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ハロウィン少女コミック館 #4
Deserter: Junji Ito Story Collection
A vengeful family hides an army deserter for eight years after the end of World War II, cocooning him in a false reality where the war never ended. A pair of girls look alike, but they’re not twins. And a boy’s nightmare threatens to spill out into the real world…
This hauntingly strange story collection showcases a dozen of Junji Ito’s earliest works from when he burst onto the horror scene, sowing fresh seeds of terror.
This hauntingly strange story collection showcases a dozen of Junji Ito’s earliest works from when he burst onto the horror scene, sowing fresh seeds of terror.
392 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 18, 2011
342 people are currently reading
10.3k people want to read
About the author
Junji Ito
258 books13.7k followersJunji Itō (Japanese: 伊藤潤二, Ito Junji) is a Japanese cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his horror manga.
Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists.
His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism.
Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists.
His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism.
Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 948 reviews
May 1, 2022
hi trauma <3
November 7, 2021
I’m afraid I’m finding these Junji Ito collections to be a case of diminishing returns. Deserter collects ‘a dozen of Junji Ito’s earliest works from when he burst onto the horror scene’, though when that was, and where/how they were published, and in what order, is never clarified (more on that later).
Of the 12, there are four really good stories. ‘Scripted Love’ I thought was excellent – it’s about a sleazy man who records a video of himself to ‘console’ his ex-girlfriend, only for this to backfire when she prefers the scripted version to the real thing. There’s a similar streak of dark humour in ‘Bullied’, in which a woman reconnects with a man she used to torment when they were kids. ‘A Father’s Love’ works well because it’s one of the longer stories, and takes plenty of time to flesh out its tale of a tyrannical patriarch who has a unique hold on his children. Finally, ‘Deserter’ is a sort of twisted historical ghost story about a family who take revenge on their shared enemy by convincing him the Second World War never ended.
The others are hardly vintage Ito, and tend to display the hallmarks of his weakest work: abrupt/inconclusive endings, plots that seem to be missing key points, infodumps in dialogue. In ‘Bio House’, a typically gruesome story about people with fetishes for eating bizarre things, there’s a particularly egregious example of the latter when a man says to a cricket, ‘you’re the only mutant camel cricket left in this world after an accident in the middle of a gene-switching experiment’. Talk about ‘as you know, Bob’! Never before have I been so tempted to use the ‘lol’ emoji in a book review.
Because these are early stories, the illustrations aren’t always up to the standards of Ito’s later work. In ‘Face Thief’, the simple art combined with the premise (there are two unrelated girls who look identical) results in a lot of confusion; I didn’t know who was supposed to be who half the time. ‘The Devil’s Logic’ introduces a great concept – a ‘philosophy of death’ so powerful it makes people instantly suicidal – but the ending is such a cop-out as to be laughable.
I think a collection of Ito’s earlier manga is a worthwhile idea. But I’d have found Deserter far more interesting if there had been some notes from the author or editor to contextualise the stories (the first of these collections, Shiver, featured not only commentary from Ito, but also reproductions of his original notes with translations). I’d like to know when, and in what context, they were first published; what, for example, is the background of ‘The Reanimator’s Sword’, which leans more towards fantasy than horror and seems like an outlier here? Some of the stories seem to prefigure his better-known work, and could perhaps be seen as earlier versions, or am I imagining that connection? Without any additional info, I’ll never know.
I received an advance review copy of Deserter from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter | Linktree
Of the 12, there are four really good stories. ‘Scripted Love’ I thought was excellent – it’s about a sleazy man who records a video of himself to ‘console’ his ex-girlfriend, only for this to backfire when she prefers the scripted version to the real thing. There’s a similar streak of dark humour in ‘Bullied’, in which a woman reconnects with a man she used to torment when they were kids. ‘A Father’s Love’ works well because it’s one of the longer stories, and takes plenty of time to flesh out its tale of a tyrannical patriarch who has a unique hold on his children. Finally, ‘Deserter’ is a sort of twisted historical ghost story about a family who take revenge on their shared enemy by convincing him the Second World War never ended.
