伊藤潤二

伊藤潤二（1963年7月－），是日本著名恐怖漫畫家，出生於日本的岐阜縣，原本從事齒模技工。他從青少年時期便熱衷於楳圖一雄與古賀新一的怪奇漫畫，遂展開其自身的繪畫生涯。伊藤潤二最為人知的作品是《富江》（1986年，《萬聖節月刊》「楳圖賞」（「楳図賞」）「佳作獎」），其餘代表作品為：《漩渦》、《至死不渝的愛》（又譯：《死戀》）、《押切怪談》、《人頭氣球》、《耳朵怪談》…等等。伊藤潤二亦曾參與電玩遊戲的開發，遊戲《四八》的開發伊藤亦有份參與。

作品介紹

伊藤潤二的作品自1990年代開始逐漸出版。（以下日期以日本出版年份為準）

靈少女系列

• 閣樓的長髮 （1990年1月）
• 地下室 （1990年2月）
• 鬼屋 （1990年10月）
• 逃兵之家 （1991年3月）
• 無頭雕刻 （1991年10月）
• 快樂的暑假 （1992年3月）
• 鬼巷 （1992年12月）
• 布製教師 （1993年8月）
• 魔音村 （1993年11月）
• 呻吟的排水管 （1994年3月）
• 人頭氣球 （1994年9月）
• 墓碑鎮 （1994年11月）

其它

• 科學怪人 （1994年12月）
• 棺桶 （1995年9月）
• 畫家 （1996年2月）
• 恐怖罐頭 （1996年11月）
• 至死不渝的愛 （1997年5月）
• 隧道奇譚 （1997年11月）
• 旋渦(全三冊)
• 魚(全二冊)
• 地獄星(全一冊)
• 闇之聲
• 新・闇之聲 潰談

《富江》

富江是伊藤潤二的第一部作品。天生麗質、自命不凡的女高中生——富江招蜂引蝶，四處勾引班上男同學，甚至和班級老師發生不倫之戀，未婚先孕。一次校外教學，吃醋的山本同學和富江起了爭執，錯手將其推下山崖。平日對富江積怨甚深的眾人將錯就錯，合力將其分屍滅跡。在全班出席富江葬禮的隔天，當大家以為此事萬無一失之際，離奇恐怖的事就發生了——富江依然完好地出現在大家面前！從此每個人便捲入了富江恐怖地復仇行動中…「富江系列」後期加入了更多創意，充分展現富江多變地邪惡特質，從故事中又帶出去惡揚善、常保善念的寓意。

《至死不渝的愛》

在霧之町遺留有一種叫「十字路口占卜」的風俗，就是人們站在十字路口等最早通過那裡的人，據他說的話來占卜「吉」或「兇」。這個早被遺忘的風俗近來又在女高中生之間流行起來，尤為占卜戀愛運程為甚。一對本應幸福的小情侶——龍介和阿綠從一連串與「十字路口的黑衣美少年」相關的殺人事件中，知道了自己怪異的過去以及悲哀的將來…故事細膩逼真地表現出高中生的朦朧愛情，又將霧夜中的十字路口發生的殺人事件描畫得驚栗恐怖而又構思獨特巧妙。它既勾勒出人們對「愛」的渴求，又批判了人類盲目信從、以自我為中心的懦弱、醜陋的灰暗面。劇末出人意料的結局帶出了故事的浪漫、凄迷，成為該作的昇華。 在尾回《慘叫之夜》完成一段日子後，伊藤潤二補上了一個結局，使故事得到一個沒有戾氣的句號。《至死不渝的愛》在2007年改編成由後藤理沙和松田龍平主演的電影《鬼卜怪談》，並已搬上大螢幕。

1) 看伊藤潤二的恐怖漫畫可說是欲罷不能,兩週內便把所有作品看完,之後...慘了! 沒有新作品看...(以後再也吃不到如此好味的爻燒飯,教我如何是好?? : )   (三個月~半年才新出一本吧.)

2) 個人對 <漩渦>,  <魚> ,<人頭氣球> 印象較深, 而知名度最高的<富江>則流於重複太多了. 要知伊藤老師的價值在於他的創意,天馬行空奇想 (老實說他不是一般正常的人,是怪卡+一點變態.)

