jAINITUOS FILMS REVIEWS – RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (WHAT WAS THAT?)

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Director: Johannes Roberts

Studio: Constantin Films/ Screen Gems/Davis Raccoon Films

Welcome my friends.

Today I am going to do something a bit different, Three days ago, after so much wait, I was able to finally view this «reboot» of the Resident Evil film series (live-action, of course), trust me, I am everything but a fan of the movies created by Paul W. S. Anderson; each one being worse than the last one. Despite that, I have almost no expectations from this new movie.

Having said that, let me introduce you…

I know that some of you might not like to see me writing about films, especially after watching a movie this bad, because trust me, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is really bad. Not worth it. But I am a big fan of Resident Evil, I even finished Resident Evil 4 years ago… Like four times, and I played Resident Evil 2 when I was in high-school, but I didn’t get that far on the game, and I knew I had to watch WTRC.

I repeat… not that I got high expectations, especially after I watched the trailer and set photos.

So, this is what I will do. First, I will talk about the premise of the movie, then a non-spoiler review, and then I will reveal spoilers, and I think I have a lot to say, but I will do my best to keep it as brief as possible, because I want to finish quickly with this itchy, tasty calvary.

And before I start, I must ask you the typical questions.

Are you my friends ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy.

Now, I will start and hopefully I will not become a Jill Sandwich (Enough bad references)

PREMISE

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City takes place in 1998.

After so many years, Claire Redfield returns to her hometown, Raccoon City, Oklahoma (Just kidding, I made that up), to meet again with her older brother, Chris, who is now a member of the S.T.A.R.S., inside Raccoon Police Department, to convince him about the evil schemes of Umbrella Corporation, which is plotting to destroy the city, and recruit him to stop this company together. However, Chris is called to investigate an incident on Spencer Mansion, located in Arklay Mountains, along with his Alpha Team, composed by Richard Aiken, Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine.

But then… a zombie outbreak occurs, now Claire and Chris must survive it and reunite again, along with rookie police member, Leon S. Kennedy.

And yes. You read that correctly. Resident Evil: WTRC, for some reason, combines the plots and story of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2. Why? I have no freaking idea. But rest assured that is the tip of the iceberg, there is so much nonsense and so much gibberish from this grotesque.

It is my duty to inform that, while Paul W. S. Anderson serves only as an executive producer in RE: WTRC, the writer and director is Johannes Roberts, known for horror movies that have received not-so-positive reviews, included, but not limited to…

And I checked the score of these movies on IMDB.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR – 5.3/10

47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED – 5.0/10

47 METERS DOWN – 5.7/10

As you can see, these movies have really mediocre, or standard at best. Personally, I couldn’t care less about them, especially after watching RE: WTRC. Also, the budget of this movie was of $25 million, making it the live-action with the smallest budget, including Anderson’s franchise.

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Kaya Scodelario in Screen Gems RESIDENT EVIL WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY

First things first, let’s get the good stuff. There is some decent fanservice for the good ol’ fans of the games of Resident Evil, so many references from Resident Evil 1, including the famous sentence called Itchy, Tasty, from the animal keeper, until our everlasting meme.

JILL SANDWICH

Along with many references toward the 90s technology, including pagers, Nokia phones, VHS, and so on.

Let’s go with the bad stuff.

For starters… I don’t know what the director was thinking by combining the stories of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 in a movie of just 107 minutes. Those fans of Resident Evil would know by now that both games, either originals or remakes, have wonderful, complex stories, with compelling characters, that unfold their mysteries as the games progress, and the characters grow. Because of that, the movie is forced to accelerate the pacing and the rhythm of the «story», filling itself with plot holes and… either discarding good part of the backstory, or cramp it in a clearly rushed fashion, making the characters flat and forgettable.

And that is not the only problem with the pacing. Everything in this movie passes so fast that you cannot relate with anything, not even with the elements we are clearly supposed to sympathise with, like the «subplot» that involves the strained relationship of Chris and Claire.

That’s right. In RE: WTRC, Chris and Claire haven’t talked in years.

In the games, Chris and Claire will clearly die for each other.

In other words, there are so many elements all together in the short runtime of the movie that you can’t stop wondering what is going on, and when you get a clear idea of what happened, you get distracted by the change of scene, from the Spencer Mansion to Raccoon City, ruining any good feeling that you would probably tried to catch.

Secondly, because of the budget, the production design does not really look that good, it looks more like a B-movie rather than a blockbuster. And you will find this a lot when Alpha Team finally reaches Spencer Mansion, or on the Raccoon Police Department entrance. There are some good depictions, such as the Raccoon City Orphanage.

You know, from the RE2 Remake.

But… what’s the point of having these fantastic references from the games if the story is both flat and poorly adapted, because that is another problem. Johannes Roberts wrote the script, and he makes so many chances to the lore of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 that it becomes unrecognisable.

Yes. Even if there was way to condense the stories of the two games in 107 minutes, it was obvious that Johannes Roberts didn’t care. Because of the awful script, we have no choice that to believe that.

The casting is… How to put it lightly? A disaster!

Let me guide you. From left to right – Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield, and Leon S. Kennedy.

If it wasn;’t because these characters introduced themselves inside the movie, I will never recognise them. I am dead serious. None have any resemblance with their video games counterparts, except to Chris and Claire. Even if they look alike, the acting is awful. But I will talk about them later.

Ok. Now. I will start the…

SPOILER SECTION

The movie starts in 1980s, where Claire lives with her brother, Chris, in the orphanage, under the tutelage of Dr. William Birkin. Then, out of nowhere, Claire is called by another girl, which, to my surprise, is none other than Lisa Trevor. From the beginning, it is obvious that Umbrella uses the orphans to experiments.

Now, here are my questions:

Why is Lisa Trevor free? Shouldn’t be she locked? Why is she befriending Claire? Why none of the kids have made any ruckus? How is Lisa Trevor in the orphanage?

In the games, Lisa Trevor is the daughter of George Trevor, the architect of the Spencer Mansion, and later used for hideous experiments with the Progenitor Virus, become an unstable monster, a danger for Umbrella. In contrast, the movie puts Lisa and Claire for no apparent reason.

And there are more questions.

Why Claire didn’t take Chris after escaping? Were did she go afterwards? Why Birkin «adopted» Chris? And if that is the case… Why didn’t Birkin put Chris to work for Umbrella? Wouldn’t make more sense instead of working for the RPD?

