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Hey guys. So I've been a Junji Ito fan for a while now, ever since I first read about some of his manga on Wikipedia. However, back then I was a bit scared of reading visual horror stuff, so I started reading other horror manga to "train" myself to handle his. One of the things I wished for at the start was a list of his works rating their tameness so I could "ease into" reading his works, and since then the idea's been stuck in my head. After going on a big Ito kick last year I decided to do something useful and compile a list of his works so new readers can ease into his works. It's been sitting in my files for a while now, but I'm only just getting to posting it now.
This list divides stories into three main categories: "Safe"/"Beginner", which are tamer stories that don't feature too many graphic images; "Intermediate", which feature scenes that are more graphic or disturbing; and "Overall Scary", which are more intense stories. I also list the reasons for most of the categorizations, as well as basic warnings (e.g. particularly creepy artwork), though not so much on the ones in the "Overall Scary" list. These ratings are all based not just on artwork, gore, graphicness, etc., but also on the nature of the content (as in, the plot). In doing so, I also tried to avoid major spoilers.
However, an important note: I'm largely desensitized to Ito's artwork and horror concepts in general at this point. As such, some of the stories may be scarier than I think, especially in the "Intermediate" category. I did, however, try to single out a couple of stories that may trigger specific phobias or would otherwise be especially disturbing and give them their own mention.
Anyways, without further ado, here's the list!
• Face Burglar
• Scarecrows
• Falling
• Red String
• Memories
• Near Miss
• Heart of a Father
• Love as Scripted ((Note: some gore and violence, since it centers around a murder))
• In the Soil ((note: has a semi-graphic image at the end))
• The Devil’s Logic
• Sword of the Reanimator ((note: has some slightly disturbing scenes at the very end))
• Pen Pal ((note: slight gore)) [[PART OF OSHIKIRI SERIES; SEE BELOW]]
• Ice Cream Bus
• Clubhouse ((note: slight gore))
• The Smoking Club
• Second-hand Record
• The Gift Bearer ((some creepy imagery))
• Maptown/Road Map
• The Bronze Statue
• Drifting Spores
• The Circus is Here ((Note: heavy on death and has slight gore; also good suspense))
• A Doll's Hellish Burial ((very short, but has some VERY disturbing art))
• The Bully ((REALLY creepy image at the end. Not gory, just creepy. REALLY creepy. So creepy I categorized Bully first.))
• My Dear Ancestors ((there’s something that looks like a giant centipede))
• The Thing that Drifted Ashore ((has some disturbing art and concepts))
• The Groaning Drain ((creepy imagery and atmosphere))
• The Bridge ((lots of creepy faces and expressions))
• Slug Girl ((It’s short, but has some creepy images. Basically, a girl’s tongue turns into a slug. A major Ito fan translation group actually took their names from this one.))
• The Conversation Room ((some creepy imagery))
• The Unbearable Labyrinth ((SUPER creepy imagery, this may actually be an "overall scary" one. Again, desensitized, so I can't be sure.))
• The Sleeping Room/Den of the Sleep Demon
• Town Without Streets ((some creepy imagery, and lots of suspense)) [[WARNING: FEATURES NUDE BREASTS. Thankfully it’s not gratuitous (as in the stereotypical “giant shiny bouncy anime boobs” and/or used in a sexual manner) OR gory (e.g. getting cut off or something), but they’re still bare breasts. This is one of the few Ito stories to feature it, and we get a pretty good view of them, so I thought I should put a warning about it for the more prudish types.]]
• The Village of Sirens ((creepy art and concept)) [[IMPORTANT NOTE: As I'm desensitized to horror concepts in general, I really can't accurately rate how disturbing this one is. However, I can tell it IS pretty disturbing. To give you an idea, the opening pages mention a lot of babies are going missing across Japan...]]
• The Back Alley ((a good example of the power of suspense, with a bit of creepy art thrown in))
• The Window Next Door ((short but has some pretty disturbing art))
• Long Dream ((actually this one's like a Twilight Zone episode, just has a few panels that look a little creepy))
• Bog of the Living Dead [[PART OF OSHIKIRI SERIES; SEE BELOW]]
• Further Tales of Oshikiri [[PART OF OSHIKIRI SERIES; SEE BELOW]]
• Fixed Face ((very short and not gory at all, but causes disturbing mental images and can generally make readers feel uncomfortable; I had to speed through it))
[NOTE: I will NOT post specific warnings for these, so as to not spoil them. Just note: these all have concepts and/or art I think are particularly scary, or are super-gory.]