The others are hardly vintage Ito, and tend to display the hallmarks of his weakest work: abrupt/inconclusive endings, plots that seem to be missing key points, infodumps in dialogue. In ‘Bio House’, a typically gruesome story about people with fetishes for eating bizarre things, there’s a particularly egregious example of the latter when a man says to a cricket, ‘you’re the only mutant camel cricket left in this world after an accident in the middle of a gene-switching experiment’. Talk about ‘as you know, Bob’! Never before have I been so tempted to use the ‘lol’ emoji in a book review.
Because these are early stories, the illustrations aren’t always up to the standards of Ito’s later work. In ‘Face Thief’, the simple art combined with the premise (there are two unrelated girls who look identical) results in a lot of confusion; I didn’t know who was supposed to be who half the time. ‘The Devil’s Logic’ introduces a great concept – a ‘philosophy of death’ so powerful it makes people instantly suicidal – but the ending is such a cop-out as to be laughable.
I think a collection of Ito’s earlier manga is a worthwhile idea. But I’d have found Deserter far more interesting if there had been some notes from the author or editor to contextualise the stories (the first of these collections, Shiver, featured not only commentary from Ito, but also reproductions of his original notes with translations). I’d like to know when, and in what context, they were first published; what, for example, is the background of ‘The Reanimator’s Sword’, which leans more towards fantasy than horror and seems like an outlier here? Some of the stories seem to prefigure his better-known work, and could perhaps be seen as earlier versions, or am I imagining that connection? Without any additional info, I’ll never know.
I received an advance review copy of Deserter from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter | Linktree
October 24, 2021
Junji Ito is (as always) the king of body horror graphic novels that are both terrifying, fascinating and completely ridiculous and this book is no exception. I sort of wanted to pick it for my Fantastic Strangelings Book Club for December but I figured 25% of the people would be like, "YOU LIKE JUNJI ITO TOO? BFFS FOREVER!" and the other 75% would be like, "Hello, 911. I think I've been threatened."
But if you like bizarro horror you should def read it.
But if you like bizarro horror you should def read it.
June 24, 2022
Junji Ito’s story collection Deserter was only recently published in English a few months ago but it was originally published ten years ago in Japan. It explains why the art is a little less polished than his newer books but the stories remain as daffy and original as readers have come to expect from this creator. And, like the majority of Ito’s books, Deserter isn’t very good.
There were three stories that stood out to me - I wouldn’t say I liked them completely but they were more than just “whacky horror cliche blood arrgh” which makes up the others. A Father’s Love is probably Ito’s most serious story to date, dealing with child abuse in an allegory about a father who uses bizarre psychic powers to live vicariously through his children. It’s a creative way of portraying a difficult subject though it doesn’t make it that interesting to read either.
Unendurable Labyrinth has an intriguing premise of a couple of hikers stumbling across an extreme band of ascetic monks who are trying to mummify themselves alive for… no real reason. Because Horror! Bullied is the third story which is a weird tale of revenge with a creepy final image.
The other stories aren’t well constructed. It’s a pattern I’ve noticed with Ito’s books: his stories start well but always descend into hysterical horror cliches that rarely make sense and often give the stories an unintentional comedic aspect. Bio House is about vampires out for blood, Village of the Siren is about demons wanting human sacrifice because that’s what demons want, Deserter is about a haunted family, and The Devil’s Logic is about a cursed videotape that kills - I know, how original, eh?
Parts of stories can be mildly interesting - the eerie village in the Siren story, the strange plan the family hatch and stick with in Deserter, the idea of a dream version of you emerging into the waking world in Where the Sandman Lives - but other parts are underwritten or, as is usually the case, not explained at all, so they read as amateurish and silly. At their worst, they’re just plain boring like the woman scorned in Scripted Love or the guy who brings the dead back to life in The Reanimator’s Sword.
