Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito

15 reviews

danimacuk's review

4.0

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry

Minor: Body shaming, Terminal illness, Stalking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury

laverna's review against another edition

4.0

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

4.5

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Junji Ito did it again! Loved this short collection of intriguing concepts and creepy stories. 'Weeping Woman Way' was probably my favourite of the collection, the imagery was disturbing and the premise I thought was interesting and unique. Although the ultimate concept of 'Slumber' really got under my skin, and might end up running through my mind during sleep hours. Really all of the stories could stand on their own. Maybe not as horrific as something like Uzumaki, but that didn’t take away my enjoyment of the collection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt

astrangewind's review

5.0

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I don't think I need to sing the praises of Junji Ito as a horror writer. This collection is exactly what you'd expect: gorgeous art, compelling characters, terrifying stories that leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. I finished this book in about an hour, and, despite not being a huge fan of horror, found it enjoyable. Ito's brand of horror does include some amount of gore, which is the easy answer as an artist, but much of his horror is more subtle, quieter, the kind of thing that scares the everliving shit out of you without resorting to pure shock value. The thing that mostly squicked me out was the Mary statue crying blood. 

I also appreciate his opportunity to use dissociative identity disorder as a plot device, and explicitly refusing to use it. It's a mark of a truly original artist to reject such harmful yet common tropes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood

Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail

mxpringle's review

4.5

dark tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt

kstericker's review

4.5

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault, Terminal illness

sandramarinis's review

4.0

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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The two first stories were just okay, but the last two blew my mind. I absolutely loved them. Didn't expect to feel horrified. The last stories made me feel uncomfortable, tense and uneasy, which was exactly what I wanted to feel. Loved the twists. The artwork was amazing for the entire manga. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement

xwritingstoriesx's review

4.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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While this isn't my favourite from Junji Ito, I really appreciated the unique concepts coupled with his eerie artwork and the utilisation of page turns for jump scares. My favourite of the collection, Slumber, follows a young man who believes he is committing murders during his sleep. I loved the final plot twist and the ambiguity of it, which i felt amplified the horror of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder

Minor: Infidelity

doomluz's review

5.0

dark mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder

Minor: Terminal illness

bookishwondergoth's review

3.25

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Beautiful artwork as always in Junji Ito’s wholly distinctive, freaky style. The stories themselves are a bit of a mixed bag, with ‘Weeping Woman Way’ being somewhat dull, ‘Madonna’ being a pretty interesting story and ‘The Spirit Flow of Aokigahara’ being downright bizarre.

The final story, ‘Slumber’, legitimately freaked me out. With this one, I got it: the dread of turning the page, the unsettling discomfort looking at the images, the dismayed horror and lurch in my stomach at the final panel. I’m writing this review at 12:30am and can already tell sleep is going to be a struggle. This final story alone warrants a full 5 stars, but the other 3 are so lacklustre that I can’t really bring myself to rate the whole book higher than a 3.25.

I really should stop reading Junji Ito’s standalone stories before bed. I’m usually totally ok with them for the most part but every now and then one will really, really haunt me. ‘Slumber’ is definitely one of them.

Absolutely love it though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicide, Terminal illness