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refrejarator's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
vulcandropout's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Fatphobia
danimacuk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
sylvestra's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
petitemass15's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Self harm, Car accident, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Incest, and Grief
vampirehelpdesk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Violence, and Blood
howlinglibraries's review
5.0
→ Tombs ★★★★★
I loved this story and thought it was such a fantastic tone-setter for the collection. In typical Junji Ito fashion, we have a mixture of body horror and Weird Shit in a Small Town™️ with no real explanation for why any of it’s happening.
→ Clubhouse ★★★★☆
This was a really short, fun little paranormal story that I think would make an awesome short in a horror film anthology. I loved the ending!
→ Slug Girl ★★★★★
This was absolutely DISGUSTING and, as someone who hates slugs as much as Yuko does, I’m probably going to have nightmares.
→ The Window Next Door ★★★★★
How creepy! There’s something so unsettling about the idea of a mysterious neighbor trying to crawl in through your window, and that last page made me a little queasy.
→ Washed Ashore ★★★★★
Despite loving the ocean and sea creatures, I actually have a solid case of thalassophobia, so the idea of this bizarre deep-sea creature unlike anything ever seen before washing up on a beach intrigued me from the start. While it’s a very quick story, this is one of my favorites!
→ The Strange Tale of the Tunnel ★★★★★
This reminded me of a few other of Junji Ito’s stories, though I can’t say why without spoiling the twist. That said, I’m always amazed by how he can take the most mundane things and turn them into something terrible that I’ll never look at the same way (like spirals!).
→ Bronze Statue ★★★★☆
This was my least favorite in the collection, but as you can see by the rating, I still enjoyed it a lot! It had a bit of an “urban legend” feel to it that was a lot of fun.
→ Floaters ★★★★★
This one was so bizarre and fun! What an awful idea, to think of little things floating around mimicking your darkest thoughts—and what a tragic ending!
→ The Bloody Story of Shirosuna ★★★★★
The final story in this collection was, in my opinion, the best one of them all — in fact, it’s one of my favorite Junji Ito stories out of all of his books! It’s such an incredibly unnerving piece that, in his usual way, leaves us with no real explanation for why these awful things have happened, and that ambiguity is part of what makes it work so well.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Grief, and Stalking
the_jamae_way's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
blackcatkai's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
9 stories by Junji Ito that haven't been traditionally published in English until this collection. If you've been reading his work for awhile (and i mean online fan translations) then you may recognise a couple familiar reads here. at least one of these was even recently adapted for the Netflix Junji Ito anime!
basically i loved this, one of the best collections of his work, read it.
ratings for each story as follows:
1) tombs: 5/5
2) clubhouse: 3/5 - ending was pretty sudden, feels like it could've used at least a couple more panels or pages but the rest was great
3) slug girl: 5/5 - always a fave. so fucking weird. love it.
4) the window next door: 5/5 - another fave I've always found real creepy, so glad to see it finally in an official English release!
5) washed ashore: 4/5
6) strange tale of the tunnel: 4/5~ a couple parts that were meant to be creepy were kind of just funny, not gonna lie
7) bronze statue: 4/5 - less creepy, more odd & a bit funny. I liked it.
8) floaters: 5/5 - this was was mostly weird, but also sad
9) the bloody story of shirosuna: 5/5
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Minor: Ableism
katiemack's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
At this point I'll devour any Junji Ito collection I can access, so this was a treat. While I would have liked more from a couple of the stories, it's a well-balanced set of body horror and psychological torment, and the art and plotlines all thoroughly creeped me out and/or made me recoil slowly as I turned the pages. Standout stories for me include "Tombs," "The Strange Tale of the Tunnel," and "The Bloody Story of Shirosuna."
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Blood