Everything related to the strain between Chris and Claire was a filler. Why? Because you can take it out from the film, and it barely affects the plot. At the beginning, both argue, and then what happens? Absolutely nothing. They resolve everything with an apology, and that’s that.

Despite the movie claims that Birkin was like a father for Chris, in the movie they barely have contact with each other, only at the end of the movie.

And after injecting himself with the G-Virus, Birkin can speak articulated sentences to Chris., And I do not know if that happens in both the remake and the original, but I am convinced it does not. Because the G-Virus mutates you, for being a more aggressive variant of the T-Virus. Another dreadful change made by the director.

Raccoon City looks like anything but a city. I still do not know why it was turned into a small town. And yes, I can see it was due to budget, but a small town is not as intense and imposing in terms of setting like a big city, like Raccoon City should be.

This version of Jill of awful, and it is not just because of the race change, it is also because of the acting, which is, as I mentioned, horrendous, I have nothing against Hannah John-Kamen, she is a good actress, but here, her job was a complete miss.

The same goes to Albert Wesker.

But the worst has done to Leon.

Good grief, Leon! What have they done to you?

As we, fans of Resident Evil, would know, Leon, in both the original and the remake, was naive, impulsive rookie member of police, but he was also brave, resilient and loyal to a fault. In fact, it was precisely his actions in Raccoon City that earn hime a place with the President of the United States in Resident Evil 4.

But no, In the movie, he is a numbnuts, with rich dad, who needs to be saved all the time.

Unbelievable!! Freaking unbelievable!! It is just impossible for this derailment of Leon to be done by accident, the director just wanted to destroy Leon. I think it is so obvious that, for me, doing the statement here is absolutely offensive. What is really shocking is what the director said about the casting.

«It was hugely important with the whole casting process to find people who embodied the spirit and energy of the characters I wanted to portray. I think often in game adaptations one of the big flaws can be just casting someone to look visually like the characters.»

And then I thought… This director must be thinking we are idiots. If we really wanted to adequately portrayed these characters, he will never… ever, changed both Leon or Jill like that. In fact, if I was that impulsive, I will be accusing the director of tokenism. You know, casting diversity just for the sake of pleasing a group who will never watch this movie.

Anyway, this is just a small example. I didn’t mention the action scenes and the scare fashion, which leaves a lot to be desired.

If you want RE: WTRC, not that you want to, you will find out more flaws.

CONCLUSION

Undoubtedly, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is one of the worst video-game adaptations I have ever seen, and a dreadful way to reboot this franchise. It is a shame, because I love Sonic and Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, they are not the most accurately movies based on videogames, but they are indeed solid and well-done, and both gave me hope that perhaps this kind of movies will improve, however, mankind has still a long way to go before doing adaptations these beautiful games deserve.

Welcome to Raccoon City? I rather go to Yharnam.

Yes. It is a terrible place to visit, but at least it is to be taken seriously, and has a beautiful sight.

Have a great week. And thank your for stepping by.

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – SHIVERS/COLDNESS/THE CHILL

Hey! What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time.

SHIVERS/COLDNESS/THE CHILL

Shivers, a.k.a. The Chill, a.k.a. Coldness is the fourth chapter from the volume seven of the Horror World of Junji Ito, Slug Girl, along with The Thing that Drifted Ashore, and Slug Girl. No need to repeat that, but I do it anyways.

Furthermore, it is the episode 4A of Studio Deen’s Junji Ito Collection

And please forgive me about the three titles. The English name of this story varies from translator to translator, much to my frustration, so, at the end, I decided to put all of the three, as an evidence of that existence.

For the sake of this entry, I will simply call it Shivers.

STORY

Shivers starts in a simple neighbourhood, and we got our protagonist, Yuuji, who has a really beautiful neighbour, called Rina, three years younger than him. Rina rarely goes outside, but sometimes she gets the visit from a doctor. One morning, Rina goes outside, and giggles when we points to her garden, despite being overgrown. There, Yuuji notices that her skin is full of holes.

• 

• 

That sight brings him a memory, where Yuuji was younger and his grandfather passed away; when we went to see him, he notices that his body was full of holes. But when he asked that to his family, they just said that «it was just one of his dreams.»

Shortly afterwards, Yuuji receives a visit from his friend, Hideo. Hideo’s mother was a nurse, and she was present during the birth of Rina. Yuuji explains that his mother and the doctors notice that Rina didn’t breathe when she was born, yet, she was alive; however, after two or three days, small holes started forming around her body, and that Rina started breathing through those holes, at least according to Hideo’s mother.

Hideo also states that his mom was joking. Immediately, Hideo starts checking on the books from Yuuji’s grandfather. On one of the entries, his grandfather reveals that a friend of his paid him a visit, Yonezu, an old comrade from the war, and that he was unwell and wrapped in a big coat. Yonezu showed some… relic. A statue of an insect made of light green jade. According to the diary, the statues was found by a fellow troop member, Yoshimura, on the mountains of Java, and that Yonezu bought, leaving the question – Why did we wanted to get rid of it?

The diary reveals that Yoshimura developed a serious chill and died. Curiously, Yuuji’ grandfather developed the same chill, and a doctor paid him a visit, and gave him an injection.

Soon afterwards, large swarms of insects start crawling toward the holes of his body, and his health was rapidly declining. He gives this a name – the curse of the jade, stating that everyone that owns it will be infected too, so he threw the statue again, falling into Rina’s garden. Hideo starts to feel a big chill and decides to go home.

Meanwhile, Yuuji starts looking for the jade, meeting almost face-to-face to the doctor that has been visiting Rina all these years, but, Rina screams when he sees the doctor and slams the door. That night, Yuuji has the feeling that the doctor who visits Rina is the same one who visited his grandfather before dying. He also wonders if he wants the jade for himself.

Shortly Yuuji decides to tell that to Rina’s parents, when he meets Hideo, who suggests him to keep quiet. Yet, Yuuji is determined to tell them the truth. When he leaves the house, though, he encounters Rina again, with her skin completely recovered, happy and enjoying the garden.

One night, Hideo sneaks into Yuuji’s window, but, as soon as we opens the curtains…

…he sees Hideo completely full of holes.

Hideo reveals that, the day they read the diary, he went looking for the jade, finding it exactly where Rina was pointing on the garden. Mesmerised at first, the holes started appearing, and he tried to throw the statue away… countless times, but he couldn’t. But suddenly, the doctor appears next to Hideo, and he starts screaming and flees, not before called the doctor – the messenger of the curse.