3) 另外,我對漫畫改編的電影作品也反應不佳,總覺得它缺少了漫畫內特有的陰森味道...及驚訝感.  (恐怖喔~)

4) 伊藤老師很多場景及人物造型設計皆很有特色,不知何時會商品化,如出公仔玩具,模型等. 也很希望有一天能有伊藤潤二的博物館,可把所有恐怖場景安排在一大樓內,讓遊客親歷其境,感受獨有的 "伊藤恐怖風". (台灣遊樂場的老闆們想想吧,說不定可大賺日本仔的日元呢!)

See! 小丸子都來了...Nothing is impossible!

以下引用同好的文字,他(她?)寫出了我內心對伊藤漫畫的看法. 請參考.(謝謝分享.)

 伊藤潤二的作品之所以會吸引人，主要在於寫實的畫風，加上令人感到窒息的劇情及畫面處理。一般的恐怖漫畫因為人物比較漫畫不真實，所以即使故事恐怖的氣氛營造的相當好，也可能因為畫風而讓讀者感受不到恐怖的”真實效果”，而伊藤潤二的寫實畫風正好能夠讓讀者產生「好像在看真實生活發生的事件」的感覺，因而讓恐怖的效果增幅不少。故事則是另一個重點。仔細看過伊藤潤二的作品後很容易會發現，在大部份的故事中，常常都是找不到原因的恐怖，像是人頭氣球中突然出現的人頭氣球，漩渦中黑渦鎮突然的漩渦詛咒，富江中神秘的女子富江等等，都是突然出現但是又找不出合理的理由來解釋為什麼會發生這些現象，然後在故事結尾也沒有太明確的交代未來的發展，只是留給讀者相當大的想像空間。加上故事裡，往往主角只要一牽扯進事件中，接下來所要面對的就只有進也死路退也死路的情況，或是週遭的朋友都陷入事件中，主角好不容易才逃出。即使逃過一劫主角也已經歷過了極恐怖的事件，而且還難保在未來類似的事情不會再發生，由看故事中所引發的不安全感，加上故事中常常出現的鮮血四濺、人變成各種怪物的場景，組合出一道道伊藤式的恐怖饗宴。因此相當推薦喜歡恐怖漫畫的讀者去看看伊藤潤二的作品。

轉載網址:http://members.tripod.com/tenchigenbu/acdata/016.htm

已拍成電影的作品

• 《富江》 1999年
• 《富江replay》2000年
• 《押切The strange story》 2000年
• 《漩渦》 2000年
• 《死びとの恋わずらい》（中譯「情殺」）2000年
• 《首吊り気球》（人頭氣球）(2000)
• 《富江rebirth》 2001年
• 《案山子》2001年（案山子即中文的「稻草人」的意思）
• 《富江　最終章 ― 禁斷的果實》 2002年
• 《伊藤潤二之鬼卜怪談》(2007年4月) （改編自《至死不渝的愛》）

Movies & TV Dramas (click on movie picture or name for more information)