There’s usually at least one or two stories in a Junji Ito collection that stays with me, for better or worse, but I don’t see any of the stories in Deserter doing that - they’re on the whole a very forgettable and unimpressive bunch. I can see why this wasn’t published for a decade while other collections were published before it. If you’re gonna check this one out, don’t expect much from this attention-deserting book.
There were three stories that stood out to me - I wouldn’t say I liked them completely but they were more than just “whacky horror cliche blood arrgh” which makes up the others. A Father’s Love is probably Ito’s most serious story to date, dealing with child abuse in an allegory about a father who uses bizarre psychic powers to live vicariously through his children. It’s a creative way of portraying a difficult subject though it doesn’t make it that interesting to read either.
Unendurable Labyrinth has an intriguing premise of a couple of hikers stumbling across an extreme band of ascetic monks who are trying to mummify themselves alive for… no real reason. Because Horror! Bullied is the third story which is a weird tale of revenge with a creepy final image.
The other stories aren’t well constructed. It’s a pattern I’ve noticed with Ito’s books: his stories start well but always descend into hysterical horror cliches that rarely make sense and often give the stories an unintentional comedic aspect. Bio House is about vampires out for blood, Village of the Siren is about demons wanting human sacrifice because that’s what demons want, Deserter is about a haunted family, and The Devil’s Logic is about a cursed videotape that kills - I know, how original, eh?
Parts of stories can be mildly interesting - the eerie village in the Siren story, the strange plan the family hatch and stick with in Deserter, the idea of a dream version of you emerging into the waking world in Where the Sandman Lives - but other parts are underwritten or, as is usually the case, not explained at all, so they read as amateurish and silly. At their worst, they’re just plain boring like the woman scorned in Scripted Love or the guy who brings the dead back to life in The Reanimator’s Sword.
There’s usually at least one or two stories in a Junji Ito collection that stays with me, for better or worse, but I don’t see any of the stories in Deserter doing that - they’re on the whole a very forgettable and unimpressive bunch. I can see why this wasn’t published for a decade while other collections were published before it. If you’re gonna check this one out, don’t expect much from this attention-deserting book.
January 25, 2023
Disturbingly entertaining. Junji Ito let the demons out and it is glorious.
My favs were: Face thief, Scripted love and Deserter.
My favs were: Face thief, Scripted love and Deserter.
December 21, 2021
Most of the stories in this collection ranged from just fine to really good, with a few falling into the range of being downright boring or unenjoyable. I wish I'd written down ratings for each piece of the collection individually as I was reading through it, but this was one of those times where I was more in the mood to just zone out with the manga rather than take notes, and it wasn't good enough to want to re-read it for more thorough reviewing purposes (sorry!). That said, this would probably be a good intro collection for someone brand new to Junji Ito's works because it covers a wide range of his storytelling styles - some more fantastical, some bizarro, and some downright sad and scary - and would give a new reader a really good idea of what to expect.
It's more of a 3.5-star read for me, but I don't feel right about rounding the rating down.
✨ Content warnings for:
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It's more of a 3.5-star read for me, but I don't feel right about rounding the rating down.
✨ Content warnings for:
———
twitter | booktok | bookstagram | blog
December 25, 2021
This book is my introduction to Manga and overall I enjoyed it. This, like most short story collections has some hits, some misses, and the rest of the stories fall somewhere in between. Lucky for me, most fit in the hits category. My favorites, in no particular order, are Bullied, Face Thief, Deserter, and The Reanimator's Sword.
There were just a few misses, and they lacked character development or just had abrupt endings. The artwork was good overall. In some stories it was hard to tell who was who though. I would recommend this to those who love Horror Manga.
