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Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley!

The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster — and the fouler beast who created him — to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro for which he is known.

Also included are six tales of Oshikiri — a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgängers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him.

BONUS: The Ito family dog! Thrill to the adventures of Non-non Ito, an adorable Maltese!

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

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5713 people want to read

About the author

Junji Ito

260 books14.3k followers
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.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 559 reviews
Profile Image for Katherine.
507 reviews3 followers
August 1, 2021
"Me siento solo...Y la soledad me ha convertido en un asesino. La humanidad es mi enemiga"

Todo comenzará con un deseo de conocimiento y un experimento que llevará a Víctor Frankenstein a alejarse de todos por aquello que ha creado, dirigiéndolo a su perdición, camino en el que conocerá al capitán Walton, quién será oyente de una historia tan magnífica como aterradora.

En este manga Junji ito hace un homenaje a esta historia tan espectacular creada por Mary Shelley.
Basándose y desarrollando una adaptación al manga muy fiel a la historia original, sólo diferenciándose en algunos detalles, y sobre todo en los más reflexivos.
Aquí nos retratara a un monstruo majestuoso de más de dos metros envuelto en vendas y con una presencia impactante que aterraría hasta al más grande de los humanos.

Una atmósfera oscura se nos irá revelando ante nuestros ojos, momentos en los que para su experimento va en busca de cadáveres, los descuartiza y busca las mejores piezas para su creación, con tal fascinación y ceguera que la necesidad de crear se escapa de su raciocinio, el cual viene después de ver lo que ha hecho.

Me encanta la adaptación que ha realizado Junji ito, lejos de sus extravagantes creaciones, ideas y del body horror, aquí nos sumerge en una representación al manga exquisita y bastante ceñida a esta historia que tantos amamos.
Profile Image for Rachel (TheShadesofOrange).
2,848 reviews4,630 followers
July 18, 2020
3.0 Stars
As a huge fan of Junji Ito's work, it pains me to give this collection a mediocre rating. My biggest issue was the retelling of Frankenstein, which did not hold my attention. I understand that it was a rather faithful adaptation, but unfortunately I have never enjoyed that classic tale. The rest of the stories in the collection were just okay. I liked the idea of alternative dimensions, but those related weren't particularly scary or memorable. My favourite story was a short one at the end of the book about children that are "dollifying". 
Profile Image for Sarah (sarahanneisreading).
505 reviews33 followers
February 1, 2023
4.5 stars.

Anyone who knows me will know that I am a huge fan of Junji Ito and one of my favourite classic novels is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. So naturally when I saw that Junji Ito had finished a manga adaptation of Frankenstein it was a must buy.

The story is the same, because why would you change it? But we have these amazing pictures to go along with it. The story is a much faster and simpler read this way, but also extra exciting because of the pictures. As always the artwork from Junji Ito is stunning.

Also included in this collection are the Oshikiri story cycle, which are wonderfully spooky. There was one story included and a lot of the characters end up having elongated necks and this one was particularly creepy to me.

I really loved being able to enjoy the story of Frankenstein in a different way and reading a collaboration of two favourites of mine. I would highly recommend to any horror lovers or fans of either/both Junji Ito and Mary Shelley.

I also think it might be a great book for any readers who are new to reading manga, as most will already be familiar with the story and can get used to the reading style.

Some people who read this may not like the story of Frankenstein being simplified as a manga, but I loved it.
Profile Image for Jedi JC Daquis.
925 reviews45 followers
November 22, 2018
This collection is definitely not one of Junji Ito's better works, though Ito fans and completionists will be compelled to buy this hardcover anyway, because well, it's a Junji Ito work.

His Frankenstein adaptation takes up more or less half of the book. Although I could see nothing wrong in the technical aspect of the narrative, (on the contrary, it has remained faithful to the original material), the story itself is way off with Ito's trademark manga elements. It doesn't have the usual bizarre obsession over something that almost always spirals down to a horrific and grotesque end. The story does't call for such anyway. His take Frankenstein nonetheless can perhaps be considered as a better graphic adaptation of the novel.

The next few short stories after Frankenstein returns to the classic Junji Ito feels that we are all familiar with. These stories too, unfortunately do not have enough of horrifying art details that give readers truly spine-tingling afterthoughts.

