Junji Ito thread

I tried to explain Junji Ito to someone recently and simply gave up. He is literally inexplicable; you have to experience him. Very similar to Ligotti in that way. A simple plot explanation never does the work justice.
 
In the introduction to Noctuary Ligotti makes a distinction between horror and the weird as horror having an explanation while the weird is an enigma that can't be dispelled. Going by that definition, I find Ito straddles on the line between both and personally I'd say his weird stories are the best while his horror stories are the ones that tend to falter. Though occasionally he knocks out something like the "amigara fault" story, which somehow is both and still works.
 
There will be a new Uzumaki anime directed by Hiroshi Nagahama (Mushishi and Flowers of Evil). Only 4 episodes. Hm...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtM5x_4SejA
 
Every time I go on Amazon I see a new Junji Ito book, like he's having a real wave of interest in the USA right now. I fully support it!

I picked up "No Longer Human" last week - another great read, a little bit more profound than his usual build ups to freak out moments. I'm curious if the author credited on the front is real or just a means of tying together the end of the story...

Looking forward to Hellstar Remina, I've only read it online - has anyone ever noticed the similarity between Ramsey Campbell's "The Tugging", and "Hellstar..."??

Curious if its a blatant reference..
 
Sensor in september
Horror master Junji Ito explores a new frontier with a grand cosmic horror tale in which a mysterious woman has her way with the world!

Did she wander in? Or was she drawn in…?

A woman walks alone at the foot of Mount Sengoku. A man appears, saying he’s been waiting for her, and invites her to a nearby village. Surprisingly, the village is covered in hairlike volcanic glass fibers, and all of it shines a bright gold. At night, when the villagers perform their custom of gazing up at the starry sky, countless unidentified flying objects come raining down on them, the opening act for the terror about to occur.
Click to expand...
 
ramonoski said:
In the introduction to Noctuary Ligotti makes a distinction between horror and the weird as horror having an explanation while the weird is an enigma that can't be dispelled. Going by that definition, I find Ito straddles on the line between both and personally I'd say his weird stories are the best while his horror stories are the ones that tend to falter. Though occasionally he knocks out something like the "amigara fault" story, which somehow is both and still works.
Click to expand...

I agree. "The Enigma of Amigara Fault” is, in addition, a perfect representation of the weird in the sense of “personal destiny”, as also discussed by Ligotti in the foreword to Noctuary: “The entrapments presented in weird fiction may go so far as to be absolute, a full illustration of what was always in the works and only awaited discovery.”
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPW376ES7zs[/ame]
“Amigara” also reminds me of Stephen King’s “The Jaunt”. Both stories invoke the horror of the isolated consciousness and Poe’s Imp of the Perverse. They are also similar in other respects. In both stories, the underlying concept is so effective that the shock ending lessens the impact of the narrative. This is because that type of ending - and the resulting narrative structure - implies that the setting of the story only exists in order to set up the final scare. This serves to deemphasize the central conceit of the story which is where the real horror lies. Happily, in both cases the ideas are strong enough to overcome the endings.

By contrast, Ligotti seldom lets a scary moment get in the way of a scary idea. Even when the action builds to a crescendo as in “Nethescurial”, the resonance of the underlying concept is reinforced rather than diminished. This is one of the characteristics that situate Ligotti as a writer of weird or “literary” horror fiction rather than horror tout court.
 
Is the Uzumaki film released in 2000 any good? I think I saw it ages ago, but if I did, I cannot remember anything from it.
 
Remina is out and in bookstores (the new English version), I see it around frequently, while perusing.

It's one of my favorite Junji Ito stories, second only to the core storyline of Uzumaki.

Maybe there are numerous references to other "wandering star" type science fiction stories in Remina, but I notice surprising similarities to Ramsey Campbell's short story "The Tugging" and also Melancholia by Lars Von Trier.

The 3 together almost create a subgenre of "strange planet shows up" type horror, which is a cool premise.
 
Uzumaki

miguel1984 said:
Is the Uzumaki film released in 2000 any good? I think I saw it ages ago, but if I did, I cannot remember anything from it.
Click to expand...


I bought this on DVD and remember being vaguely disappointed in it.
Mostly because I thought it would be similar to Suicide Circle by Sion Sono.
That is unfair and I ought to rewatch. I recall the snails, and thinking there were echoes of Dark City.
 
I have finished the Lovesickness volume recently. The main story was good as I remember.
@Teetering-Crutches: I don't remember any of Remina's plot points but I remember this image from the bonus story "Army of One".
Wogjlsl.jpeg
 
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