A review by earthier
Gyo, Vol. 2 by Junji Ito

3.0

Aside from Tomie this is one my favorite of Junji Ito books. I don’t really enjoy the plots of most of his stories and find his level of “Horror” to be laughable, all horror honestly, maybe I have dark humor. All his stories are pointless. But that is the point I’ve come to understand. As I also undersand he’s influenced by the work of H.P Lovecraft but his work lacks the depth and meaning displayed in Lovecraft’s work. But this has different tone more mysterious than just the regular ominous telling of his other works making it more mentally stimulating and enjoyable in my opinion.

That aside I’m not a fan of most graphic novels because the plots seem shallow and juvenile and the illustrations aren’t enough to keep my interest. But I always throughly enjoy his illustrations. I think that is why he stands out so much and his novels popularity compared to his contemporaries.

Merged review:

Aside from Tomie this is one my favorite of Junji Ito books. I don’t really enjoy the plots of most of his stories and find his level of “Horror” to be laughable, all horror honestly, maybe I have dark humor. All his stories are pointless. But that is the point I’ve come to understand. As I also undersand he’s influenced by the work of H.P Lovecraft but his work lacks the depth and meaning displayed in Lovecraft’s work. But this has different tone more mysterious than just the regular ominous telling of his other works making it more mentally stimulating and enjoyable in my opinion.

That aside I’m not a fan of most graphic novels because the plots seem shallow and juvenile and the illustrations aren’t enough to keep my interest. But I always throughly enjoy his illustrations. I think that is why he stands out so much and his novels popularity compared to his contemporaries.