Date created: Sep 21, 2024 #manga

Junji Itou wouldn't know scary if it ____

I could'nt think of a Junji Itou related joke for the title so I just left it blank dont worry about it.

Junji Itou is the most popular horror manga author by far. Why? I have no idea. Nothing this man has ever made has ever elicited fear or even made me disturbed. This is not to say I'm some really awesome and cool guy who doesn't feel fear (even though I am) but I am saying that Junji Itou's stories are far more silly than they are scary or disturbing and anyone who is disturbed by the concept of spirals is either lying to you or twelve.

Mr. Itou is also seemingly incapable of creating a manga that isn't just a bunch of short stories. For example, the first manga I ever read actually was Tomie. This story left me so confused. It was just a bunch of almost completely disconnected stories about some random girl just dying a bunch of times, none of them were interesting or resonated with me enough for them to be scary or leave an impression on me deep enough for me to feel disturbed. I'm not even sure if this was a story as it was missing every single component that a story should have.

There was no exposition, Tomie just exists and now someone kills her. Conflict? I'd say Tomie getting killed but it seems like nobody even cares, not even Tomie so how could I call it a conflict. There is no climax or resolution, it just randomly ends just as abruptly as it starts. Now imagine if you did that 20 more times and suddenly a bunch of dumbass white boys start calling you the best horror mangaka of time. That is Junji Itos life. Before starting a story I'm sure at best he only has concepts of a plan, leading to him having never made a character or story I care about, mainly because they are all too stupid for me to care about.