While Junji Ito has been a manga artist for nearly forty years now, it's only in recent years that he has reached a kind of cult status in the west. His work, perhaps the most compelling and memorable in horror manga, has been plastered on anything that can be sold in a Hot Topic, become the inspiration for an anime series, and even netted him some Eisner awards. In my mind his creations, especially his frightening and detailed splash pages, live rent free. Claiming inspiration from such sources as H.P. Lovecraft and Salvador Dali you can see his obsession with pairing the mundane with the bizarre in ways that are wholly original and unforgettable.
When seeing the twisted, macabre art of Junji Ito it is easy to assume he is himself a twisted, macabre individual. But in all honesty, Junji Ito is a normal, wholesome person. His wife is a children's book artist. He has kids. He has cats, one of whom, to be fair, has a skull like pattern on its back. In interviews he tends to be reserved, quiet, and completely likeable. He's just a normal guy and I think we tend to conflate artists and writers of this type of horror with mental illness. In reality, most of those behind our favorite fictional nightmares are just regular Joe's who use their art to show deeper truths about the world at large.
Junji Ito's stories are grounded in some form of truth. They tend toward body horror in most cases, especially the obsessive search for beauty. But he also has stories about things as diverse as rare record collecting, religious devotion, and even how his cute cats can become horrible biting and scratching monsters.
Horror can go wrong pretty easily. Any fan of B-movies know that the attempt to be scary can often backfire, turning into unintentional comedy. It's the double-edged sword of horror. When you need to take something so seriously it elicits fear, that reveal being a corny rubber monster or anything more than genuinely scary can make it hilarious instead.
SENSOR © JI Inc. 2019
That is an issue I have frequently run into with Junji Ito's work. It's worth noting that while most manga artists do longform stories, Ito works predominantly in short stories. He has a handful of longer stories but his bread and butter is a 20 to 50 page self-contained tale. Some of these, that will be discussed later, are absolutely terrifying. Some of these are absolutely hilarious.
Take for instance, one of his more famous short stories, "The Hanging Balloons". In it, ominous blimp-like versions of people's heads dangle nooses toward the ground. Their goal — hang those tiny humans who share their face. It's...silly. There's no actual explanation behind the floating heads and it mostly works as a dream-like series of bizarre events. But again — this is not scary so much as kind of funny.
Ito himself does offer some comedic pieces and moments throughout his work, so he obviously has some understanding that not all of his horror is going to come across as scary. And maybe that's why even his silliest pieces still kind of work. Another story, "Fashion Model", has a filmmaker unable to erase the image of a creepy looking model he saw in a magazine from his memory. She winds up getting cast in his movie and falls in love with him. The woman, with a long face, sunken eyes, and shark teeth, acts like a normal person and is placed into these scenes of very realistic looking people. One panel that especially stands out is when the characters are sitting in a car. Here's a foursome of average Joes — and this very tall, very scary lady leering at the reader. Ito's artistic ability really shines in this. He can draw beautiful women, fantastic backgrounds, highly detailed people. But then he can draw horrendous creatures with the same level of detail.
That means even his less scary works or misfires still have visuals that will stick with you. The floating heads aren't scary, but you certainly won't forget it. Same with the fashion model.
THE LIMINAL ZONE © JI Inc. 2021
But it's not just his excellent art that makes his manga shine. It's his masterful understanding of the suspense that comes with a page turn.
It's something entirely unique to comics. Movies can have that slow buildup with a cut or pan to reveal the subject of terror. Ito uses progressively more expressive and generally smaller panels to show that emotion, with the last indicating there is something on the next page that will freak the reader out.
And that page turn is the best part of reading an Ito story. What will be revealed? What will his twisted mind produce in that splash page? Ito has shown his process and the hours upon hours he pours into just a single page like this. While every panel of his work is dripping in detail (and dripping can be an apt description at times), these splash pages are exquisite.
Let's quickly talk about some of his more well-known works, a kind of introduction to new readers of the major titles that have woven themselves into pop culture.
In "GYO" an experiment during World War II leads to modern day consequences as the creatures of the sea burst onto land, carried on spider-like legs powered by the animal's gasses. It's gross and weird and ultimately more funny than horrifying. Of his three best known long works, this one is my least favorite.
"Uzumaki" focuses on the fear of spirals. People are rolled into spirals, heads become like holes, and even hair floats into the air and swirls into itself. Containing some of Ito's most iconic art and some horrifying imagery, "Uzumaki" is a great story that takes a simple spiral and turns it into a nightmarish descent into an Escher-esque hellscape.
His most enduring character is found in the "Tomie" collection. The gorgeous young woman's visage hides a monster inside. Through stories spanning much of Ito's career, she terrorizes men and women alike, showcasing plentiful monstrous abilities and forms. Of all the collections available to English speaking audiences, this is my absolute favorite.
As we approach Halloween, it's the perfect time to cozy up with one of Ito's collections or longer stories and see everything the author has to offer. One of the finest manga artists of our time, even if you don't appreciate his tales, you'll still find a lot to love about his art.
The Junji Ito works discussed in this article are available through VIZ.
VIZ provided volumes for review.
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Sean Newgent has been with KGUN9 since January of 2020 and is Good Morning Tucson's executive producer. He graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in broadcast journalism. He is a critic and cultural commentator. Share your story ideas and important issues with Sean by emailing sean.newgent@kgun9.com.
