Horror Manga Legend Junji Ito Reacts to the Internet’s Scariest Monsters
Following their last attempt in 2019, manga distributor VIZ Media has had another go at scaring renowned horror mangaka Junji Ito. This time, they’ve got creepy monsters from the internet such as Siren Head and Mirror Matt up their sleeves. Will they get Ito’s pulse racing?
Fans of Mary Shelley may have come across Ito before, following his adaption of Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, which won the Eisner Award for Best Adaption from Another Medium in 2019. While originally published between 1994 and 1998, the English translation was provided by Jocelyne Allen for VIZ Media.
The new video follows the announcement of three upcoming additions to the Junji Ito catalogue: two story collections named Lovesickness and Deserter coming April 20 and December 2021 respectively, alongside a new book called Sensor, slated for August 2021. Patient fans may also remember the upcoming adaption of one of his most renowned works, Uzumaki. The adaptation was initially due in 2020 but, because of COVID delays, is now set to premiere on the American late-night television block Toonami at an undisclosed date in 2021.
The selection of internet monsters in the video are artworks from independent artists, with one of the entries reminding Ito of the Techno-horror film Pulse by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Ito, whose works don’t generally cater to the faint of heart, is a cool customer and not easily ruffled. Like the previous video, Ito calmly analyses his impressions of the monsters, explaining what he finds scary and what he admires about the images presented to him. It’s interesting to see what kind of things get under the skin of such an infamous master of the macabre.
