couple of stories, Photo and Kiss.) She was one of the lucky ones to have come face to face with Tomie and lived to tell the tale.

Well, it seems Tomie doesn’t let go of grudges too easily, and manages to lure her back to the mansion. She does this with the promise of reunited her with her friend, Yamazaki. But once she realises that it was just a trick to get her trapped, Tsukiko must fight to escape the place.

We then follow her as she comes across past admirers of Tomie – people who are still under her spell. They are hell-bent on using Tsukiko for experiments for research into Tomie’s powers. But will she escape those clutches alive once again, or will her luck finally run out?

Main Characters

A mystery revealed

We are finally shown the truth about what happened that rainy night; the night when Tomie first appeared at the mansion’s doors. And not only that, but we also have an extra piece of information about that night, that I thought was a nice touch. The reason behind the old man’s apparent acceptance of Tomie is revealed too.

It was nice that Junji Ito took the time to put these details in. It really helps to flesh out this whole world, as well as tying those other stories together. I can’t help but think that Ito must have had some sort of over-arching story line already in mind whilst writing each chapter. Perhaps not so much with the early ones, but there are definitely strong threads through these last few.

What lurks beneath

This chapter felt like a good ending to the “Tsukiko Trilogy” for me. And although it didn’t seem to last very long, it still has some interesting reveals. It also has a good mix of Tomie mutations thrown in for good measure too.

It would have been great to have delved a little deeper into the mansion story. Perhaps if Tsukiko were driven further inside its walls, with a tougher escape journey, it could have been really special. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it for what it was.

A special mention needs to be made for the poor family who call this mansion their home. I wont spoil their ultimate fate for you, but rest assured that they have a bad time with Tomie around. I don’t know why she chose that particular home to essentially invade, but when Tomie wants something – no matter how large or small – she gets it. This girl is a real piece of work.

In Summary

If I’m honest, I was expecting a much larger story within the mansion, as it seemed to have been built up through its previous appearances. Despite this, Mansion was an enjoyable read as always. It was even fun to see some old characters come back from previous chapters – one from very early on.

Tomie : Mansion is probably best read as part of its full story arc – namely Photo; Kiss; and finally Mansion.

Tomie : Kiss is the direct follow-on story from Tomie : Photo. In it, we’re following Tsukiko again, as she struggles to come to terms with the extreme occurrences that closed that previous chapter. We open the story to her having a nightmare of that previous night, which serves well as a quick reminder if you hadn’t read Photo in a while.

Outside of her apartment she bumps into Yamazaki. She finds him free from Tomie’s spell after getting beaten up by the possessed boys Daichi and Kimata. Tsukiko, being the friendly girl she is, forgives him for his past actions and takes him back to the scene of the crime – her apartment. Here she attempts to nurse him back to health despite her apartment being a wreck from before.

Within no time at all though, Tomie’s presence makes herself known to Yamizaki. She whispers to him directly, making him go looking for her in the apartment. Sure enough, he comes to the room where Tomie was killed the night before – and subsequently where she got back up from. Tomie then goes on to manifest herself in one of the cleverest ways I’ve seen in the series up until this point.

How far will Tomie’s bodyguards, Daichi and Kimata, go in honouring their commitment to her? Will Tsukiko survive another day under Tomie’s shadow? Will Yamazaki now stay true to Tsukiko, or will he stray back into the arms of the possessor?

Main Characters

Single point in time

Previous stories from the Tomie collection have been narratives that would span a decent length of time. Meaning, we would move from scene to scene – advancing the movement of time for the characters. With Kiss though, once Tsukiko has brought an injured Yamazaki back to her blood-stained apartment, we stay there. We are stuck in that room with them, witnessing the horrors that Tomie still manages to bring.

Kiss is a chapter that really focuses in on the hold that she has over people too. Tsukiko is suffering from nightmares of that night; Yamazaki is still driven by the haunting voice of Tomie. Even the two henchmen of hers from the previous story have a more central role here. Both Daichi and Kimata are still hell-bent on killing Tsukiko, after having now taken Tomie’s mutated head away from the scene.

While this chapter doesn’t really do much in moving the world forward too much, it does manage to give a satisfying – and suitably haunting – closing chapter to what happened in Photo. I like how it really drills down into a single moment in time that seemed to read in real-time for the most part.

The blood is alive

I love seeing new ways in which Junji Ito has Tomie regrow herself. Not just as simple as limbs growing back after being removed – the idea of the blood taking control was a nice addition to the canon. The exploring and pushing of the limits of her abilities show great promise for the future of the series.

