Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Deserter by Junji Ito

22 reviews

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

nodogsonthemoon's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, War, Gaslighting, Gore, Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Bullying, and Child abuse

theayeaye's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

My first time reading a collection of Junji Ito stories and I really liked it! Each story was different from the last and touched on a clever subversion of the expected to create a riveting horror story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, Suicide, Gore, and Child abuse

sirenricobooks's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Death, Bullying, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, and Cursing

lynxpardinus's review

challenging dark mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, War, Body horror, Bullying, and Self harm

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Minor: Colonisation

wends_nblw's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide, Bullying, Child death, and Child abuse

Minor: War

louisegraveyard's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

theleppy's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

This one is a bit hard to rate. I have read a fair amount of Junji Ito at this point and this is some of his older work. It's still really good but not as terrifying as he can be. I have to note that I was floored by the endings to Biohouse and Face Theif because they aren't his usual ending! I think the building dread of Unendurable Labyrinth worked the best and was closer to Ito's best works with this idea of taking a character's fear/phobia and enhancing it. I liked the title story. I'm noticing and liking Ito's revenge gone wrong stories. Lots of great ideas in this book with varying degrees of success. The only story I didn't like was Bullied because it involves child abuse which is one of those things I personally can't enjoy (especially with a classically bleak Ito ending). There is another story in this collection that is arguably also child abuse but the concept and ending were much better and I was able to appreciate it. 

If you are a fan of Ito's work I would check this out but don't start here. There are other collections of his like Shiver that I would recommend over this for someone new to Junji Ito.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: War

raychelbennet's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.5

I’ve lost count of the number of Junji Ito collections I have read and I think point I don’t think I can definitively say if I’ve enjoyed any of them. I agree with the common perception that Junji Ito is a master of the horror manga genre. But even more so for me—he is a master of the uncomfortable. Everything about his books make me uncomfortable: from the art style to the plot and *especially* the characters. The characters in particular always make my skin crawl and this is true for Deserter. As I mentioned, I didn’t enjoy this but it did its purpose. I was discomfited, uneasy, and on edge. And even though I keep being made uncomfortable, I keep reading Junji Ito’s graphic novels, so I think that says more about him really than I ever could. 

 

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, and Body horror

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Cursing

alexis76's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse