I absolutely loved this story because I had to keep reading. It’s a love story that takes a very wrong turn when a woman’s boyfriend becomes entangled in the web of a fortune teller who is a murderer with a collection of men’s heads in her home. I truly found this short sick and disturbing. This one caused me to miss my stop on the train. Red Turtleneck is perhaps my favorite from the collection. Ito tells a tale of extreme attachment to material objects and how too much materialism can ultimately lead to being empty handed. This story is both horrifying and perverted. The woman posing as a student then becomes something neither Megumi or her father could imagine and they’re forced to run away from the only home their family knew. Megumi, the house owner’s daughter, warns her father not to get close to their new guest however, he eventually marries her.
Fragments of horror for free#
The strange woman begs the owner of the house for free room and board in exchange for her house keeping services while she studies the house.
She poses as an architecture student interested in old buildings but she has other intentions. Wooden Spirit, also quite weird like Futon, is about a woman infatuated with a historical house in a quiet part of Japan. A month later she returns to the apartment to check on Tomio, who has been covered by a thick spongy material that colonized the futon and encased his body. Eventually she sees the spirits as well and runs away. Tomio’s girlfriend is driven to her limits taking care of him day and night as he refuses to come out from under the futon blanket for months straight. It reminded me a bit of Xxxholic by CLAMP, especially with Tomio attempting to hide from spirits nobody else seems to see. I was reminded of Tatsumi’s Fallen Words collection, only Ito uses horror instead of humor to address the shortcomings of humanity. I’m choosing to talk about just a few of my favorites so as not to spoil the entire volume for you.įuton felt odd placed as the first short in the book, but overall I think it was a good story. Characters are punished for adultery, stupidity, submission, and so on. We don’t just have horror for the sake of horror. While some of the shorts are weirder than others all eight stories seem tied to moral messages. Despite his own fears, I think this new collection is top notch! Contained within are eight truly horrifying stories:
This is his first horror release in eight years and the wait has been well worth it! Ito expressed apprehension at his ability to write horror after such a long break and even worried that this new compilation of shorts wouldn’t live up to his reputation. If tragedies occur in his stories, they are not due to an alien entity, but are indirectly blamed on us-on the wickedness of the individual and society.Fragments of Horror marks a return to the genre for horror veteran Junji Ito. Ito's work always ends with a rational turn of events that, in a univocal way, leads me to think one thing: There is nothing stranger than the real, the human. In a way, a good part of horror fiction is based on ambiguous absurdity, and the possible explanations given to certain events are paranormal and unusual.
Many of his stories, in the end, end up with a rational explanation that makes them all the stranger. His work is unique and totally personal, and his vision of horror is totally new and different. I bring this up because, when I read Junji Ito, I can't help but think that this is one of those opportunities. These artists offer us their particular vision of the world and open us a small door into their minds. There are many geniuses and many kinds of genius, which is understood as an exceptional capacity to carry out a certain activity. You don't have to be Shakespeare or Mozart: There are many people in the world, and everyone can say something new.
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