A Beginner’s Guide to Junji Ito
When the initial episode of Uzumaki, Adult Swim’s new Junji Ito adaptation, was released, it was met with immediate acclaim. Although not the first anime adaptation of the horror-manga creator’s catalogue, it was by far the best thanks to its moody atmosphere and wonderful animation. And though the second episode was … less stellar, the first made for a great look into Ito’s immense talents. After all, it was stories like Uzumaki that turned him into not only the best-known horror-manga author in the world but one of the most recognizable figures in the entire medium.
So if you found yourself enamored by Uzumaki, here are 14 stories by Ito drawn from nearly 40 years’ worth of manga creation. Ito’s work spans every subgenre one can think of, from body horror to cosmic terror, black comedy to adaptations of famous novels. Even if you’ve never considered yourself a fan of horror manga before, there’s likely at least one story in Ito’s lengthy career that will appeal to you. He didn’t gain his reputation out of nowhere; it’s something he’s been crafting from the very beginning …
Tomie (1987)
Initially featured in the manga anthology magazine Monthly Halloween, Tomie is a fairly astounding work. Although the first chapter was published at the very onset of Junji Ito’s career, so many of the themes that we now associate with him — particularly the spiral of obsession — are there and in powerful display. The Tomie series eventually spanned science fiction and dark fantasy, but the first chapter, in which a dead classmate returns and begins to drive her peers and teachers mad, is the story at its best. Ito would revisit the visual archetype of the mysterious, deadly woman with dark hair a few times in his career (look for the gleefully deranged “Dissection Girl”), and there’s no shortage of tales about people being driven into a frenzy (check out the solid “Used Record”), but Tomie remains his most potent use of both.
“The Long Hair in the Attic” (1988)
In the wake of Tomie, Ito grew into an extremely prolific artist, and “The Long Hair in the Attic” is a great example of his expanding prowess. It once again features a vengeful, dark-haired girl (this one is a heartbroken teenager whose long tresses seem to take on a murderous mind of their own), but Ito is able to deliver a fairly slow-burn story that erupts into shocking moments of unhinged violence. Ito is particularly adept at delivering suspense here, which in manga is hard to build considering that one can’t control the pacing at which the reader experiences the story. But Ito, whose paneling work has markedly improved in the brief time between Tomie’s opening chapter and “Long Hair,” forces the reader to operate at his speed, and it’s all the more effective for it.
“Shivers” (1991)
Inspired by a wide range of horror storytellers, Ito would successfully dip into both cosmic and body horror frequently throughout his career, and a stunning mix of the dreamlike and the nasty can be found in “Shivers.” The story of a young man who keeps seeing people filled with gruesome, dark holes (holes that others tell him are hallucinations of some sort), “Shivers” is an important piece of Ito’s evolution, and he crams it full of angst and paranoia that drive the surrounding nightmare imagery. As his career continued, he’d become more noteworthy for his depictions of the distorted human body, something one can find in stories like “Slug Girl,” Uzumaki, or the conclusion of “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.”
“Scarecrows” (1991)
If there is one phrase that isn’t frequently associated with Junji Ito, it’s “oddly touching.” But “Scarecrows,” in which a scarecrow near a cemetery begins to take on the visage of a father’s dead daughter and a man’s former girlfriend, is an ultimately empathetic look at the hold that grief can have on us. That said, it is a Junji Ito story, so all of this is mired in a freewheeling descent into mass hysteria as dozens of others, realizing the link between scarecrow and loved one, begin to hoist their own effigies in attempts to somehow reconnect with the deceased. It all amounts to an underrated tale of Ito’s that should be considered a classic.
“Fashion Model” (1992)
Although Ito is certainly a thoughtful storyteller and often delivers compelling human portraits amid the terror, he’s not bad at the simple thriller either. “Fashion Model” doesn’t have much thematic meat to it: A young man is haunted by images of a monstrous “model,” one that is mocked by a group of wannabe filmmakers. Then, surprise, she turns out to be an actual monster! But Ito is nonetheless able to infuse it with the dread of a campfire story and even delivers on little bits of dark comedy, such as the clueless men ignoring the increasingly horrific circumstances and convincing themselves that, actually, things are going well. Sure, she has sharp teeth made to rip and eat flesh. It’s fiiiine.
Frankenstein (1994)
As an adaptation of the granddaddy of horror and science fiction, Ito’s Frankenstein is a frequently beautiful work. By this point, Ito had become a master of the terrorized young man, someone caught up in a frenzy of internal and external fears, and doomed scientist Victor Frankenstein is the romantic ideal of this type. Ito absconds from any notion that the monster itself is beautiful, and he creates a tragic, hideous beast of a man. Ito adores a creepy face, and the ghoulish treatment he gives the monster isn’t too dissimilar from, say, the macabre neighbor in “The Window Next Door” from around the same time period. But that face is all the better to leer at his creator with, and Ito’s Frankenstein does a wonderful job at capturing a man being chased by his own abominable choices.
