10 Lesser-Read Junji Ito Stories for November
While most people know Junji Ito for "Uzumaki" (which has recently been adapted into a four-part animated series) and "Tomie" (which was adapted into a series of live action movies released from 1999 to 2011 that I will DEFINITELY BE WATCHING AND REVIEWING DON'T YOU WORRY) and his short horror story "The Enigma of Amigara Fault", there are several lesser-read Junji Ito stories that deserve the same amount (if not more) attention than Uzumaki, Tomie, etc. As a massive Junji Ito fan, I'm happy to share a personal list of my favorites. In no particular order.
- Descent
If you've been lurking on certain websites you might know this story by it's (un)officially translated name "Falling". Put simply, the story centers around a rash of mysterious suicides and the main character's girlfriend. I can't say more than that without giving it away, but it's an interesting and surprisingly spooky read.
- Smashed
Hands down my favorite lesser-read Junji Ito story. A bunch of people get hooked on a mysterious special kind of honey. This story seems to be (maybe unintentionally) about drug addiction. And there's some really fun visuals.
- The Smoking Room
This one gets a recommendation based on visuals alone. Something about the image really sticks with you after reading. It's an anti-smoking PSA with some sick-ass visuals.
- The Town Without Streets
This is one of the more interesting stories, because it's actually three stories combined into one. The pacing is surprisingly good throughout and the disparate story elements come together perfectly for the finale. And it features one of my favorite designs for a Junji Ito character (not the main character, but the main character's aunt who appears later in the third act of the story). The story revolves around the idea of privacy (lack of and wanting more) in three acts.
- The Human Chair
This one appears in "Venus in the Blind Spot", a collection of Junji Ito's most famous stories...so not exactly "lesser read", I guess, but worth mentioning as one of my personal faves.
- Black Paradox
If you're a fan of Ito's longer works and want to read something other than Uzumaki, Tomie, or Gyo, this is hands down my absolute favorite (other than Uzumaki and Tomie) longer work by Junji Ito. It's about a bunch of people meeting up to commit suicide, only to be stopped by mysterious circumstances that slowly escalate into a bizarre and striking commentary on life, death, and....climate change??? Yeah, it's a doozy. And so much more than the first chapter lets on.
- Mansion of Phantom Pain
This one's just an interesting idea, to be quite honest. Junji Ito at his most creative, taking something real (the concept of phantom pain) and turning it into a nightmare that actually creeped me out (just, like, the concept and the implications of the ending) more than a lot of his other more popular works ever have.
- Face Thief
This is an early work, so not the best art-wise but stunning as a story. It's about a girl who steals other peoples' faces.
- Tomie Takeover
This is a very short recent Tomie story, in which Tomie's body is taken over by a young guy with body-swapping abilities. It's a little like "Face Thief" with a Tomie twist. Only about five pages.
- The Deserter
This is maybe the most blatantly political of Junji Ito's works and I can't tell if it's on purpose. There's an unintentional anti-war sentiment in this one, I feel like....or at least criticism of war?? It's a good one, another of Ito's early works. It almost feels like a precursor to "Gyo".