• Hanging Balloons
• Mold
• The Will ((actually, this one's purely here for gore. It opens up with a suicide and centers around the victim's gory ghost. I originally posted it in the Intermediate list, but moved it here to be safe.))
• Blood-Bubble Bushes
• Gravetown
• The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel
• Blood Sickness of the White Sands Village
• Ryokan (AKA “The Inn”)
• Hallucinations [[PART OF OSHIKIRI SERIES; SEE BELOW]] ((I have to warn, there's a chance it might trigger trypophobia (fear of holes in skin). Just posting the warning now!))
• Further Tales of Oshikiri: Walls [[PART OF OSHIKIRI SERIES; SEE BELOW]]
[NOTE: This is just stuff that I can't properly categorize, or is just plain weird and not really scary...]
- Frankenstein: I haven't read this yet (should've read it last Halloween...), but this is just an accurate adaptation of the original Frankenstein novel. The movie version has quite a few differences from the original novel—for example, Dr. Frankenstein isn't just some mad scientist, and has a family and children. This one clocks in at 184 pages, so be ready for a long read.
- Memories of Real Shit: A very short one. It's... it's just weird. Not a horror story at all, it's an autobiographical thing about going to a festival as a kid and seeing fake poop and wanting to buy it. Yeah. You can just skip this one, seriously, no big loss.
[NOTE: This list centers around stories from various works by Ito, including some not available on Batoto. The reason for their inclusion is because they center around certain common or debilitating fears, or it's Glyceride. Actually, I created this list mostly to highlight Glyceride.]
• Glyceride/Grease (a la Yami no Koe): VERY GROSS. THIS IS NOT A HORROR/GORE WARNING. THIS STORY WAS CREATED PURELY FOR GROSS OUT PURPOSES. PEOPLE HAVE CLAIMED TO HAVE VOMITED, TASTED BILE, AND/OR AVOIDED GREASY FOODS AFTER READING IT. Seriously, do NOT read it before eating. It includes a graphic pimple-popping scene. Hell, every mention of it I saw before reading it had endless warnings about how gross it is. The only reason I read it is because I had a desperate curiosity and there was no summary at the time. Luckily, there is one (now, asdhjfsdkjf), so just look at the freaking summary on the Junji Ito wiki if you want to know what happens!
• The Chill (Coldness): It features skin that looks like cheddar cheese. I know there’s a phobia for that, trypophobia, and this story basically centers around that.
• Beehive (a la “Flesh-Colored Horror”): I have not read this one because I already have a pretty severe bug phobia. Just know this: it includes beehives, and a boy who hates bees. Luckily, a summary of this one and all other Flesh-Colored Horror works is available on Regular Old Wikipedia, as well as the Junji Ito wiki.
• Mosquitoes (a la "Uzumaki"): Also have not read this one. It's part of Uzumaki (for more info on that series, see below in "other series/works not on Batoto"), and, as the title suggests, features mosquitoes. It's also pretty gory (I don't have to read it to know that, seeing as it's from Uzumaki). So if you have a fear of bugs like me, don't read it. There's also a direct follow-up called "Umbilical Cord", though it DOESN'T feature mosquitoes.
• Red Turtleneck (a la "Ma no Kakera"): Another bug-phobia one, this features a graphic scene with a cockroach. Luckily it's only on one page (27) and you can just skip it, though just knowing what happened is pretty disturbing.
- Souichi’s Diaries: Starting at Volume 5 (“Fun Summer Vacation”) and going to Volume 6, these are two volumes that fit together. The title character is a creepy little boy who is VERY creepy; I’d put this one at a full INTERMEDIATE LEVEL, and ranging to OVERALL SCARY. Seriously, lots of creepy stuff. Along with the two volumes, there's also a few related stories you can find in other places. Two of them use Souichi's name in the title—"Souichi's Beloved Pet" and "Souichi's Front", both described in the "Yami no Koe" section—but I should mention there's a third one without Souichi's name. This one is a prequel to "Souichi's Front", and it uses Souichi's identity as a sort of twist, so I won't reveal it.
- Oshikiri: While not an “official” series, Volume 9 centers around a boy named Oshikiri. However, it’s episodic and each story seems to be in its own universe, with no reference to the other ones save for a couple recurring themes. As such, I included them in the warnings above.
