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A review by thecastlebuilder
Remina by Junji Ito
3.0
Maybe one of the most interesting Junji Ito concepts I’ve seen yet, marred by an execution that’s imperfect at best. Remina follows the story of the titular Remina, a young girl whose father discovers a mysterious new astral body and names it after her, thrusting her into stardom despite her protestations.
As the planet itself begins to behave in mysterious and sinister ways, Remina is caught up in the chaos of both fame and apocalypse. While the big ideas at play here are clear, and there’s an obvious critique of fandom and the idol industry, the story’s treatment of Remina herself is enormously disappointing. I can certainly read a degree of intentionality to her flat characterization, but that does very little to justify how insufficient it feels, especially in the back half of the story.
There are some interesting and experimental maneuvers in setting, art style, and general plot beats that do showcase Ito’s range and flexibility, and there are, as always, visually remarkable panels and spreads throughout. Ito relies much less on overt body horror in Remina, but when he does deploy it, it does not disappoint.
Despite the letdown in the moment-to-moment storytelling, and some big reveals that felt a little too tidy, the bleakness and breadth of the story provide a lot to chew on, and maybe make it one of the more symbolically dense stories that from Ito that I’ve read so far. While I didn’t enjoy Remina in the way I did Tomie and Uzumaki, it gave me a lot to think about and a bit more substance to interpret. Less fun to read, especially certain parts of the back half, but certainly interesting to think about.
As the planet itself begins to behave in mysterious and sinister ways, Remina is caught up in the chaos of both fame and apocalypse. While the big ideas at play here are clear, and there’s an obvious critique of fandom and the idol industry, the story’s treatment of Remina herself is enormously disappointing. I can certainly read a degree of intentionality to her flat characterization, but that does very little to justify how insufficient it feels, especially in the back half of the story.
There are some interesting and experimental maneuvers in setting, art style, and general plot beats that do showcase Ito’s range and flexibility, and there are, as always, visually remarkable panels and spreads throughout. Ito relies much less on overt body horror in Remina, but when he does deploy it, it does not disappoint.
Despite the letdown in the moment-to-moment storytelling, and some big reveals that felt a little too tidy, the bleakness and breadth of the story provide a lot to chew on, and maybe make it one of the more symbolically dense stories that from Ito that I’ve read so far. While I didn’t enjoy Remina in the way I did Tomie and Uzumaki, it gave me a lot to think about and a bit more substance to interpret. Less fun to read, especially certain parts of the back half, but certainly interesting to think about.