Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection

伊藤潤二傑作集 [Ito Junji Kessaku-shū] #9

by Junji Ito

FRESH NIGHTMARES BROUGHT TO YOU BY HORROR MASTER JUNJI ITO.

Countless tombstones stand in rows, forming a bizarre town. What fate awaits a brother and sister after a traffic accident in this town of the dead? In another tale, a girl falls silent, her tongue transformed into a slug. Can a friend save her? Then, when a young man moves to a new town, he finds the house next door has only a single window. What does his grotesque neighbor want, calling out to him every evening from that lone window?

Genres: Manga, Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Short Stories, Fiction, Paranormal

344 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhh, another great short story collection from Junji Ito!! This might be one of my favorites from him! I especially love the short stories Tombs, The Window Next Door and The Blood Story of Shirosuna! Here are my ratings for each story:

Tombs - 5/5
Clubhouse - 3/5
Slug Girl - 4/5 (EW)
The Window Next Door - 5/5
Washed Ashore - 3/5
The Strange Tale of the Tunnel - 3.5/5
Bronze Statue - 2.5/5
Floaters - 2/5
The Bloody Story of Shirosuna - 5/5

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Junji Ito is a goddamn, magical treasure to horror. Ito's imagination seems to come from some otherworldly place outside of anything we are accustomed to--As soon as I saw this was available to review on NetGalley I smashed that request button and jumped into it immediately upon approval.
Here's the TOC and some very light, non-spoilerly reading experience notes:
TOMBS-- classic Ito body horror. A tragedy. A small, unusual town with a supernatural twist.
CLUBHOUSE--Excellent ghost story
SLUG GIRL--Body horror with an image that will never leave my brain
THE WINDOW NEXT DOOR--this one was funny actually (and gross)
WASHED ASHORE- ew, gross. And tapped a fear of mine with sea creatures
THE STRANGE TALE OF THE TUNNEL--creepy ghost story
BRONZE STATUE--a disturbing story about vanity and narcissism.
FLOATERS--this was the most unusual/original story. Super weird hairballs that tell secrets.
THE BLOODY STORY OF SHIROSUNA--very, very gory and disturbing once again, Ito shows us a small town that experiences supernatural phenomena

I plan on buying everything from Junji Ito--new horror author collection and I'm obsessed with the artwork.

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tombs is a collection of horror stories ranging from mildly unnerving to downright bizarre, and is easily one of my favorite of Junji Ito’s books thus far. In most of his collections, there’s at least one story that didn’t quite click with me, but I genuinely loved every single installment here and could barely even choose a favorite (though I did eventually narrow it down to ’The Bloody Story of Shirosuna’, the final story. Whether you’re brand new to Junji Ito books or a seasoned fan, you absolutely can’t miss this one.

→ Tombs ★★★★★
I loved this story and thought it was such a fantastic tone-setter for the collection. In typical Junji Ito fashion, we have a mixture of body horror and Weird Shit in a Small Town™️ with no real explanation for why any of it’s happening.

→ Clubhouse ★★★★☆
This was a really short, fun little paranormal story that I think would make an awesome short in a horror film anthology. I loved the ending!

→ Slug Girl ★★★★★
This was absolutely DISGUSTING and, as someone who hates slugs as much as Yuko does, I’m probably going to have nightmares.

→ The Window Next Door ★★★★★
How creepy! There’s something so unsettling about the idea of a mysterious neighbor trying to crawl in through your window, and that last page made me a little queasy.

→ Washed Ashore ★★★★★
Despite loving the ocean and sea creatures, I actually have a solid case of thalassophobia, so the idea of this bizarre deep-sea creature unlike anything ever seen before washing up on a beach intrigued me from the start. While it’s a very quick story, this is one of my favorites!

→ The Strange Tale of the Tunnel ★★★★★
This reminded me of a few other of Junji Ito’s stories, though I can’t say why without spoiling the twist. That said, I’m always amazed by how he can take the most mundane things and turn them into something terrible that I’ll never look at the same way (like spirals!).

→ Bronze Statue ★★★★☆
This was my least favorite in the collection, but as you can see by the rating, I still enjoyed it a lot! It had a bit of an “urban legend” feel to it that was a lot of fun.

→ Floaters ★★★★★
This one was so bizarre and fun! What an awful idea, to think of little things floating around mimicking your darkest thoughts—and what a tragic ending!

