IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – SPLATTER FILM

Hey!! What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time.

Hello my friends. It has been one year since I wrote my last entry of It’s Junji Ito Time, and, personally, I want to thank all of you who have read my entries, because they have proved to be extremely popular. And, to be honest, I absolutely enjoyed writing about Junji Ito. And since it is Halloween month, it is a good opportunity to go back to this wonderful feeling.

Now, let’s go with Splatter Film

STORY

Splatter Film is the seventh and final story of the one-shot series of Junji Ito, New Voice in the Dark, a sequel of the 2002 series of stories, Voices in the Dark.

Splatter film starts with two stoners, Ogi and Sugio. Turns out that Ogi has returned from a trip from South America, and he has recollected some «special» honey and place it in a jar. Ogi revealed that the Natives worshipped the tree that produced that honey, to the point that they will risk their lives to get it.

Shortly afterwards, Ogi offers Sugio a lick, but warns him «not to get caught eating it.», some kind of warning from the place he got the honey. Sugio has his lick, and he finds the honey the most delicious thing he has ever tasted, much to Ogi’s surprise and horror, because Sugio asks for another bite in a pretty obsessed way, however Ogi denies it.

Some time after, Sugio does not enjoy the food as much as the honey. Then he brings his friends into Ogi’s house to get a bit of the honey. However, despite not finding Ogi, Sugio and his friends taste the honey; they also find some stench, and after inspecting the house, they find some «weird decoration» inside the house.

The decoration is a twisted mixture between fluids, fabric and bones. And after a close inspection, Sugio and his friends recognise that it may be Ogi; so after some debate, they leave his house along with the jar.

Sugio and his friends divide the honey in equal parts, but suddenly, one of them, a boy called Yasmin, literally splatters after eating the honey. Only that this time, everyone is witness of what happened.

Despite these tow horrific events, Sugio and group continue to eat the honey, until another of them, a girl called Riruko, «splatters», leaving the others in evident horror; after the third splat, Sugio deduces that it is, without a doubt, the honey. Sugio suggests that this could be some kind of «wrath of God», so he suggests stop eating th honey, or «the God with splattter them», but Kameda, one of the boys, discard that as a superstition.

Some days after, only three of the kids survived, Yue, Sugio And Kameda, but they are unable to eat other food, and quickly develop withdrawn symptoms due to stopping eating the honey; because of this, all of them start losing weight. Sugio reveals that the bodies of Riruko, Yasmin and Ogi were in the news, labelling them as the «pancake murders». Immediately Yue and Sugio meet Kameda, who lost weight too and had two friends «splattered» after they found his stash. Three friends can’t take it anymore, in both not eating the honey and not knowing what «not getting caught» means, so they start eating the honey again, which causes Sugio to splatter in front of them.

After that, Yue loses her sanity, and throws into the river, believing that «the thing» will not get her there. Unfortunately she is wrong, because something comes from the sky and crashes her.

Shortly afterwards, Kameda travels to South America, to get more of the honey, and after following the map left by Ogi in his wallet, he discovers that it comes from a monstrous tree with branches long enough to reach anywhere in the world, like something of World Tree. Despite this, Kameda makes the huge mistake of eating honey from the tree, which resulted in his death, and ending the story.

SYMBOLISM

Ok. Here comes the hard part, because many of Junji Ito fans, myself included, theorised that the author was making a reference to the work of H.P. Lovecraft, and that the infamous tree is actually Shub-Niggurath, or a reference of her, as well as her terrible, destructive influence on humans. Nonetheless I want to add something up. I personally believe that Junji Ito was using body horror to making a social commentary about the dangers of drugs, as well as the dangers of «looking for new thrills» without reflecting on the consequences that they have on us, especially on the youth people, who are the most vulnerable toward this kind of toxic activities.

Furthermore, this reminds me more of the Hounds of Tindalos, from Frank Belknap Long, who, after summoning them, they will always haunt you, appearing on the corners of your home, and butchering you in the worst ways possible.

Tell me what you think on the comments.

CONCLUSION

Splatter Film is another great story from the genius that is Junji ito. Highly recommended if you love his stories.

And let me pass you the links of this story.

https://junjiitomanga.fandom.com/wiki/Splatter_Film

https://imgur.com/gallery/fFrO0

Have a good one, and enjoy the rest of the day.

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – THE HANGING BALLOONS

Hey! What time it is?

It’s Junji Ito time.