- Lovesick Dead: This is Volume 15, starting with “The Intersection’s Pretty Boy” and going to “Night of Screams”. It features a town where a popular phenomenon has appeared among high school girls called “intersection fortune-telling”, where they ask random people at intersections for advice. Unfortunately, among those people is a boy in black (the “intersection’s pretty boy”) whose advice has a hypnotic power that forces them to obey it, usually leading to death... This has a lot of creepy imagery and gore, so I’d say at LEAST intermediate, probably “overall scary”.
- Hellstar Remina: (AKA “Jigokusei Lemina”) It’s about a sentient planet that eats other planets. And this planet looks FREAKY. The main character is the girl who the planet was named after (her dad discovered it and realized it entered our universe on her birthday), and the story follows her epic journey to avoid being sacrificed by people convinced that she’s summoned it and that killing her will stop it. Obviously, features a bit of gore. Also a bit of body horror towards the end.
- Black Paradox: There is some creepy and disturbing imagery, but overall it’s MUCH tamer compared to the rest. It’s about people who want to commit suicide, but weird stuff keeps happening to stop them. The atmosphere is closer to the Twilight Zone than straight horror.
- Mimi’s Ghost Stories: About a girl named Mimi and her encounters with the supernatural. Each one features some graphic or freaky art, so it’s “OVERALL SCARY”. Seriously, each one features at least one image that's particularly disturbing. Specific warning: “Sound of Grass” has a rotting corpse.
- Junji Ito’s Cat/Dog Diary: They’re not horror. They’re comedy. Especially amusing since he still uses his trademark horror art style, at least in the Cat Diary. READ AWAY!
- Ma no Kakera: It's pretty various in ratings, mostly just creepy art and concepts. Specific warning for “Red Turtleneck”: it features a graphic scene with a cockroach. “Lingering Farewell” is actually pretty sweet though. Also, the seventh one, "Nanakuse Kyokumi", is just... weird.
- Youkai Kyoushitsu: A collection of short stories, but it features three stories at the time of this post. The first one, “Dissolving Classroom”, has some somewhat graphic and creepy artwork. The other two are short and have some slightly creepy imagery.
• Demon’s Voice: intermediate creepy imagery. Apparently it was included with some survival horror game called "Forbidden Sirens".
• The Human Chair: very creepy concept, with some creepy art at the end. AT LEAST INTERMEDIATE.
• The Summertime Graduation Trip: nothing graphic, just plain old creepy.
• Army of One: a “bonus” story included at the end of Jigokusei Lemina. People are disappearing and their corpses are turning up naked and stitched together. It’s at LEAST intermediate. ((WARNING: FEATURES NON-GRATUITOUS FEMALE NUDITY. Though as far as I can remember there are no closeups.))
• The Licking Woman: A bonus story found in Black Paradox. For the record, Ito has a knack for drawing disturbing-looking tongues.
• Mystery Pavilion: Also found in Black Paradox. Only four pages, AND IN COLOR! But yeah. Beginner to intermediate. The story’s too short to develop a creepy atmosphere, and it doesn’t really feature a “jump scare” type scene... And at this point I’m so desensitized to Ito’s art style that I can’t even rate how freaky the art really is, so... yeah.
These are two short story collections that have enough variety in the ratings to have their own rating subcategory. So, yeah. PLEASE NOTE: “Yami no Koe” is one giant mass-upload on Batoto, and in this one is Glyceride. WHICH SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS. You can find each chapter uploaded individually on Guro Manga, but that site seems to load slow. I also can't vouch for how safe that one is... I braved the Batoto upload and posted the page numbers for each story in the comment section there. Anyways, moving on, the ratings!
- Blood-sucking Darkness: Intermediate. Lots of blood, as the title suggests.
- The Ghosts of Golden Time: Beginner/Safe.
- Roar of Ages: Beginner/Safe. Pretty tame, more tragic than anything...
- Mystery of the Haunted House: Overall Scary. (Fun story: while trying to find the page Glyceride started on, I jumped to a random page... and it just happened to be one of the creepiest images Ito has ever drawn. The rest of the pages of the chapter, even though I only saw the tops of them, were also very disturbing and creepy.)