Poster Movie Name / Year Comment うめく排水管 - The Groaning Drain (2004) A low budget direct-to-video movie made from the comic of the same name. マロニエ - Marronnier (2002) Presented to the 2004 SF Film Festival and a festival in NY in 2005. 富江　最終章　?禁断の果実? - Tomie: The Final Chapter - Forbidden Fruit (2002) The trailer is no longer available through the Tomie website. The fourth Tomie film is different in theme and tone from all the other Tomie movies. Ando is a powerful Tomie. I've read some reviews which complain she isn't beautiful enough for the role of the character who drives men crazy with her allure. I think she actually is quite beautiful (more so than the Tomie from Tomie: Rebirth), but it doesn't even matter whether she is sufficiently beautiful or not -- it only matters that she is very effectively selfish and alien and convincingly obsessed over. The acting is uniformly good and although the sound quality is poor and the film stock only slightly better, the movie has a powerful melancholy determination which I think puts it above most other efforts to bring Junji Ito to the cinema. 富江:Rebirth - Tomie: Rebirth (2001) Kakashi, directed by the same director as Ring 0, has a sophisticated look and feel but very little substance to back it up. The plot, however, meanders around a village where people resurrect the dead using scarecrows but nothing really happens except some cheap scares and some close-ups on the pretty lead actress. The comic was a mixed bag, too, featuring many of the same quick-scare horror cliches, but at least it wasn't feature length. 死びとの恋わずらい - Lovesick Dead (shibito no koiwazurai) (2001) Lovesick Dead translates the collection of the same name to the big screen, with 'Mould' also making an appearance. The plot is a bit changed from the comic, the movie drops the cruelly optimistic ending of the comic in favour of a cheap sleight-of-mind and the budget was obviously quite low, but the overall ambience of the movie captures the spirit of the original comic and the director also was also lucky and smart to cast Ryuhei (of Gohatto and Party 7) for the movie. DVD is only available as a region 2 disc without subtitles. Amateur subtitles will eventually be made available here. 案山子 - Kakashi (2001) Kakashi, directed by the same director as Ring 0, has a sophisticated look and feel but very little substance to back it up. The plot, however, meanders around a village where people resurrect the dead using scarecrows but nothing really happens except some cheap scares and some close-ups on the pretty lead actress. The comic was a mixed bag, too, featuring many of the same quick-scare horror cliches, but at least it wasn't feature length. 押切 - Oshikiri (2000) Oshikiri is really terrible. The comic was good, but the movie catches none of the atmosphere of the comic, looks incredibly cheap - worse than that 80s Twilight Zone series - and it drags on way too long. I can't imagine an audience young or stupid enough to be entertained by this movie without being too scared by the (minimal) gore and cliched camera tricks. The website advertises that by using high-definition digital video, Oshikiri makes the world of Junji Ito more real than ever. If by 'more real than ever' they mean that every wobbly set will be revealed and every awkward moment of bad acting from the star - who just happens to be a j-pop idol - will be faithfully captured, then they have a point, but personally I think they might have done better just to film the whole thing in black & white eight millimeter; at least it would have given the film some kind of atmosphere. 長い夢 - Long Dream (nagai yume) (2000) Long Dream is the second translation of a Junji Ito comic by director Higuchinsky. Long Dream was actually translated as a one-off hour-long TV special and consequently faced the constraints of a smaller budget, which unfortunately shows in the production. Still, Higuchinsky understands well Ito's humorous brand of horror and were it not for the 4800 yen price tag, the movie would be well worth purchasing. Amateur subtitles can be found here.. They require DVDSubber and the translation isn't perfect, but they ought to make the movie comprehensible for those who can't understand Japanese. Keep in mind the DVD is region 2, though. 首吊り気球 - The Hanging Balloons (kubitsuri no kikyuu) (2000) The Hanging Balloons is actually an anthology of three Junji Ito stories made into short movies for TV. The production standards aren't terribly high, and I thought that Demonology dragged a bit, but The Long Hair in the Attic was quite good and The Hanging Balloons is a funny and over-the-top bit of indulgence which succeeds despite not having the budget to really look convincing. 顔泥棒 - The Face Burglar (kao dorobou) (2000) Based on the manga of the same name, a reasonable, if easily forgettable, translation. 墓標の町 - Gravemarker Town (bohyou no machi) (2000) This is another of the adaptations made for TV during the Junji Ito Horror Collection boom of summer 2000. I've never seen it. Obviously based on the manga of the same name. うずまき - Uzumaki (2000) Uzumaki is THE Junji Ito movie to see, and you can go almost anywhere to find out why. Higuchinsky captures the madness of Ito's Uzumaki comics in a hilarious, unsettling and trippy decent into an obsession with spirals. 富江:re-play - Tomie: re-play (2000) Tomie: Re-play is much more obviously a horror movie than Tomie, and it has its moments - like when the lead's father is seen repeating, 'bakemono bakemono bakemono bakemono' (monster monster monster monster). The plot also moves along much faster than Tomie, but the ending feels like a bit of a letdown, again, as it falls into some horror movie cliches. 富江:アナザフェイス - Tomie: Another Face (1999) Made around the same time as Tomie: Replay, Another Face was a three-episode TV drama starring teen idol Nagai Runa, who, a quick search on google shows, is now a regular on the Miniskirt Police. Not that that's really relevant except that it's hardly surprising for this kind of production and perhaps a bit ironic given the fanatical following the miniskirt police (and female 'models' in general) have from a certain creepy segment of the Japanese population. The episodic nature suits Tomie well and there's something to be said for the unambitious nature of the series, but it's just easy teenage slasher fodder without much gore. Not that I wanted gore. But what IS a teenage slasher without the gore -- a hokey violent love story? 富江 - Tomie (1998) Tomie starts well, has a classy look to it, but never really provokes any fear or malaise before eventually plodding to an unsatisfying and rather confusing conclusion. It does have a nice theme song, though, by Japanese band World Famous. The 'making of' 30 minute documentary included on the DVD features a joking Ataru Oikawa suggesting (to Junji Ito's amusement) that Tomie will become the first of a long series of Tomie movies, eventually resulting in a 'Tomie vs. Jason' movie. I wonder...