The next day, Yuuji finds Hideo’s body on the riverbank. But the jade is nowhere to be found.

SYMBOLISM

I must accept that, personally, I do not think Junji Ito has some criticism toward Japanese society in this case, but have more the purpose of telling a textbook horror story with supernatural elements. On the other hand, pretty much like The Woman Next Door, or The Neighbour’s Window, Shivers is mostly based on Japanese urban legends.

However, I have a personal theory of my own.

And that is that, the curse was provoked by an onryou, in other words, a vengeful ghost who causes damages to the living beings, and also created natural disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoon. Similar to Sadako and Kayako from Ringu and Ju-On respectively.

• 

• 

And the fact that the night Hideo was found, a typhoon was taking place, probably adds evidence to my theory. Regarding the doctor, I will probably put him as a messenger… a messenger of the onryou rather than of the curse. In this case, the doctor reminds the victims of the jade that they stole it, and now he will claim them, their bodies and their souls.

Secondly. I must repeat that Rina was healthy, and Hideo was cursed. In other words, she got rid of the chill when Hideo got it, similar to The Ring (2002), where showing the tape to someone else might free you from the curse. And I saw MIGHT, because perhaps Rina will suffer the curse again.

With Junji Ito, you will never know.

CONCLUSION

Shivers was a really good horror story, probably not as profound as The Enigma of the Amigara Fault, or Army of One, but it is a nice manga that is worth the reading.

Hopefully The Junji Ito Collection will honour its essence.

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

The best is about to come… two more times before wrapping up this Halloween 2021.

References:

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

<https://mangadex.org/title/3f7b7736-84c5-4f38-bf73-7266021f355a/itou-junji-kyoufu-manga-collection&gt;

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – ARMY OF ONE

Hey. What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time

ARMY OF ONE

Army of One is the bonus story that concludes one of the most popular words of Junji Ito – Hellstar Remina, published in 2005, which also consists in seven chapters. Army Of One is similar to The Enigma of the Amigara Fault, in which both are one-shot that concludes more well-known and complex storylines (Gyo in the case of Amigara Fault).

Many Junji Ito Fans consider Army of One one of his best stories, including myself.

Yes. I just recently ended reading Army of One, and concluded that indeed it deserves an entry on my blog.

STORY

The story starts on an unnamed city from Japan. A young couple went missing, but recently a civilian who was taking his dog for a walk in the park suddenly finds both of them dead. Nonetheless, that is not the awful truth. The worst part is that they were sewn together with what is like a fishing wire. The discovery becomes known nationwide.

Meanwhile, we jump to the protagonist of our story, Michio, who has been a hikikimori for the last seven years. (For those who do not know, a hikikimori refers to a person in Japan who has voluntarily shut himself or herself from the outside world), and has recently turn twenty. Michio gets invited to a high school reunion by his classmate and former crush, Natsuko Horie. At first Michio refuses to attend, but Natsuko successfully persuades him to go.

During his shut-in time, Michio has been listening to a really weird song, that goes like this:

«NOBODY LIKES A LONELY ONLY, EVERYONE’S YOUR FRIEND, EVERYONE’S YOUR FRIEND WHEN YOU JOIN YOUR HEARTS AND SING… ARMY OF ONE, WE ARE THE ARMY OF ONE.»

During the meeting, Michio meets his former classmates – Noriyuki Sakai and Keisuke Sakagi, but turns that all of them, including Natsuko, have standard jobs with standard bosses, something does not seem to impress Michio at all. But soon the great news are revealed – Natsuko and Noriyuki will marry the next year. Upon hearing this, Michio leaves straight away. Keisuke invites him to a singles party, but Michio refuses to attend.

On his way home, Michio discovers six bodies of some people who recently got missing.

• 

• 

Shortly, a plane passes by, spreading fliers of the so-called «Army of One», with the same song that appeared on the radio.

Michio investigates on the Internet, hearing rumours that blamed this called Army of One for the multiple «stitch-murders». Shortly afterwards, Natsuko calls Michio, and informs him that Keisuke was murdered and has his body sewn together… with the rest of the guests of the singles party he organised.

The news labels the Army of One as a criminal organisation, and firmly advise to avoid huge crowds. Upon hearing this, Michio calls Natsuko and suggests to postpone the class reunion, something that she immediately refuses, called what people sees in the news as a bluff, and encourages Michio to attend one more time. He tells her that he will think about.

Christmas Day arrives, and Michio wonders how is Natsuko doing. But then, the news reveal that hundreds of bodies were found in a plaza full of Christmas trees in the most horrific way possible. All sewn together and almost naked.

Krampus and Billy Chapman would be proud

The news began speculating about the Army of One, even claiming that they are some kind of alien force, especially because none of the bodies have shown signs of struggles or previous injury. The city councils, all over the city, cancel meetings and coming-of-age ceremonies everywhere. However, the one planned by Natsuko and Noriyuki continue as planned.

Michio sneaks in despite the huge security, just to check on Natsuko. A quarrel between Michio and police takes place, until Natsuko comes and reveals that they are friends. Police releases Michio and both go to the coming-of-age ceremony, just to find out that all the five hundred guests, including Noriyuki have disappeared without leaving a trace.

Natsuko goes hysterical, and days later, all the guests are found dead, sewn together, including Noriyuki.

• 

• 

After that incident, people officially avoid crowds, shutting themselves at home. Meanwhile, Michio calls Natsuko to check on her. Natsuko is obviously depressed, she practically has lost any desire of living. Michio decides to check on her, and her mental stability. On his way to see Natsuko, Michio sees again the same planes dropping fliers of the Army of One, and then, there are some Japanese Self-Defense Forces airplanes, willing to take them down.

That image alone is enough to motivate Michio.

• 

• 

Immediately Michio rushes off to Natsuko’s house to confess his feelings for her. And when he gets there, he finds a very disturbing image. Turns out that Natsuko murdered her parents and her dog and is sewing their bodies together, while singing the jingle of Army of One, much to his horror.

Finally, even JSDF planes are dropping fliers of the Army of One.

SYMBOLISM

First, I will discuss some of the themes that Junji Ito analyses on Army of One, and then I will give my own interpretation of what happened throughout the story, and who caused the «murders».

