On January 19, 2023 it was launched Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, the anime adaptation of a selection of the work of Juji Ito (Nakatsugawa, 1963). The animation was in charge of Studio Deen In collaboration with Netflix. However, Ito has other adaptations to anime and movies.
The Netflix series is titled Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, and is made up of twelve chapters that last from 23 to 25 minutes. Some have two stories in the same installment, below we tell you the titles:
- The strange hikizuri brothers
- The Story of the Mystery Tunnel / The Ice Cream Bus
- hanging balloons
- The Silent Room / The Sandbox Lair
- Intruders / Long Hair in the Attic
- Mold / Library of Illusions
- the city of graves
- Layers of Terror / The Thing That Washed Up on the Shore
- Tommy’s photo
- The intolerable labyrinth / Abuse
- The corridor / Headless sculptures
- The Whispering Woman / Soichi’s Beloved Pet
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre recovers characters that it shares with other graphic installmentswe refer especially to Sochi and Tomie.
Junji Ito: A Catalog of Horrors
To begin we could say that Junji Ito strives to be a prolific creator of horror. Each of his stories features different types of horror, ranging from the notion of the psychological to the violent on a physical level. It also covers a cosmic horror and a supernatural classic style, from folklore.
Thus, the catalog of horror that emerges from the work of Junji Ito is vast. If you’re a fan of horror, you’ll find your style in one of its numbers, that’s for sure.
It would not be accurate to say that the degrees of horror are built throughout the delivery, but we can emphasize that they are expanded by the styles.
the atmosphere of Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre
Each of the chapters has its essence, however, we can talk about the atmosphere that permeates, to a certain degree, everyone. Junji Ito managed to consolidate a realistic environment that builds some pathways to the supernatural through:
- Perverting folklore—as in Long Hair in the Attic, The City of Tombs—.
- Obscure Surrealism—an example in Layers of Terror / The Thing That Washed Up on the Shore, The Hanging Globes—.
- Press from the most “western” terror —in The intolerable labyrinth, The whispering woman, Abuse—.
- Twist again the cosmic horror —The thing that washed up on the shore—.
And although each eventual twist is different, all installments share a realistic scenario that appears to be a daily life that will be guided to a terrifying moment. Every second seeks to disturb you with the smallest elements.
In addition, it should be noted that on more than one occasion the stories “will not make sense.” We mean that there is no cause of things, sometimes the protagonists “do not deserve” what happens to them, nor will they do anything to explain why it happens to them. They simply exist and suffer random events.
On the other hand, the normative things of the world also happen and that’s it. It does not delve into the past, nor into the explanations of the context that causes or explains the supernatural phenomenon —obviously, we are referring to a folkloric level—. It is probable that it is appealed to the fact that horror and evil do not usually have a specific justification in the imaginaries of the world. Of course, it’s not Junji Ito’s job to expose it either.
Generally, there is no causal justification of his work on any level —nothing moral, political or folkloric, although of course, some stories are the exception—. However, having such a random conductive thread, even the chapters that would have a “justifiable reason” will enter into the scheme of an unalterable chance.
So his delivery is structured in it: an inexplicable and uncontrollable regime of events and attitudes.
The style: repetitive aspects in Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre
From an exploration of the cosmic or folkloric supernatural, Ito seeks to exploit a corporeity by guiding it towards the grotesque. Either their fixations with the spiral —in layers of skin or in other beings— or the heads —to be more precious, the beheadings— that will direct, in principle, to grotesque and suffering bodies that will cause repulsion.
Secondly, in this random but inevitable course, we find deathalways from these tendencies.
Of course, it is exposed despair, fear and madness that will absorb the protagonists. That’s right, they will be the containers of emotions and not vice versa. Many characters will become depersonalized, they will not enjoy our empathy. Who we will understand will be the emotions that will corrupt us, as well as the characters.
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About endings in Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre
Nevertheless, the plurality of horror is disturbing in every way, even in the way of “closing” the stories that, in reality, do not end. In Junji Ito’s stories, a clear preamble to the approach is not shown and neither is a precise ending usually shown -although we could mention that this is a general style of Japanese narrative. In any case, in Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabrethe unfinished endings will simply be the last stab of disturbance.
There will be no resolution, nor enough data – at least not in all cases – to imagine a closed ending, from the open one. This way, Ito firmly decides the culmination of the delivery. If you’re a loyal consumer of bluntly explicit Western horror, you may find these endings a bit bland.
to conclusion
Definitely, the animation doesn’t do the manga justice. The support is very important to Ito’s style, since the precision of the line—coupled with the light along with the abrasive black—is what allows you to feel the true intensity of the work that is much more chilling and disturbing on paper.
However, a first approach to the mangaka’s work, through Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre could be enjoyable since the selection is in charge of pointing out the best of their different styles of narration.
We must remember that Junji Ito is still an heir to the popular style born between the wars. So its important edges move in the spectrum of corporeality, horror and the surreal.
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