- Glyceride: IT'S ON THE FREAKING "AVOID IF POSSIBLE" LIST FOR A REASON. THIS IS JUST PLAIN GROSS AND DISTURBING AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.
- The Earth-bound People: Beginner/Safe to Intermediate. Some of the art is creepy, and it has mature themes (a reference to rape, though it's only backstory), but overall it's pretty tame. It's actually one of my favorites, and reminds me a lot of the Twilight Zone.
- Dead Man Calling: Beginner/Safe. It's pretty tame, just creepy art.
- The Soichi Front: Overall Scary. Part of the Soichi series, it's also a continuation of an earlier story on this list, though I haven't revealed it since Soichi's involvement is a bit of a twist... So don't read this one until you read the first one.
- Soichi's Beloved Pet: This one features a really freaky bug-thing in a cat's mouth on a full-page spread. The next page features the cat eating it. Basically, people with a fear of bugs may want to avoid this one, or at least skip the part where the cat finds something.
- In the Valley of Mirrors: Intermediate. There's not really any gore and it reminds me of the Twilight Zone a bit, but some of the images can send chills down your spine. He did a good job drawing a look of pure hatred...
- Anything but a Ghost: Intermediate. Has blood.
- Library of Illusions: Intermediate. Has one or two really creepy character designs, which leads to creepy art, and also features readings from an in-story novel called "Hellskin", supposed to be the "scariest horror novel ever written". If I recall correctly, the novel described some pretty graphic stuff.
- Songs in the Dark: Beginner/Safe to Intermediate. The climax has a slightly freaky image, but nothing too bad.
- Splatter Film: Higher-end Intermediate. It's got a LOT of gore, namely humans smushed like mosquitoes...
IMPORTANT NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ARE LICENSED SERIES IN THE US. As such, they won’t be on Batoto since it’s not legal to upload them (at least in the US; don't know about other countries). However, I know some of you will try to find and read them anyway, so here are some warnings about them just to be safe.
- Uzumaki: One of his most famous series. This is body horror at its finest, folks. I’m serious: the series centers around a town cursed by spirals. The first chapter has a guy so obsessed with them he turns himself into a spiral by getting in a bathtub... and we get a full view of it. And it keeps getting worse and worse... Particularly noteworthy are “Mosquitoes” and “Umbilical Cord”. I actually have not read those and depended on the old Wikipedia description, as well as images from the Spyrophobia blog. “Mosquitoes” has obvious bug warnings, while “Umbilical Cord” is a direct continuation of that one and also has some VERY freaky and gory imagery. And a general note: snails. Oh my gosh, snails... Snails. SNAAAIIILLS.
- Gyo: One of his first series, Gyo is about bad-smelling fish that walk on legs. Yes, that sounds ridiculous, I know. And I admit, some of it IS more ridiculous than scary, I was shaking my head at some parts. ...Then humans get infected. WARNING: LOTS OF GORE AND GRAPHICALLY BLOATED BODIES. GENERALLY BODY HORROR. WEIRD CONCEPT, GRAPHIC EXECUTION. [[IMPORTANT NOTE: included are two “bonus” stories, “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” and “The Sad Tale of the Principal Post”. The second one is VERY short and more sad than anything. Enigma of Amigara Fault, though, is pretty well-known and features some VERY creepy concepts. Probably not good for claustrophobic people.]]
- Tomie: One of his first series, it’s about a beautiful girl. And this girl is a FREAKING IMMORTAL SELF-REPLICATING MONSTER. Seriously, nearly every story features her dying in some way, usually killed by the non-Tomie character, with bad results. The first story actually starts with her dead, and then coming back, much to her killers' confusion... I think only one of the stories has the non-Tomie character escaping unscathed and with their sanity intact. In short, expect gore and LOTS of body horror. (Also, a side-note: I believe that Tomie's volumes are technically considered the first two volumes of his “Museum of Horror” series.)
- Flesh-Colored Horror: This actually isn’t a series, but it’s a separate volume and is essentially Volume 3 of the Museum of Horror Serires. Most of the stories are “overall scary”, particularly “Long Hair in the Attic”, “Headless Sculptures” and “Flesh-Colored Horror”. “Approval” is beginner-level, “Dying Young” is higher-level beginner or intermediate (due to gore), and “Beehive” is at LEAST intermediate, for reasons I stated earlier in the list (see: “THINGS TO POSSIBLY/PROBABLY AVOID”).
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