According to Junji Ito Fandom, Army of One makes a resemblance of the planes dropping fliers with the Allied airplanes, who threw propaganda to the bombed towns in Japan during World War II. Now, this is my interpretation, but Army of One might be some allegory to how impotent we, as humans, can feel toward the power of our own government, especially in a country where the mass media is state-controlled, such as North Korea, where people is constantly manipulated by the propaganda.

Too much manipulation would lead to fanaticism and ultimately to chaos.

And since Junji Ito is also known for this constant criticism toward modern Japanese society, that might be the case, especially since Hellstar Remina, he volume Army of One belongs to, was published in 2005, sixty years after Japanese surrender. I admit that I am going too far, but I wanted to mention this.

Furthermore, Junji Ito might be warning us about having an unbalance between We as individuals and We as a community. We need to keep in mind that most of the individuals that died in Army of One were in crowns, or in couples, even Natsuko, Noriyuki and Keisuke were always insisting about gathering together despite national warnings. We, as human beings, are social creatures, we need to be in contact with others, but too much dependence on that can be dangerous, because there are dangers that we cannot always foresee, so we need to look after ourselves as individuals too. But on the other hand, too much isolation is dangerous, leading us to decisions that will destroy our lives, or do things we will regret.

In this case, if Michio didn’t become a shut-in, we might spend more years, and create beautiful memories with Natsuko, and protect her. Now… he can only regret losing her forever. Everything is a big irony, because his isolation saved him… and filled his life with more regret and loneliness. Not solitude, loneliness.

A very appropriate allegory to what we as humans are suffering nowadays with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Again. Junji Ito criticises these two sides of the unbalance of Japanese society.

Now… Who has behind the stitch-murders?

From one perspective, Army of One is also a social commentary of how modern society can be vulnerable and impotent toward massive hysteria, along the elements that I previously mentioned. However, I have a theory of my own, and is that all the citizens were manipulated by a malevolent force with a strong influence on them, and making them kill each other, being sewn together as some kind of twist ritual of adoration.

Something similar to H.P. Lovecraft’s Nyarlathotep.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, Nyarlathotep, unlike many Outer Gods, lives on Earth, assumes multiples appearances, can talk to humans, has thousands of followers and a very powerful madness induction, being very manipulative and incurring to propaganda to achieve his goals,, similar to the fliers of Army of One.

Or perhaps something like Stephen King’s Randall Flagg, who is very also powerful, very manipulative and very diabolical.

CONCLUSION

Army of One is absolutely one of the best stories of Junji Ito, being as entertaining as anything related to Tomie, Souchi and Uzumaki. Also one of my personal favourites, along with The Enigma of the Amigara Fault, The Woman Next Door, and Slug Girl.

These three are very scary. And have the best stories and narratives, along with Army of One.

Many will be disappointed that there is no present monster, but I don’t think it needs one. A great story is scary enough if it is well-written, and that is the case with Army of One.

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/Army_of_One&gt;

<https://imgur.com/gallery/MWDjT#&gt;

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – HELL’O DOLLIES – or a doll’s hellish burial

Hey. What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time.

HELL’O DOLLIES

Hell’o Dollies, a.k.a. A Doll’s Hellish Burial, is one of the stories of the sixteenth volume of The Horror World of Junji Ito, called Frankenstein, published, according to the Fandom page, from 1994 to 1997. And just like Slug Girl, this series of stories was never published in the United States, so mostly, you will find fan translations of theses stories, but very good.

Hell’o Dollies is one of the best, but remember, just like Slug Girl, this story is pretty graphic.

Finally, Hell’o Dollies is part of the Junji Ito Collection. More precisely, episode 1B.

STORY

The story begins with a middle-aged man, looking horrified at the window of his house, claiming that his worst fear came true. That is that his daughter, Maria, became victim… of the illness.

Turns out that, according to an organisation (possibly the WHO) revealed to the world that 30% of the children world population became victim of what is called Early Onset Doll’s Disease, in which the arms, legs, hands, and face of the kids deformed to look identical to a doll, and the skin eventually becomes wooden, their joints become hairline cracks, their eyes have a blank staring position, and their face have absolutely no expression at all.

What caused this disease is unknown, but what it is less known is what kind of children can be infected.

The point is that his wife, Maria’s mother, finds out too, and… well… let’s just said that feeling devastated for the outcome is an understatement.

Furthermore, it is also revealed that the parents all over the world were unable to bear such a pain, and decided to burn their kids. The father does not understand the reason of that. However, both of Maria’s parents have some solace over the fact that Maria will always be together with them, and that she will always smile.

However, as time passes by…

…Maria is suffering a more grotesque transformation. Her skin begins to crack, her mouth deforms, she has now sharp teeth, her limbs become thinner and larger, as well as her fingers, and some tentacles start appearing all over her neck, like a gigantic centipede.

Both of the parents finally understood why children are being thrown away. And now, it is their turn.

Their poor, lovely Maria.

SYMBOLISM

Indeed, this is one of the shortest stories I have ever read from Junji Ito. In fact, I am almost leaving the story for you guys to read it. However, Hell’o Dollies just left me with a lot to think about.

Firstly, it is very clear what in this story Junji Ito uses one of his best themes, Body Horror, to illustrate the pain, suffering and tragedy of one element modern society can relate to – Deteriorating diseases, either cancer, Alzheimer, diabetes, Dementia or any other. It is all about taking and sharing the pain, from both perspectives.

On one hand, we got the patient, who, in the case of the Alzheimer, is really calm, aloof, reserved, totally unaware that he/she is suffering the disease, but trapped on a body that has become a prison, and on the other hand, the relatives of the person, who shares with the patient all what they can, fully accepting that he/she will never be same.

It reminds me that 2014 movie starring Julianne Moore, Still Alice.

Where Alice, a linguistics professor played by Moore, is diagnosed with Alzheimer, and she shares their last moments with her family.

However, from the way Junji Ito narrates the story, I truly do not know who is suffering the most, Maria or her parents. I believe that both have the same pain, with two big differences – The first one is Maria’s pain is physical, and her parents is psychological. The second one is that Maria, most likely, has a terrible barrier that isolates herself to her parents, and what these are forced to hurt her daughter, either by leaving her alive, or throwing her away.

Also, the ending is similar to Slug Girl, Maria’s parents are forced to let Maria go.

