I think you'll find that Uzumaki's ending is the exception, not the rule when it comes to Junji Ito. He is most well known for coming up with interesting concepts and twisting those concepts into the most terrifying things you can imagine. But once he feels like he has explored his idea enough, the story will (usually) just end. You should read one of his short story anthologies next!
An interesting note about Tomie: It's actually his first work as it was meant to be a bunch of short stories that just happened to have one central theme for a Manga Magazine. The ending probably felt like it wasn't as climatic was because it was never meant to. He was just trying to find ways to do character studies with her and that's why the thread was more interesting than the end as the ending was never the point. He took what he learned for Tomie and brought it into his other works and tried to push different aspects of his skills to each one. It's interesting that you felt like Uzimaki felt more disjointed as a lot of fans of Jinj Ito usually feel like Tomie is the second weakest work due to it being his first and they start off with *everything* else before going to Tomie, so they see the beginning flaws that he fixes in other works. I think Gyo was was his second work, and that one people think is the weakest as he was first doing environmental? But I could be wrong, but I know most people rank Gyo as the weakest of the work for various reasons.
I never knew Gyo was viewed as his weakest. Gyo was the first one that I have ever read, so I might be biased, but it was always one of my favorites. Plus the backup story at the end of the book is the Enigma of Amigara Fault, which is one of my FAVEOURITE short pieces of literature ever lmao
@@matthewnash8556 actually the people who see that short prefer the short over Gyo. This is mostly what I have seen of the people I have watched, and their tastes really differ on how they view the stories too I think. They still like the works, but they mostly look at the progression.
@@NecroCh Enigma of Amigara Fault is usually the most beloved, even when it's a short story. It's just something I've noticed people gravitate to more to the short stories than the longer one, but Uzimaki being the strongest of the longer stories, but they still prefer the short stories more.
I didn't enjoy Gyo much, I don't think it was bad, but I read it right after Uzumaki, so I noticed a drop in quality, now from Gyo what i really like was the bonus chapters at the end, I loved them both, one is short and the other one is long and I think those extra chapters are far superior in comparison to the main plot.
The issue with the Tomie story, is that it really is just a collection of short stories. Tomie is essentially a recurring character in Ito's numerous serialised stories (some of his best work can be found in these one off horror tales). Hence the finale is still a serialised single issue story with some call backs, and since this collection was made Ito has produced new Tomie stories. Btw my favourite Ito one shot is 'the town without streets', its like a non-apocalyptic Uzumaki with the 'curse' being a much more meta issue than an obvious one present in their world.
In the story about the fingers, they talk about how they weren't completely burnt; they were only partly burnt, which meant they could still regenerate. This is partly why one of them took longer to regenerate than the others. One was more burnt.
I think she's very focused on book reviews which is good but it doesnt work for a novel meant to inhabit what people tired of ABC plots like. Their supposed to feel unfulfilling sometimes or end abruptly and not have a bigger meaning like a cartoon special lol. Not that that means it's good. On paper her idea mixed into it would be a satisfying i gottcha for tomie but it would just be another horror series where heroes win. Like how US got the edited version of Speak No Evil to appeal to them. Vs the original ending. I feel US likes more structured storytelling and they are brought up (possibly) against very taboo stuff including just weird stories. Sadly it's also why other countries are getting the leg up as they are giving people more unique stuff when people are looking for something different than feel good entertainment. Still she did a great review and i agree with her. great reasoning. Jinjo is not a 10/10 author he's a dentist or something and people like him for following his dream and being weird art wise and not cause he writes the best. Wish fans told others that more. His writing is hit and miss but he's fun.
I once again recommend Naoki Urasawa's work if you like psychological thrillers and mysteries. Monster is probably his best But 20th Century Boys is also a strong choice !
I agree they're some of the best stories I've ever read and have amazing characters, plus some humor, so I think they're a perfect fit for merphy's tastes
im one of the rare people that felt Urasawa nailed the finale. I also disagree with a lot of folk when I say I like the filler and the non sequitors to monster because it really proved that these are all organic characters that are connected even if in a mondane way and most importantly, its the art of a short story that can be self contained. Not enough writers I think have that skill.
I recommend you read Monster by Naoki Urasawa, it's phenomenonal psychological thriller manga. The author has an interesting way of connecting different themes and storylines within it to create a beautiful ending. Also main villain is regarded as one of the best in any story in general.
I was really blown away by Monster, because originally I only picked it up cause I read that it starts out in my hometown. And to this day the manga and anime are in my personal top 5.