There were just a few misses, and they lacked character development or just had abrupt endings. The artwork was good overall. In some stories it was hard to tell who was who though. I would recommend this to those who love Horror Manga.
May 23, 2024
”An ever-increasing malice. A mind-numbing terror. See the seeds of horror sown in this collection of Junji Ito’s earliest works”.
Deserter certainly does show the beginnings of Ito’s horror works here. Some stories do feel less horrific than some of his later works, but they still have his signature body-horror art style in parts. I will always be so fond of his style. The story The Long Hair in the Attic stood out to me, in particular, out of this collection. There are some interesting story concepts here.
A solid 4 star read! 💀🖤
Deserter certainly does show the beginnings of Ito’s horror works here. Some stories do feel less horrific than some of his later works, but they still have his signature body-horror art style in parts. I will always be so fond of his style. The story The Long Hair in the Attic stood out to me, in particular, out of this collection. There are some interesting story concepts here.
A solid 4 star read! 💀🖤
October 18, 2022
One of Junji Ito's elder horror anthologies. But being older, doesn't make it any less scary. There's a lot to like here for horror aficionados. Ito always does a great job of packing plenty of horror into his short stories.
July 2, 2022
I am a huge fan of Junji Ito, but I have found his recent story collections to be a little lazy in terms of artstyle. The story is excellent, but the art style often detracts from the enjoyment. The stories in this collection were mostly medicore and average. "The scripted love" was dark and powerful for me.
Individual ratings :-
Bio house :- 3.5
Face thief :- 3
Where the sandman lives :- 3.75
Devil's logic :- 3
Long hair in the attic :- 3.5
Scripted love :- 4
The reanimator's sword :- 2
A father's love :- 3
Unendurable Labyrinth :- 3
Village of the siren :- 3.25
Bullied :- 2.75
Desserter :- 3
Individual ratings :-
Bio house :- 3.5
Face thief :- 3
Where the sandman lives :- 3.75
Devil's logic :- 3
Long hair in the attic :- 3.5
Scripted love :- 4
The reanimator's sword :- 2
A father's love :- 3
Unendurable Labyrinth :- 3
Village of the siren :- 3.25
Bullied :- 2.75
Desserter :- 3
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February 7, 2023This book is not for the lighthearted, but rather the fans of Japanese gore movies mixed with artistically beautiful manga. The stories include horror, terror, and bizarre twists from the mind of Junji Ito, author of popular graphic novels like Uzumaki and Black Paradox. This manga is a collection of short stories with a wide range of manic and terrifying themes. If you enjoyed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark when you were a kid, this is the ramped-up adult version for sure. Ito is careful with his fine details of every story, keeping you guessing until the very end.
-Alyssa C.
-Alyssa C.
March 3, 2022
A solid collection of short horror stories from a master artist that will leave you squirming with its gore and body horror. Many of the tales are pretty sparse, providing a simple and direct route to a chilling final image or thought. But the book closes strong with the title story providing the best twists and turns.
March 6, 2022
3.5 Stars
While this collection was recently translated, it is actually made up of the author's older work. For this reason, the story felt more raw, which was more a strength and weakness of the collection. As always with collection, some stories were stronger than others. My personal favourite in the collection was The Long Hair in the Attic.
While this collection was recently translated, it is actually made up of the author's older work. For this reason, the story felt more raw, which was more a strength and weakness of the collection. As always with collection, some stories were stronger than others. My personal favourite in the collection was The Long Hair in the Attic.
February 17, 2025
Very satisfying collection of horror shorts by Ito. :)
Read
February 24, 2025Pronto la reseña.
February 13, 2025
Excelente antología, me gustó mucho porque todos sus relatos están buenos, es una selección muy equilibrada que se disfruta de principio a fin.
BioHouse: 4/5 ⭐
Una mujer cena con el presidente de la compañía, el menú inluye bichos y mucha, pero mucha sangre.
