Uhm.. weird and creepy. Last January 19, 2023, must be a good day for the fans of Junji Ito as a new anime adaptation was released featuring Junji’s several popular horror stories. It scored 80% on Tomatometer and 65% Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Junji Ito is a famous Japanese horror manga artist. Recently he won two Eisner Awards and was hailed as Best Writer. In the new series released on Netflix titled Junji Ito Maniac: Tales of the Macabre, he personally told an interview that he himself chose three of his story (Toumie, Souchi, and The Hanging Balloons) to be animated for the first time.
The series was produced by Studio Deen and directed by Shinobu Tagashira. Studio Deen was behind one of the famous anime back then including Rurouni Kenshin and KonoSuba. While Director Shinobu Tagashira is well-known storyboard artist, series director, and key animations.
Junji Ito Maniac: Tales of the Macabre features some of the stories on the mangas that Junji Ito published. Each episode has its own story. You don't need to watch all the episodes to understand the whole series. Actually, you can just skip to any part without worrying you will miss some important connecting piece. Each part can stand alone.
I’m not gonna lie, I was expecting that I will freak out at the start but the first episode just left me asking, “Okay, is that it???” You can’t blame me tho. The hyped on social media raised my expectation. Plus I never read the manga version so I didn’t have a basis for what to expect.
However, as you progress to each episode, the vibe gets eerier. Occasionally, there’s some part that makes me, “meh”, but I commend the plot twist of each episode. You can say that Junji Ito writes his stories in a manner that the audience won’t expect its end. He also thinks out of the box, and that makes his story weird, at least for me.
My personal favorite is the hanging balloon episode. This disturbed me the most as it tackles ‘suicide’, and how the story unfolded to a more horrible twist. I also like Episode 9 titled Tomie and Photo. The ending left me confused and made me raised several questions that lead to some possible theories. Also, keep an eye on Tomb Town and Layers of Terror Episode!
The animation is like the typical animation you see on animes, nothing new about it., I can say that Studio Deen somehow gave justice to it. But I guess, there are animes that will perform better in mangas; in the imagination of the readers. I think some may say that the adaptation is still exemplary so you better watch and tell your thoughts at the comment section.
All in all, the anime adaptation made me curious about the actual manga. It also made me become interested in the author and his works. Now for my ratings, I’ll give it 5/10.
If you've made it here, thank you so much for reading. I always spend several hours just to complete this, which might seem like an exaggeration to others but trust me, it's not 😅. So, the thought of someone reading my work already warms my heart (∩˃o˂∩)♡. Until next time, bye!
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