Readers might be happy to see yet again another Junji Ito collection being translated, but will likely be disappointed with the lack of horror impact the author has delivered in many of his creations.
Profile Image for Pax.
118 reviews48 followers
March 12, 2023
What can I say...a short story collection by Ito never disappoints!
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books178 followers
July 25, 2020
I'm never disappointed by Junji Ito's horror manga. For whatever reason I normally find manga to be much creepier than western comics. I've read some good American horror comics, but they rarely get under my skin like the Japanese comics.

The adaptation of Frankenstein was very well done. It was really close the Shelly story with a little of "Bride of Frankenstein" worked in. But to me the best stories were the back up stories featuring Oshikiri. Weird tales of alternate dimensions and just skin crawling weirdness. These stories are truly unsettling.

There were a few stories about Ito's dog that I just didn't get. I think things may have been lost in translation with those stories.

Overall a really strong, creepy horror collection that is sure to appeal to horror manga fans. Even if you're not a big Frankenstein fan, this is worth reading for the other stories alone. If you do like Frankenstein, you'll be doubly pleased.
Profile Image for Fátima Embark.
Author 17 books145 followers
October 26, 2021
«¡Maldito sea el día en que recibí la vida! —exclamé con agonía—. ¡Maldito mi creador! ¿Por qué fabricaste un monstruo tan espantoso que incluso tú mismo te apartaste horrorizado de mí? Dios, en su misericordia, hizo al hombre hermoso y atractivo, a su propia imagen; en cambio, mi figura era una mezcla inmunda, una parodia de la tuya, más espantosa aún por su mismo parecido.»
'Frankenstein', de Mary Shelley. Uno de mis libros favoritos y uno de los grandes de la literatura universal. 

Por eso cogí con miedo la adaptación de Junji Ito, porque a pesar de lo mucho que me gustan sus obras para mí 'Frankenstein' es sagrado. Pero Ito nos demuestra una vez más que es un maestro en lo suyo y su visión de la obra original es simplemente deliciosa. 

Me encanta cómo mantiene su esencia pero adapta también el dibujo, haciéndolo más sobrio, con escenarios menos abstractos y oníricos. La manera de abordar la historia, con mimo y respeto, y los cambios que hace para plasmarla en menos de 200 páginas, consiguiendo que cierres el tomo y digas: SÍ, yo te compro lo que haga falta. A ti sí, maestro Ito. A ti sí. 

Nada más que añadir. 

Si os gusta el terror, leed a Junji Ito. 
Profile Image for Kirk.
Author 32 books106 followers
September 4, 2020
I never really cared to read this one previously. I’ve read Frankenstein, and I’m about hearing new stories, new concepts, etc.

This may have been my favorite collection though. Frankenstein was great, but the stories about the haunted house and a portal to alternate dimensions were spectacular.

This is my first Ito book in print so that may have influenced my experience.

The last two stories though . . . what the?
Profile Image for Amanja.
575 reviews74 followers
August 17, 2019
The first half of the book is a condensed version of mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Although it is extremely simplified it manages to maintain the philosophy and emotion of the original while being illustrated with Ito's unmatched horror.

The second half of the book is a series of connected shorts that describes a tale of interdimensional horror filled with murderous doppelgangers and supernatural twists. As with the best ito books it plays off of everyday mundane angst and is drawn with truly terrifying imagery.
Profile Image for Sandra Uv.
1,257 reviews309 followers
September 8, 2020
4/5

Muy buena adaptación del clásico, Junji Ito nunca decepciona.
Profile Image for James Dunphy.
172 reviews15 followers
October 4, 2014
Although Goodreads has this as just Frankenstein by Junji Ito, this is actually volume 16 of his Horror Comic Collection. It's also the first tale I've ever seen where Ito has adapted a European/Western horror tale instead of the usual eastern folklore. It's a relatively faithful adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel instead of the classic Universal monster film. It is however a little on the short side when compared to Shelley's novel, and many of the rich details of her book are left out in this adaptation. That being said, all of the key players are in tact, the setting is accurate both in time and place, and Frankenstein's monster is as complex and tortured as his novel counterpart.
While the dialogue is good, it can feel flat at times. Some of the conversations seem to be transcribed straight from the novel, and although I should give Ito props for that, it doesn't always work out within the limited span of manga text bubbles. His artwork has very detailed scenery, realistic character proportions, and a is generally beautiful to look at. It is always the hallmark of his titles and this is no exception. The monster is so grotesquely drawn, but it is his face that reveals the most horror as the creature struggles to find acceptance from humans. His eye depict pure woe and pain that is more hideous than all the corpses dug up and sewn together. It's the emotion in the art of the monster that separates this Frankenstein from most adaptations of the classic novel. While this isn't the best Ito work by far, or even the ultimate rendition of Frankenstein (just go read the actual novel if you wanted that), it is a very good, well drawn one-shot horror manga that fit in perfectly in my first week of October horror mania. 4 out of 5.
Profile Image for lobelyys.
583 reviews94 followers
January 8, 2021
Slowly but surely Junji Ito is becoming one of my favourite manga artists. I already loved Frankestein by Mary Shelley, but after reading this manga, my love only has grown for this amazing story. The art is so raw and good, of course not many can bear his art, but if you love horror or gore as much as I do, this book is for you!
Profile Image for Catharine.
255 reviews29 followers
October 16, 2023
I think the majority of society knows the story of Frankenstein at this point, whether through pop culture or actually reading Mary Shelley's novel. This version, Junji Ito's graphic novel telling, is easily one of my favorites.


