"JAPANESE TALES OF THE MACABRE" - JUNJI ITO BRINGS HIS STYLE TO NETFLIX

JUNJI ITO BRINGS HIS STYLE TO NETFLIX

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is the latest foray by the titular artist into animation adaptation of his works, now on the mainstream service Netflix.

Firstly for the completely uninitiated, Junji Ito is a horror manga writer and artist with strong cult-following. His stories have fairly recognisable social commentary, but framed through uncomfortable and unnerving plots and hypnotically disturbing imagery.

This anthology series is a welcome addition to his library of works, and is a bit of a treat for those of us who don’t use Crunchyroll, which screened his first anime anthology Junji Ito Collection. However, those that did watch this previous series are given a bit of fan service with some repeat characters, like Souichi (originally from Souichi’s Convenient Curse) and Tomie (His most regularly used character in both manga and anime) have their own stories.

As much as I like his style, some of the stories leave me a little flat. I can imagine many people frustrated with the lack of conclusion or explanation that almost all of his stories have. Most even lack and vague hints or clues to draw your own conclusion, there is just a bizarre and disturbing setup that gradually (or rapidly) becomes more gruesome or disturbing until the tale just ends. There is rarely any closure, and some stories almost seem incomplete.

That said even if they leave me stewing in discomfort, I still come back for more. Mostly because I want to see what his next idea is. Because the biggest thing in his favour, is it never feels like he’s repeating himself. Every story is starkly different from the last, and you are never really sure where he is going until the very end (and sometimes not even then).

Often disturbing, sometimes thought provoking, but if nothing else this series can be a fascinating window into another culture’s broad spectrum of horror themes, social taboos and different character types that can be as familiar as they are foreign.

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