We be bloggin'

Welcome in! Today for Otakutober 2023 is our day of appreciation for the legendary Junji Ito. His art has been widely known throughout the anime/manga world as one of the most sinister of artwork. Although his art is disturbing it’s a mastery of the macabre. Without further ado, below I, Star, will showcase the man, the myth, the legend.

Junji’s work stretches from short stories, and novels to unrelated pieces and animated shorts.

In short stories and novels you’ll find chilling stories with the wild twists. His style of drawing is a sketch like form with intricate designs and interesting choice shading. His themes seem to be taking the human form and morphing features, like an eye, a mouth, a body, a head, into something unexpected. Like a balloon, a slug, a swirling ebyss or shedding faces.

On Netflix, you’ll find his animated series of his shorts. In Junji Ito’s Collection (2018) and Japansese Tales of the Macabre (2023). The first animation has some troubling reviews about the anime cutting corners with frozen images. The second animation covers 20 stories and from what I can tell it’s a fully animated retelling of his works.

Because he is something of a Horror genius may other artists have done fanart of his works either redrawing a piece he’s done or just straight fanart of his characters and stories. It’s honestly very humbling to see artists supporting other artists and he does the same showing off collaborations with other artists.

In short, you can find his works on Amazon and Target. You’ll see fully colored pieces as well as sketches and coloring book options.

So there you have it! A very short and sweet blog of his works. There’s many famous stories and characters that I’m sure any avid weeb may recognize even because there’s something so alluring about his art that sticks with you. His work is certainly not for the faintest of heart.

AishiteLOVEru~

Star