Overall, the thematics are very similar to Slug Girl; a girl that is infected with a very severe disease and they must let her go. But while Yuuko’s parents are basically on denial, Maria’s parents are with acceptance. It is like Junji Ito wanted to expose two of the five stages of grief.

At the end, it is the same on the stories of Junji Ito. A constant loss of the humanity for an unknown force.

Personally, I am still debating what is exactly what cause the disease, either a virus or a malevolent force. I prefer to think that it is both.

CONCLUSION

Hell’o Dollies is a really good story, a very short one, but as grotesque, unnerving and chilling as Slug Girl or The Thing that Drifted Ashore. I honestly recommend it, especially if you liked to think a lot about what is going on with the COVID-19 pandemic, or have a good scare.

See it by yourself.

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/Frankenstein&gt;

<https://imgur.com/gallery/bL7qQ&gt;

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – SLUG GIRL

Hey! What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time.

SLUG GIRL

As I previously mentioned on my entry of The Thing that Drifted Ashore, Slug Girl was published in 1997 as well, and it is the introductory short story of Slug Girl, volume seven of the Horror World of Junji Ito. It was also adapted in the Junji Ito Collection, episode Three, part 2, released on January 19, 2018. According to Junji Ito Fandom, it was never released in English. But I am not sure about that. If anyone can clarify that, I will deeply appreciate it.

However, I must warn you… That picture from above is a perfect foresight for what is about to come.

STORY

Our story begins with Rie and her best friend and cousin, Yuuko. Yuuko was once a very talkative girl, but recently she has become unusually quiet. Not just that, Yuuko has also become pretty bad at pronunciations. Rie talks to Yuuko but she clarifies that she is not feeling well. Sometime later, Yuuko’s condition becomes so bad that she is unable to attend school.

And here, I must say that…

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…The Junji Ito Collection really caught the depressing tone on that simple still.

The point is that Rie decides to visit Yuuko at her house, but when she reaches the doorbell, no one answers the door. so Rie goes and tries to enter on the backyard; once she arrives there, she finds Yuuko’s parents squishing many slugs, and throwing them salt.

Immediately, Yuuko’s mother escorts Rie to her room, where both find Yuuko resting in her bed with a facemask on. Rie wonders whether Yuuko caught a cold, while her mother only mentions that the doctor found Yuuko’s mental health weak. Rie tries to see beneath the mask, but Yuuko refuses to let her, only to furiously tell both to leave her alone.

Once more…

…looks to me that the Junji Ito Collection is making a fantastic job in catching the dark atmosphere with the animation.

After leaving the house, Rie remembers, through the terrified eyes of Yuuko, some other time in which the latter was that scared, and that was on elementary school; one day, her backyard was completely full of slugs, the very thing that Yuuko hates the most, and some of their classmates tried to scare her with those slugs. Since that day, Yuuko never returned to the backyard.

The next day, Rie goes for another visit to Yuuko, when suddenly her mother hysterically leaves the house and asks for a doctor. Rie catches her and asks what happened. Yuuko’s mother answers that something is wrong with Yuuko’s tongue. Immediately, Yuuko appears before both of them, with something slowly appearing from her mouth.

Then, it is revealed that Yuuko’s tongue transformed into a big, disgusting, slimy slug with a sort of conscience.

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And I specifically mention «with a conscience», because, as the story points out, the slug is not listening to any instruction of Yuuko.

Let me, once more, share with you some GIFS from the Junji Ito Collection.

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Rie was so terrified that she never returns to Yuuko’s house. The rest she hears it from her aunt and uncle.

They revealed that Yuuko tried to cut the slug with a pair of scissors, but it grew back, again and again; afterwards, her parents tried to force salt into Yuuko’s mouth, only for her to spit it out. Soon, because the slug is devouring everything that Yuuko eats and drinks, she becomes sicker and skinnier. So, desperate, her parents come up with a drastic plastic.

And that is filling up the bathtub with salt to kill to slug.

They do that and force Yuuko to get it. Sinking slowly, slowly into the bottom. The problem is that Yuuko never actually comes out from the bathtub, staying there for quite long.

They immediately attempt to drag her out of the bathtub, but all what they find is her pijamas and her underwear. Nonetheless, they are able to reach Yuuko’s head, with her body reduced almost to nothing due to the salt. However, the slug is still alive, and it begins crawling outside the house.

The slug reaches the backyard, where it still remains there until the end, with Yuuko’s head at its shell, always sharing a sad gaze toward those who look after her.

And there the story concludes.

This last image apparently became a meme, because so many authors recreate Yuuko’s head on the slime in the best way. Here is a small gallery of what I found.

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Credit to the respective authors.

SYMBOLISM

I didn’t mention this before, with Slug Girl introduces us to a recurring theme from Junji Ito, one that is also deeply present in The Enigma of the Amigara Fault – Body Horror. However, unlike what happens in the latter, the transformation of Yuuko is more subtle, because along with her tongue becoming that disgusting slug, we are witness of how Yuuko’s mental health changes for the worse, first from talkative to quiet, then from quiet to aggressive, and finally, from aggressive to acquiescent; because for me, Yuuko is practically begging us to kill her through that «sad gaze».

And that is very common with many people with mental health issues.

But before I discuss that, I want to mention that this story reminds me to another great, influential short story with a similar theme – The Metamorphosis, from Franz Kafka. In the story, Gregor Samsa transforms into a disgusting insect, at the beginning he is optimistic that his condition is only temporary, but it is clear that this is not the case. And little by little, his father and mother decide to ignore and neglect Gregor. And despite Grete looks after him, at least at the beginning, she gets tired of him, and all the Samsa family decides to «dispose» Gregor and throw the corpse.

Only… because is different.

With Slug Girl something similar happens. Yuuko becomes «different», and then Rie just turns her back on Yuuko, without even bothering on understanding how is Yuuko actually feeling. And later, Yuuko’s parents try to help her, but both cause more damage than help, to the point of being irreversible (Since we are talking about Junji Ito, it won’t surprise me that this is the case). In the end, everyone in Yuuko’s family lets her down, but through different actions, Rie because of mere repulsion, and Yuuko’s parents because of reckless ignorance. It is different that with Gregor Samsa and his family, but both stories go around the same theme – Incomprehension.

I repeat, while Samsa’s family willingly chooses to neglects Gregor, Yuuko’s family are forced to hurt her.