→ The Bloody Story of Shirosuna ★★★★★
The final story in this collection was, in my opinion, the best one of them all — in fact, it’s one of my favorite Junji Ito stories out of all of his books! It’s such an incredibly unnerving piece that, in his usual way, leaves us with no real explanation for why these awful things have happened, and that ambiguity is part of what makes it work so well.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

✨ Content warnings for: violence, death, gore, body horror, stalking, grief, suicide

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[Ashleigh (a frolic through fiction) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars!

[Chrissana Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

En proceso ...
1. La ciudad de las tumbas: Kaoru recibí una invitación de su amiga Izumi para ir a visitarla a su pueblo. Kaoru y su hermano, van a visitarla, y se encuentran con un pueblo muy peculiar lleno de lápidas. En ese pueblo las personas tienen que morir al aire libre para poder descansar en paz. Sino lo consiguen su cuerpo se transforma en algo monstruoso.
2. La casa de encuentro: La Casa de Encuentro, nos traslada junto a tres adolescentes que realizando una prueba de valor deciden entrar en una casa abandonada, pero al final solo dos de ellas entran en sus dominios. Pronto, la tercera verá como sus otras dos amigas dejan de hablar entre ellas sin un motivo aparente, y al preguntarle a una la llevará hasta la casa para presentarle a unos universitarios con unos fuertes ideales que parecen dispuestos a llevársela a su bando.
3. La chica babosa: algo extraño comienza a ocurrir con la lengua de la protagonista, poco a poco, va convirtiéndose en lo que más odia una babosa.
4. La ventana de la casa de al lado: un adolescente y sus padres se mudan a una nueva casa. El chico ve a una mujer terrorífica en la ventana de enfrente qué le aterroriza y no le deja dormir por las noches.
5. Lo que el mar arrastró a la playa: una mañana una criatura marina aparecerá en la playa con algo muy siniestro en su interior.
6. Queridos ancestros: una chica sufre amnesia, su novio le dice qué es maravilloso ya que volverán a vivir las cosas como si fueran la primera vez. Cómo por ejemplo conocer a su familia de nuevo.
7. Sueños largos: un paciente tiene miedo de dormir cada día sus sueños duran más y más, 10, 20, 50 años ... Su cuerpo empieza a transformarse sin que sus médicos puedan hacer nada.
8. El extraño cuento del túnel: un túnel misterioso que atrae a la gente y la hace desaparecer.
9. Estatuas de bronce: en el parque hay unas estatuas de bronce que hablan. Cuál es su secreto?
10. Esporas flotantes: unas esporas comienzan a salir de la boca de las personas y confesar sus secretos a gritos.
11. Historia de la Sangre del Pueblo de Arenas Blancas: un joven doctor llegá a un pueblo en el que todos los vecinos están pálidos y padecen anemia. Investiga y trata de averiguar el origen de está enfermedad.

[Elle_bow 🩷 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read from Junji Ito, some of these short stories didn’t do it for me but others were straight up nightmare fuel!

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, reading books by Junji Ito is similar to therapy. I will never grow tired of him. It will be worthwhile to read these stories again even though I've already read some of them in other collections.(After reading the entire collection, I realised that there are only two new stories here)

1. Tombs: 4 stars
-This is one I've read before; it's really fascinating. It's similar to returning to one's origins and passing away in the arms of mother nature. Very eerie.

2. Clubhouse: 3.5 stars
-This narrative was fresh. It was excellent, particularly the exploring portion and the way it related to a past story.

3. Slug girl: 4.5 stars
-One of my favorite stories is Slug Girl; the last scene never fails to give me the chills.

4. The window nex door: 3 stars
-Avoid unfamiliar neighbors at all costs. The final panel provided the plot with a much-needed extra edge.

5. Washed ashore: 4 stars
-love when junji Ito incorporates seas into his tales, which are consistently novel and inventive.

6. The strange tale of tunnel: 3 stars
-Though a little lengthy for the story, it's still a solid one. It exuded an eerie vibe. It was less nasty and more eerie.

7. Bronze statue: 3.5 stars
-Lord, the standards of beauty. But I really liked how it ended—the old bitch deserved to get her comeuppance. It's kind of funny how the statues were making out in front of her.

8. Floaters: 4.5 stars
-Should this evolve into a pandemic, I can already picture people doing nasty stuff.

9. The bloody story of shirosuna: 4.5 stars
- Personally, I enjoy horror stories that touch on biology. I have a craving for horror and human bodies. This one is definitely my favorite.

