Man, this manga stinks. It carries a stench from page one all the way through to the end of the book. Horrid. Nasty. Putrid. It’s kinda like that dead cat out there marinating behind the dumpster that hasn’t been picked up for a week during the height of summer. Oh, and it’s pretty fun, too.
“Gyo” is a horror manga written and illustrated by Junji Ito, who is probably better known for two of his other popular horror mangas, “Uzumaki” and “Tomie.” Ito is renowned for his vivid imagination and the carefully crafted depth of his drawing technique. Both of those abilities are fully on display in “Gyo,” as Ito crafts a tale of a sinister and experimental World War Two weapon gone horribly awry in modern day Japan.
The story starts out normal enough, as bickering young couple Tadashi and his girlfriend Kaori are vacationing on the island of Okinawa. It doesn’t take long for the weirdness to start, though, as a strange and putrid odor begins to manifest itself on the coast. This is followed by the appearance of an unusual fish that appears to be walking on land on a pair of metal legs. Tadashi reports the strange sighting to the local police, who pooh-pooh him and threaten to arrest him for pranking them. But things move fast in this story, and by the third chapter Ito has quite literally jumped the shark. Tadashi’s uncle is a scientist, and he goes to him for help as the strange walking fish have now begun to invade the mainland on a large scale. Kaori is feeling and acting strangely, the uncle reveals a horrible secret from the past, the stench of death and decay permeates everything with predictably nauseating results and…..well, you can get the idea that things just get balls out crazier and more disgusting with each page.
As horror manga go, this is pure 1950s-era creature-feature stuff all the way. At the beginning, Ito walks a very fine line between more traditional scares and gross-out action. By the time that the story ramps up he abandons any pretense of restraint and just lets it all hang out in stomach-churning fashion. It’s a real page-turner, though, a tale of science gone too far that never lets up for a second. The reader can almost get a sense of that horrid death-stench…..which reminds me that I need to change the trash bag in the kitchen.
“Gyo” was originally serialized in the weekly Japanese manga magazine “Big Comic Spirits” in 2001-2002. Viz Media published it in a two-volume set in 2003-2004, with a reprint in ‘07-’08. There is also a single volume edition available. I am lucky enough to have the original 2003-2004 first editions of “Gyo,” a fact I put down to a lucky find at the used book store. There is also an anime version of “Gyo” on the market, but it alters a few details of the story substantially, most notably changing the perspective of the main character from Tadashi to Kaori.
Volume One ends on a wild cliffhanger, and I can’t wait to see what hideous and stenchy horrors Junji Ito has in store for me in Volume Two. “Gyo” is a quick, fun read recommended for anyone that enjoys Japanese horror manga. A good bet would be to leave a copy of this in the guest bathroom, right next to the can of air freshener…...good times…..good times.