She should definitely read it, but I think 20th century boys would be better as her first urasawa story since she's mentioned she likes humor in stories, and 20cb is more lighthearted at points
Any Naoki Urasawa manga is phenomenal, Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto all of them are worthy of the title of being called masterpiece. I'd go as far as to say Naoki Urasawa is arguably the greatest mangaka of all time.
The story's of Tomie have consistent themes of how woman are treated by people. Not just men but women, it's more evident in the first story where after getting attacked by a male student, female student defends him and justifies his actions. I like to say that Tomie is just a story but the story view on people's visceral reactions to beautiful young women is very true to life. The themes of victim blaming is just poignant. It reminds me of britney spears on how people simultaneously adored her for her pop star image and abhorred her for those same qualities.
I don't think that's true to life. Social media maybe but that's not real life. The people in contact with Tomie are influenced by her mysterious power. They totally don't act like real people. No girl would just agree to carry a body part to throw away and forget about it. Not to mention a whole class of 40+ people and no one freaked out? Lol
What I really like about this story is how it explores how beautiful women are striped of humanity; seen only as commodities that inspire strong emotions in others that are then blamed on them even when unrelated.
@@dissidentcrusher well perhaps they shouldn’t. However, his only intent was to create a horror story and Tomie is in no way a sympathetic character and ito makes no attempt to humanize her. She’s a pure monster. So the op is talking out her ass.
Tomie just kept getting more beautiful throughout the manga that each chapter i was excited to reach the next chapter to see how in the world can this mangaka draw her more beautiful and i was not disappointed each time.
TOMIE ENDING SPOILERS: As many have said, it's a collection of short stories that feature the character Tomie so there will probably never be a definitive 'ending', having said that, there are apparently some new chapters brought out since the release of that collection you have, and a cameo. Also, as far as I can tell with the 'certain chapter', her fingers weren't 'completely carbonized' (per the wiki) and so they were still able to regenerate. Very happy seeing you continue the Ito journey and looking forward to hearing which of his short stories are your favourite!
"There didnt feel like a climax" I mean, with a story of an immortal being forever killing her clones to be "The Highlander", i feel like there can't be a climax because she just persists. There is no climax with immortality, it just keeps going
I honestly think the ending she thought was gonna happen would’ve been satisfying having one Tomie that turns old wanting to be the youthful fem fatale again would’ve connected the previous stories together nicely
Tomie really is pitiful. You really end up feeling bad for her in certain chapters because she doesn't want to be this. She can't help but expand. She can't help that men want to kill her. How many times do you have to be brutally murdered and threatened by another version of yourself before you just lose it?
i think i can answer some of your questions, though probably in a very unsatisfying way (loved hearing your take on this by the way, Tomie is close to my heart ❤and i never noticed that thing with the photographs!) 1. Uzumaki was a single story written for a single publisher, released as one work in three volumes i think, so it was Ito trying to fit his usual short-comic-strip form of writing into an overarching plot with development and all that, which is why he had to tie it all together at the end. However, you can see that he really doesn't wanna let go of his usual story length (standard for serialized manga), which is why it can start to feel repetitive and all over the place, before building up to a finale. 2. the Tomie book you have, on the other hand, is an anthology of comic strips ranging from the 80s to contemporary times, and NOT a single project that Ito had in mind - it's just something put together by the publisher. (i.e. it's not a "novel" with "chapters"). The first Tomie story was the one that launched his career, so it is wonderful, as you said, to see how he develops as an illustrator and story-teller using the same character and story idea over and over again. The way people originally read these stories was spaced out over many years, and I think it's unlikely Ito had an idea that he was creating a Tomie-verse that would have an overarching narrative. probably sometimes his publishers told him, "hey, sales are flagging, let's have another Tomie story," and he'd say "ok", and other times he'd have a stroke of inspiration to return to her. I think that explains why there are inconsistencies in the "Tomie lore" and why there's no climax or conclusion, and i totally see why you would be expecting one after reading Uzumaki first. the good side to this is that, while Uzumaki is a finished work, the Tomie series is unended, and who's to say she won't keep reappearing and regenerating now and again in new stories to lure in fans like us as long as Ito Sensei keeps drawing and writing! hope that helps! i think Ito is much better at writing short stories than novel-length ones, but if you want that kind of long-form narrative development then i think he achieves it best in Gyo! it's also just great, plz read it! 🐟❤
Yeah i think she has trouble coming from a book reader. She wants that satisfying western big buget movie ending that leaves you happy and closes all ends. Jinjo is popular not cause he follows that trend and does it well but the opposite. Its why i get annoyed when people say so and so popular thing iss overrated. Usually it's just a popular thing that's not for them. People forget that the world has billions in it and only a fraction even read or watched the most popular stuff. In reality it's shocking we like anything together. With all our taste. We all likely just gathered on one opinion or something. Lol.