Junji Ito is a master at horror graphic novels. His artworks are incredible...they can be beautiful and grotesque at the same time. He does magical things with his drawings, more than words can do sometimes alone. So when you combine the story of Frankenstein with Junji's art style, you get an absolute masterpiece.


If anyone knows how to depict Frankenstein in a creepy way, it is Junji Ito. I cannot recommend this version of the story enough, especially if you want the visuals to help aid in your comprehension of such a classic tale.
Profile Image for DeAnna Knippling.
Author 172 books280 followers
October 5, 2017
I really liked Doll's Hellish Funeral, but the others I could pass on. I can see the temptation to faithfully adapt Frankenstein, and it wasn't bad, but I'd reread the book recently, and the pacing is different than everything else the creator does, so it felt very draggy.
Profile Image for Abbey Lavinia ꕥ.
615 reviews63 followers
June 12, 2024
4.5 ☆

the art in this one was definitely the spookiest I’ve read so far 👻
some of the stories were definitely better than others but overall i loved it

“the eyes alone reveal one’s true nature”

“perhaps life is for looking at sunsets” 🌅
Profile Image for Doug Bolden.
408 reviews32 followers
January 9, 2021
4.5 half stars in total, when you average the two halves.

The first half of this volume is taken up by Ito's retelling of Shelly's Frankenstein, a somewhat (80%+) faithful reconstruction of the plot that makes a few changes: primarily around 2/3s mark of the story and in the Creature's design [combining Shelly's vision with movie versions and a dash of Ito-originality]. Besides minor stuff meant mostly to simplify the page the count, most likely, perhaps the biggest change is simply that Dr. Frankenstein does not choose to destroy the bride but instead completes the second creature only to still face failure in his half of the devil's bargain. The shifts the monstrosity more readily to the Creature who punishes the Doctor for things outside the Doctor's control. While philosophical debate about the culpability of Doctor vs Creature makes an interesting—if prone to pop-ethics—parlor game, someone who comes to the novel through this channel would fail to see any real contest.

It is still a fair story, if one rife with needless anti-scientific sentiment, but it is missing that little bit of extra. The degree of faithfulness to the original story with a general absence of strong Ito-flair casts the whole thing, perhaps unfairly, in something of a "Illustrated Classics" light. By contrast, his recently released No Longer Human is a great example of how Ito can take someone else's work and reshape it into something that embodies the spirit of the original but is also strongly Ito as well. That latter is lacking here, leading me to give the first half of this book only 3.5 stars.

The second half of this collection, though, makes this up by a notch for me. Comprised of several short stories, most involving a beleaguered shorter-than-average high-schooler named Oshikiri, this half of the collection has Ito-aplomb attached to a number of interesting plots and ideas. Starting out with disconnected stories featuring a presumably alternate take on the Oshikiri character (with only a couple exceptions, it is unclear how many of the Oshikiri's are the same Oshikiri). The first is a nicely done Tell-Tale-Heart type...um...tale. The second involves a creepy urban legend at a school and a boy who is simply too popular for his own good. After these two, we get to stories that increasingly address the fact the stories involve the same characters but a different cast. You end up with a story involving criss-crossing dimensions and strange occurrences in the house, with several takes on the same theme, and I enjoyed all of them.

