The world of manga offers countless unbelievable stories that not every anime can match. While many series have been adapted into anime, some manga are still the best way for readers to enjoy the essence that the author brings. Mangaka Junji Ito’s works with horror stories are a prime example of this.
Junji Ito has been working on his work since the 1980s, when this author was inspired by the classic horror manga series The Drifting Classroom. He has a large body of work bearing his name in the horror manga series. As a reader who loves Junji Ito’s horror manga and you are looking for a way to access the works of this author, here is a way for you to easily discover the appeal of the horror series. Classic of Japanese horror manga king Junji Ito!
Junji Ito’s Independent Works
Junji Ito is known for many short stories, but he has also created a number of series that are similar in length to a novel. These series allow Junji Ito to tell a complete story with better pacing and character development than short story collections. For many manga fans new to Junji Ito’s horror works, these novel-like series are the best way to start.
The first series Ito wrote was Tomie, which is also the longest series of this mangaka. This is a tragic story about the villainous young girl Tomie, who defies death time and time again. She abuses her supernatural powers by befriending, seducing, and abusing many of the people she meets during her travels. Tomie often causes her admirers (usually male) to kill her in a bloody manner only to reappear later thanks to her supernatural powers.
Ito’s second-longest series and perhaps his most famous series is Uzumaki. This is a manga that tells the story of a remote Japanese seaside town and its battle against the invasion of spiraling shapes, which appear on everything from water currents, to pottery, to people’s bodies. and more. The heroine Kirie, who could do nothing but stare in horror as the spirals transformed and tortured everyone around her. In the end, the town becomes a giant whirlpool of madness, where feelings of horror are pushed to the extreme. Currently, there is a project to adapt Uzumaki into an anime, but its success is still a big question that horror manga fans are interested in.
Junji Ito’s Famous Horror Anthology
Junji Ito’s series of short stories all have different content and you can start with any of the stories in these series. The themes of his short stories ranged from the story of a humanoid hole in the mountainside to the valley of mirrors or a woman with a long tongue licking her victim to death.
Smashed and Shiver are two of Junji Ito’s quintessential short story collections, with Smashed featuring 13 stories and Shiver featuring 10 stories. All of the stories in these two anthologies have different settings and ideas, such as a person sealed in a hole or giant floating heads catching their victims with ropes. .
In general, if you are a new reader, you can approach it in two ways: by reading Junji Ito’s independent works such as Tomie, Uzumaki or many other names. If you’re not quite ready to follow these independent works, Junji Ito’s horror anthologies will also satisfy you.