Tag: manga
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Betwixt: A Horror Manga Anthology by Ryo Hanada et al.
A horror manga anthology with cover art by Junji Ito — interesting, but not essential.
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The Girl From the Other Side by Nagabe
Everything about this is unique, and unforgettable in a way that I haven’t come across with manga before (I’m no expert here, but I’m not alone. My kid agrees and they’ve been a manga freak for years). It’s the only manga I’ve read that brought me to tears (the last frame of book 3) and…
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Black Paradox by Junji Ito
This ranks with his best. The grim and gory story of four friends who make a suicide pact that goes way, way wrong. Ito and Stephen King have the same pattern: scary and simple premise, excellent atmosphere and tension building, and a complete whiff on the ending. This is that. Some of the art in…
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Mimi’s Tales of Terror by Junji Ito
Junji Ito didn’t develop these ideas – they are adapted from a book of short stories based on urban legends. The result is very well-illustrated campfire stories that you’ve heard a version of before. The stories in the back half are better than the first few, but this is a book for Ito completists only.…
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Gyo by Junji Ito
This one goes from kind of hilarious to utterly bizarre and horrifying, in a way that’s strange even by Ito’s standards. I loved it. Also loved this:
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Soichi by Junji Ito
Not great! I’m not big on the character of Soichi, and the big ideas in this book aren’t that interesting. The last story is pretty good. My kid liked this one a whole lot more than I did though, so maybe I’m being a wet blanket. Also I’m definitely not the target audience for most…
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Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito
I rely on my teenager to hand me weird manga. This is a good one. Not only did the stories feel fresh and fun, but the afterword adds interesting context. He took four years away from horror manga before this collection, after a couple of personal tragedies. And he talks a little about his own…