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another selection of short horror stories by the body-horror master - Junji Ito.
These are; Tombs, Clubhouse, Slug Girl, The Window Next Door, Washed Ashore, The Strange Tale Of The Tunnel, Bronze Statue, Floaters and The Bloody Story Of Shirosuna.

Tombstones stand in rows throughout a small town. They mark where the dead lie, the place where their deaths took place. What fate shall befall a brother and sister after a traffic accident in this town of the dead? In another of these tales, a girl has a fear of slugs since she was young. Her worst nightmare comes true when a slug literally become a part of her, her tongue, can her friend save her?
A young man moves to a new town with his parents and finds out that the house next door only has one window. At night, he hears a voice calling out him and when he looks out of his bedroom window he sees a grotesque looking old woman reaching out her withered arms.. will she make it across to him?
These are just examples of some of the horror inside to whet your appetite. Read if you dare… 💀

Where Ito’s work really shines is in those gruesome body horror moments that the stories build up to often so cleverly. The imagery of those moments will forever be seared into your brain.
Bronze Statue was a highlight for me, showing an old woman’s desire to be immortalised as a young beauty. What lengths will she go to? Some truly terrifying imagery found here.

I’d say this is one of my favourite Junji Ito collections that I’ve read for a while and happy to have read it pretty much on release! You know you can turn to him for some solidly creepy tales.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another collection of Junji Ito short stories full of his trademarked body horror. It's kind of a mixed outing, with so many of the stories acting like build-up to a single shocking image or idea and then abruptly stopping there. But it was cheesy fun gross-outs for the most part, so I'll round up to three stars for the collection.

Tombs ~ 3 stars

It's certainly hard to cover up a hit-and-run when tombs spring up wherever people die. Gets a little wild, but the ending is haunting.

Clubhouse ~ 2 stars

A haunted house story that seems to end prematurely on an image that's meant to be shocking, but is just kind of weird.

Slug Girl ~ 3 stars

You know them slugs ain't gonna stay in that garden . . . One of the most effective last panels in the book. I get the impression that might have been the first image drawn and the rest of the story was simply backfill to explain it.

The Window Next Door ~ 3 stars

The cougar next door creeps on her teenage neighbor through their facing windows. Her over-the-top appearance reminds me of Basil Wolverton's portraits in ugliness and seem unnecessary for this supernatural stalker saga.

Washed Ashore ~ 2 stars

A sea monster carcass has washed ashore, and people are drawn to check it out, unaware of the secrets it holds inside. This story feels the most incomplete with its abrupt ending exposition, like it should have been the first chapter of a longer tale.

The Strange Tale of the Tunnel ~ 3 stars

The creepiness of the suicides, the missing persons, and the paranormal draw of the tunnel are undercut by a pat ending.

Bronze Statue ~ 2 stars

A ridiculously goofy story of murder and statuary.

Floaters ~ 2 stars

People's innermost secrets start floating around like spores in the air. The story tumbles out of control as it tries some different directions but doesn't really seem to know what to do with its concept. Even the characters seem rather blasé about it.

The Bloody Story of Shirosuna ~ 2 stars

Much too obvious and unoriginal. Gallons of seeping blood is actually the least scary idea in this book and closes it out in a dull manner.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Tombs -- Clubhouse -- Slug Girl -- The Window Next Door -- Washed Ashore -- The Strange Tale of the Tunnel -- Bronze Statue -- Floaters -- The Bloody Story of Shirosuna

[Janelle Janson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picture this: a small community, shrouded in darkness, with rows upon rows of eerie tombstones creating a haunting sight. But that’s just the beginning of the horror that lies within. Join a brother and sister as they experience a traffic accident in the midst of this town of the dead, leaving them wondering what their fate will be. Or follow the terrifying tale of a girl whose tongue transforms into a slimy slug, rendering her speechless and helpless. Can her friend find a way to save her before it’s too late? And, brace yourselves for a story about a young man who discovers that his grotesque neighbor, with only one window in their entire house, calls out to him every night. What could this neighbor’s twisted intentions be? Each story is a classic example of Ito’s unmatched ability to create uniquely unsettling and disturbing horror premises.

[Coos Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno de los mangas más recientes publicados por este lado del mundo, y es una absoluta delicia. Muchas historias icónicas, todas bien a la altura, muy tenebrosas.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"People! It’s stomach is full of people! A whole bunch of them! This can’t be real!"

The master is back with a new collection that’ll make your eyes bleed and scream in your sleep until you have no voice left. Prepare yourselves, Boils and Ghouls for a ride straight to hell!

