junji Ito maniac lands on Netflix. A series that covers some of the most powerful stories of this Japanese author plus his character, known as soichi. Talk about Ito is to see the future of terror, a man that even directors like Guillem del Toro or Álex de l’Església fascinate them.
Before we start, Tomie.
Junji Ito Maniac it’s a compilation of his scariest stories where I’ll make my own top here. But before we begin, let’s get to know this master of horror a little more. Ito was a dentist who one day decided to create a cartoon for a horror contest run by author Kazuo Umezu. Although he had already been drawing and creating stories for some time, Ito wanted to try his hand at this important competition. It was then that he wrote ‘Tomie’, the story of a girl who is murdered at school and she reappears, but not as a ghost, but as something more. It is here that the master of terror flourished. Unwittingly, he began creating horror sleeves for magazines for teenagers, especially girls. Until one day, the mangaka had to quit his job as a dentist and focus on his second job.
Here a list of the 50 best anime
Before continuing I would like to comment on a rather funny fact. And the fact is that the girls’ magazines where Ito worked used to hold contests to meet the authors. Well, when the girls went to Junji Ito’s house, what they thought they would find, after reading all his stories, was a disturbed guy locked in a basement with all the lights off. But when they entered his house he was always greeted by his wife with freshly prepared tea. And Junji Ito is a charming man, even if he doesn’t seem like it.
And now, let’s see what I thought of the stories.
I don’t want to gloss over that introduction they made junji Ito maniac. This music so crazy and these psychedelic effects that it seems like we have taken pills from the neighbor’s dog. A warning of what we are about to see, and enter. So, without further ado, let’s get into it:
Number 20- The adorable pet of soichi
Honestly, I’m not very familiar with this character, so I’m not used to his humor. I’m sorry of course junji Ito as a young man
Number 19- The room with walls quadruple
Well, the same as I mentioned above, but this one seemed more like the style of Ito. With this rare carpenter.
Number 18- The strange brothers Hikizuri
Recycled characters with a story that doesn’t manage to give that macabre charm that has us so attached to it mangaka japanese
Number 17- The intruder
Although it has an interesting story, it falls short in the final part. It lacked the macabre spark.
Number 16- Headless statues
Already here we can feel the sick mind of Ito. A juicy premise in the most B series style.
Number 15- The thing that wrecked on the coast
Short but intense. junji Ito it creates a story that leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths, like a sea of rotten water.
Number 14- An unbearable maze
Instead of a cabin in the middle of the forest, we find a Buddhist temple lost in the forest. Not so bad.
Number 13- The alley
This is the kind of story that we fans of junji Ito. A house with a little more supernatural, but skipping these brooches that we have become accustomed to.
Number 12- The story of the mysterious tunnel
A story both sad and distressing. You have a bad time with the character, which he does very well. mangaka.
Number 11- The photographs of Tommy.
The queen arrived, one of the main masterpieces of Ito; Tommy. Everything started with her. But to savor the real wickedness of this girl we have to see the whole story. I recommend it to you.
LET’S START WITH THE TOP 10 ARE YOU READY?
Number 10- He abuses her.
Treating a social history, junji Ito it makes you go through a bad experience in a story that doesn’t escape our reality.
Number 9- The woman who whispers.
Ito us a story about gender violence, but this time it is much more perverse than what we are used to.
Number 8 – Flesh
A terrifying story where we meet in full with the art and style of Ito. Disgusting, horrible and disturbing are the words that run through my head when I try to remember both the anime and the sleeve.
Number 7- The lair of the dream demon
A chapter both disturbing and maddening. That is, a good story of junji Ito.
Number 6- The ice cream bus
I loved this story when I read it, and the macabre touch that the anime gives it makes it more macabre. If you notice, the identity of the owner of the ice cream bus is never revealed; why Cal?
Number 5- The long hair of the attic.
Very crazy story about the importance of cutting your hair. Not only does his hair come alive, but he also comes up with a plan for revenge.
Number 4- The city of tombs.
I remember reading this chapter cover to cover and enjoying it. And although I didn’t like the animation they use at certain moments, the ending makes up for it with music that makes it more impressive.
WE REACH THE TOP 3, THE WINNERS OF MY TOP
Number 3- The gallows balloons.
Classic among classics. Masterpiece of Japanese horror. And an invasion that invades our world of killer balloons. Narrated slowly and with an ending that we cannot escape. ‘Gallows balloons’ is already a brand of junji Ito.
Number 2- The layers of terror.
Whether you read it or watch it in the anime, ‘Layers of Terror’ is straight-up horror. Is junji Ito in pure state Because the important of the mangaka the thing about horror is that you never know how it will surprise you.
Number 1- Library mirrors.
But for me, the story that surpasses the rest of the stories is this one. And the more I saw her, the more distressed I felt. How he tells us a hard story through books and a protagonist who is unable to forget what he experienced as a child. Simply masterful
Three more stories?
having liked Junji Ito Maniac I would like to finish talking about three stories that I would have liked to see in this collection. I discard the magnificent story of ‘Uzumaki’ because this will be brought to the screen by HBO Max. That’s why I choose three stories that caused me a lot of fear when I read them. The first is ‘The Riddle of the Amigara Fault’; a story that came as a supplement to another work by Ito, ‘Gyo’. Being the second extended one, it didn’t give me as much terror as the story of the Amigara crash. It tells the story of human-shaped silhouettes that appear in a fault, where people become obsessed that the shapes look like themselves. The second story is ‘Long Dream’, almost Lovecraftian story with mad doctor included. Simply freaky where a doctor treats a patient where he assures him that every time he goes to bed the dreams he has are getting longer and longer. To the point where the years start to show on the body. And finally ‘The window next door’ a simple yet terrifying tale that gets crazier the further you read.
A few last words
I would not like to finish without pronouncing a few words of justice for Junji Ito Maniac. And it is that, although it could have been done better, it must be admitted that Junji Ito’s style is very difficult to bring to the screen. I liked a lot of the things that appear in the series, like the music. And that, even if it doesn’t reach the level of terror it should have reached, at least we have our sleeves. Getting to the level that Ito is used to is very difficult. But hey, I had a great time revisiting Junji Ito’s universe.