Of course, the genre of horror in the medium of anime has always had a hard time. It's hard to trigger horror in the consumer with drawn pictures and animations. Horror in anime very quickly looks like trash. That's why you should focus on atmosphere and shock the consumer. And that's exactly what Junji Ito's manga do perfectly. And that's exactly what the anime fails at.
Junji Ito is a masterful horror mangaka and arguably the best in the industry. He is well aware of the weaknesses of the manga medium when it comes to horror, yet he executes the genre perfectly. In each story he builds an oppressive atmosphere and manages to shock the reader at just the right moment. For this Junji Ito uses very detailed images. He draws on individual panels sometimes for hours. He also uses a simple and well-known trick of the manga industry. He puts the shocking pictures at the beginning of the double page. So this image jumps in your face when you turn the page, because when you read a manga, you always see the other images already in the corner of your eye. Only when you turn a page, you don't know what's coming. And it is exactly this effect that Junji Ito makes use of. Furthermore, Junji Ito addresses certain phobias in most short stories, including, for example, trypophobia (the fear of irregularly arranged holes), claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces) or hypnophobia (the fear of falling asleep). He wraps these up in mostly crazy and loopy stories. Junji Ito's manga works are simply great.
The anime is unfortunately just a poor adaptation of the whole thing. It lacks everything that makes the manga so good. The most obvious are the simply drawn pictures and the mediocre animation. Unlike the manga, the anime can't boast of rich detail. As a result, the shockers are absent. No images that cause discomfort or nausea, no images that shock with an exaggerated depiction of violence, and no images that trigger phobias. On top of that, a quickly produced animation. When watching the anime, pay attention to the eyes. Often the iris and pupil are unintentionally missing and only the white sclera of the eyes can be seen. The anime just barely manages to create an oppressive atmosphere, but you probably can't call it horror. Of course, the stories are taken from the manga. But these are just so poorly implemented that I kept asking myself how good these images must look in the manga.
On a positive note, I want to mention the music, especially the opening and ending. The opening "Paranoid" by MADKID is super fitting to the anime. The rocking screaming and the visuals reflect the weirdness of Junji Ito's stories. The ending, on the other hand, is more relaxed and I really like it as a standalone song.
Now follows a brief commentary on each short story of the anime. There might be some slight spoilers: "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings" - Ends somewhere in the middle and horror is left out.
"The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel" - Atmosphere was poorly built up.
"Ice Cream Bus" - prime example of "must be gross in manga" and CGI was distracting.
"Hanging Balloon" - a good adaptation "Four x Four walls" - zero atmosphere. Where's the horror? I don't want a slice of life.
"The Sandman's Lair" - Here we have our hypnophobia, but fear of sleep doesn't come up.
"Intruder" - epitome of saying nothing.
"Long Hair in the Attic" - Super story, but does not dare to show shocking violence. The images lack detail.
"Mold" - Triggers zero nausea. The pictures are too flatly drawn for a black and white format.
"Libary Vision" - Beautiful story of a man slowly going insane. But the fact that the woman doesn't act and just watches is super unbelievable. (Her synchro is not good either. But that's by the way.)
"Tomb Town" - Why doesn't the corpse in the trunk stink. But nice world Junji Ito creates there. The images lack depth again.
"Layers of Terror" - Again, the images lack detail. The story is nice and crazy. But you should reach for the manga here as well.
"The Thing that Drifted Ashore" - CGI, CGI, CGI.
"Tomie Photo" - I love the Tomie stories. I love the mystery around her and the charisma of Tomie. I didn't get either of those. Also, the depiction of violence is again too lax.
"The Unendurable Labyrinth" - Poor build up of atmosphere. You can guess the rest, right?
"The Bully" - one of the better implementations.
"Alley" - quite cool, not special "The Headless Sculptures" - Must repeat myself: bad pictures, nice crazy story "Whispering Woman" - The whispering woman was depicted creepy. Enjoyed it.
"Soichi's Beloved Pet" - I guess the worst comes at the end
If you don't know the manga, you can probably have fun with the anime. If you liked Junji Ito Maniac, you have to check out the manga, and if you didn't, then also. There are 2-3 good adaptations here, but all the stories lack the visuals. That's just what makes Junji Ito. You're disgusted and don't want to read any further, and yet the next night you're sitting down to the next story. Junji Ito stands and falls on the images, if you do not get that right, no anime will ever adapt Junji Ito well. I hope the Uzumaki anime gets that right. The trailers looked promising. Apparently they recognized the problems and tried to adapt the manga style. Still, I stand by my initial thesis: "Junji Ito's manga can't be animated well!" At the same time, I don't necessarily mean to say that it can't be done. It will probably just never happen, unfortunately. A good Junji Ito anime needs two things: time and money. I can't imagine that any producer would put so much money into a niche project like Junji Ito and give the studios enough time than something clever would come out of it. Please let me be wrong. The future will tell.