I’m not surprised at how masterful this collection was. The stories were creepy, dark, and seriously twisted. It’s what we come to expect from Ito. I thought I have seen it all and then that last story rises its blood dripping head. That story screwed me up. Great collection!

[Linh · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something about Junji Ito's art that makes his horror so much more chilling 😨

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Junji Ito's horror stories. A lot of it is body horror so if it doesn't manage to scare me at least it makes me laugh (Gyo was really funny, for sure unintentionally... or not). Works either way. But there's not only body horror, there are also ghost stories, all kinds of mysteries and good old lovecraftianesque Unknown. But unlike Unknown that is lovecraftianesque (yeah, I've used it twice already, if I use it for the third time - Beetlejuice, I mean - Lovecraft, will immediately manifest himself in front of readers of this review), that is usually Unspeakable hence Indescribable, Ito's Unknown is very, very well described. It's a damn manga, how else it's supposed to be? :))
So yeah, I really liked it a lot, even if it was a little bit old fashioned.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This is overall a good horror manga collection that is quite representative of the author's style and themes. Having read so much of his work, I find myself a bit desentized to the weirdness of his work. In my opinion, the title story Tomes was the strongest and my personal favourite of this collection. Other favourites in the collection include Slug Girl and The Bloody Story of Shirosuna, both which had particularly memorable imagery for me.

[✮ osanna aoki ✮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I want to say that mangaka Ito never fails to impress me. He’s nothing less than a gift to horror manga fans. And like a large amount of his other works, Tombs is great— probably one of my favorite anthologies by Junji so far.

And as always, Ito’s art is so fire. Grotesquely beautiful. Every panel is full of his trademark artistry that draws you in. While I was reading through the stories, I took a lot of my time admiring those artistic abilities. Even if you don’t like a particular story, the graphics will always pull you in, guaranteed.

In Tombs, some stories work better than others, but you do get a wide variety. Ito’s creative storytelling abilities really shine with this collection. And while some of the stories are eerie and spooky, others read more like a drama— and I liked that, too. The best short story in the anthology is Tombs, and it would be sooooo good as a stand-alone manga. The concept is original, weird, and taboo. It’s the stories like this one that put Ito on a horror pedestal for me. And like so much of Japanese horror writing, it’s steeped in folklore and important themes.

I’m giving it a ★ ★ ★ ★ star rating because a few of the stories were so abrupt and short, that they felt unnecessary or thrown together. The collection also isn’t completely new because there are a couple of stories here that are well-known if you’re already familiar with Ito. If you are a well-read Ito fan, this anthology may feel slightly less than you asked for, but a gem in horror manga regardless. Everything else? Amazing. I highly, highly recommend. Especially because of Tombs, The Strange Tale of The Tunnel, and Floaters. Add this to your collection immediately!

Below are quick descriptions of each story:

Tombs: A pair of siblings are off to see their friend Izumi after she sends them a letter, asking them to come visit the new, strange town she lives in. In this town of odd traditions and death, the two siblings must face their fate after a terrible car accident in this town of tombs. A piece of guilt and grief horror.

Clubhouse: A trio of best friends decide they want to enter a haunted clubhouse, not knowing its tragic history. When something sinister brings a rift between two of the three friends, the third tries to bring them both back around.

Slug Girl: Rie is concerned about her friend Yuko, who doesn’t talk much anymore. Here’s the story of Slug Girl, about a teenager whose tongue gets turned into a slug.

The Window Next Door: Hiroshi and his parents move into an old house in a new town. Next to their home is one that’s seemingly empty, with only one window. This window faces Hiroshi’s own bedroom window. What will he see? Who will he see?

Washed Ashore: Something monstrous washes ashore, pulling a group of viewers towards its carcass.

The Strange Tale of The Tunnel: An evil tunnel? Goro returns to a tunnel that brings dark memories nearly 20 years later.

Bronze Statue: Be careful holding conversations near bronze statues because you never know who’s listening. A story of obsession and vanity.

Floaters: Floating spores reveal some pretty dark shit.

The Bloody Story of Shirosuna: A doctor takes a job in a rural village that seems to suck the life out of its locals.

[Marco Simeoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orrori e creatività

Primo approccio con Junji Ito grazie ai suggerimenti di @Iophil e @Ajeje

Rimasto favorevolmente colpito dalla noncuranza della violenza (nel senso più ampio del termine). Il come l'autore imponga situazioni, ambienti, tragedie. Anche il reinventare l'horror è difficile e Ito ci riesce benissimo. Non particolarmente apprezzati i dialoghi spiegoni. Le storie migliori sono quelle che mi sbattono in faccia un evento e, al contempo, mi hanno lasciato perplesso, con un senso di inadeguatezza. Visto che questa antologia è anche tacciata di non essere la sua migliore, sono molto curioso di mettere le mani su altre galassie di nero e inchiostro nipponico.



