You know the drill. Junji Ito, currently the biggest name in horror manga right now, released a new collection of short manga in North America. I got my hands on a copy from the library, read it, and now I’m reviewing it.
In Tombs, Ito brings together some old and some new stories to terrify us. From a town where tombstones show up wherever someone dies, to a strange neighbor who calls to a young man at night and a town where everyone appears to be anemic, there’s something for everyone in this collection. And all of it is guaranteed to stick in your mind.
This was probably the most solid collection of Ito’s shorts that I’ve read. Not a bad one among the group. Obviously, Ito’s art is always well-done and extremely evocative, with every line made to scare the ever-living daylights to you. And the ideas of these stories are all very inventive. I often found myself envying some of the ideas he had to come up with these stories, my favorites being the titular story “Tombs,” as well as “The Bloody Story of Shirosuna.” The former story is the one I mentioned where tombstones show up whenever someone dies, while the latter is the one about the town being anemic.
Close runner-ups were “Floaters,” a story where people’s inner thoughts manifest physically as these little hairballs that float in the air and speak your thoughts when you touch them, and “Bronze Statue,” which follows an old woman’s obsession with her youth and commemorating it in bronze.
It was also great to finally read “The Window Next Door,” which I’ve only heard about and have never read (I didn’t want to read it illegally online). That particular story has some of the most disgusting and off-putting art I’ve seen from Ito, all without using blood or gore.
The only issue I really had with the collection was that the story “Clubhouse,” which is a ghost story with a fun and clever concept, ended a bit too abruptly for my tastes. I honestly felt like it could have had a better resolution if it had a few more pages. That being said, the story is still pretty awesome as it is.
All in all, Tombs by Junji Ito is a great collection with some amazing and creepy stories worth reading. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m going to give it an even 5, a top score. Definitely go out and read a copy if you can get your hands on it. Hell, I might buy myself a copy to own if the opportunity presents itself. It’s that good.
Also, I think “The Bloody Story of Shirosuna” would make a great live-action movie. Can someone please get on it? And yes, please do live action, not anime. I’ve sort of given up on anime adapting Junji Ito well (two series have been really sub-par and the Uzumaki adaptation has been delayed forever, so what does that tell you?). And don’t make an American version of it, I’m sure that would ruin it by adding all the wrong elements to make it more local. But yes, please make a live-action adaptation of it.
Alright, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!
Rami Ungar The Writer 