I started reading Kazuo Umezu because Junji Ito is one of my favorite authors. Drifting Classroom was the best starting point because it was weird and misery porn and bloody (and poopy), but at least it has a strong narrative to follow. Orochi is a lot weirder and harder to recommend.
In Orochi, the titular character is a strange woman who travels the world with strange powers. The powers are poorly defined. She can sort of touch someone with the tip of her finger and send them flying, she’s maybe a little clairvoyant, but her motivations are an absolute mystery. It’s a little like Ito’s Tomie, but in that case you at least have strange and varied stories to keep things interesting whereas in Orochi it always just seems to end in the most miserable way possible, including one where a child is devoured alive by insects.
Vol. 3 includes a story in which a little boy watches his father get killed by a hit and run driver and become obsessed with punishing the man for his crimes, dedicating his whole life to revenge and abusing his mother. Don’t bother, I guess is my key takeaway here. If you like nihilistic stories about unpleasant things happening to people, with a strange and mercurial sort of superwoman following the victims and perpetrators around and Mr. Magooing her way into things being worse than ever, this is your story.
Pick up some Junji Ito or Drifting Classroom instead.
