- Bryan B.
- Friday, June 24, 2022
"Comics utilize images, angles, and feelings that are hard to create in the real world. I think it’s hard to reproduce the overall atmosphere of a comic into a movie, because a film must use real actors and actresses that are not perfectly matched with my original work." -Junji Ito, March 2006
CW: Body Horror, Violence, Nudity (These are not for kids!)
Junji Ito is a horror mangaka (manga artist) from Nakatsugawa, Japan. His career began in the mid-80s when he submitted a short story to a horror magazine that ended up getting serialized as Tomie. Tomie was immensely successful in Japan, running for 13 years and spawning nine feature-length movies. He's been a full-time writer ever since and has been a huge influence on the great horror creators of today, most notably Guillermo del Toro.
Ito's stories often involve themes of love, familial pressure, and supernatural forces to create a sense of dread in his audiences. He tends to not use "jump-scares" as much, preferring a slow burn of a fright. The characters are often helpless in the face of overwhelming supernatural forces and hordes of brainwashed people.
Here are some of his most renowned works: