Souichi's Diary of Curses is volume six in the Horror World of Junji Ito series. It was originally published in Japan in 1997. None of these stories have been officially published in English. But some have been translated by fans.
The stories in this collection focus on Tsujii Souichi, a young boy who is obsessed with curses and the occult, much to the annoyance of his typical Japanese family. Souichi tends to not only make trouble for other people with his strange and mischevious behavior, but he also gets himself into hot water as well.
[CHAPTERS] 01. Souichi’s Selfish Curse 02. The Silent Room 03. The Coffin 04. Rumours 05. Fashion Model
Junji Itō (Japanese: 伊藤潤二, Ito Junji) is a Japanese cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his horror manga. Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists. His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism. Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
Tremenda segunda parte de las trastadas maléficas de Soichi. El libro 1 me parece algo flojo, no hay tanto terror como suele transmitir las ilustraciones del autor y las historias no impactan tanto. En cambio, en esta segunda parte salen 2 de mis personajes favoritos del mundo de Ito, que son los terroríficos y maravillosos Fuchi y Binzô. 5 estrellas para esta obra, que no solo mejora en historia y personajes, sino que nos da momentazos en viñetas que se hacen inolvidables.
I really enjoy Mr. Ito's works. With that said, I'm hoping the arc featuring Souichi is finally finished. I found him to be a creepy character, but after a while he's more of just a gateway to introduce creepy occurrences more than anything else.
I loved the story "Fashion Model"; very sinister and eerie! I wish all of his works could be made into movies because the model in this story would make anyone's skin crawl just by looking at her.
If your into horror, I highly recommend this manga as well as all of Mr. Ito's horror collection.
junji Ito me gusta porque escribe historias muy simples. El problema del comic, y por eso no leo más comic, es que las imágenes son más importantes que las palabras y no soy del todo capaz de meterme en situación. Me cuesta entrar en la atmósfera.
Pero Ito juega con lo cotidiano y lo sobrenatural de una manera muy fresca, muy fluida. Por eso encuentro sus historias cortas muy inspiradoras. Lietalmente.
A medio camino escribo un final alternativo propio y, bueno... Sirve muy bien al propósito de desbloquear tramas :)
Souichi's a godawful brat but he's also quite the interesting character. He's got the whims of a kid and he's not the good guy, two things which aren't common for a Ito-sensei MC. I couldn't even really dislike him because he'd occasionally just be relatable. In addition, he's a character we've already met in Voices In The Dark and New Voices In The Dark even though it was under.... different circumstances, let's leave it at that.
Again, Ito-sensei manages to mix comedy into his horror! Reading episodes of the lives of a family and classroom where there's this weirdo kid who really believes he can put curses on people, with a bit of the otherworldly added in for drama, was very enjoyable.
I especially like the "terrifying inhuman model" character, Fuchi. Seeing her here explains her appearance in the Voices In The Dark books I guess. I really wish we could learn more about her? Like, how did she get into that magazine even? Why exactly does Souichi imagine himself marrying her in the other books? Because from the cliffhanger endings of the stories here you wouldn't be blamed if you believed she killed him.
More Souichi mishaps that start to get a little darker and his antics more grating. I can’t help but wonder if we are laughing at a disabled person who is completely untreated by his family. I can see where Junji Ito moved away from the character after this follow-up volume.
For whatever reason, most of these shorts seem incomplete, as if the author ended the tales before giving them proper endings. The final two entries are dedicated to Fuchi - a niche hideous model who also happens to be a cannibal. These stories are some of the most terrifying in Ito’s illustrious canon. The issue is they end so abruptly, that I had to go back to make sure my copy wasn’t missing any pages. Could have been much better with a few more illustrated frames, for the reader’s closure at the very least.
While Volume 6 is a slight improvement over Volume 5 on the grounds of less Souichi, Junji Ito still isn't at his best when he tries to wring horror and humor out of this troubled, quasi-autistic "demon child." Something about it just feels off, and not in a horror way. Like it's a flop that Ito is trying really hard to make happen.
Nonetheless, the stories here ARE an improvement over the Souichi stories in Volume 5: "Coffin" is pretty good, and a better story with a better antagonist would have made "Room with Four Walls" much eerier. Last, I appreciate Ito trying to riff on the "mysterious ugly woman" urban legends of Japan in "Fashion Model," but the ugly cannibal witch seems stuck between slapstick comedy and horror and settles on neither. Not the best work Ito has done.
As a continuation of the previous volume, we wrap up this batch of stories regarding Souichi. I don't have much to add from my previous review, the same themes apply. These stories are darkly funny, and it's great to laugh at Souichi's plans backfiring on him, but as Junji Ito reveals in a later story (not included in this volume) which follows what an adult Souichi is capable of, maybe we should have been doing something else. Maybe laughing at Souichi or dismissing his behavior was not the appropriate action.
We also are introduced to the elegant Fuchi in this volume, whose destiny is strangely enough tied to Souichi's own.
Creepy Souichi is a disturbed little boy with iron deficiency who compensates for it by sucking on iron nails, having them in his mouth like a toothpick (I KNOW) and well, that's Souichi for ya!
Both volumes include him and his friends and family going into creepy adventures and with random supernatural stuff happening to people (guess who makes them happen) and at the end of every story there's an explanation (mostly) of how this and that happened and why.
A page-turner at times, even though it's not something that will leave you in awe or something, but interesting and of course creepy and as always with Junji, great artwork!
i didn’t really enjoy this collection. i think i found souichi way too annoying and i couldn’t handle reading about his frustratingly annoying tricks he’d play on others. i was hoping for some sort of permanent punishment that he’d have to face but he never got one. souichi’s character was just so infuriating to read about and i know that was ito’s point but i just couldn’t enjoy it unfortunately.
Our iron deficiency character is here! His new design is better than the previous volume. As usual, Souichi thinks he's handsome and smart. In reality, he prefers talking to himself and curses everyone in his path. Also a spoiled brat. Then again, his family should have been patient with him and stuff. Oh, the last two chapters are the scariest. ✨ Chapter ratings ✨ Souichi’s Selfish Curse- 3.8 stars The Silent Room- 3.5 stars The Coffin- 3.5 stars Rumours- 4 stars Fashion Model
I didn't think Ito-san would continue the Souichi storylines but in these stories he explores a deeper humanity in Souichi and even knocks him down a few pegs, all with oddly comedic timing. Moon shots, girls, and even a surprise ending mark off another character exploration.
The Itou Junji Kyoufu Collection 6 is a collection of horror short stories with Souichi as the main focus. Souichi is a peculiar boy who is interested with and believes in paranormal activities.
For those who are interested to start reading Ito's horror mangas, this is a good start.
Still focusing on Souichi and his prank. The second volume is more interesting than the first one. 4 out of 5 chapters tell the story about Souichi. The ending of Souichi's story is not known whether he is dead or alive after he confronts a woman with a horrible face based on his premonition. After that, the story continues with the story of the horrible-faced woman from earlier.
AMAZING! One of my favourite books ever! It doesn’t have the same horror aspects of some other works by Junji Ito however there’s definitely some creepy parts and lots of humour. This was the first Junji Ito book I read and it’s what got me into his books, highly recommended!