Now, I need to go back to mental illnesses, another element from Slug Girl. Because those who suffer them never actually understand what is going on, and since they are unable to share their thoughts to their relatives and friends, they feel isolated, depressed and paranoid. There is no one to fully trust, and somehow they know that those around them will judge and attack them, which is why these individuals are aggressive and defensive. And even in our times, these problems are more common than we can think.

Due to my anxiety issues, I got my arguments with family and friends. But not to the point of violence, luckily.

To sum up, Slug Girl deals with a more subtle fear to the unknown, in this case, deformities in our minds and bodies, some elements so disgusting that make people walk away, instead of trying to investigate about what is really going on.

And to finish now, I want to point out another element that caught my attention and that is… How nature, far from beautiful, it can be also really terrifying. And in the case of Slug Girl, it is more about our fears.

In my case… I DESPISE TICKS.

Sorry for the unnevering image

I fear ticks more than I fear spiders. And I get paranoid of what they can do.

And when I read Slug Girl, I constantly remember how nature can surprise us in the worst ways possible. Hopefully you won’t suffer with that… or with them.

CONCLUSION

Of all the stories from Junji Ito that I have read so far, Slug Girl is the most disgusting and gruesome, even more than The Thing that Drifted Ashore (but surpassing by Glyceride), but it is also one of the most tragic, because Yuuko looked like a genuinely nice girl, and I don’t think she did something to deserve that hideous destiny. I want to think that she eventually passed away.

But that is up to everyone’s interpretation.

Check the analysis of the YouTube RagnarRox about Slug Girl. It is really good. Here I leave the link.

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/Slug_Girl_(story)&gt;

<https://imgur.com/gallery/HLC93ZP&gt;

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – THE THING THAT DRIFTED ASHORE

Hey!!! What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time.

THE THING THAT DRIFTED ASHORE

The Thing that Drifted Ashore, just like The Window Next Door, belongs to the The Horror World of Junji Ito, more precisely, Volume 7, Slug Girl. So yes, it belong to other of my favourite stories of Junji Ito, the eponymous Slug Girl.

Both published in 1997.

STORY

Our story begins somewhere on the Pacific Ocean. A gigantic, grotesque, serpent-like creature has drifted and died. The corpse looks to be very unnatural, the heads looks to be full of tumors, furthermore, the creature is over 30 meters long, and, due to its body, it appears to belong to the prehistorical period. It does not happen too long before the corpse attracts the attention of both scientists and bystanders.

Our protagonist and narrator is a young boy who always hated the fishes and the ocean. The story reveals that the boy’s fear of ocean life comes from a quick visit to a local aquarium. The boy gets extremely terrified by the creepy appearances of the fish, calling them «creatures forgotten by the entire universe.»

Because of this, our protagonist is constantly suffering from nightmares, around being surrounded by these creatures.

The creature is beginning to rot, but the scientists do not want that, for they called this «the discovery of the century», and start working in a way to study the creature as much as they can. Meanwhile, it begins to get very hot, almost a heatwave. And just like the boy and the scientists continue looking at the creature, the former meets a young woman, called Mie, who gets dizzy due to the heat and the stench of the corpse.

The boy takes Mie to the shadow.

While Mie slowly recovers, she reveals that she also hates the ocean, just like the boy, but she felt curious about the creature. Immediately, the boy asks her the reason of the hatred of the ocean. Then, Mie reveals that she lost a very beloved person, seven years before the events of the story. A ferry shipwrecked in the coast of Izu and many people disappeared. Her friend was one of them.

The boy asked Mie who he was, then she reveals that it was her fiance, Tadashi.

She already gave up hope of him being alive. Nonetheless, she dreams of becoming him, at the middle of the ocean, in an embryo-like position, surrounded by grotesque fishes that will might eat her, but that there is an invisible wall protecting her, so there is nothing to worry about.

More and more people gets closer to the creature. The scientists are starting to get desperate and request the assistance of the police to keep the distance. However, one of the bystanders takes a look into what appears to be the stomach of the creature, just to make a very terrifying discovery.

Inside the stomach, there are lots of people. Worse still, they are not digested despite being there for years.

Everybody deduces that the sea monster devours people. Shortly, after the discovery, they proceed to cut the stomach and release the people trapped.

But the awful truth does not stop there. Turns out that all of them are alive, and that one of the many survivors… is Tadashi. Mie has no doubt, because she recognises him. In other words, all of the rescued people are the same that disappeared on that ferry accident seven years ago.

The bystanders asked for ambulances, and when the survivors react, they start to scream in an ear-piercing, terrifying way. Even Tadashi acts like crazy in front of Mie.

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The boy deduces that they acted like parasites inside the monster. In other words, they survived by absorbing the nutrients of the creature. Scientists wonder if that is possible for a human being, but all are declared mentally ill afterwards.

The story finishes with the boy wondering what kinds of horrors they witness inside the stomach of the creature.

SYMBOLISM

As a whole, The Thing That Drifted Ashore doesn’t seem to have any social commentary toward Japanese society, and it is more like a conventional horror story, influenced by two different elements from my viewpoint.

The first is the fact that the oceans, our planet’s oceans, still have a lot of mysteries, especially in the abyssal areas, where the light cannot penetrate. Remember that scene from Finding Nemo where Marlin and Dory fight against the angler fish?

Or these from the deeps of the sea?

BTW. This photo is real

The angler fish and the macropinna microstoma are just two simple examples. But overall, the deeps of the ocean have many secrets, some of them fascinating, but for the most part, very terrifying. The ocean comprises between 70% and 75% of our planet, and scientists mentioned that we barely know 5% of what lies beneath the water.

So there you go… Nightmare fuel.

The second element is the presence of Lovecraftian horror. It is no secret that Junji Ito was influenced by American writer H.P. Lovecraft, and that the latter was a lot of terrifying monstrosities, including Cthulhu, who resides in R’lyeh.

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Most likely, the survivors of that sea monster witness something belonging to the Old Ones… or the Great Old Ones.

CONCLUSION

Another great horror story from Junji Ito, similar to The Window Next Door, but with a more imposing ending, because despite not having a social commentary about our society, The Thing That Drifted Ashore definitely includes not just a really strong Lovecraftian feeling, but also a reminder that our planet, as beautiful as it is, is as terrifying as Universe itself… Perhaps worse.

Anyway, I hope to enjoy it.

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_Thing_That_Drifted_Ashore&gt;

<https://imgur.com/gallery/bPe6HVv&gt;

IT’S JUNJI ITO – THE WINDOW’S NEXT DOOR (THE NEIGHBOUR’S WINDOW)

Hey. What time is it?