外部連結

• （中文）恐怖集中營--伊藤潤二簡介
• （中文）伊藤潤二吧
• （英文）伊藤潤二書迷網站

          

Cover	Book Name	Chapter List	Comment
	地獄星レミナ Hellstar Lemina	第1話／おぞましき星 第2話／美少年狩り 第3話／疫病神 第4話／舌の影 第5話／舐める星 第6話／果てしない真空 第7話／億万ぼっち	Not crazy about the SF inclinations of the Remina saga, but Okumanbochi recalls more conventional Junji Ito, though falls short of being classic. [29 reviews]
	闇の声 Voices in the Dark	第1話／血をすする闇(The Blood-slurping Darkness) 第2話／ゴールデンタイムの幽霊(The Ghosts of Golden Time) 第3話／轟音(The Roar) 第4話／お化け屋敷の謎(The Monster House) 第5話／グリセリド(Glyceride) 第6話／地縛者(The Earth-bound) 第7話／死刑囚の呼鈴(The Ringing of the Convict)	A compilation of serials that appeared recently in the bimonthly Nemuki. Begins rather gruesomely with the tale of a girl who goes on a fast to regain the affections of her ex-boyfriend. In the process, she wins the attention a strange boy who pledges to fast for as long as she fasts. Strangely enough, she doesn't lose any weight, but the boy becomes more and more anemic and she wakes up every morning sprinkled with dots of blood. The second episode was around 30-40 pages long. The second episode is a story unrelated to the first about possessed stand-up comics who make people laugh without being funny. Not a great story, I don't think, but amusing social commentary just the same. Third episode was a run-of-the-mill ghost story. Glycerine is the gross-out standout story of the collection and The Earth-bound is the most melancholy and thoughtful. All in all a good collection. Nice to see Soichi again, too. [16 reviews]
	ミミの怪談 Mimi's Ghost Stories	第1話／隣の女(The Woman Next Door) 第2話／草音(Sound of Grass) 第3話／墓相(Graveman) 第4話／海岸(The Seashore) 第5話／ふたりぼっち(Just the Two of Us) 第6話／矢の円(The Scarlet Circle) ・とがき(Epilogue)	A new serial that appeared recentlyin Comic Flapper. The first two episodes were only four pages long and were excluded from the compilation (no loss). On the whole, I think that these comics represent some of Junji Ito's weaker efforts; while the drawing is consistently good, the stories themselves seem like typical campfire ghost stories and they lack the punch and surreal existential terror that Ito's better works inspire. The best story of the compilation is probably "The Scarlet Circle", about the discovery of a strange room beneath the family home that has a strange growing red mark on one of its walls, but that story as well has an arbitrary and unsatisfying (happy) conclusion that prevents it from joining Ito's classics. It's worth noting that the comics were created as a collaboration between Junji Ito and occult researcher Nakayama Ichiro. More information about the comic can be found in this interview from Da Vinci magazine. [6 reviews]
	Tomie 1	富江 富江 ＰＡＲＴ２ 地下室 写真 接吻 屋敷 復讐 滝壷 画家 ・とがき：伊藤潤二	The horror collection is being reissued (with new Tomie stories from Tomie: Again included) in pocketbook format and this is the first volume. [7 reviews]
	Tomie 2	暗殺 毛髪 養女 小指 少年 もろみ ベビーシッター ・る集団 通り魔 トップ・モデル 老醜	The horror collection is being reissued (with new Tomie stories from Tomie: Again included) in pocketbook format and this is the second volume. [12 reviews]
	ギョ～うごめく不気味～ Gyo - The Eerie Wriggle Part 2	第11話／青白い華織(Blue-white Kaori) 第12話／死臭の発明(The Invention of the Death Stench) 第13話／後継者たち(The Successors) 第14話／まとわりつく死臭(The Sticking Stench) 第15話／死臭サーカス団（１）(The Stinking Circus 1) 第16話／死臭サーカス団（２）(The Stinking Circus 2) 第17話／第二研究室の死臭(The Second Smelly Lab) 第18話／死臭空襲(Arial Stench) 最終話／死臭の時代(Age of the Death Stench) 特別収録 (Special Additions) 大黒柱悲話(The Sad Story of the Founding Pillar) 阿弥殻断層の怪(The Strange Story of the Ancient Husk Faultline)	The second Gyo book contains my least favourite two episodes; Tadashi's search for the mechanized gas producing animated corpse of his girlfriend takes him to a circus where an over-the-top ringmaster provides some useless exposition into the origins and nature of the