- Il nuovo studente dagli strani poteri: ✸✸✸✸✸
- Gli alberi dai frutti di sangue: ✸✸ 1/2
- Pericolo di collisione!: ✸✸
- Nel suolo: ✸✸✸✸
- Il ritrovo: ✸✸✸✸
- La finestra della casa di fianco: ✸✸✸✸
- Oggetti trascinati a riva: ✸✸✸
- La strana storia del tunnel ✸✸✸✸ 1/2
- La statua di bronzo ✸✸✸ 1/2
- Oggetti fluttuanti: ✸✸✸ 1/2
- La sanguinosa storia del villaggio di Shirosuna: ✸✸✸✸

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After hearing about Junji Ito’s work for years, I have finally read one of his books! Tombs is a manga collection of nine individual horror stories. The artwork is absolutely stunning and impressively grotesque. I can see why his work is so celebrated! I can see Ito’s influence on some of my favorite graphic novel artists, like Abby Howard.

The actual stories themselves, while interesting, are not particularly mind blowing. The plots are fairly predictable and straightforward, but the illustrations elevate the tales by several levels. While it would be horrific to EXPERIENCE any of the stories first hand, READING them is not very scary at all. There’s not much mystery or suspense, but there’s plenty to be fascinated by. I’m curious to read more of Ito’s story collections because I can’t say how this compares at this point.

My favorite story in this volume is “The Strange Tale of the Tunnel,” and the first and last ones are some of the best as well—the titular “Tombs” and “The Bloody Story of Shirosuna.” I think I like the longer stories better!


Original
I'm pumped to read this! It will admittedly be my first Junji Ito, though I have watched some of the Japanese Tales of the Macabre series on Netflix. I plan to read Uzumaki at some point, but I think I'll dip my toes in the water with this one.

Thanks to VIZ Media and NetGalley for this ARC! Tombs by Junji Ito comes out on March 28, 2023.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another pretty good - not quite great - collection of short horror comics from Junji Ito. I think I like his longer work better but these are so fun to read its hard not to want to grab another volume. Each story just had be a bit frustrated, like with some more careful planning, some hands-on editing, each story could have been great. It feels like each is just missing some piece.

For example the title story, the two characters run over a lady walking in the middle of the street and decide to try and get off scott-free hiding the body in the trunk. Later they, obviously, come to regret the decision. But there was no reason for them not to call the police, they didn't do anything wrong! Why not set up the story with these two characters as despicable people, or have some motivation for them to hide the body. Also there's not really any motivation for this seemingly suicidal woman to jump into the middle of the road.

Anyways, most the stories had my mind spinning up things like the above.

[Jan Agaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

still a few creepy ones, but not his best collection by any means

[MargReadsManga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the master of horror’s best short story collection yet!! Each story was such a thrill!! Here’s a one-sentence, spoiler-free summary of each story:

* Tombs – A strange town filled with tombstones, even in the middle of the streets and homes.

* Clubhouse – A supernatural, short story about why you shouldn’t go inside haunted houses! 

* Slug Girl – Creepy-crawly body horror involving slimy slugs and snails.

* The Window Next Door – A nosey neighbor that you wish you didn’t live next to. “Like a good neighbor, stay over there!”

* Washed Ashore – A strange deep sea creature that washes ashore and attracts a huge crowd.

* The Strange Tale of the Tunnel – An old, abandoned railroad tunnel that draws people to it. 

* Bronze Statue – A beautiful bronze statue that eavesdrops on the community park. 

* Floaters – Peculiar, black hairballs start floating in the air and why are people trying to catch them?

* The Bloody Story of Shirosuna – A doctor moves to a small village full of pale, emaciated townsfolk.

I enjoyed each one! I would have loved to have a few more pages of washed ashore because I feel like there was more to explore there! This would be a great collection for beginners to pick up too!

