Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - The Liminal Zone

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

astrangewind's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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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mxpringle's review

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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

4.5

Content Warnings

kstericker's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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sandramarinis's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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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xwritingstoriesx's review

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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

4.5

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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doomluz's review

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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

5.0

Content Warnings

bookishwondergoth's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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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