gas being produced by the machines/organisms. After that things improve, and the story does seem to take on an interesting allegorical edge before ending in one of Junji Ito's typically brutal and affecting melancholy endings. Two extra short stories are included at the back, and while The Sad Story of the Founding Pillar just makes for filler, the final story is excellent. In The Strange Story of the Ancient Husk Faultline (sorry for the awkward translation), an earthquake uncovers a bizarre face of rock in the mountains with human-shaped holes burrowed into the surface. People, having seen these holes on TV, hike into the mountains and recognize that the shapes in the cliff match their own sillouettes; one by one, succumbing to a feeling of existential helplessness, they strip off their clothes and voluntarily entomb themselves. An excellent short story. [13 reviews]
	ギョ～うごめく不気味～ Gyo - The Eerie Wriggle Part 1	第1話／南海の死臭(Death Stench of the South Seas) 第2話／浮遊する死臭(The Drifting Smell of Death) 第3話／恐ろしい上陸(A Frightening Landing) 第4話／ホオジロザメ侵入(Invasion of the Sharks) 第5話／飛来 (The Flight Home) 第6話／しのびよる死臭(The Stealthy Stink of Death) 第7話／遺言(The Will) 第8話／感染(Infection) 第9話／死臭来襲(Invasion of the Death Stench 1) 第10話／死臭来襲(2)(Invasion of the Death Stench 2)	Fish appear to be suddenly growing legs and crawling on to land in Okinawa. The walking fish stink of death and seem to follow a couple (Tadashi and Kaori) as they flee from Okinawa back to Tokyo. Kaori, Tadashi's girlfriend, is sickened by the smell of the walking fish, but one day finds herself underoing a strange transformation of her own... At first I was disappointed by this series, and even viewed in its entirety I don't think it has the power of Uzumaki, but it is interesting and increasingly vile and well worth the read. The episodes are a bit short at only 24 pages each, so it's certainly worth buying the collected volumes rather than purchasing the individual issues of Spirits in which they first appeared. The first volume of collected Gyo stories includes the first 10 episodes. [5 reviews]
	富江(Again)Part3 Tomie 3	少年 もろみ ベビーシッター ・る集団 通り魔 トップモデル 老醜	Tomie claims an elementary school boy, the workers of a sake brewery, a babysitter, a fan club, each other (!), a male fashion model (prequel to the previous episode), and the fashion model again (sequel). As previously stated, stories about Tomie can get a bit tedious after a while... Tomie: Rebirth did adapt the fourth story from this book quite well in the movie, though, and it was more interesting in that form. [10 reviews]
	うずまき１ Uzumaki 3	第13話／鬼のいる長屋 第14話／蝶 第15話／混沌 第16話／続・混沌 第17話／脱出 第18話／迷路	A person turns into a spiral-callous-monster. In the wrecked town, people can now trigger twisters with nothing more than a sudden movement or a strong exhalation of air. People learn to ride these new twisters and also discover that snail meat tastes good... Kirie and Shuichi think to escape the town by sea, but are met by a whirlpool. They try to escape by forest, but Kirie's younger brother is transforming and they end up where they started. The town is a spiral and Kirie and Shuichi, instead of running, seek it's center and eventually give in to the spiral mania. The third book is almost as good as the first, doesn't have the dead weight of the second, and has a very beautifully melancholy ending. [4 reviews]
	うずまき１ Uzumaki 2	第 7話／びっくり・ 第 8話／ヒトマイマイ 第 9話／黒い灯台 第10話／蚊柱 第11話／臍帯 第12話／台風１号	'Surprising people is my hobby'-boy gets surprised by a car - gruesome. People start turning into snails. The lighthouse becomes dark and claims a few teenagers. Kirie has a bizarre convalescence at the hospital with some affected women from the maternity ward. Typhoon #1 hits Japan and stays over the town. The second book of the Uzumaki series starts well, but the maternity ward has little to do with 'spiral-mania' and detracts from the progression of the story. [5 reviews]
