Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre

This was a series I had high hopes for and was even telling friends about with the launch with the really well made trailer on YouTube. I watched the first two episodes and...it's pretty meh. It's not awful, but it really is a boring mess of a show that has no cohesion in each episode. Nothing was scary, nothing was interesting, just very boring stories with mediocre animation as well (the little kid dancing at the Seance was so badly animated, things like this stick out like a sore thumb).

Not sure who this is for, but as someone who loves horror this is just a lacking show with no real reason to watch.

All episodes seem to be pure build up to a conclusion that never comes.

It's disappointing when the episode ends and you're like "Wow, was that it?" It's like you're just seeing undeveloped concepts.

Very few episodes really feel like a closed story and others don't even feel like a story at all.

The animation is not terrible but definitely could be better, the opening intro is by far the best part of the whole series.

I think the series is entertaining despite all the flaws, but don't expect something scary or even intriguing, in the end it's just pretty dull campfire stories with some minimally interesting ones in the middle.

Also, I can't even count the number of times a character could have completely avoided their situations by having common sense, but the characters in the series seem to have an extreme tolerance to weird things happening around them, it's like they aren't reacting as they should... This is a spoiler free review but just know that there is a episode where the MC simply choose to keep in a cleary bad looking situation for no reason at all... And the conclusion is as underwhelming as expected.

It's hard to rate it this low because i actually had some fun watching it, but overall it was this disapointing.

Lousy idea to put two stories in one chapter. They could have developed the stories better in a complete chapter or even in two.

There are moments where the stories feel like they end up very unfinished, without sense, and leave you wanting to see more, everything feels rushed. The stories with potential were never developed well, so it ends up being an entertaining anime with wasted potential.

The animation lacks fluidity and looks static at times, visually it is decently attractive. We are still waiting for a good adaptation of Junji Ito's manga, and please stop adapting several stories in a single episode.

It's Rather annoying that most episodes don't finish and just end abruptly at the climax of things when they could have concluded. After a few of those the episodes just go down hill. Some of the stories are written well and some are just pointless. No matter how well an episode is written and animated it all goes in the trash when it just ends and fells unfinished. This anime had a cool concept but lousy execution. I would have loved it if the stories would actually be full on stories with complete endings but this isn't it.

I'm not sure what else to say without ruining the show so like the stories in the series I'll just cut it short and end it here.

I have to be dead honest unfortunately I'd rate Junji Ito Maniac about the same as the Junji Ito Collection they both have positives and negatives about different thing's focusing on Maniac the writing feels a bit better the suspense build up to the gruesome moments that are supposed to make your skin crawl and gut churn Junji Ito is such a master of fall so flat in this show it feels lifeless because knowing Junji Ito he doesn't rely on cheap scares and such he likes body horror the inescapable what makes his books so amazing and skin crawling he puts such a dreadful touch to his art that's so creepily detailed that it's incredible and this show takes the build up you start to get unsettled just for the big (supposed to be) shocking reveal for it to look slightly cartoonish and dumbed down almost as if it was censored if you're a hardcore Junji Ito fan like me you will find some enjoyment in it it's not all bad not at all just like the Collection it has its shining moments but I'd probably give Maniac a granted biased rating of 6 out of 10 and that's honestly a fanboy opinion so about the same as I'd give the Junji Ito Collection!