Junji Ito is one of my absolute favorite writers at the moment. I first encountered his work via the short “The Enigma of Amigara Faults,” which is still one of my favorite short horror stories. I absolutely love the way he builds dread, how tight his short tales are while still delivering a great kick of terror, and the psychological elements he examines. “Amigara” in particular—perhaps because I don’t love tight spaces—really stuck with me, and over the years I’ve sought out more of his work.
I recently picked up Tombs, a collection of his short work. I blew through that in about a day, just enchanted by the variety of fear he’s capable of conjuring up in just a few pages. Of all the excellent stories included, my favorites were “Tombs,” “The Window Next Door,” “Washed Ashore,” and “The Bloody Story of Shirosuna.”
The following contains spoilers, so I’ve included it below the cutoff, because I wanted to dissect“Tombs” (the story) a bit to see if I could figure out its inner workings:
–SPOILERS BELOW–
Continue reading “Thoughts on Junji Ito’s TOMBS” →