Ladrona de caras: 4/5⭐
Una adolescente copia la cara de quienes tiene cerca en su escuela.
El demonio del sueño: 4/5⭐
Un chico no puede dormir por culpa de su otro yo de los sueños que quiere apoderarse de él.
La teoría diabólica 3.5/5 ⭐
Una diosa de la muerte te convence de morirte. Me hubiese gustado un poco más de extensión, tiene un cierre abrupto.
Pelo en el Altillo: 5⭐
Una chica es dejada por el novio y su pelo toma protagonismo.
Amor Guionado 5/5 ⭐
Una chica es dejada por el novio y el graba una cinta VHS para que lo recuerde.
La espada del reanimador 4/5⭐
Un hombre es capaz de revivir a los muertos.
El deseo de papá 5/5⭐
Una familia está maldita. Los hijos mueren y la desgracia los rodea permanentemente.
El laberinto insufrible 3.5⭐
Dos compañeras se adentran en un templo de meditación y descubren un terrorífico secreto.
El pueblo de la sirena 4/5 ⭐
Un relato con demonología, brujos y tintes lovecraftianos.
Niña Abusiva 5/5 ⭐
Una mujer le cuenta un secreto del pasado a su novio.
Desertor 5/5⭐
Una familia refugia en su ático a un soldado desertor de la guerra.
BioHouse: 4/5 ⭐
Una mujer cena con el presidente de la compañía, el menú inluye bichos y mucha, pero mucha sangre.
Ladrona de caras: 4/5⭐
Una adolescente copia la cara de quienes tiene cerca en su escuela.
El demonio del sueño: 4/5⭐
Un chico no puede dormir por culpa de su otro yo de los sueños que quiere apoderarse de él.
La teoría diabólica 3.5/5 ⭐
Una diosa de la muerte te convence de morirte. Me hubiese gustado un poco más de extensión, tiene un cierre abrupto.
Pelo en el Altillo: 5⭐
Una chica es dejada por el novio y su pelo toma protagonismo.
Amor Guionado 5/5 ⭐
Una chica es dejada por el novio y el graba una cinta VHS para que lo recuerde.
La espada del reanimador 4/5⭐
Un hombre es capaz de revivir a los muertos.
El deseo de papá 5/5⭐
Una familia está maldita. Los hijos mueren y la desgracia los rodea permanentemente.
El laberinto insufrible 3.5⭐
Dos compañeras se adentran en un templo de meditación y descubren un terrorífico secreto.
El pueblo de la sirena 4/5 ⭐
Un relato con demonología, brujos y tintes lovecraftianos.
Niña Abusiva 5/5 ⭐
Una mujer le cuenta un secreto del pasado a su novio.
Desertor 5/5⭐
Una familia refugia en su ático a un soldado desertor de la guerra.
January 6, 2025
Some of the stories in this collection were a bit more weird than usual, but all of them were soooo extremely (and creepily) well drawn. The art never disappoints in Junji Ito’s work.
I loved “Deserter”, “Long Hair in the Attic”, and “Where the Sandman Lives” especially!
“Bio House”, “The Reanimators Sword”, “A Fathers Love”, and “Unendurable Labyrinth”, were good, but could’ve been expanded upon. Or maybe some things were lost in translation? I just found them a little too vague in context to what was going on (no background/explanation for the supernatural/evil thing happening).
I loved “Deserter”, “Long Hair in the Attic”, and “Where the Sandman Lives” especially!
“Bio House”, “The Reanimators Sword”, “A Fathers Love”, and “Unendurable Labyrinth”, were good, but could’ve been expanded upon. Or maybe some things were lost in translation? I just found them a little too vague in context to what was going on (no background/explanation for the supernatural/evil thing happening).
July 13, 2023
3.5 ⭐️ for this collection of early Junji ito. Deserter and bullied just showed the horror that is present in every human. The power to hurt others at will. No blood, guts, and gore. Just human nature, truly terrifying.
