Now, due to it being the end of the year, I don't quite have enough time to rate these all individually, and as I read them one after another, I figured I can just rate them both on one blog post. I received Uzumaki for Christmas and I decided to read it on a whim. By the end of the three hours it took to read it, I was hooked. I immediately followed-up with Fragments of Horror because I needed to read more by Ito (and I've owned Fragments for months). Then I followed them both up with Tomie (which was a bitch to find for a reasonable price). Junji Ito just writes some very binge-able books, I mean 3 books in about 5 days is very good for me. I'll start the reviews in the order that I read the books.
Uzumaki
Rating: 4/5
Summary from Amazon:
"Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral—the hypnotic secret shape of the world. The bizarre masterpiece horror manga is now available all in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!"
Let me start with saying that the illustrations in this book are amazing. The pictures throughout are all so graphic and creative, they're just very striking. The story itself was also very interesting, while being super weird. Which, I don't say that it's weird as an insult. In fact, the weirdness is part of what made it interesting, as you never knew what the next story would be about exactly. Don't get me wrong, all of the stories followed a common theme with repeating characters, but the purpose of each chapter was always a new mystery. The question was always, "what creepy thing is he going to think about that relates to spirals?" The serial vibe of all the chapters as the town degrades, is part of what made the book so captivating. There were some low points, a couple of the chapters near the end were kind of boring and didn't fit very well. Also the way the story began felt halting and too quick. It felt like you were forced in and you didn't get much of anything for the two main characters other than their ages and where they went to highschool. It just felt like there could've been more dedicated to getting to know them a bit. Just a couple of extra pages really. I only say this, because they are the characters that we follow for the whole story, so a little exposition would've been nice. So Really, it's part of the first book and part of the last book in this omnibus that really interferes with the story. But as a whole, It was such a quick, fun read. I recommend any horror fan read this.
Favorite story: "Jack-In-the-Box"
Fragments of Horror
Rating: 5/5
Summary from Amazon:
"An old wooden mansion that turns on its inhabitants. A dissection class with a most unusual subject. A funeral where the dead are definitely not laid to rest. Ranging from the terrifying to the comedic, from the erotic to the loathsome, these stories showcase Junji Ito’s long-awaited return to the world of horror."
Overall, this was a very strong short story collection. It was creepy, weird, and creative. I don't know how he comes up with this stuff, but I hope he continues to forever. Most of the stories in this collection were pretty strong, with a couple of exceptions. It reads very quickly, and the illustrations are A+. The cover art for the book is also insane, I love that it mimics The Scream, but with the added elements of Tomio been the man screaming. The only stories that I didn't care for were "Gentle Goodbye" (somewhat) and "Magami Nanakuse." "Gentle Goodbye" wasn't bad, but it was kind of meh; middle of the road I suppose. "Magami Nanakuse" was kind of just stupid and also slightly offensive. It was just weird in a bad way. As a whole though, the book is definitely worth the read. As it only sits at 220 pages, it's so quick that you can read it in about and hour to an hour and a half.
Favorite story: "Whispering Woman"
Tomie
Rating: 3/5
So, it took me a minute to find this book for a reasonable price. Even though the book is $35 new, everybody was selling it second-hand for ~$45-$50. Do I understand why? Not really. I ended up finding it new at a Second and Charles for $35. Now, you can tell that this is Ito's first work from the illustrations in the first book alone (particularly chapter one). I know that everyone has to start somewhere, but some of them were just, oof. Let me show you
These two stand out, particularly the stabby-guy over there.
Summary from Amazon:
"Tomie Kawakami is a femme fatale with long black hair and a beauty mark just under her left eye. She can seduce nearly any man, and drive them to murder as well, even though the victim is often Tomie herself. While one lover seeks to keep her for himself, another grows terrified of the immortal succubus. But soon they realize that no matter how many times they kill her, the world will never be free of Tomie."
The beginning of the story might be a little rough, but it does get better. It's a super fun read, though it is not a short one. This omnibus sits at a whopping 742 pages, so it does take a fair bit of time to slog through. This book is full of Ito's characteristic weirdness, complete with plenty of gruesome body horror. Though, it certainly does start to get repetitive by the end. You always know what's going to happen, Tomie is going to show up and men are going to want to dismember her. That isn't my biggest problem with the book though. We do get some exposition in the beginning of the book and in the "Mansion" chapter, but that's really it. I wish so much that there had been a chapter that was wholly just background on Tomie. Because, as it stands, I barely know anything about her. Why does she incite all these feelings? She seemed to be normal enough in the first chapter, so why has she turned into this undying thing that can replicate so quickly? She isn't a ghost, I guess she's a demon, but I don't know. I wish there had been much more character-building for her, because it's as if she got the short end of the stick. Though this one isn't as good as Uzumaki, it's certainly worth the read. It's always fun to see where an author/mangaka began and how they evolved.
Favorite story: Photo or Hair
It's safe to say that I'm officially a fan of Junji Ito. I've become obsessed and I will be working to read more from him. Actually, I've already purchased Gyo and I look forward to receiving it so I can add another to my growing collection.
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