Tomie’s spilt blood giving life to the carpet underlay is one of those visions that stays with me. Out of the entire Tomie collection, it is one of the scenes that I remember most. I loved how it brought back my memories of the scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Specifically that scene where the T-1000 rises up out of the ground in the mental hospital. Even though the basic idea is similar, it was good to see it here in a much more raw and bloody way.

It was also fun to see this idea fleshed out further in the closing pages of this chapter.

In Summary

Tomie : Kiss is a continuation of the events in Photo. However, its still worth reading on its own if only for the visuals that Ito creates.

The story itself is very simple and set in a single location for the most part. This really lets you focus in on the horrifying scenes that unfold for Tsukiko, without having to hold a bunch of extra characters and locations in your mind.

What is Tomie Photo about?

Tsukiko is a girl in school, who also happens to be a member of the photography club. However, she is using her skills with the camera to turn a quick profit, whilst preying on the desires of her peers. She will take photos of certain boys in school and then sell those photos to any girls who have a crush on them.

Tomie, meanwhile, is the head of the school’s ethics committee, and immediately sees an issue with Tsukiko’s little business venture. She hatches an elaborate plan to entrap Tsukiko, causing her to take photos of her whilst talking about the profit to be made. Just as she planned the teacher overhears this and Tsukiko is immediately suspended from school: Tomie 1 – Tsukiko 0.

However, when Tsukiko gets those photos developed, they reveal a disturbing side of Tomie that the naked eye can’t detect. Something dark hidden beneath the surface; something evil. But when she tries to use these photos to exact revenge on Tomie, things take a nasty turn for her.

As an aside, it is interesting how Tomie Photo begins. We see her in the opening pages arriving at an unknown mansion of an old man and his daughter. Once she enters, we cut forward in time to Tomie being settled into her apparent new life. This mansion will feature in future stories too, including the chapter quite aptly titled ‘Tomie Mansion‘.

Main Characters

Where is the moral centre?

What I found most interesting in Tomie Photo, was the placing of the moral centre in the story. Things aren’t as simple as Tsukiko good; Tomie bad. In fact, I would argue that Tomie is on the side of right for most of it – all of it perhaps, depending on how you interpret her actions. (See bottom of this post for my reasoning with some spoilers). We saw this theme a little bit in the first chapter where, although she was manipulative, didn’t deserve to be killed and cut up by her teacher. Yes I know that particular death was an accident, but the disposing of the body wasn’t very dignified, was it?

But no matter where you place Tomie, Tsukiko is a bit of a bad girl herself. Essentially using her customers’ weaknesses in order to charge large sums of money for the photos. And at no point does she display regret for this – she’s too busy trying to keep herself alive towards the end from a very pissed-off Tomie.

I mean, really. Taking advantage of those poor girls, not to mention the boys you photograph.

Tomie seems to be on the moral high ground.

This kind of exploration of character is one of the many aspects of Junji Ito’s work, specifically in this series, that make me love his stuff. Nothing is simply good and bad; black and white; light and dark. There is an unsettling shade that weaves it’s way into most things throughout these stories. But don’t get me wrong, there are some purely innocent people who get caught in Tomie’s path along the way. But we’ll come to those in due time.

In Summary

This chapter is a favourite of mine from the Tomie Collection. It has an interesting exploration of character between protagonist and antagonist. Not only that, but even a few surprise left turns that took me off guard on first reading. The world begins to open up even more with this chapter also. Not only with the introduction of new characters, but also with the mansion she arrives at in the opening pages. This mansion will be explored further later on, which helps tie these stories together even more.

Although part of a bigger story, this is actually one of the chapters that can be enjoyed completely on its own too. The last couple have been continuations of the same thread in Morita Hospital, but Tomie Photo shifts gear – opening up the world a little more for my favourite manga lady.

Interpretation of Tomie’s actions (some spoilers)

My reasoning as to why she could be considered “good” in Tomie Photo, is down to the possibility of her being possessed by an evil alternate persona. We see it time and again through this series that she has the outward appearance of a normal woman. It only tends to be once she’s triggered somehow that things turn nasty. There are moments when these triggers don’t necessarily show her to be unveiling her true self, but rather her true self revealing itself against her will.

We can see this in that final harrowing scene in Tsukiko’s home. She calls Tomie a “monster”, which triggers a reaction in her that appears to be against Tomie’s wishes. This causes another head to start growing from her body. Tomie pleads to her bodyguards / lackies to cut it off of her which, in true Ito fashion, they do.

If indeed there is a foreign body within her that causes this, as opposed to her being in control of it all, it gives Tomie an even more multi-faceted personality.