Sensor by Junji Ito
It was Saturday and I had two options, stay at home and do laundry and not get any reading done, or take an hour or two at the library and try and get some reading done. Besides, I had to pick up some interlibrary loans anyway. I picked the library (now, you need to understand that I work at an independent bookstore, where I have access to free books, usually brand new, never touched reader copies, not like that library version of Nimona that had […]
Tombs by Junji Ito
This is another Cannonball where I’m unfortunately not going to have a lot to say, mostly because the stories in this collection didn’t stick with me very intensely. Junji Ito remains the undisputed master of Japanese horror manga, but this would probably not be the story collection I would recommend to people who were new to or just becoming familiar with his work. For those, stick to Uzumaki, Tomie, Gyo, Shiver, or Fragments of Horror. The title story of Tombs details a brother and sister […]
Deserter: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito
CBR15Passport book set in and author from another country Reading Deserter: Junji Ito Story Collection near bedtime is not recommended. Now, it is not so much because the stories are “scary-scary” but because they are warped! Each story is not very long but packed with stuff (and you probably realize I am not saying “stuff”). Yes, things can be creepy, gross (after all, it is horror and somehow the black and white images are almost too realistic in their illustrated manner. I was getting old-black-and-white-1950-thriller/science […]
The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito
The first Junji Ito collection I read was the only collection my library had, at the time: Fragments of Horror. It definitely had enough of the style to turn me into a fan, but it also had some absolutely bizarre stuff that didn’t translate across cultures well, such as the story about a reclusive writer with a lot of “habits” that turned out to be bizarre social quirks, which to my ignorant eye may have been of more significance in the social conservatism of Japan. […]
Black Paradox by Junji Ito
Junji Ito is a bizarre safety blanket, given that he writes some of the most disturbing body horror ever put to the page, but here we are: I read Junji Ito to fall asleep at night. Something about the stories he tells, from the absolute seriousness with which the characters take the happenings (including _Junji Ito’s Cat Diary_, though the author isn’t taking himself seriously at all) to the plain but graceful art style, to the content’s surreal Twilight Zone on steroids content. I can’t […]
No Longer Human Vol. 1 by Junji Ito
I’d seen the original novel in the #BookTok section at Books-a-Million, so this manga caught my eye when I was scanning the manga shelves at FYE. I didn’t have the money for this massive manga, but I did manage to find at least one volume of it to read online, and it was an experience. This is easily the most depraved thing I’ve read this year, and I’m afraid to read any further. It’s the stuff of nightmares. Remember how I said I’d be here all […]
