The Grotesque Tales of Junji Ito — Part 1: Shiver (& An Introduction)
I have been an admirer of manga and anime for the vast majority of my life. I say ‘admirer’ and not ‘fan’ because I do not own or have read much anime or manga in my lifetime and do not intend of binge reading/watching loads for the sake of doing so. I also use that term because I literally admire the art style. This has come through the many JRPGs I have grown up playing and continue to play, the occasional ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ and ‘Pokemon’ anime I watched religiously as a child that I would simply refer to as cartoons during my infancy (apologies for any purists reading this) and the small collection of anime I have collected during 2018.
I usually write blogs that have video games as the centre point, so any long-time readers may be baffled by this opening. This different sort of blog is connected to a video game, in the sense that both the game and what I will be discussing throughout this series share the same points of interest.
In December 2018, I published a blog the discussed my thoughts about the hugely successful and popular horror game ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’, which you can find here. In it, I addressed that I was not a fan of horror in the slightest because of the excessive gore I had seen in Western examples and thought it was all a bit too much. This to me is not horror, but a physical emotion that was rather unpleasant. Being an arrogant pompous sort of person, I would argue that it is not that difficult to make them revolted, but it would require a certain type of mind to truly scare them.
My thoughts on the matter were changed when I got my hands on a game called ‘Bloodborne’ amd through its story and influences, I discovered the works of HP Lovecraft. At the time I had never heard of this author before, but I quickly took him seriously as he not only influenced the likes of Stephen King and George R. Martin, but his influence was very much present in many games such as ‘Quake’, ‘Eternal Darkness’, ‘Dead Space’, ‘Skyrim’s Dragonborn’ DLC and of course, ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’.
I would eventually get my hands on the entirety of his works in one tome called ‘Necronomicon’ and I was totally fascinated by his approach of story telling and how his villains are often not some deranged maniac or some otherworldly abomination that resembles more a fetus than anything human, but they just ordinary people who grew a little too obsessed by something. That is not to say Lovecraft does not have his own array of creatures and monsters, but what makes them frightening is that they are rarely mentioned, rarely sighted and next to no information is given about them. Their origins usually come from one of two places; the furthest reaches of space, or the depths of the ocean, both are realms that we humans know next to little about.
There is a famous quote by Lovecraft that encompasses my favourite forms of horror besides a natural rise and fall of suspense. You may have heard of it, but in case you haven’t:
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.-H.P. Lovecraft
I was telling an online friend about how much I enjoyed ‘Bloodborne’, ‘The Dark Descent’ and my new love for all things Lovecraft (minus his subtle racism) and she mentioned a manga artist I may have liked. Now, I will be honest and say that I forgot who it was at the time because some of her suggestions up to this moment were things I were not particularly into and thus did not properly register this suggestion.
Then one day I was out doing some shopping in my local town centre and browsed the shelves of a manga section in a book store, praying that they had all of the ‘Tokyo Ghoul’ mangas as I did (and still do) really want to read them, but only when I have the full collection easily at my disposal. Anyway, one of the mangas on the shelf was this bright blue hardback called ‘Shiver’ which I had never seen before. The fact it was hardback fascinated me as I had only seen softback mangas before. The image on the spine particularly caught my attention as I’m sure you could imagine (see below). Then came the front cover, which is quite vulgar really and yet I was rather fascinated by the art style and the pretty girl who seemed very out of place with the rest of the nasty floating balloon heads. The short and informative blurb gave me even more curious to purchase this manga.
The artist was Junji Ito, who was the same artist that my friend mentioned who I totally ignored (sorry E. 😅).
Of course, I purchased it and began reading its contents that night before I went to bed. I did see the Lovecraftian influences in each of the stories, and it came to no surprise to me of my initial suspicions when I saw the following on the last page of the book:
I have not read all of his works, but I have read enough to make a decent series of blogs about them which is what I would like to do. These are the works of his I have read thus far, in the order that I have read them:
- The selected stories found within ‘Shiver’
- Tomie
- Uzumaki
- Gyo
- The Sad Tale Of The Principal Post
- The Enigma Of Amigara Fault
- Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu
Over the coming weeks (maybe months!) I wish to waffle on about my thoughts and opinions about each of these stories in separate blogs. That being said, as some of these stories are bundled together (in the versions of them that I own at least) and are not particularly long, some of the blogs in this particular series will have more than one story in it. Likewise, if there are any more Ito stories I get my paws on, I would like to tell you how I feel about those as well. I will add said editions to the list above, making it clear on this blog with ‘EDIT’ so you know which ones are new (to me).