[michelle (travelingbooknerds) · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really loved this one so much and some of my favorite stories are collected in tombs. tombs felt the most realism adjacent for junji ito, the most grounded in reality i feel compared to his other more fantastical collections i’ve read (tomie, uzumaki, remina, the dissolving classroom, frankenstein, black paradox, lovesickness, sensor). i feel like it would be a great palate cleanser/introductory junji ito volume to see if you can hang first if you’ve always wanted to enter the junji ito world but were a little weary of where to begin to start. what’s holding me back from 5-stars is that too many of the stories felt very much bite-sized, like movie trailers for a longer story. washed ashore had annihilation/our wives under the sea vibes which would have been interesting to explore more at depth. the lore junji ito-sensei builds is so extensive and fully realized it’s so impressive to me, so deeply unique and unsettling in every one. would love a revisit to one of these worlds where ito-sensei gives us another facet of the worlds he built here.

[elli ⛧ yourspookymom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per usual, Junji Ito brings us into his unique world with these mind bending stories. This was the first of his short story work that I’ve read. Some worked being 20ish pages long, but there were a few I really wanted more of. The last being exceptionally unique…one of which I personally would hope he would turn into its own book.

Eerie, bizarre, & at times got a good laugh out of me. 4/5!

[Christina Close · Rating 4 out of 5]

These short stories are absolutely terrifying and to imagine any of them being real makes my skin crawl. This author is really good at making the reader feel scared by the end of their books. Each story follows a set of characters into some really weird paranormal activity events that could never be explained to the normal mind.

I enjoyed most of the stories but the story about the floaters was weird. The story about the abandoned house that was split by a wall for the two stories was interesting. The tunnel story makes me never want to go into a tunnel again.

If you want to be scared or creeped out this book is a good bet for you.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Junji Ito has a wicked imagination for horror stories and incredible skill as an artist. Not only was each entry weird and deeply unsettling, but the accompanying images are seared into my brain. Hoping I don’t get nightmares from what I saw and read!! 😱

[Trevor Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another day in the life of Junji

[Suppi · Rating 4 out of 5]

MAN. THE LAST STORY WAS A FUCKING BANGER. I want a FULL VOLUME JUST ABOUT THAT VILLAGE.

[greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

this was my 6th book by this author and i keep having great time with his stories! i’m so fascinated by his ideas and can’t wait to read more books from him in the future.

this is how i rated each story in this collection:

tombs - 3.5 stars. the idea was really unique, i’ve never heard anything like this before or seen it done in books. i don’t think the execution was quite as perfect for me to give it five stars, but i absolutely loved the idea and didn’t expect the ending to be what it was.

club house - 3 stars. the ending was what got to me, i can’t imagine that happening to me irl. 😭 the idea itself didn’t really grip me as much as i initially expected going in. it was fine, didn’t really do much for me.

slug girl - 4 stars. that was gross... i don’t like slugs, particularly those without shells but this story didn’t help anyway. having a slug instead of your tongue... just no.

the window next door - 3.5 stars. the woman wasn’t all that creepy, it was her actions that were. and that ending... you know damn well i’d be outta that house. 😂

washed ashore - 3 stars. i wish it was a bit longer and more developed story. it was so unique! i wanted to know more. it just finished really abruptly.

the strange tale of the tunnel - 4 stars. as much as it was creepy, it was also sad at the same time. i’m afraid of dark tunnels myself, so this was hitting the mark. it wasn’t my favourite story by junji ito, but it was definitely great!

bronze statue - 5 stars. i don’t know what it is about the story but i bloody loved it. it was so good! definitely my favourite in this collection. the old woman had it coming lmao.

floaters - 3 stars. i did like the idea of this, it’d be crazy if it actually happened, it wasn’t creepy though. i was a bit bored. this one was okay for me.

the bloody story of shirasuna - 3.5 stars. the story was definitely bloody lol. it was interesting and the way people looked was genuinely creepy. i did see the ending coming so i wasn’t surprised there, but i still liked it!

overall, i do recommend reading this. i think every person would find their favourite story in here or in other junji ito’s books because they’re all so different. i enjoyed this one!

[a ☕︎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

ugh, i find junji ito’s work totally repulsive; something about his fresh minimalistic faces (usually his heroines have these) contrasted with his hyperrealistic characters, who are grotesque, emaciated, mutated, &c. really creeps me out. it’s purposeful obviously, but also lazy imo…and the stories aren’t much better than the art style. i’ve surprisingly read one of these before: washed ashore. i still think it’s okay, the concept of deep-sea dreaming is a good one. the rest are by turns boring or nonsensical.

[Sara Woś · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naprawdę nie wiem, jak pan Junji jest w stanie normalnie funkcjonować, kiedy w jego głowie dzieją się takie rzeczy, jak na kartach jego mang…
Jak zawsze - mistrzostwo.