At this point Nothing will surprise me on Murphy channel as she clearly showed range, understanding, appreciation and patience for great art as well as she can enjoy fun. If she reads Faulkner, Joyce, Shakespeare or Woolf next year I shall not utter Surprised Pikachu face!
I would love to hear Merphy comment upon Shakespeare's plays! I think she would be excited to realize they are never what we'd expect from a tragedy or a comedy... , but a mix of both - really complex, food for thought... And she may also be very angry with some characters lol - but she just needs to get used to the language. (Please don't read adaptations, Merph!)
Junji Ito serialized Tomie in Monthly Holloween (a horror manga magazine aimed at girls) from 1987-1995, released some one shots, and started a second series in 1999 to coincide with a movie adaptation. It was the work that made his name at age 24 and at age 37 it was pretty much a horror movie franchise in Japan. I imagine editors kept asking him to make Tomie stories well after he lost interest but the money was too good to walk away from. That is not to say later Tomie is bad, he just went from telling Tomie's story to telling stories with Tomie in them.
18:00 that was a very small fire and bone needs a lot of heat to burn to ash. It’s very likely especially given the language of the 4 Tomie’s that the fire didn’t burn all of it and far from it.
yea, that and the guy who got all burnt up and was injecting babies with Tomie's blood at one point states that you must cremate her to permanently "kill" her or atleast prevent her healing factor from kicking in
It's short, but Junji Ito's "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" is probably his scariest story. You may want to give "Gyo" a pass, unless the phrase "Haunted Fish Fart Apocalypse" sounds appealing.
My favorite Tomie chapter, and perhaps the one that meant the most from a thematic standpoint, was the step mom chapter with left the "ugly" son trying to explain true beauty to her before realizing its a worthless effort.
When i first heard how the story of tomie goes, it reminded me of those people who kills babies or animals just because they're too obsessed with their cuteness. I think this is similar to the case of tomie. btw i recommend reading junji ito's other longer stories like gyo, remina, dissolving classroom, sensor, no longer human, frankenstein, and lovesickness.
It's not a happy story- or a horror manga- but you should also consider reading Oyasumi Punpun. It's a story that follows the life of a boy from childhood to adulthood, where the protagonist is stylistically represented as a caricature (usually a bird) in a world where everyone around him is drawn normally. Apparently the story is semi-autobiographical and the author drew the protagonist that way to put some emotional distance between himself and the situations/heavy themes the story deals with since they are personal to him. The art is beautiful and employs surrealism in its visuals a lot despite telling a very grounded story. Also it's fully released which is always great. All that being said I would not recommend reading this to anyone who isn't in a place for an emotionally draining story, friendly reminder to take care of your mental health y'all ✿
there is a old Tomie in one One-shot named Souichi Possesed, Souichi is another character of Ito, who is recurrent in many stories, there you can see Souichi talking with a very old lady, he says that she told him she was Tomie, in the end you see the brother of Souichi talking with a young lady about his brother and the old lady... Souichi's brother was talking with a young Tomie.
Honestly I always thought the theme of this story was being unsatisfied, despite tomies desire to be the most beautiful there are always other tomies, despite how madly the men would fall for her it was never fulfilled, despite how many times she was killed she could not be stopped, their is no real ending because there is no answer to the question "what do we do about tomie?" She just is, regardless of everyone else, even tomie herself.
Tomie is really fascinating. I just finished it and it doesn't feel like a horror to me but more of a mystery. Idk if she's actually evil. The further I read, the more I feel like she doesn't have control over her impulses and instinct. At her mature stage in her life cycle, she will intoxicate people so that she'd get chopped up and multiply. She hates that process when it happens, but she can't help herself. It's a metamorphic life cycle that she simply go through as a creature. She does enjoy ruining people's lives though. But that could also be part of the programming to raise the chance of her getting chopped up. Cool story. Edit: I kinda disagree that she "lose her humanity" over time. I don't think she ever had any humanity. I don't think she became more evil either. I feel she's the same from start to finish. Edit 2: it's interesting that there seems to be a generation concept of Tomies where only the ones from different generations want to kill each other, but the ones grown from the same group of body parts don't. Like in the water fall story or the fingers, they don't hate each other. Doesn't apply to the blood injection ones though.
For me some of the best works of Junji Ito’re hidden in short stories. I would especially recommend to look up “Long dream” and “The enigma of Amigara falls”.
Tomie is a collection of short stories rather than a continuous narrative, though all stories involve Tomie in some way. From what I know Ito intended on doing more Tomie stories but the series has been on hiatus for a while.