The Blog Proper: ‘Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories’
In case you cannot read the blurb in the photo, this manga contains nine of Ito’s best short stories, as selected by Ito himself. Those stories are*:
- Used Record
- Shiver
- Fashion Model
- Hanging Blimp
- Marionette Mansion
- Painter
- The Long Dream
- Honoured Ancestors
- Greased
*I am aware that there are other titles for these books as different translators would have different outcomes to the original Japanese characters. I will be using the titles presented in this manga but mention their other titles to satisfy the needs of all that read this blog.
There is also a bonus story called ‘Fashion Model: Cursed Frame’ which is the shortest of the stories in this collection that I won’t talk about as it is incredibly short and reuses similar concepts to ‘Fashion Model’.
I will try to be brief about all of these stories, as I do not wish to ruin the stories too much for you, but I am aware I tend to waffle on about anything I like and I don’t want this blog about nine different stories to last forever.
Story 1: Used Record
The premise of this tale is one of the least fantastical of the Ito stories I have read so far. Two friends obsess over a nameless Jazz record with no lyrics, to the point where they both do pretty shocking things to make sure they have it in their possession.
The same happens to some of the other characters in this story who hear what is eventually identified as ‘The Paula Bell Scat’. As my first Junji Ito story, I felt fairly unnerved by the justifications to the actions of the cast over a short nameless record, but then again, there have been many cases in the real world where people have done many outrageous and absurd things for something seemingly small. I wish I could name some, but alas I cannot. I’m sure you can think of some!
Story 2: Shivers
I am still to this day trying to work out what part of the human body the cover for this story is supposed to be. I presume it is the head, given there are eyeballs and what I think are eye sockets. It is a highly disturbing image!
Anyway, this was where things became very weird…for me at least.
This short star stars a boy who lives next door to a girl named Rina, who cannot leave the house because she has a serious illness. She screams in terror that there are bugs swarming all over her, although her mother says they are hallucinations. Rina is regularly visited at home by a doctor, but his visits cause her to become extremely agitated. The boy also observed that her skin is full of deep holes everywhere.
It is through this story where I began to appreciate Ito’s grasp on the page turn, something that is only unique to comics. Just before something terrible or terrifying is about to happen, he will leave one brilliant panel that is filled with suspense, forcing the reader to turn the page to find a horrifying sight that usually takes up a page with the sole purpose of making the reader shit themselves. Most of these moments happen towards the end of the story and even though I was beginning to piece together what might happen next, I will be honest and admit I failed.
Story 3: Fashion Model
A scriptwriter has a premonition that something bad is about to happen. He browses through a magazine and is shocked by the horrifying appearance of one of the models featured. He begins to have nightmares about her and is haunted by the image of her ghastly face, which becomes more and more monstrous each time he sees it.
He and his friends begin work on a new indie film and decide to audition for the female lead, as they can’t find a high school girl attractive enough. This model, called Fuichi, appears and is hired as a supporting role…which is where things go terribly wrong for these hopeful filmmakers.
I suppose this is the most stereotypical of Ito’s horror stories in the collection but the overall design of Fuichi, as well as her occupation, makes absolutely no sense and that is part of her horror.
Story 4: Hanging Blimp
A small town in Japan is slowly infested with giant floating heads. Each head matches the head of someone living in the town and it will track them down for the sole purpose to hang them from the noose connected to it.
All attempts to understand and combat the balloons fail, but the reader is never explained as to why any of this is happening or even possible. The fact they cannot be stopped and no one knows how these heads came to be is terrifying. This was the first one in the collection where I began to feel generally frightened. I naturally wanted to find out more about these heads, but I eventually stopped asking myself questions, as knowing that they may have been some sort of alien or the result of some experiment gone wrong would have not done the narrative any favours.
Story 5: Marionette Mansion
This story involves a small family that tour around Japan performing puppet shows with two of the characters presenting their views on the roles of the puppet and puppeteer that develops into quite the interesting story, with the traditional Ito horror spike towards the end of the story.
This is one of the more interesting stories as it is not often people have stories revolved around puppets anymore, especially older ones like the ones here. They are almost a strange wooden mythos (in the UK anyway).