	うずまき１ Uzumaki 1	第 1話／うずまきマニア・その一 第 2話／うずまきマニア・その二 第 3話／傷跡 第 4話／窯変 第 5話／ねじれた人々 第 6話／巻髪	First Kirie's boyfriend's father becomes obsessed with spirals, leading ultimately to his death. Then his mother becomes ill with the spiral mania, leading to her death. A student in Kirie's school develops a vortex-like wound. Kirie's father, a potter, becomes obsessed with spirals and uses them in his work. A couple falls ill with the mania and twist around each other in a spiral. One of Kirie's classmates develops supernatural perm powers. An excellent first book in a fascinating series. The atmosphere is heavy and the psychological menace is real. [24 reviews]
	フランケンシュタイン Frankenstein	フランケンシュタイン (Frankenstein) 地獄の人形葬 (A Doll's Hellish Burial) リアルウンコノオモイデ (Memories of Real Shit)	Why did Junji Itou remake Frankenstein? I bought it to completely my collection but I can't be bothered to read it. A short history of Frankenstein and the movie adaptations is included at the end. I guess it's interesting insofar as it gives some insight about Junji Itou's influences, but I don't really care that much. The extra two stories are very short. (2002/8/1) I finally read it. It's actually quite good. I prefer his original stories, but I do think he did an excellent job of adapting Frankenstein just the same. [2 reviews]
	死びとの恋わずらい Lovesick Dead	四つ辻の美少年 (The Beautiful Youth of the Intersections) 悩む女 (The Anxious Woman) 影 (Shadows) 絶叫の夜 (Screams in the Night)	Single book follows the progression of a town obsessed with fortune telling. Slowly builds to a rather touching (and surprisingly unrevolting) conclusion. [9 reviews]
	トネルの奇譚 The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel	長い夢 (Long Dream) トネルの奇譚 (The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel) 銅像 (The Bronze Statue) 浮遊物 (Drifting Spores) 白砂村の血譚 (Blood Sickness of the White Sands Village)	An excellent book. Nagaiyume/Long Dream was adapted for a 60 minute television special by Higuchinsky, the same director who adapted Uzumaki for the cinema. The story of the Mysterious Tunnel is good but a bit banal following Long Dream and Bronze Statue is nothing special, but Drifting Spores is quite funny. Blood Sickness is quite chilling, though I think it should have ended page earlier. [1 review]
	サーカスが来た The Circus is Here	サーカスが来た (The Circus is Here) 墓標の町 (Gravetown) 隣の窓 (The Adjacent Window) 怪奇ひきずり兄弟・次女の恋人 (Sleuth Kids: The Second Daughter's Lover) 怪奇ひきずり兄弟・降霊会 (Sleuth Kids: The Assembly of Fallen Ghosts)	The Circus is Here is simplistic and over-the-top, but despite all of that it leaves you with a heavy heart. Gravetown also has a very unlikely premise and strangely motivated characters but builds to a strong climax. [1 review]
	いじめっ娘 The Bully	いじめっ娘 (The Bully) 脱走兵のいる家 (House of the Deserter) 父の心 (Father's Heart) 記憶 (Memory) 路地・ (The Back Alley) シナリオどうりの恋 (Love by the Book) 土の中 (In the Soil)	Love by the Book was nice. The Bully was tacky, with a forced conclusion which reminded me of any poor episode from the new Outer Limits. Memory was quite frightening most of the way through but had a tacky ending. The Back Alley was more Outer Limits material. [3 reviews]
	道のない街 The Town without Streets	道のない街 (The Town Without Streets) 異常接近！ (Near miss!) 地図の町 (Maptown) サイレンの村 (Village of the Siren) 超自然転校生 (The Supernatural Transfer Student)	I really like The Town Without Streets, but the rest are just the usual fare. Near Miss is about an airplane accident and reminds me a bit of Heavy Metal. [2 reviews]
	あやつりの屋敷 House of the Marionettes	アイスクリームバス (Ice Cream Bus) 仲間の家 (Gang House) 煙草会 (The Smoking Club) 中古レコード (Second-hand Record) 睡魔の部屋 (The Sleeping Room) 贈る人 (The Gift Bearer) ・やつりの屋敷 (House of the Marionettes)	Ice Cream Bus is tacky, Gang House uninspired, Smoking Club boring but The Sleeping Room was pleasant enough and the final House of Marionettes had a fun (if squandered) premise. Again I wish that Junji Ito had stayed away from magic and gone with a purely psychological scare. [1 review]