THE HANGING BALLOONS

The Hanging Balloons is part of the anthology series, called Horror World of Junji Ito, published since 2001. The series consists of sixteen volumes, and includes stories like Tomie, The Circus is Here and Frankenstein. In this case, The Hanging Balloons is the sixth chapter of volume 4 of the series, called The Face Burglar.

The Hanging Balloons is often hailed as one of the best works of Junji Ito, and personally… I can’t agree enough.

STORY

The story starts in media res, with a young high school girl called Kazuko, who is been trapped inside her house after a long time. She is starving to death, and cannot risk herself to go out, because one mysterious creature with her voice is constantly calling her.

We then jump back in time, to one month. Kazuko’s best friend, Terumi Fujino, a popular girl and celebrity, commits suicide by hanging herself with a telephone wire for no apparent reason. Immediately, everyone blames on Shiroishi, Terumi’s boyfriend, due to constant arguments for her celebrity career, all of this pressure and harassment take a toll on Shiroishi, who starts to blame himself for the death of Terumi.

Shortly afterwards, a number of copycats start appearing in the news, many of the fans of Terumi start taking their own lives by hanging themselves. But then, things take a turn for the worse, when many individuals, most of them fans of Terumi, claim that they saw a strange balloon-like creature floating in the sky, with the form of her head. The creature disappeared afterwards. The news causes a great commotion all over Japan in the way of a «ghost-mania» according to the media.

Meanwhile, Kazuko meets Shiroishi, who tells her that the head lures every night, and watches closely and with deep, hollow and penetrating eyes. Obviously, Kazuko is skeptical.

Later that night, Kazuko sneaks into the streets and sees the head for herself. And while she is running, she also finds Shiroishi on the top of a tree, asking for forgiveness from Terumi and hangs himself in front of the ghost. Kazuko unsuccessfully tries to dissuade and help him, but, much to her horror, she finds another enormous balloon-like creature, this time with the form of Shiroishi.

• 

• 

• 

Immediately, Kazuko goes and reports the incident to the police, but Shiroishi’s body is nowhere to be found.

Days later, Kazuko tells her friends, Taeko, Miyuki and Chiharu, about the «suicide» of Shiroishi. However, before they reach school, all of them spot four mysterious objects floating and heading towards all of them. After some time, they find out the objects are balloon creatures that look like them, with metal wires at the bottom. Taeko and Miyuki are immediately caught and killed by the wires, but Kazuko and Chiharu hide in an alleyway, and one man shoots the balloon of Chiharu.

You might be thinking that they are safe now. Right? ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!!!

Because the balloon of Chiharu rottens… ALONG WITH CHIHARU HERSELF.

• 

• 

Kazuko has no other option than run and hide. Her father is caught by the balloons on his way to work, and soon Japan gets invaded with balloons with hanging corpses. Yosuke, Kazuko’s little brother, goes outside to search for food, taking an umbrella to defend himself and promising his sister and his mother to return. Times passes on, but Yosuke is not back, and when his mother is about to look for him, her hanging balloon gets her and kills her.

Now we get back to the moment the story started, and Kazuko is eventually able to hear Yosuke’s voice. Believing that he survived, she opens the door, but it is revealed that he is dead, and that the one that spoke was his balloon.

We can assume that Kazuko is killed by her balloon afterwards.

SYMBOLISM

Without a doubt, The Hanging Balloons is one of the scariest stories of Junji Ito. Personally I think that, if he could do what It, It: Chapter Two, and the miniseries of the 1990s failed to achieve, I mean… make the balloons scary… then he is a genius.

According to many readers, what Junji Ito tried to do here was to create a personification of death. The balloons are dead itself, either you die for a «natural» death, or you just kill yourself, but at the end… every living being dies. (I can’t believe I am saying that in a smooth way).

But I will interpret the story in two ways… The first one is that there is a curse in Japan on Terumi Fujino, so powerful that it destroyed countless lives around her, similar to the movie franchise The Grudge, or Ju-On, in which a death took place around so much pain and anger that ir created a vindictive, malevolent entity.

My second interpretation is that Junji Ito was criticising the excessive devotion, sometimes toxic, that we got to a celebrity, to the point that we could even take our own lives for him/her.

At least in my personal opinion.

CONCLUSION

Just like with The Enigma of Amigara Fault and The Woman Next Door, The Hanging Balloons is a really fantastic story, and of all the three reviewed as of today, this is the most gruesome. The death of Chiharu was pretty graphic, and it is one of the most shocking of all the stories from Junji Ito I have read.