The last four stories are very short. The first of these is probably the strongest story in the collection: "The Hell of the Doll Funeral". It is only five or so pages in length but involves a strange plague that turns the children of the world into dolls and then into something worse. There is practically no plot, and that synopsis is most of the tale, but Ito swings in hard with it and it works well. You then get a final horror story for the collection about a woman strapped into an improbable medical device and left trapped in it, which is alright, and finally two very short stories that seem to be a tribute to Ito's own old, cranky dog. They are strange and somewhat sweet, and I like the way they contrast everything else.

This second half is some of my favorite Ito writing I've read in a minute, so I give it five stars.

I guess that puts the average of the two halves more around the 4.25 stars mark...but eh...4.5 it is.
Profile Image for Ronald William.
28 reviews
November 8, 2023
Frankensteins telling was great and interesting. In time I’d like to read the original story.

The other short stories were lackluster
Profile Image for shelby ✼.
151 reviews48 followers
October 1, 2022
DID NOT WANT TO PUT THIS DOWN! Each story just kept getting better. It reminded me of The Twilight Zone a bit, but much more horrifying. Can't believe I've been missing out on Ito for so long.
Profile Image for Derodidymus.
217 reviews74 followers
April 11, 2021
ofc i had to read junji ito's interpretation after reading the original work.
well, i don't know whether i am disappointed or not about the fact that his version is pretty much the same as the book.

there are only a few differences and these have probably made the story more adaptable to its format.

i liked it, i mean his drawing style is ✨immaculate✨ i love how he manages to portray horror in facial expressions as well as to capture horror of all kinds.

that being said, I much more prefer mary shelley's vision, for its purpose and message are greater than a monster who ends up doing bad things due to bad things happening to him.
Profile Image for Lanzz.
816 reviews24 followers
May 18, 2018
Komik seram yang diadaptasi daripada novel klasik karya Mary Shelley. Mengisahkan Victor Frankenstein, seorang ahli sains yang telah mencipta satu raksasa daripada mayat-mayat yang dicantum. Tetapi, raksasa itu mendatangkan musibah kepadanya apabila ia membunuh satu-persatu orang yang Victor kasihi. Buku ini juga menyelitkan 2 buah kisah seram pendek yang lain.

Seperti biasa, lukisan Junji Itou dalam komik ini sampai feel seramnya. Penceritaannya juga mudah difahami...
Profile Image for Dawn F.
552 reviews95 followers
March 11, 2021
This was a good horror manga version of Frankenstein, by well-known manga artist Junji Ito, but the best part were the six additional, connected short mangas about the teenager Oshikiri who lives alone in a huge, haunted, creepy mansion where lots of weird, nightmarish things unfold.
Profile Image for Kathryn The Nerdy Owl Oliver.
30 reviews
June 21, 2020
Loved how he illustrated Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, plus added a series Oshikiri's stories after that. Scary but fantastic!
Profile Image for Diana.
40 reviews1 follower
February 17, 2023
ești un om ciudat, junji ito. îmi place de tine.

pentru că am citit cartea originală frankenstein, mă consider potrivită să spun măcar o idee despre manga acum. da, trebuie să știi de dinainte povestea ca să înțelegi că impactul cărții e mult mai mare și subiectul mult mai complicat, dar junji a făcut o treabă minunată.
pe lângă frankenstein mai sunt și câteva povestiri de la maestru. preferata mea a fost 'neck specter', dar fiecare capitol a fost atât de disturbing... (foarte captivant tho) beware! trebuie să vezi dincolo de imaginile horror din creațiile lui și să fii deschis când te apuci să citești ceva de la junji.
a must-read <3



*știam eu că o sa devină una dintre cărțile mele preferate
Profile Image for Athirah Idrus.
384 reviews9 followers
April 7, 2023
Rating: 4.5

A collection of stories featuring Frankenstein and other macabre tales. 

In this graphic version, the story of Frankenstein only stayed true until half of the story. (The other half portrayed Frankenstein’s monster as more vicious and heartless compared to the original version. Henry too found out about what Frankenstein did and was killed in pursuit of the monster. In the book, he was unaware of the monster's existence until the monster killed him. The monster meticulously planned as such that Frankenstein was to be accused as Henry's killer in another town.)

This interpretation, though not off the rails, portrayed Frankenstein’s monster as more menacing and brute which in my opinion was captured well and made sense as it made more impact in graphic format. Personally, I prefer the original one when it came to the monster's character, because the way it was written was such that it was vague whether the monster was a little repentent or he was just cunning, whereas it was clear cut in this graphic format that he was evil through and through.