“The Thing That Drifted Ashore” (1995)
If there’s one thing that Ito doesn’t tend to skimp on, it’s payoff, whether that comes in the triumphant form of escalating visuals or a promise that whatever madness the story ends on is only the awful beginning. “The Thing That Drifted Ashore” manages to combine both. It takes the idea of an undersea creature that has washed ashore and is filled with the half-digested, still-living people that it consumed (Ito is very good at combining the body with some grotesque thing — see the blood-curdling “Honored Ancestors”) and uses it to dive into the psychology of a young man who has long harbored a phobia of the watery depths and the creatures that inhabit them. So while the story technically concludes with a quick wrap-up of what happened to the “survivors” of the beast’s belly, the final thought is of the scared young man captivated by what they must have witnessed as fish food.
“The Long Dream” (1997)
Although “The Long Dream” does have some creepy imagery, it’s an Ito work that thrives off his ability to dial into horrors that feel real to us. In a research hospital, we meet two patients: One is sick and terrified of dying, while the other is losing his mind over the fact that his dreams seem to last days, months, years, and eventually centuries. The way that their paths intersect and the doctor’s growing fascination with them leads to a climax that’s less reliant on shock value and more on the existential nightmares that the reader can envision. But if anything, Ito letting us do the heavy lifting is just another example of the power of his storytelling. The best Ito stories aren’t laid to rest on the final page but designed to scuttle around in our brains for some time after.
Uzumaki (1998)
When someone asks which Junji Ito story they should start with, “Uzumaki” is likely the immediate answer. And that’s for good reason — it’s not just a popular story but an amalgamation of his finest traits as author and illustrator. A carefully timed tale that initially thrives on delusions and the breakdown of relationships and eventually grows into an H.P. Lovecraft–style overturning of how one sees the world, Uzumaki is a true masterpiece. Ito is no stranger to extrapolating on a specific object like the spiral, and his methodology here is not too different from his ominous work in stories like “The Hanging Balloons.” But in Uzumaki, with something as seemingly harmless as the spiral shape, Ito constantly undermines and then exceeds our expectations. Even if you’re watching the anime, Uzumaki is absolutely worth a read.
“The Enigma of Amigara Fault” (2000)
If one had to point out Ito’s most widespread manga, the one that’s often read without any idea of who the author is, it would be “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” A favorite of message boards in the aughts, it now makes for frequent meme material (one can find the “This is my hole! It was made for me!” image whenever someone discusses their particular pop-culture fixations). But the story of mysterious, man-shaped crevices that were uncovered after an earthquake and seem to lure in those that “fit” has lost none of its effectiveness despite its ubiquity. Although the idea of a person-shaped space is a recurring motif in Ito’s work, as in the spooky “The Human Chair,” “Enigma” is singular in its gut-punch potential. And the graphic end, which is perhaps Ito’s most recognizable panel, still manages to make you squirm a little bit.
Gyo (2001)
Few of Ito’s works are as purely cinematic as Gyo, the story of sea creatures emerging to terrorize the land thanks to their puzzling new legs. Great white shark walkin’ around? Yep. Of course, this is just the beginning, and the story goes on to include secretive World War II experiments, a near-apocalypse, and multiple mutated people, but Ito has rarely dealt with outsize fantasy as openly as he does with Gyo. For the most part, it’s a very fun read, even if it lacks much of the finer details of frightened pathos that his best stories have. And it does kind of go off the rails in the second half as Ito’s vision seems to stretch past his ability to wrangle it. But if you’re looking for Ito at his most unbound, Gyo is definitely a worthwhile choice.
“Glyceride” (2003)
Ito has quite a few memorable gross-out moments in his career, but “Glyceride” is one extended disgusting montage. It’s the tale of a family that lives in the increasingly greasy apartment above a barbeque restaurant, and their story not only includes a relentless vision of generational cycles of abuse but latches on to the teenage fear of exclusion and the very relatable alarm of dealing with your first pimples. Since it’s Junji Ito, though, that acne comes in the form of an array of stomach-churning body horror and dream sequences. “Glyceride” won’t win any awards for its emotional depth, but it’s certainly his finest “Want something gross? Get a load of this” achievement.
Junji Ito’s Cat Diary (2008)
In recent years, Ito has become a bit of an international personality himself, participating in everything from Anime Awards sketches to reaction videos to Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding. But for those who wish to dive into more personal efforts from Ito, Junji Ito’s Cat Diary is a treat for fans of his droll good-naturedness and his ability to derive melodramatic panic out of everyday situations. Detailing a fictional version of himself and his relationship with two pet cats, Ito manages to make something that’s both a heartwarming ode to animals and an exaggerated piece of horror comedy. For scaredy cats out there who might be a little hesitant to try out Ito’s other work, Cat Diary is a perfect way to dip your toes into Ito’s oeuvre without worrying about any bad dreams.
Sensor (2018)
As is the case with many horror creators, much of the discussion about Ito has to do with the sheer impact of his concepts — are they scary or not? But Sensor, a fairly recent work, shows that Ito is willing to take chances in regards to his output and the expectations of it. It jumps across time to tell the story of, you guessed it, a mysterious young woman and the fascinating occurrences that surround her. Ito’s execution of it plays with a ton of ideas — a cult that’s devoted to a dead Christian missionary, a bizarre volcanic substance that allows villagers to telepathically communicate, UFOs, and leaps across reality. Not all of the plot threads come together in the end, and relatively little of it is traditionally scary, but it’s proof that, with 30 years of manga under his belt, Ito was still taking some big swings. And today, the modern master of horror manga is far from finished.
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