Along with the main protagonist from Slug Girl, but I will talk about that on its time.

Thanks my friends, for stepping by, and I hope you have enjoyed It’s Junji Ito Time.

The best is about to come.

References:

<https://junjiitomanga.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hanging_Balloons&gt;

JAINITUOS ANIME REVIEWS – Shaman King – My own Impressions

SHAMAN King

Genre: Adventure; supernatural

Studio: Xebec

Hello my friends.

Indeed, 2020 has been a very strange year. I still trying to come to terms with the events of the last twelve months; however… it is impossible, for I was unable to bring all the reviews that I wanted to do in this year. Don’t worry, I will come back to bring you more reviews in 2021.

Until. let’s take opportunity of the last two days of life of 2020.

Let’s see how much I can do.

And now, I want to start with another series that brought me a lot of fond memories, especially because every time I though about this anime, it remained me of one of the best times of my life – University life.

I mean…

And, of course, because there is going to be a remake in 2021.

But before I start, I must ask you the right questions:

Are you guys ok? Staying safe?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy. Now, let’s go with Shaman King.

PREMISE

Based on the manga written by Hiroyuki Takei, Shaman King tells the the story of Yoh Asakura, a very laid-back shaman, or medium that becomes a «bridge» between the living and the dead, who lives a very simple life. The goal of Yoh, however, is to become the Shaman King, who is able to contact the Great Spirit, allow himself to acquire great power over the world, and especially the power of making his dream come true. Yoh has two very close companions that will help him to achieve his goal; Amidamaru, the spirit of a 600 years-old samurai, and Yoh’s fiancee, Anna Kyoyama, a very blunt young woman who puts Yoh through a very brutal regime.

Also, Yoh befriends a normal high school student, Manta Oyadama, who accompanies him to the Shaman Fight, a tournament held every 500 years between shamans for the title of Shamana King. However, during the fight, Yoh must face his «twin brother» called Hao, a really powerful shaman who has his own dark agenda.

There are other great characters, but I will talk about them later.

The manga of Shaman King was published by Shonen Jump, and was released between 1998 and 2004, for a total of 32 volumes (35 in the complete edition), while the first anime was broadcasted between July 2001 and September 2002.

Before I continue any further, the first anime fo Shaman King run through 64 episodes; and since it was released before the original manga was finished, there were some deviations from the story. I won’t go into detail, especially since I am reading the manga. For now, I will go…

STORY

At plain sight, Shaman King looks like your typical shonen story, in which a very simple, yet noble protagonist, attempts to live in peace and enjoy life, but he also sets a goal, to become a better version of himself, or herself for that matter, (sometimes without his/her knowledge) and face many challenges as new friendships are made and new powers are acquired… and of course, more characters are developed.

In other words, Shaman King solidified, inside me, what I indirectly learnt from Shonen genre. I don’t know if Inuyasha counts, for I see more Inuyasha like a mix of adventure, and romance, or a shonen with a big influence from shojo, but Shaman King helped me to understand that shonen genre has bigger, more powerful tropes than I thought, even before Naruto came out. And yes, anime like Dragon Ball Z, Ronin Warriors and Saint Seiya were the first shonen anime that I meet in my life, but by then, I thought that anime was just handsome boys, and girls, fighting great battles, and that’s it, regardless the weapon. All the same, despite Sailor Moon introduced me to magical girl genre, Pokemon to gacha, and Captain Tsubasa to sports anime.

My point is that I stopped being simple-minded regarding shonen anime with Shaman King. Furthermore, I learned that, for the most part, anime can help you to be creative and unique with what you do, especially if you pay attention to detail. And this is one of the things about the story. Shaman King constructs a pretty interesting concept and making it bigger, in this case, spirits. Pretty much like Bleach, Shaman King creates its own world by developing the concept it is based on, and establishes characters who unfolds according to the mythos of the world they live in, in terms of story and character’s evolution. In other words, it knows how to tell its own story without forgetting the other elements of the series.

The battles are really exciting, and despite the animation looks a but grainy and dated, it is visually wonderful. My issue with this is that, when we see the night scenes, sometimes the scene feels sloppy and lazy, because it doesn’t truly feel like night, more like a bad lightning.

I think, at least in the background, a lack of balance in colour background. Now pay attention to this still from Bleach.

One simple glimpse of Soul Society

I don’t know. That is how I feel. You can disagree with me. It is a minor detail anyway.

