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 — 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.

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.

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…