It is less often that they are also the source of malevolence (or is the problem, of course, the humans?) as well as a frightening choice of obsession. The ending made me question those thoughts as well, which I shan’t spoil for you as it is would be better for you to read the tale for yourself.
Story 6: Painter
After finishing ‘Painter’, I knew I was properly hooked by Junji Ito and I desperately wanted to invest more of my time and money into as much as Junji Ito’s work as I could. Don’t get me wrong, I was loving each of his stories and his recurring themes and totally unique concepts in this book, but this tale startled me at the end. That signature spike I mentioned was so unexpected and horrifying. I felt I knew where the story was going, and whilst I was right about the outcome, I did not expect the end to happen as violently as it did.
Painter is my favourite Junji Ito short story (at the time of typing) by the way.
Painter comes from the ‘Tomie’ collection, who revolves around the girl of the same name whose beauty is irresistible to men, making them fall madly in love with her. In this case, it is a painter. I will say no more about Tomie, as I have another blog prepared for that…
Story 7: The Long Dream
The story starts before the cover is revealed. A girl named Mami is in a hospital where she is awaiting brain surgery. She claims that the personification of death has visited her and that she is going to die soon. She pleads with a Dr Kuroda to save her, but Kuroda believes she is delusional. The man who visited her is actually another patient, called Tetsuro Mukoda.
Mukoda has horrific nightmares which, although lasting only one night, are the equivalent of a year or more in his dreams. His face morphs into something quite alien as the story progresses.
Whilst there is some frightening imagery in this story, I found it more disturbing than scary, which is by no means a negative criticism.
Story 8: Honored Ancestors
This is one of the more bizarre Junji Ito stories I read in ‘Shiver’. Like many others, it’s antagonist should not make sense in the real world.
Honoured Ancestors starts with a girl who is suffering from amnesia, which is one of the few horror tropes I have seen Junji Ito use as a part of his storytelling. It actually made a pleasant change!
The girl has weird visions of a large caterpillar-like monster attacking her and she doubts it’s existence. It is quite the disturbing tale once the motives of the antagonist and origins of such caterpillar are revealed. Whilst that revelation is unnerving within itself, most of the horror comes from the fact you are not entirely sure whether to believe everything you are told is the truth. Without any spoilers, most of the build-up in the real world would be highly suspicious and somewhat creepy and is ignored by our protagonist.
Story 9: Greased
The final story in ‘Shiver: Selected Stories’ legitimately made me shiver. It is the most repulsive pieces of fiction I have ever read and yet I was absorbed by this odd tale of a family of three, where they are all obsessed with cooking oil in one way or another.
What I found interesting was how the presence of oil has on this family, or more specifically, the protagonist Yuri. She develops a sense of how much of it is in the air, referring to it as an ‘oil index’, which made me think of something you would hear in a live weather report. ‘There’s going to be a high chance of showers today with the oil index at 80%’. It works, doesn’t it?
But I digress. If you have a weak stomach for anything hygiene related, this may be one Junji Ito story to avoid. That said, I am grossed easily by that sort thing and am mostly alright.
Coda
I was totally hooked by Junji Ito’s beautifully disgusting stories and intricate detail to his creations and desperately wanted more. Ito’s work can be eerily beautiful and intensely frightening. He does not seem to care about making his drawings look aesthetically pleasing in a traditional sense, like what you may find in horror comics or anime for example. Every pencil line and pen stroke is there to make you, the reader, feel as uneasy as possible. It’s rare to see standard horror conventions, such as the inclusions of vampires and zombies in his work. His focus lies more on the macabre disorientation of the natural world, or as Junji Ito once said; ‘taking something normal and looking at it backwards’. The effect this has, of course, makes his ideas all the more alien, taking people out of the horror comfort zone. For example, we all know how to fight a werewolf, but none of Ito’s creatures are explained fully enough to make them seem you may have a chance at surviving an encounter.
His horror is not found in spooky castles or some creep’s basement, but in the mundane of everyday life. That to me at least is some of the most intriguing horrors of them all.
In the next Junji Ito blog, I will explore ‘Tomie’ and the dehumanisation of her character throughout that collection. I hope you have enjoyed this and future Ito blogs, as this is the first time I have done any critique that hasn’t involved a video game somewhere within it.
Have you read any of Junji Ito’s work? If so, what is your favourite story?
Let’s start a conversation, people!