It’s Junji Ito Time!!!

THE WINDOW NEXT DOOR

The Window Next Door, a.k.a. The Neighbour’s Window, is the third chapter of volume 13 of The Horror World of Junji Ito, that has the name – The Circus is Here, published in 1997. The other stories are amazing, but, from my perspective, The Window Next Door is the most famous, both in Japan and overseas.

STORY

Hiroshi Sakaguchi and his parents have just recently moved to a new house, it was a bit old, but nice and comfortable. Shortly after moving, Hiroshi notices another house in particular which has one window on the second floor.

Anyway, Hiroshi and his mother go and greet their neighbours. One of them tells them about the house next door. They claim that a middle-aged woman lives there, but she barely shows her face in public and apparently has an odd behaviour, living in that place for over ten years.

Hiroshi’s mother keeps ringing the bell, but no one is answering the door.

That night, Hiroshi goes to bed, when he starts hearing an unsettling voice calling for him. When he sees the window, he finds a very disgusting, deformed creature, with a monstrous face, filled with warts and sharp claws. The woman asks Hiroshi to visit her.

At first, Hiroshi thinks that all was a dream, but the next night, he hears the same voice from the woman and goes check it out. He not only finds the woman, he notices she is trying to reach his window with a pole. Frightened, Hiroshi throws the pole, closes the window and rushes toward his parents’ room, calling for help.

To no one’s surprise, Hiroshi’s mom and dad didn’t find anything at the window next door. However, after so much consideration, they agree to switch rooms on the night. However, the woman never appears and Hiroshi is convinced that everything was a dream, so he goes back to his room.

Unfortunately, the woman calls his again that night, and this time, she is trying to reach Hiroshi’s room with her bare hands.

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This time, Hiroshi is determined to confront the woman, ready to push her toward the window to her death, not sleeping that night. However, the woman never appears.

The next morning, Hiroshi reveals that he has now proof that the woman is still trying to reach him. And then it is revealed that the window has magically stretched into some bridge hallway-like monstrosity.

Hiroshi’s parents are planning to move, but he is already prepared to be reached by the entity… tonight.

Whether the woman got him or not is up to our interpretation.

SYMBOLISM

Honestly, I am surprised of how short this story is. In fact, of all the stories I have read from master Junji Ito so far, this is the shortest. But luckily, that doesn’t make it less entertaining, a little bit less scary, but not short in quality.

And the ending, as well of whether it was all a dream or not adds to the value and the horror factor.

In other words, this is an excellent stories for those who are new to the work of Junji Ito. Then, after some «ice-breaking» with the Window Next Door, I will recommend try and continue with either The Enigma of the Amigara Fault or The Woman Next Door.

Furthermore, I agree with many YouTubers, who state that the only purpose of Junji Ito was to tell a normal horror story, with no particular social commentary. Thanks to Luis DeWitt, whose video was useful for me to do this blog.

Here is the link (Warning – the video is in Spanish.)

One element that concerns me is that this story destroys my hopes about the Junji Ito Collection. You know, the anime. Why? Because by looking to the grotesque woman, and comparing her with the original manga…

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…It makes me think The Junji Ito Collection is of an inferior quality.

Now! I repeat myself! I am not saying the anime is bad, I am saying that the its animation is inferior. Nothing more and nothing less, despite being done by Studio Deen.

Well. When the time comes, I will find out.

CONCLUSION

The Window Next Door is another fantastic horror story from Junji Ito. Basic, but impressive as the previously reviewed on Junji Ito Time. No wonder why is consider one of his best.

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_Neighbor%27s_Window&gt;

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.

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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.

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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;

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

«Hey! What time is it?»

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME

The Woman Next Door.

This story is the first one of the Mimi’s Ghost Stories (Mimi no Kaidan, ミミの怪談), published in 2003, a series of short manga volume that centers about Mimi, a young, beautiful college student who is always attacked by some kind of natural force, no matter how much she runs, every nightmarish monster is after her.

Other stories from Mimi no Kaidan include Sound of Grass, Graveman, and The Seashore, which I hope I can red anytime soon.

What is interesting is that Jun ji Ito did NOT write these stories, he simply collect them from Japanese urban legends and modified them to be inside his lore.

STORY

Mimi is living in the first floor of a really old apartment building, from 1966. The walls of the building are very thin, so Mimi is able to hear everything their neighbours do, including listening very… really loud music. Mimi is trying to study, but she can’t due to the loud music played by her neighbour, and despite expressing her complains toward the landlady, here is no traces of lower the volume.

Finally Mimi snapped and gets up to the second floor to confront her neighbour. The person who opens is a young man, who, after being confronted by Mimi, denies that his music is pretty loud, but he will turn it off if his neighbour complains too. Mimi always thought that the next door apartment is empty, but the young man believes that someone is living there, due to listening door opening and closing all the time. Mimi knocks the door, with no avail. At least from the start, because after some time, the door opens and the owner appears. A tall, young man completely dressed in black, with sunglasses, gloves and a big hat, who simply walks away, ignoring Mimi and her neighbour.

Interestingly enough, another neighbour appears, disrupting by the argument, and claims that there are actually three women living on that neighbour.

Some time after, the noise upstairs stops and Mimi is satisfied, because she can finally study. However, one day, Mimi finds the young man outside; he tells her that he is completely terrified of that woman, and then…

…the mysterious woman appears in front of them, going upstairs.

Things become stranger when, at night, Mimi listens a loud scream from the neighbour, who moves from that house next day. Despite Mimi feels very uncomfortable due to the abrupt moving of the young man, she moves to his apartment, because she finds it very quiet and peaceful, perfect for her study.

On her way home, Mimi accidentally trips with one of the women, dropping her groceries. Mimi apologises, and when she tries to help her…

…Mimi discovers that her arm is a large metallic rod. The large woman ignores Mimi and gets back to her apartment.

Some time later, Mimi talks to her friends about what what she saw, and one of them tries to convince her that the arm was a mere prosthetic. Obviously Mimi doesn’t believe that, however she decides to forget the event and celebrate her new house.

And just like the young man before her, Mimi does not her absolutely anything at the other side of her wall. While studying, Mimi finds a hole on the wall and assumes the young man did it. Out of the curiosity, she comes closer and peeks at the hole. What she sees surprises her… but not in a good way. The woman from before is here, and she is removing some screws from her arm, which allows her to extend in a very unnatural fashion.