Finally, if you have read all the manga from Shaman King, and see the first anime, you might not like it, because, like I said, the manga was ongoing by the time the anime was released. Unless you think that it is the case from 2003’s Full Metal Alchemist, in which they closed the story in a decent way, you will find that the anime from Shaman King is pretty unsatisfying.

Does it make the story bad? Of course not. I don’t feel it that way.

I guess that, what I am trying to say, is that take a look to the anime of Shaman King and make your mind.

CHARACTERS

Now… What can I say about the characters?

I love them all!

If there is anything that you will remember Shaman King for… is its character roster. Seriously, personally, I remember them with more detail and fond memories than anything that Naruto has ever created. Aside from Yoh, Anna, Manta and Amidamaru; we have really colourful characters that are as relatable as the main protagonists, including the street-smart Ryo; the ice shaman, Horohoro; the enigmatic, yet sympathetic Faust VIII; the young Lyserg, and of course… one of my favourite characters:

REN TAO (Or Len Tao)

Honestly. Len Tao nails it at being the rival of our protagonist, and, for a while, an antagonist. Every time I saw him, I thought I would wet my pants. I found Len Tao frightening, and a really worthy foil of Yoh; and sometimes I thought Len Tao would be this close to kill our protagonist. So… when I watched subsequent episodes, I was surprised of what kind of story arc and role was reserved for him, which made me love Len Tao even more.

One last detail… I think… Len Tao is much interesting and catchy than… than… Sasuke.

There… I said it!!! (Sorry Sasuke)

Finally, we got… Hao Asakura… as a great antagonist.

Seriously… What great, terrifying villain Hao is.

Again. Shaman King is as great as its characters.

CONCLUSION

For me, it is no wonder why Shaman King is so good. It has great characters; great story, if not perfect; good story arcs; memorable moments; exciting battles. In other words, a really worthy shonen anime.

I think the best we can do is re-watch the 2001 series, and then the remake. I have my faith, because Shaman King, to this day, is a series that I remember with love.

Now, if you excuse me… I need to write my testament. Because I will be killed. By who, you ask? Simple…

BY SAKURA. OF COURSE!!!

The lesson is… Never… Ever… disrespect Sasuke… Sakura’s ears hear… everything.

JAINITUOS ANIME REVIEWS – INUYASHA – MY OWN REFLECTIONS – PART I

Inuyasha

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Studio: Sunrise

Hello guys.

Welcome to another entry of my blog. I want to start by posting this image.

Why am I saying this? Because I want to start by doing something very special. Not just a normal anime reviews, but also a really beautiful gem that I have come to love and care with the path of time, or, in other words, I realise that it is more wonderful than you think. And since we are just days from the release of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, I consider appropriate to talk about this.

But first, I have a question for you;

Haven’t you seen a TV series, a movie, a cartoon, a song, that you are simply curious about, but then you see that, with the path of the years, has become something more valuable and loved, like a symbol of one of the greatest times of your life?

Sorry for the long question, but you get the idea.

Well… that is exactly what I feel about Inuyasha.

It all started in 2002. I was about to begin college, and then, when I saw Cartoon Network LA, I found a TV series, about a schoolgirl, called Kagome Higurashi, that travelled to Feudal Japan, and found a yokai, a feisty and hotheaded half-dog demon, by the name of Inuyasha, who was pinned in a tree, due to an attempt to steal a very powerful, yet cursed, gem, called the Pearl of Shikon (or Shikon Jewel). Kagome removes the seal and the arrows that hold Inuyasha, immediately forcing her to travel with Inuyasha; luckily for her, Inuyasha has a magical necklace that halts him every time Kagome says «Sit» or «Sit down».

The point is that I really got hooked by Inuyasha, especially because then I learned this fact:

«Inuyasha was created by Rumiko Takahashi.»

Do you which other cult franchise did Takahashi write?

Ranma 1/2

I really loved Ranma 1/2, but I honestly prefer Inuyasha, because the former can be mean-spirited sometimes, and it mostly mixes comedy and romance. But Inuyasha does more, at least from my perspective.

The point is that I started to watch Inuyasha, every single week, and I started to love it more and more, especially after knowing the rest of its wonderful cast, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Shippo, Sota, Koga.

All right. I know what I will do.

I will start from the top, reviewing the story, the characters, and the premise for this first part; then on Part II, I will continue talking about my experiences about Inuyasha, and the impact that had in my life, because there is a lot to say about this wonderful gem.