Other than Frankenstein, the short stories featured a creepy high schooler by the name Oshikiri, and each story described the weird happenings around him, his house and school. In these arcs, it is obvious how talented Junji Ito is in drawing readers in with graphic details that are disconcertingly scary and yet impossible to look away once you've started reading.

The last two tales were rather cute but somewhat misplaced to be included as part of these creepy tales because they featured Non-Non, what I assume to be Junji Ito's dog. Nothing grim nor scary about Non-Non, the stories just showed how playful it was. 😅
Profile Image for Anna Fantôme.
66 reviews1 follower
September 11, 2020
Okay, I'm a huuuge fan of Junji Ito, but I'm going to make this review short and sweet because I'm on a lunch break.

Ready? Here it goes.

Almost half of the book is an adaptation of Frankenstein, pretty sure we all know what it is at this point. If you don't, please go check it out, it's an awesome story!

Would I recommend you to read this adaptation before/instead of the original work? No, I won't.

The original work is full of questions of morals, philosophy, and critics. It's a book that makes you stop reading for a moment to think about your own ethics and what you would have done if you were at the place of Dr. Frankenstein.

In this adaptation of Junji Ito, we only follow the plot of the original story, with little liberties. I actually would have loved to see more liberties taken by Junji Ito, more gore and horror.
But there were none really and the story felt flat, especially at the end. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story and the art. His representation of the monster spooked me and I'm here for it.

About the rest of the stories:

I LOVED THEM.

I loved the story about Oshikiri, that lil asshole. If you like parallels universes and spooky haunted mansion, you must read those stories. I would have wish to read more about Oshikiri! Did he write more?

After that, we have two short stories, something like a creepypasta and dear god, they were awesome. Junji Ito is a master when doing short stories like that.

Anyway, I didn't give it 5 stars because I was expecting more regarding Frankenstein's story. Still memorable tho!
Profile Image for Cory.
258 reviews2 followers
March 25, 2021
Ah Ito-sensei, how I've missed you. In this edition, not only do we get Ito-sensei's great manga adaptation of the Shelley classic Frankenstein, but also several horror shorts involving alternate dimensions, dolls, dental equipment, and precious doggos.

Let's start with the Frankenstein adaptation. I went in assuming much more creative liberties would be taken in order for Ito-sensei's magnificently grotesque art to flourish, but I instead found an extremely faithful adaptation with some minor liberties taken that blend in very well and allow for some more spine-chilling moments. This is one of my favorite stories, and while some other reviewers have found it boring, I loved every page.

I was less thrilled about the Oshikiri stories. They almost wove together in a narrative about alternate universes, but I just wasn't sucked in at all. The art was great as always, but just some more Ito stories I found a tad weak from a writing standpoint. The final two horror stories impressed me much more. The pure terrifying shock and awe of "The Hell of the Doll Funeral" along with the anxiety and dark humor of "Face Firmly in Place" were a great one-two punch of short horror leading up to Non-Non's conclusion.

All-in-all, this was a pretty good collection from the best in the business. I liked this much more than Hellstar Remina, but not as much as No Longer Human or Uzumaki. As always, can't wait to work Ito-sensei into my rotation again in the near future.
4 reviews
May 5, 2022
I always thought Frankenstein was the lamest of the monsters. Leave it to Junji to make it incredibly tight. 6 stars for Junji!
572 reviews8 followers
December 7, 2020
*Score: 7.5/10*

The main attraction in this collection is the retelling of the story of Frankenstein by master horror manga author Junji Ito. The book also contains some other short stories mainly centered around one character named Oshikiri, who has multiple versions of himself in multiple dimensions.

I loved Ito's view of Frankenstein's story, and the art has breathed some new prespective into Mary Shelly's classic. However, some alterations on the story I felt were not the best, even though I can relate to the reason behind them. Its definitely a good read for fans of the original, and for fans of Junji Ito's style of horror and art, though definitely not where you should start your Junji Ito journey, as it doesn't display his true original work and mindset.

The extra part on Oshikiri was decent, but not as memorable as the stories in his Shiver collection, they seem to be ok for big fans of Ito but not must reads for sure.

Overall, on the lower spectrum of a 4 star, enjoyable and immersive, but even though I have yet to read more works by Ito (only read Shiver so far), I can tell this might not be one of his best.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 559 reviews

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