I am a huge Junji Ito fan, and eagerly read anything he puts out, so I was super excited to see he had a new collection being released. The collection releases tomorrow, August 18, and I was only approved for an ARC on Friday, so I had to read it quickly in order to get a review in before the release date.
This collection contains 9 short stories and 1 non-fiction story about Junji Ito's fellow horror writer and idol, Kazuo Umezu. Three of the stories are written by other authors, Edogawa Ranpo and Robert Hichens.
I, of course, felt this collection was not nearly long enough, but that is par for the course with any Junji Ito work. Of course, by far the best work in this collection has been published before, "The Enigma of Amigara Fault," but the others I really enjoyed in this collection were "Billions Alone," "The Human Chair," and "The Licking Woman." Obviously, these are the clear winners for the disturbing imagery and unsettling twists. I am a simple fan, easily pleased so long as Junji Ito gives me the gross-out factor I came for.
Many of the stories in this collection touch on themes of love and loneliness in the classic weird twist of a Junji Ito story. A baby born to a corpse, a spirit sexually harassing a professor, a newlywed having a very disturbing affair, and a (cult?) of loneliness that will stop at nothing to bind people together - quite literally.
My least favorite story in this collection was "The Sad Tale of the Principal Post" - it was super short, offered no explanation, wasn't frightening or shocking...but hey, they can't all be hits, right?
Some of the stories have colorized art work in the beginning as a special feature, but it goes back to the traditional black and white manga within a few pages. I much prefer the black and white, not that there was anything wrong with the coloring, I just have my personal preferences.
Honestly, you can't go wrong with Junji Ito. Even stories that I don't absolutely love, I still enjoy. While this may not be my favorite "collection" of his work, I still think it's pretty solid. I do think it was missing the commentary that really pulled the Shiver and Smashed collections together (but I also had things I didn't like about those, like changing the names of the stories - "Glyceride" is such a better title than "Greased"). I wouldn't make this your FIRST Junji Ito read, but I definitely wouldn't skip it either. I am most disappointed I have to wait for who knows how long until another collection gets released. I might have to ship Junji Ito a very special new writing chair in order to get a sneak peek...
NOTE: I received an ARC copy of this book on Edelweiss. I received no incentive to read or review this book other than said copy of work. The review below contains my own thoughts and opinions. Special thanks to the author, publisher, and Edelweiss for the free copy. I am in the running for a free copy of the book from Goodreads Giveaways...keep your fingers crossed for me, folks!