I didn't find I was too interested in the other stories, but this is still an amazing story collection. Just not my favourite.
I didn't find I was too interested in the other stories, but this is still an amazing story collection. Just not my favourite.
March 24, 2022
Ok, Bullied has broken me — that final page will haunt my dreams forever.
(Thought the body horror stories were the ones that were gonna f*** me up but nope; thanks Mr. Ito for destroying me with real life horror instead 🥲)
(Thought the body horror stories were the ones that were gonna f*** me up but nope; thanks Mr. Ito for destroying me with real life horror instead 🥲)
March 16, 2023
Junji Ito can do no wrong,that man is a master of horror
October 31, 2024
quando comecei a ler essa antologia, fiquei com um pouco de receio, por ser do começo da carreira dele. felizmente, o cara sempre foi bom no q faz e os contos são muito bem desenhados/escritos e fiquei genuinamente apavorado com alguns deles!!! óbvio, o traço não é tão bom* qnt nos trabalhos mais recentes dele, mas tudo continua extremamente incômodo e nojento, como só ele sabe fazer 🤪
*de acordo com minha opinião e minha opinião apenas!!!!!!!
como todo livro d contos, ele tem seus altos e baixos, com umas histórias mais legais que as outras, mas isso a gente entende 100%, né? faz parte
dito isso, recomendo demais a leitura! foi mt bom poder ler e comentar com a Nara, inScrível sensacional! 🥰
*de acordo com minha opinião e minha opinião apenas!!!!!!!
como todo livro d contos, ele tem seus altos e baixos, com umas histórias mais legais que as outras, mas isso a gente entende 100%, né? faz parte
dito isso, recomendo demais a leitura! foi mt bom poder ler e comentar com a Nara, inScrível sensacional! 🥰
December 27, 2023
Closing out this years 2023 reading challenge with Junji Ito's horror collection classic, Deserter. This fine collection of 12 short stories are sure to fill your well with fear and thought provoking horrors. Ito's take on fear is eccentric and the proof is in each of these tales, all of them taking their own form of mind bending impossibilities (or so we think). Although the artwork seems dated, it does state in his bio blurb that these stories are of his earliest collections. By no means however does it take away from the scare factor. The actually story content far exceeds the frame work. Most of, if not all the stories, leave the reader with cliff hangers or ambiguous open endings, which to me is one of the greatest tactics in writing. To draw a reader's attention and force them to come back is the secret formula.
For the most part, these stories contain many elements of the horror genre: body horror, blood, guts, weird, psyche, dark magic, demons, dread, ominous, and a touch of obsession. For fun I've rated my top 3 favorite stories and one for the most disturbing (in my opinion) Why not? Being a father of two, and a horror writer, I find myself relating to these types of stories, not because I wish them to happen, but because things like this could happen, and in some cases do. The world is a mysterious, scary place. And sometimes we need to be reminded of that...
My top three:
1. Scripted Love
2. The Devil's Logic
3. A Father's Love
The most disturbing:
1. Bullied
5 out of 5 stars
F. D. Gross
For the most part, these stories contain many elements of the horror genre: body horror, blood, guts, weird, psyche, dark magic, demons, dread, ominous, and a touch of obsession. For fun I've rated my top 3 favorite stories and one for the most disturbing (in my opinion) Why not? Being a father of two, and a horror writer, I find myself relating to these types of stories, not because I wish them to happen, but because things like this could happen, and in some cases do. The world is a mysterious, scary place. And sometimes we need to be reminded of that...
My top three:
1. Scripted Love
2. The Devil's Logic
3. A Father's Love
The most disturbing:
1. Bullied
5 out of 5 stars
F. D. Gross
February 1, 2025
3.5 I’m spoiled by his later phenomenal works! These were interesting but most lacked that something that made them extra chilling and unforgettable. Still worth reading but I’d start with something newer by him if you’re curious.
