Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Tomie by Junji Ito

5 reviews

euripideez's review

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

4.5


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kkalicky94's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • 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

5.0


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mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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gracetrimper's review against another edition

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

4.5


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lauren_elizabeth's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I was desperate to read some Junji Ito and wanted to start chronologically from his early career. The art is amazing and only develops and grows more sophisticated, especially in personalising faces (I was a bit unnerved by some early stories in which other female characters greatly resembled Tomie; she herself could only be distinguished by the distinctive close-up panels on her heavy-lidded eyes and beauty mark).

I can see why people might not like this, or feel some reservations at the violence perpetrated by men against Tomie. But I liked it! I might expand on it later but some rough thoughts that I have is that it seems like a satirical dig at gender roles and heterosexual relationships and courtship. While it could get repetitive, some stories were really original and memorable.

I also liked that, from the outset, Tomie is not just an otherworldly femme fatale but explicitly grotesque — more a virus than a girl — with a lot of focus on bodily fluids, multiplying and regrowing body parts, multiple Tomies, even transubstantiation into liquid. I feel like this could have been taken further, as all the men she enchants appear to have the same modus operandi. In this strain of virus and contagion, I found myself thinking of films like Ring. Again, these ideas are underdeveloped and I would have loved to have seen a fuller conclusion to the stories (and maybe some more interiority for Tomie herself, who is largely shallow and unsympathetic), but for an early serial that’s also beautifully illustrated, I found it a fun and thought-provoking read.

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