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Immediately, the woman finds out Mimi is spying on her and stretches her arms so it will go through the wall. Mimi deduces that the three women is actually one, and proceeds to block the hole. She begins to calm down and feel safer, due to the door being locked as well. Then suddenly, she begins to listen to some noises outside, first on the hallway, and then outside the building.

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The woman attacks Mimi, who passes out from the stress.

Shortly afterwards, the woman keeps acting as if nothing happened, while Mimi decides to move somewhere else.

SYMBOLISM

The purpose of The Woman Next Door, according to Junji Ito, was to point out the fact that we never find out who our neighbours actually are, because we never know them properly, expect that we salute them, or crosses path in a rushed manner, but we never take our time to find out of them, and that we are always in our own world.

Therefore, we… might be living next to a really bad person, like a criminal, or a serial killer. This element is more common nowadays, due to globalisation, because we are connected from a place to another, due to the Internet and social media, but we are more isolated than before, unlike fifty, or forty years ago, time in which a true sense of community was always present.

CONCLUSION

Personally, as a story, The Enigma of the Amigara Fault is better constructed, but if we have to mention the commentary that impacted me the most, that is the one from The Woman Next Door, naturally because it is something more deep and relatable to us. Yes, the element of compulsion is keen to humanity, but the isolation and lack of true communication is dealt every day, unintentionally or not, and that is why I see it more as a precaution, because if we are not careful, we find an unpleasant, if not dangerous surprise from our neighbours… or roommates.

And I finish by sharing with you a small game based on this fantastic story.

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_Woman_Next_Door&gt;

IT’S JUNJI ITO TIME – THE AMIGARA FAULT’S ENIGMA

THE ENIGMA OF AMIGARA FAULT.

The Enigma of Amigara’s Fault was published by Junji Ito as one of the two bonus stories for his horror manga Gyo, the latter published between 2001 and 2002 in Japan, and between 2003 and 2004 in the United States (the first one being The Sad of the Principal Post).

SYNOPSIS

In the story, Japan suffered a massive earthquake in an unnamed prefecture, that revealed a fault on the Amigara mountain, close to the epicenter. Immediately, the fault attracts people all over Japan, from scientists to casual people.

One young man, called Owaki, is one of the hundreds of hitchhikers that got the attention of the fault, so he travels to the Amigara mountain to know the fault; on his way, he meets another hitchhiker, a girl called Yoshida. From her presence, he assumes that she indeed is looking for the fault. Shortly after arriving to the fault, and noticing all the press and bystanders, both Owaki and Yoshida discover something odd about the fault – it has countless human-shaped holes all over.

Scientists attempt to identity how deep the holes are, with no success, but they also confirm that the holes are unnatural and that this were made thousands of years ago, adding to the mystery of their own nature. Nonetheless, at this point, any logical reason of why the holes are there is impossible to discover.

Meanwhile, Owaki notices that Yoshida is looking for something. When he asks her, Yoshida responds that she found a hole identical to her on TV, and that the hole was made so she can enter it. Owaki doesn’t believe her, but then, another man, called Nakagari meets them.

Nakagaki explains to them that he felt the same as Yoshida, and that he is looking for his hole. Revealing that he found it, Nakagaki proceeds to strip to his underwear and get into the hole, despite the warnings from Owaki not to. Rescue teams are immediately sent to find Nakagaki, again, with no success, being called off after searching five meters into the hole.

The night comes, and Owaki has a very disturbing nightmare, he dreams that he is Nakagaki, completely trapped on the dark, cold, uncharted hole, being deformed by the earthquake.

Owaki wakes up, but still there is no sight of Nakagaki. Furthermore, Yoshida tells him that she found her own hole, and that was made thousands of years ago, but Owaki does not believe that.

Not far from the place where Nakagaki disappeared, the news are reporting that people are compulsively entering towards their own holes, simply claiming that «this is my hole, and was made just for me.» They just can’t stop. Worse still, Yoshida says that one voice is calling her in to her hole, and despite her resistance, the voice is too strong to disobey, also she is scared that she will die in there.

Owaki proceeds to block the hole with rocks.

Later, that night, Yoshida explains to Owaki that she is always been lonely, all her life, and that is why she is so fond to the hole, but Owaki promises that he will protect her. They kiss afterwards. However, Owaki has another nightmare. This time, he dreams he is a convicted criminal from the Ancient times, and for his crime, he is sentenced to… enter a hole in which he can’t get out. Inside, the hole starts to deform, twisting his legs, arms and neck in a horrific manner, to the point of not being human. However, he is still alive.

Owaki wakes up. and discovers that Yoshida entered into her hole, much to his grief. As he laments her departure, he accidentally throws his flashlight, just to find out that his hole is nearby. In a sort of trance, Owaki takes off his clothes and enters his hole.

Several months later, another earthquake takes place, and a new fault is discovered in the other side of the mountain. Like the previous one, this fault has holes, but are extremely deformed. Two scientists walked toward them, and one of them lights the hole, only to discover that some monstrosity, with no clear definition, is moving slowly… about to leave the hole.

SYMBOLISM

In this story, Junji Ito has dealing with the element of «compulsion», because the holes were done for the people, and they feel this irresistible urge to get inside them. That is similar to what Sigmund Freud called «death drive»:, an unconscious desire of the individual to self-harm, like when you are in the edge of the cliff, ready to jump. This sensation of self-destruction that we feel once. (I hope not).

And what is more interesting here, is the lack of any supernatural, malevolent force that drives the individual toward its own demise, unlike most of Junji Ito’s stories. Just psychological horror.

But, if you ask me, I interpret it as «we are the monster.» Because humans are beautiful, but are as malevolent and horrific as the Cthulhu Mythos itself. That is why Owaki, Yoshida, Nakagaki and the rest that entered into the hole have become this…

At least, from my opinion. The most enemy of the individual… is oneself.

CONCLUSION

Without a doubt, the Enigma of the Amigara Fault is one of the best stories written and illustrated by Junji Ito. And the fact that is so psychological makes it scarier. I said once, and I will say it again… Japan creates some of the greatest horror stories. I recommend this story for those who want to meet Junji Ito once. Or those who want to feel that vibe of Halloween.

And I finish with the same fan-made animation from before.

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_Enigma_of_Amigara_Fault&gt;