Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Deserter by Junji Ito

21 reviews

urezia's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Putting aside Ito's classics like Tomie or Uzumaki, I think Deserter is a good book to start reading his work if you've never read Junji Ito before. It's based on short stories, but each of them has the dark intense and crazy plot-twists only a guy like Junji Ito can come up with! Besides the uniqueness of his illustrations, each story is very entertaining and it's hard to guess where it's gonna go until you get to the last page. I think it was so well thought of! There's definitely a little bit of everything so please make sure to check the content warnings before you give this one a try.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gore, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Death

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: War

savshelfinger's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Classic early Junji Ito; I rate the titular story as the best in the bunch. Didn’t care for Bullied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse

pipbiz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: War

nightstitch96's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, Death, Suicide, Gore, and Body horror

haleybre's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Suicide, and Body horror

helliecreed's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Body horror and Gore

jaredolin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, and Child abuse

doomluz's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is a collection of some of his earlier stories. I had read "The Face Thief" in an older collection, which reminded me of why I fell in love with his stories to begin with.
The art is still good, though not as a refined. The stories feel less connected, but interesting and show how creepy and weird his stories are.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Bullying, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: War and Child death

ellislilylovestoread's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, War, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

gabriel_dingle's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As this is a collection of Ito’s earlier works, it is expected that they will be slightly lower quality than his more recent works, so I was a bit lenient with my rating (3.75 -> 4). There are some really good classics in here, as well as some forgettable and predictable stories. The story the manga is named after, Deserter, was a little disappointing, however the twist was rather clever. I just wish Ito did a little bit more with the twist. Overall, there are many great short stories in here that make reading Deserter worth it, especially if you are a fan of horror manga.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Gore, Blood, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Violence, Self harm, Bullying, Suicide, and Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Car accident