Title: Fragments of HorrorAuthor: Junji Ito
First Published: July 8, 2014
Publisher: VIZ Media
Pages: 224
Genre: Horror, Seinen
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Rating:
Synopsis:
A new collection of delightfully macabre tales from a master of horror manga. An old wooden mansion that turns on its inhabitants. A dissection class with a most unusual subject. A funeral where the dead are definitely not laid to rest. Ranging from the terrifying to the comedic, from the erotic to the loathsome, these stories showcase Junji Ito’s long-awaited return to the world of horror.
Get the Book: AmazonReview
Fragments of Horror is one of Junji Ito’s most unusual collections. It is very different from his typical body of work in both good and bad ways. Many of the stories in this collection dealt with themes of sexual deviancy and perversion, and felt tonally different from Ito’s previous works.
While not his strongest collection, Fragments of Horror does have a handful of excellent stories that elicited a variety of reactions from me. Long-time fans of Ito’s work may enjoy this collection, though it is not one that I would recommend for those that are new to him. It is not representative of his usual work, and while it did have a few spectacular stories I found the collection to be very hit-or-miss.
Individual Story Notes:
♥ Futon: A simple short about a woman struggling to take care of her boyfriend who won’t leave his futon. An interesting concept that ultimately didn’t pan out into anything memorable. Ito mentions in his afterword that there had been a significant time gap since he had written horror short stories, and this collection was his return to the genre. After he sent this first story to his editor, they were worried that Ito had lost his “sense” of horror. I love Ito but I can understand the response, Futon is one of his weakest stories.
♥ Wooden Spirit: A family whose old home becomes a cultural heritage location and a strange woman that comes knocking on their door. I had mixed feelings about this one, though it is quite uncanny and strangely funny.
♥ Tomio – Red Turtleneck: I forgot how gross this one was, and it’s the second story in the collection about cheaters getting divine retribution. The last panel was a bit cheesy, but it is otherwise a horrifying scenario with a satisfying punishment.
♥ Gentle Goodbye: I loved everything about this story, from the concept to the execution. I’m a very big fan of grief horror and Gentle Goodbye is one of the best that I’ve read of this subgenre. It’s not scary as much as it is quietly reflective, which sets it apart from all of the other stories in this collection.
♥ Dissection-chan: A young girl obsessed with dissecting things grows into a woman that wants to be dissected in a weirdly psychosexual way. I actually wasn’t a fan of this story the first time I read it, but that’s changed upon re-read. Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten more into extreme horror, but I actually really enjoyed this story a great deal more. This story was a lot of things at once: horrifying, creepy, sad, funny.
♥ Blackbird: This story has lived rent free in my head for a few years now. It’s a hiker’s worst nightmare with a horrifying reveal. Blackbird is the creepiest story in the collection, it grossed me out and the titular “blackbird” made me so uncomfortable.
♥ Magami Nanakuse: Honestly, after reading this story twice a few years apart and not enjoying myself both times, I accept that I just don’t “get” this story. It seems like it’s supposed to be comedic, but I’m just too American to get the humor. Also seems to be a bit of a meta commentary on writers and characters, but again, way over my head.
♥ Whispering Woman: The collection ends well with my favorite story in the collection, about a girl that struggles with indecision anxiety that needs near constant care to function. While the anxiety part of the story is exaggerated to horrifying effect, and it’s captured perfectly in Ito’s art, especially in the close-ups of the girl’s eyes. I appreciated this story as a person that suffers from an anxiety disorder that has lowered my quality of life, and this is illustrated perfectly. The additional commentary about abuse and control that is briefly explored with the girl’s caretaker was an added bonus.
Rating Breakdown
| Futon: ★☆☆☆☆ Wooden Spirit: ★★★☆☆ Tomio – Red Turtleneck: ★★★☆☆ Gentle Goodbye: ★★★★★ |
Dissection-chan: ★★★★☆ Blackbird: ★★★★★ Magami Nanakuse: ★☆☆☆☆ Whispering Woman: ★★★★★ |
Quote
“It tells the story of a woman battling severe illness, doesn’t it?”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Junji Ito
Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. He was inspired from a young age by his older sister’s drawing and Kazuo Umezu’s comics and thus took an interest in drawing horror comics himself. Nevertheless, upon graduation, he trained as a dental technician, and until the early 1990s, he juggled his dental career with his increasingly successful hobby — even after being selected as the winner of the prestigious Umezu prize for horror manga.
