Junji Ito Manga Corner!

Mimi's Tales of Terror

So, I guess Junji Ito's editor wanted an "eye-catching" protagonist for this anthology and, well, here she is: Mimi! She doesn't have any supernatural powers or anything. She just runs into a lot of paranormal stuff with her boyfriend throughout the book. I have to admit that I've gotten out of the habit of reading manga, but this one sort of re-energized my interest. When reading Junji Ito (or most J-horror) you have just accept the way things are. There is no explanation, just spiritual phenomena happening and that's just the way it goes! Sometimes I get a little frustrated with Asian horror because I want more of the why's but not everything needs an explanation. In fact, it adds to the readers/viewers ability to interpret things how they wish. There were a couple of stories that stuck out to me: Just the Two of Us and Monster Prop. Just the Two of Us focuses on a mother who has lit herself on fire and she is haunting her children and a residence. I love that her soot outline is left everywhere and they some really haunting artistic visuals in that one. I also really liked the very last story in the book, Monster Prop, for a couple reasons. One Halloween is just a few days away! Second, I love the creepiness of going into a haunted house and not knowing if the scary stuff is supposed to be happening or not. Plus, the whole long-haired figure underneath the door and the moan of the boyfriend when he was crushed by the truck made the story mentally unsettling. This is not one of his long Manga compilations, however, it took me a while to read because, you know, life. I'm glad to be getting back into reading my collection because I have a few that I haven't even opened yet!