But before I continue, I must ask you the question:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy. Now, let’s go on the review.

PREMISE

Based on the manga written by Rumiko Takahashi, Inuyasha tells the story of Kagome Higurashi lives in the shrine of the family, with her mother, her grandfather, and her younger brother Sota. One day, while investigating a strange noise on the well of the shrine, Kagome gets dragged by a centipede demon into the feudal Japan; much to her surprise; and after releasing Inuyasha, he continues his journey to steal Shikon Jewel; but suddenly, Kagome shoots an arm against another demon who stole the jewel, shattering it in many pieces. Now both Kagome and Inuyasha must embark in an amazing journey to find all the pieces of Shikon, a journey that will comprise a season of 167 episodes, a sequel called Inuyasha: The Final Act, released between October 2009 and March 2010, and four movies.

Without mentioning amazing characters, but I will get to that later. As I mentioned earlier, all the franchise of Inuyasha combines action, adventure, romance, horror, and suspense, with a great roster of beasts, mythological beings and enemies, all paying a great tribute to this wonderful imagination of Japanese folklore, and the great talent of Rumiko Takahashi, who, from now on, I will call her Takahashi-sensei (My respects); and combining to give us one of the best anime of the 21st century.

And the music is in charge of Kaoru Wada, famous for composing music from amazing anime, such as Saint Seiya; the Lost Canvas, Samurai 7, and Ace Attorney among others.

Furthermore, how can you forget memorable songs, like «Change the World» or «My Will»? In fact, I think that the music of Inuyasha deeply influenced anime like Demon Slayer. Check this out.

This is the first frame of the first Ending «My Will»

And now…

The first frame from the ending of Demon Slayer

There is more vibes of Inuyasha inside Demon Slayer. I will go there later.

STORY

Now. Where to start here?

Overall, Inuyasha starts introducing Kagome and Inuyasha in a smooth and coherent fashion, who are they? What do they want? Which are the stakes? Where to go? Then, it introduces characters like Shippo, Miroku and Sango, giving them a «prologue» in which everyone has a reason, intimate reason, to go with Inuyasha and Kagome, developing an everlasting friendship, and some of the most poignant moments in anime (We are talking about Takahashi-sensei, she is an expert in romance.). Then, we are introduced to very engaging antagonists, like Sesshomaru and Naraku, who, personally, is one of the most diabolical and most complex villains in anime.

Then, every episode has its arc, and a genre that moves the story, sometimes romance, sometimes action, but overall, the driving force of the story is the relationship between Kagome and Inuyasha; but does not mean that Sango, Miroku and Shippo are less important. All of them has their own arc, and all are developed in such an organic and beautiful narrative, leading us to love the characters.

Of course, this does not mean there is not space for comedy, like in Ranma 1/2.

Shippo and Inuyasha are just Gold!!!

But by the end episode 15, you will see Inuyasha as a great story, perhaps not as a classic. To be honest, with almost 180 episodes and four movies, it is hard to choose some favourite episodes, but you don’t have to. This is another strength of the story. With Inuyasha, you can choose from romantic episodes, to action episodes. While Ranma 1/2, from my viewpoint, mostly divides between comedy and status quo, much like The Simpsons, Inuyasha is a more complex franchise.

And I am sure that, by the time Yashahime is released, the mythos will be expanded.

CHARACTERS

But what will be of Inuyasha without its characters? We got all the types: Inuyasha, the half-demon yokai that wants to become a full demon; Kagome, a normal schoolgirl from modern-day Japan that becomes the partner of Inuyasha; Shippo, the kitsune who seeks to avenge his father and becomes a small brother for Kagome; Miroku, our monk with a terrible curse that will destroy him; Sango, the demon slayer who seeks to avenge her family and saves her brother, Kohaku, and her companion Kirara.

And of course, some great antagonists, including Sesshomaru, Inuyasha half-brother, who then turns into something of anti-hero, and Naraku, a very diabolical being with a twisted backstory.

Speaking of Naraku, I think he influenced the main antagonist of Demon Slayer. I will show you.

• 

• 

You see? Definitely Muzan Kibutsuji had a great influence from Naraku.

There are more characters, but I will talk about them in Part II.

CONCLUSION

Like I said, Inuyasha has a very special place in my heart, and I will be talking about this special jewel in the next days.

Stay tuned for Part II.

Until then, a small tease for the future.