Venus in the Blind Spot (Junji Ito Book 0)

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I like it when these collections feature the same characters in different stories - Ito does this often - but I wanted more with the female author and felt like her story just ... ended. The other stories are mostly ok but either not long enough or not particularly memorable. The titular story for me was one of the weakest ones, but The Sad Tale of the Principal Post was especially dumb and pointless. Venus in the Blind Spot- 5 stars This story was perfect. It has the allure of being a creepy a UFO story, but it is much more sinister than a simple UFO. This is a story that I barely want to explain because even talking too much about it would give away its brilliance. What a parable about the perils of gathering in groups! ( And the gruesome lengths to which a murderous vigilante group will go to enforce social distancing, if we wanna take a 2020 lens to the whole shebang 😅) Nov 20 From the U.S. to Japan, You Can Control the Life-Size Moving Gundam from the Comfort of Your Own Home More disturbing than creepy I think... although the more I consider the story the creepier it becomes.

Of course the conclusion is more terrarian than otherworldly and the story suggests Mariko's Venusian looks, whether visible or not, drive men to madness. Her experience has more than a casual similarity to idol culture and its most fervent fans. The club members grow violent in their self-proclaimed right to possess Mariko while her father's actions remove her agency from the story further. She is never given the opportunity to decide for herself what she wants romantically and meets a sorrowful end due to the club's own misogyny.

This one starts off with a bang: a baby has been discovered within the grave of young master Toyoji’s first wife—a woman who has been dead for nine months. In the time since her death, Toyoji has taken his mistress as his wife and welcomed their first child. Billions Alone” is about this serial killer (girl) who sends messages out about how important it is for people to "get together" and not self isolate too much, then kills people and sews them together. Successfully creepy. As with every Ito story, all is not as it seems! However, the twist to this one was surprisingly feeble. Colour me unimpressed. :(

Hi, this is my first time reading Junji Ito and experiencing his horror manga and I am a fan. Like why did I think his stuff would be so disgusting and traumatizing that I couldn’t read it. Well, I won’t lie the opening story in the horror manga collection will leave some readers traumatized. Think Sally from the Hotel season of American Horror Story when she sews her two lovers to her body because she loves them so much and they die. Yea, the first story is like that but more intense, so if you think that will make you throw up then maybe skip this collection or Junji Ito altogether. I, however, totally am hyped by this new discovery and I’m obsessed. I loved it. The experience was visceral and now I will break down my thoughts on all of the stories. You might not comprehend it right away, but if you think about it, you might be able to figure out what Ito is trying to say. Interesting. After reading this, I'm relieved that I can enjoy my own company and don't require outside entertainment on a regular basis. The Enigma of Amigara Fault” is maybe the best, a fan fave? About an earthquake that causes a fault, where we see the outlines of cutouts of human figures, and people are drawn to see it, and then are drawn to fit in these holes. Just weird.Venus In The Blind Spot: The titular tale. What would you do if you couldn’t see the person you love up close but only from a distance? Could it be the work of aliens or something more human…? A terrifying collection of Japanese stories. These graphic novel short stories are all classics in Japan; and I can definitely see why.

Venus in the Blind Spot is described as a 'best of' collection, featuring 'the most remarkable short works of Junji Ito's career'. Standouts from the book are 'An Unearthly Love' (unpredictable and tense), 'How Love Came to Professor Kirida' (incredibly entertaining) and the classic 'The Enigma of Amigara Fault' (disturbing as hell). However, I found the selection here less compelling than the previous collection Shiver (which incidentally is also described as a best of!) and the complete Tomie. Master Umezz and Me” is an homage to Manga-ka Kazuo Umezz, of the Drifting Classroom fame, an inspiration for Ito. Translation & Adaptation: Jocelyne Allen and Yuji Oniki (“The Enigma of Amigara Fault” and “The Sad Tale of the Principal Post”)The opening scene of 'Keepsake' depicts a macabre discovery: a baby found in a tomb, seemingly born to a dead woman. The birth is declared legitimate, but the father, Toyoji, has already remarried and had another child with his former mistress. Honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed by this. Sure, it's macabre, but it's also a bit messy with all the different elements: baby born to corpse, people rising from the dead, very creepy kid, conspiracy to murder... For me, it made a weak closing story. His second adaptation of Ranpo's oeuvre is less effective, focusing on the new wife in the Kadono clan, Kyoko. Through an arranged marriage, Kyoko is married to the slight and handsome Kadono. He by all appearances (and words) loves her dearly, yet for unknown reasons sneaks into a storeroom every night. His health appears to be waning and Kyoko, suspecting an affair, follows him on one of his outings where she learns that the object of his affections is an immaculate doll. Th-this looks like the principal post… If you move it just to rescue me, the entire house might fall over. I've read a lot of Junji Ito's work at this point, and it's generally a bit hit or miss for me, but thankfully, this was a huge hit. I absolutely loved this collection and can easily say it's one of my favorites of his works. It spans a grouping of short stories, some written by other authors, and altogether, while they certainly don't fit a theme or anything, they work well together and were almost all extremely well-done. There was one story I wasn't a big fan of near the end, and then I think it's worth mentioning that the collection involves 'The Enigma of Amigara Fault', which may disappoint some long-time lovers of his work as it's featured in at least one of his other collections (thankfully, it happens to be one of my all-time faves, so I was delighted to read it again).

I feel like this was missing a critical piece but of something. Yet I can’t quite figure out what that might be... This one took me by surprise because it wasn’t so much a horror story as it was an autobiographical snippet about Ito’s experiences growing up with the work of Kazuo Umezu, a popular Japanese horror manga author, musician, and actor. When Ito grows up, he gets a chance to work with his idol. Mariko Shono is a UFO fanatic who quite literally disappears from view—but only the views of certain men in her life. The collection’s eponymous story describes how the lovely Mariko is as beautiful as the Venusian that George Adamski, renowned ufologist (can’t believe I just typed that word), claimed to have conversed with. Keepsake: This was by far the most disturbing tale. A corpse of a woman is found to have given birth to a fully alive baby. How could this be so!?This one’s based on the English-language story “How Love Came to Professor Guildea” by Robert Hichens. Obsessive love abounds once again; this time, though, we witness one woman pining after Professor Kirida and another lusting after Father Murchison, a white preacher that Kirida has recruited to teach him about Christianity. Master Umezz and Me- 2 stars I didn’t care for the art in this one and I wasn’t a fan of the story. It was a biographical reflection on Juji Ito’s love for the writer Umezz and I appreciated the story, but the art was not good. No word of a lie I am shaking after reading this one. If you are claustrophobic in any way at all this story is an absolute nightmare. Three years later, the corpse baby—Manjuro—has grown into a creepy toddler with bulging eyes and shrunken lips when the circumstances of his strange birth finally come to light. Billions Alone… This was my favourite of the "new-to-me" stories in the collection. It one felt so timely, warning against the dangers of social gatherings and rewarding those who choose to self isolate.