	首幻想 Hallucinations	首幻想 (Hallucinations) 生霊の沼 (Bog of the Living Dead) ペンフレンド (Penpal) 押し切り異談 (Further Tales of Oshikiri) 押し切り異談・壁 (Further Tales of Oshikiri: The Wall)	Oshikiri is another one of Junji's successful reoccuring characters. Oshikiri's parents are both living overseas, and he is left alone to live in their giant mansion. The first episode finds Oshikiri hallucinating and wondering if he has just killed his best friend, and throughout the other stories we discover that the house hides many secrets and Oshikiri's parents may never be coming home. The whole book is quite good and I wish it were longer, but it seems that Junji Ito pretty much wrapped things up with the last episode - certainly there is nothing left unresolved about the house. [1 review]
	血玉樹 Blood-bubble Bushes	血玉樹　(Blood-bubble Bushes) 絶えがたい迷路 (Unbearable Labyrinth) リアナメータの剣 (Sword of the Re-animator) 遺書 (The Will) 橋 (The Bridge) 悪魔の理論 (Demonology) 祖部屋 (The Conversation Room)	Blood-bubble Bushes (the episode) is really revolting and killed my appetite. Unbearable Labyrinth is a bit dull, and Sword of the Re-animator is unusually cartoonish for Junji Itou and lacks any real sense of horror. The Bridge, on the other hand, is very spooky and Demonology, while being very short, is quite good as well. [2 reviews]
	なめくじの少女 Slug Girl	なめくじの少女 (Slug Girl) 漂着物 (Out of Its Element) 黴 (Mold) 寒気 (Coldness) 旅館 (Ryokan) うめく排水管 (The Groaning Drain) バイオハウス (Biohouse)	Run of the mill for Junji Itou, I think. There's a lot of fragmentary unease in this book (especially in the first three) but the stories don't serve to do much more than create a threatening environment. Kabi is my favourite, and elements of it were borrowed in the Lovesick Dead movie. [2 reviews]
	双一の呪い日記 Souichi's Diary of Curses	双一の勝手な呪い (Souichi's Selfish Curse) 四重壁の部屋 (The Silent Room) 棺桶 (The Coffin) 噂 (Rumours) ファッションモデル (Fashion Model)	This is one of my favourites of the horror collection. With the exception of the last story. Unlike his Diary of Delights, Souichi is an ineffectual idiot in these stories. His curses backfire and it's consequently quite funny. The last episode is a bit anticlimactic with Souichi meeting a rather incidental demise which, while appropriate for his incidental existance, is frustrating since we have grown to love him and worse still he's killed by one of Junji Ito's most bland creations. I hope Souichi isn't really dead and can appear later in a new episode. [5 reviews]
	双一の楽しい日記 Souichi's Diary of Delights	楽しい夏休み (Fun Summer Facation) 楽しい冬休み (Fun Winter Vacation) 双一の楽しい日記 (Souichi's Diary of Delights) 双一の家庭訪問 (Souichi's Home Tutor) 布製教師 (Cloth Teachers) 双一の誕生日 (Souichi's Birthday)	Souichi is one of Junji's most famous and loved characters - an elementary school kid who likes to put curses on people and hold nails in between his gums and his libs to scare people. The Diary of Delights is good, but Souichi is a little too successful to be entirely convincing and I prefer his diary of curses better. [2 reviews]
	顔泥棒 The Face Burglar	顔泥棒 (The Face Burglar) 案山子 (Scarecrow) 落下 (Falling) 赤い系 (The Red Line) ご先祖さま (Our Honourable Ancestors) 首吊り気球 (The Hanging Balloons)	Judging by the quality of the drawing, The Face Burglar must be one of Junji's earliest comics. Notable chapters in this book are Falling and The Hanging Baloons. Kakashi/Scarecrow was turned into a movie, but imo the comic version becomes a bit too camp partway through when the scarecrows actually start to move. [1 review]
