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+----- Thread: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (/showthread.php?tid=7703)
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 06-30-2023
I mentioned to Tara that I got invited to an event by viz media at sdcc with some Japanese horror manga artist named Ito or something and she said ‘Junji Ito?’ and I was like ‘right.’ She knew his reputation but she hates horror. I remember considering this series when it came out because it looked yokai, but no. It’s the twisted world of Junji Ito.
Dark stuff. Japanese horror is messed up. It’s beautiful and abstract, often existential and hopeless. Ito’s visions are gets-under-your-skin creepy, very otherworldly.
This anime is based on several of his short stories - each seems to stand alone, only sharing the front and end credits to a blaring j-pop rock soundtrack like so many Jaime series do nowadays. I watched the first 2 eps - each is under an hour - and the second ep has two stories.
E1 was a messed up family, almost Addams family-like but then again not. It was amusing, kinda funny.
E2 part 1 was the tale of a tunnel that takes a cosmic ray turn that would’ve made a terrifying live action film. Part 2 was about a creepy ice cream truck, which culminated in a messed up decapitation.
I’ll watch more and I’ll likely rsvp for that party.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 07-01-2023
Ep3 was wonderfully creepy. Giant balloon heads in the image of their victims dangle nooses and ensnare them. That’s hard to describe but the heads are wonderfully disturbed, bloodshot eyes, ashen faces, psycho grins - very yokai-esque.
It’s abstract - there’s no explanation for the phenomena and the conclusion left me hanging (no pun intended there). I think Junji just had this idea of the balloon heads.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 07-05-2023
E4 Four x Four Walls is about a student being tormented by his creepy brother who likes to hammer nails so the family hires a creepy carpenter to build four soundproof walls so he builds rooms within rooms but the creepy brother gets in between the crawl spaces and continues to torment the student. It just ends abruptly.
The Sandman’s Lair is about a writer trying to stay awake because his dream self keeps pulling him inside out so he gets a girl friend to come over to try to keep him awake. The concept and conclusion is disturbing.
I’m starting to question going to this Ito exhibit. He’s twisted in that singular Japanese way that just gets under my skin. I’m convinced it gave me weird dreams. http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/showthread.php?tid=62&pid=65911#pid65911
So far, e3 has been the strongest if you want a taste.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 07-07-2023
E5a Interdimensional creepiness. What if your multiverse doppelgänger murdered your new friends multiverse doppelgängers and buried the bodies in your yard?
E5b Almost a classic yokai tale with a decapitated that moved with her hair like a spider octopus.
The moral of both stories is it’s best not to investigate spooky sounds in your house.
Both tales just end abruptly. I’m thinking that’s a style thang of Ito’s. He gets these images but doesn’t see them to conclusion, forcing us to fill the gaps with our darkest inclinations. It’s both a short cut and a smart writing device.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 07-20-2023
Watched one more prep ep before tonight’s open bar gallery opening. Mold was disgusting. The library one started well but I fell asleep. I’ve been going so hard lately - I’ve weaned myself off coffee (which kept me driving home from SF thrice over last weekend) and now I’m drowsy. I’ll need to get back on coffee for this weekend.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 07-21-2023
The gallery exhibit was impressive. He uses tiny rapidograph like strokes to build his images, making them more stark. I could see layers of white out on some of them revealing his composition development. Beautiful and horrifying. Disturbed.
Mind you, I was several drinks deep and the opening came with 2 drink comps. We chose a Manhattan, then a shot of makers mark.
Huge line to get in. They almost refused me for not being on the list but Payhuan & I Jedi-Ed through. Worth it.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 07-31-2023
Tomb town - a classic horror. A couple accidentally hits and kills a girl on the road on the way to a distant town to visit a friend. They decide to hide the body. Then the town is filled with gravestones everywhere that sprout from bodies. A nice cohesive story, a karmic tale like so many good horror tales.
I thought I’d revisit this series after seeing the Ito gallery at sdcc. Well, I was quite drunk at the time. But Ito makes more sense to me. Or perhaps it resonates more. I do love his art - so nightmarishly visionary.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 08-29-2023
The first vignette was messed up. A mother and her two daughters are in a car accident. One daughter gets part of her face ripped off. The hospital discovers she’s made up of layers like rings on a tree. It seems to be connected to a baby skull that the dead father excavated under a layered burial mound - a curse. The mom wants her baby girl back and starts peeling off layers to get at her. It goes badly. This one is super creepy and horrifying.
The second story is about a whale monster that washes up on some Japanese beach. Inside the whale, parasites are found, more specifically humans that had disappeared in shipwrecks and the like. The belly of the monster is filled with naked captives. That’s it really. Another that leaves us hanging.
Both stories have existential conclusions.
I had to watch some other vids to clear some of this out of my mind before going to bed.
RE: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre - Drunk Monk - 10-02-2023
Tomie gave me a genuine chill, one of those horror chills, something I haven’t experienced in a long time. I’m glad it was just an anime. If it was live action, it’d give me nightmares. It might still give me nightmares. You know it’s going to be creepy when there’s a camera taking demonic photos.