Read
December 9, 2021
Trigger & Content Warnings:
Child abuse
Suicide
Murder
Infanticide
Child abuse
Suicide
Murder
Infanticide
August 2, 2022
So glad to read Mr. Ito's earlier works in this collection. It is impressive to see how much progress he has made in his art.
April 9, 2024
This short story collection was a mixed bag. Most of the 12 stories had abrupt endings. They seemed to stop whenever it started to get interesting and a lot of the time I felt like I was missing key points in the plot. In general, the concept seemed to be more important than the actual plot. Don't get me wrong, I loved every single idea in here, but they needed more substance for my taste.
Average rating: 2.8/5 🌟
2.5/5 🌟 Bio House: A man has peculiar taste. Blood is involved.
2/5 🌟 Face Thief: Try to avoid her, or else she will look just like you.
3/5 🌟 Where the Sandman Lives: Can't go to sleep, or else the dream-world me will come out!
1.5/5 🌟 The Devil's Logic: Once you meet her, you will be obsessed with death.
3/5 🌟 The Long Hair in the Attic: She just wanted to cut her hair because a guy dumped her.
2/5 🌟 Scripted Love: This guy also dumps girls regularly, and then gifts them video tapes of himself.
3/5 🌟 The Reanimator's Sword: Let's go soul fishing!
3/5 🌟 A Father's Love: A family plagued by headaches and suicides. A fun time indeed!
4/5 🌟 Unendurable Labyrinth: Two kids get lost in the woods and discover a spiritual cult. Everything was perfect until it just abruptly ended without any conclusion at all.
4/5 🌟 Village of the Siren: Demons, rituals, death. This one has it all.
2.5/5 🌟 Bullied: This woman reaaaaally likes to bully others.
3/5 🌟 Deserter: A group of people cocoon a deserter in the false reality of World War II still going on years after 1945
Average rating: 2.8/5 🌟
2.5/5 🌟 Bio House: A man has peculiar taste. Blood is involved.
2/5 🌟 Face Thief: Try to avoid her, or else she will look just like you.
3/5 🌟 Where the Sandman Lives: Can't go to sleep, or else the dream-world me will come out!
1.5/5 🌟 The Devil's Logic: Once you meet her, you will be obsessed with death.
3/5 🌟 The Long Hair in the Attic: She just wanted to cut her hair because a guy dumped her.
2/5 🌟 Scripted Love: This guy also dumps girls regularly, and then gifts them video tapes of himself.
3/5 🌟 The Reanimator's Sword: Let's go soul fishing!
3/5 🌟 A Father's Love: A family plagued by headaches and suicides. A fun time indeed!
4/5 🌟 Unendurable Labyrinth: Two kids get lost in the woods and discover a spiritual cult. Everything was perfect until it just abruptly ended without any conclusion at all.
4/5 🌟 Village of the Siren: Demons, rituals, death. This one has it all.
2.5/5 🌟 Bullied: This woman reaaaaally likes to bully others.
3/5 🌟 Deserter: A group of people cocoon a deserter in the false reality of World War II still going on years after 1945
November 4, 2021
3.5, rounded down because a couple of stories left a bad taste in my mouth even for horror. I have to hand it to Junji Itoh - he always gives me new fears that I didn't know I had. That said, the two final tales in the volume, both of which deal with forms of bullying, were a bit too on the nose with their casual cruelty. Gore? Fine. Lots of tiny holes? Bring it on. Tormenting a child? Um...
August 15, 2024
3.5 stars--You can tell that these are earlier efforts when compared with his later works, but so many elements have already fallen into place--from the meticulously detailed illustrations to the crazy scenarios that the characters are dropped into. Many of the stories just drop off without a full resolution, but the ideas gestating here are definitely creepy!
November 5, 2024
Some of them were the most terrifying stories I've ever read, absolutely underrated!
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