Netflix’s new anime is just a taste of Junji Ito’s terrifying stories
Part of what makes Junji Ito’s work so terrifying is how it sticks with you. The mind behind iconic horror manga like Tomie and Uzumaki takes an idea — whether it’s a schoolgirl who can’t die or a small town obsessed with spirals — and steadily pushes the concept as far it can go, usually toward some kind of disturbing body horror that forces you to look away. Before you know it, the idea has lodged itself in your brain, his carefully crafted black-and-white images flashing even after you close the book.
The new Netflix anthology Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, which adapts a number of Ito’s stories into animated episodes, captures some of that terror. The ideas are still there, the horrifying imagination that can make...