Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Deserter by Junji Ito

6 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

saltnvinnies's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Blood, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Body horror, War, Animal cruelty, and Gaslighting

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

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

sabrinalefebvre's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was my entry into Junji Ito’s work. And I gotta say, not really impressed.

This is a collection of short horror stories, some more interesting then others. I think a big problems with collections of different stories is that some are bound to be better then the rest. And that’s what happened here. The story that stood out to me was the one with the controlling father (A Father’s Love). It was probably the best one. It was compelling and interesting to read. It made you root for the characters. Which is the complete opposite from other stories such as The one with the Monks. It was boring and made no sense. That story in particular brings so much confusion. What was the point with the eyes? Was it a metaphor? It probably was since it tied up horribly in the end. 


With the amount of hype around this authors horror books, I was expected to be scared and grossed out. I was not. I was hugely disappointed, with the stories being at the most slightly disturbing and at the least boring. 
I will take into factor that I’m a huge wuss at NIGHT and not during the day. I read this in summer in the middle of the afternoon on a hot day.

The third aspect of this that didn’t appeal to me was the art style. This is a collection of his work throughout the years, so you see how it evolves. You especially see this with the first short story and the second. I hated the art style in the first one to the point were I was actually considering not continuing. It kinda reminded me of those early 2000s vampire romance manga, and not in a good way. 


I will continue reading his work, hopefully it will be better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: War