Thanks for reading.
Junji Ito is a masterful horror mangaka and arguably the best in the industry. He is well aware of the weaknesses of the manga medium when it comes to horror, yet he executes the genre perfectly. In each story he builds an oppressive atmosphere and manages to shock the reader at just the right moment. For this Junji Ito uses very detailed images. He draws on individual panels sometimes for hours. He also uses a simple and well-known trick of the manga industry. He puts the shocking pictures at the beginning of the double page. So this image jumps in your face when you turn the page, because when you read a manga, you always see the other images already in the corner of your eye. Only when you turn a page, you don't know what's coming. And it is exactly this effect that Junji Ito makes use of. Furthermore, Junji Ito addresses certain phobias in most short stories, including, for example, trypophobia (the fear of irregularly arranged holes), claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces) or hypnophobia (the fear of falling asleep). He wraps these up in mostly crazy and loopy stories. Junji Ito's manga works are simply great.
The anime is unfortunately just a poor adaptation of the whole thing. It lacks everything that makes the manga so good. The most obvious are the simply drawn pictures and the mediocre animation. Unlike the manga, the anime can't boast of rich detail. As a result, the shockers are absent. No images that cause discomfort or nausea, no images that shock with an exaggerated depiction of violence, and no images that trigger phobias. On top of that, a quickly produced animation. When watching the anime, pay attention to the eyes. Often the iris and pupil are unintentionally missing and only the white sclera of the eyes can be seen. The anime just barely manages to create an oppressive atmosphere, but you probably can't call it horror. Of course, the stories are taken from the manga. But these are just so poorly implemented that I kept asking myself how good these images must look in the manga.
On a positive note, I want to mention the music, especially the opening and ending. The opening "Paranoid" by MADKID is super fitting to the anime. The rocking screaming and the visuals reflect the weirdness of Junji Ito's stories. The ending, on the other hand, is more relaxed and I really like it as a standalone song.
Now follows a brief commentary on each short story of the anime. There might be some slight spoilers: "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings" - Ends somewhere in the middle and horror is left out.
"The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel" - Atmosphere was poorly built up.
"Ice Cream Bus" - prime example of "must be gross in manga" and CGI was distracting.
"Hanging Balloon" - a good adaptation "Four x Four walls" - zero atmosphere. Where's the horror? I don't want a slice of life.
"The Sandman's Lair" - Here we have our hypnophobia, but fear of sleep doesn't come up.
"Intruder" - epitome of saying nothing.
"Long Hair in the Attic" - Super story, but does not dare to show shocking violence. The images lack detail.
"Mold" - Triggers zero nausea. The pictures are too flatly drawn for a black and white format.
"Libary Vision" - Beautiful story of a man slowly going insane. But the fact that the woman doesn't act and just watches is super unbelievable. (Her synchro is not good either. But that's by the way.)
"Tomb Town" - Why doesn't the corpse in the trunk stink. But nice world Junji Ito creates there. The images lack depth again.
"Layers of Terror" - Again, the images lack detail. The story is nice and crazy. But you should reach for the manga here as well.
"The Thing that Drifted Ashore" - CGI, CGI, CGI.
"Tomie Photo" - I love the Tomie stories. I love the mystery around her and the charisma of Tomie. I didn't get either of those. Also, the depiction of violence is again too lax.
"The Unendurable Labyrinth" - Poor build up of atmosphere. You can guess the rest, right?
"The Bully" - one of the better implementations.
"Alley" - quite cool, not special "The Headless Sculptures" - Must repeat myself: bad pictures, nice crazy story "Whispering Woman" - The whispering woman was depicted creepy. Enjoyed it.
"Soichi's Beloved Pet" - I guess the worst comes at the end
If you don't know the manga, you can probably have fun with the anime. If you liked Junji Ito Maniac, you have to check out the manga, and if you didn't, then also. There are 2-3 good adaptations here, but all the stories lack the visuals. That's just what makes Junji Ito. You're disgusted and don't want to read any further, and yet the next night you're sitting down to the next story. Junji Ito stands and falls on the images, if you do not get that right, no anime will ever adapt Junji Ito well. I hope the Uzumaki anime gets that right. The trailers looked promising. Apparently they recognized the problems and tried to adapt the manga style. Still, I stand by my initial thesis: "Junji Ito's manga can't be animated well!" At the same time, I don't necessarily mean to say that it can't be done. It will probably just never happen, unfortunately. A good Junji Ito anime needs two things: time and money. I can't imagine that any producer would put so much money into a niche project like Junji Ito and give the studios enough time than something clever would come out of it. Please let me be wrong. The future will tell.
Thanks for reading.