	肉色の怪 Flesh Coloured Horror	屋根・の長い髪　(Long Hair in the Attic) 許し (Permission/Forgiveness) 蜂の巣 (The Bee Hive) 薄命 (Dying Young) 首のない彫刻 (Headless Statues) 肉色の怪 (Flesh Coloured Horror)	Neither Long Hair nor Permission stand out as Junji Ito's more exciting work. Though they are both atmospheric and, typically of Junji Ito, open ended, they seem a bit more disjointed and incompletely than some of his other stories. The Bee Hive was a bit more complete (and slightly sickening) but lets down the premise a bit with an abrupt finish. Dying Young and Flesh Coloured Horror are my favourites of the book. [7 reviews]
	富江ＰＡＲＴ２ Tomie Part 2	富江ＰＡＲＴ２ (Tomie: Part 2) 富江・地下室 (Tomie: Underground) 富江・画家 (Tomie: The Artist) 富江・暗殺 (Tomie: Assassination) 富江・毛髪 (Tomie: Hair) 富江・養女 (Tomie: Foster Daughter)	The Artist is quite good but the rest seemed a bit repetitive. What I found a bit strange was that in the first episodes of Tomie she is clearly the victim, but as time goes on she incites more and more violence in those around her until at the end (Tomie: Again - not in the Horror Collection), I think she actively seeks death in several of the episodes. [3 reviews]
	富江 Tomie	富江 (Tomie) 富江・写真 (Tomie: The Picture) 富江・接吻 (The Kiss of Tomie) 富江・屋敷 (The Estate of Tomie) 富江・復讐 (Tomie: Revenge) 富江・滝壷 (Tomie: The Waterfall)	Every male who encounters Tomie becomes obsessed with her and eventually kills and dismembers her. But Tomie is not human, and is always reborn.. and killed again. The first few episodes of Tomie are quite interesting, but they get less and less so. Apparently the story is inspired by one of Junji Ito's classmates being killed in an accident when he was in Junior High School and at the time it felt to him like it would not be so strange if she showed up at school the next day. [3 reviews]
	Gyo Volume 2	Blue-white Kaori The Invention of the Death Stench The Successors The Sticking Stench The Stinking Circus 1 The Stinking Circus 2 The Second Smelly Lab Arial Stench Age of the Death Stench Special Additions The Sad Tale of the Principal Post The Enigma of the Amigara Fault	The second Gyo book contains my least favourite two episodes; Tadashi's search for the mechanized gas producing animated corpse of his girlfriend takes him to a circus where an over-the-top ringmaster provides some useless exposition into the origins and nature of the gas being produced by the machines/organisms. After that things improve, and the story does seem to take on an interesting allegorical edge before ending in one of Junji Ito's typically brutal and affecting melancholy endings. Two extra short stories are included at the back, and while The Sad Story of the Founding Pillar just makes for filler, the final story is excellent. In The Enigma of the Amigara Fault, an earthquake uncovers a bizarre face of rock in the mountains with human-shaped holes burrowed into the surface. People, having seen these holes on TV, hike into the mountains and recognize that the shapes in the cliff match their own sillouettes; one by one, succumbing to a feeling of existential helplessness, they strip off their clothes and voluntarily entomb themselves. An excellent short story. [4 reviews]
	Gyo Volume 1	Death Stench of the South Seas The Drifting Smell of Death A Frightening Landing Invasion of the Sharks The Flight Home The Stealthy Stink of Death The Will Infection Invasion of the Death Stench Invasion of the Death Stench 2	English edition, published August 2003. A glowing review has been posted at TheFourthRail.com. [6 reviews]
	Uzumaki Volume 3		English edition. See description of Japanese Uzumaki. [8 reviews]
	Uzumaki Volume 2		English edition. See description of Japanese Uzumaki. [4 reviews]
	Uzumaki Volume 1		English edition. See description of Japanese Uzumaki. [13 reviews]
	Flesh Colored Horror		English edition. See description of Japanese Flesh Colored Horror. [3 reviews]
	Tomie 1		English edition. See description of Japanese Tomie 1. [11 reviews]