Reading Junji Ito's works reminds me of the feeling of reading Du Maurier's books as well as Case Closed. It's immersive and addicting despite the genre wasn't a cup of my tea.
Spoilers: I agree with everything you said. I just finished reading Tomie, and I loved it, but the end felt lackluster and anticlimactic to me. I was expecting it to reveal there were now more Tomie's than the earth's human population. As the stories progressed, we saw Tomie in so many different locations (for example, in the "Revenge" chapter the mountain seems to be outside of Japan) that I assumed it would finish with the implication the world was doomed. In a way it sort of did, but without being straightforward or explicit?
If you want more horror manga I would recommend Happiness, Flower of Evil or Blood on the tracks by the author Shuzo Oshimi. It's more psychological horror but definitely worth it.
I preferred Uzumaki over Tommie. The end of Tommie was a bit anticlimactic for me. As for the fingers chapter, what I understood from it is that burning her doesn’t kill her but makes her re-grow with a ugly face. But I might be wrong…
I think for the one part that she regenerate herself on the ugly brother is still logical. She want to be loved like you say but she hate herself, so when she want to die the fire will consume her but in this instance she's so obsessive over him that it surpass the hatred she has for herself and live for the obsession that overcome her dying wish. At least that's what i understand form it. Love your video murphy ❤️
Idk how comment notifications work for creators, but I’m watching ur Peter Pan video rn and my body is- SO EXCITED. I’m in the beginning stages of loving it, I just finished reading it for the first time and now am doing research!!!
Gyo next! It's a lot more on the weird and kinda gross end, but it has one of the best of his stand alone stories in between some chapters. And then you'll have his collections to work through
The new Sensors book is very unique even for Ito. Remina is probably my favorites. Gyo is a little silly but has enough going on to make the ending interesting.
Another's great Junji Ito work. I'm so glad that you finally gave manga a chance after One Piece there are so many great work of fiction in the manga segment!
I've read 3 of Ito's works so far. Uzumaki, Tomie and Gyo (with Ito's retelling of Frankenstein being next on my list). And I would rank them in that order with Uzimaki being the best due to how Ito managed to tied everything together in the end. And Gyo being the worst since it felt more like a horror comedy which ain't my cup of tea. I love Tomie because of that's were Ito's character work got to shine.
1:25 just have to leave a note here. Obsession whit Spirales just constantly reminds me of Gurren Lagann an Anime whos Powersystem is literaly Spirals. And there is no deeper Connection between these two, but I just find it hillarious.
I kinda wish someone would get her to read "Holyland" by Mouri Kouji. I consider it a masterpiece, but I can never describe why. It's about street fighting, but it's so much more than that. It's about a lost kid that wants to feel at home somewhere, but it's still so much more than that. I consider it a masterpiece, and I know I'm not alone in that, I've seen a lot of people share my opinion, but In a way I don't even know why. It's just sort of magical. Idk. I'd love Merphy's opinion on it.
Ito Junji, most of his works are just short stories put together, when they come to the west they put them together in one book, it was a different time back then in the 1970s and 80s. Whenever these type of stories could do good and get Big. Also his first Original work was Tomie.
To be honest, I did enjoy the "episodic" aspect of the story. I'm usually happy with individual short stories that are self-contained, and I don't need a bigger narrative to enjoy a book. However it seems that this one falls in between Ito's usual short stories and his rarer "longer" narrative, so you could either see it as a strength or a weakness...
reading tomie, it felt more like she was a force of nature, like the spiral, unlike a real human being. yes, she is a character and does interact with other characters, but i feel like her entire presence is just a force, that can regenerate to multiple versions of herself. she is a force of nature causing chaos all around her, and there's no stopping to it.
Her self absorbed nature and being the "prettiest" I think is what drives her to kill the other Tomies, because you can't be the prettiest when there's so many of you.
My understanding was that she kills the other Tomies because they shatter her false reality that she is not the monster people claim she is. because when she sees them, shes reminded that she is that monster.
Since you are diving into what Manga has to offer in the horror genre. I highly recommend checking out Homunculus by Hideo Yamamoto. It has beautiful and unsettling art, really compelling story and great themes. It is messed up but obviously in a very intentional way. There are even many video essays on TH-cam really dissecting all the themes in it so I feel you would enjoy that aspect.
I've not read this story, but I wonder if the burning only works if its by her command? maybe the ugly brothers fire didn't work because she wasn't willing it to.
Ohhh sounds spooky. I wanna read his stuff but at same time the art kinda grosses me out with how wild it is. Nice to listen to your reviews, that way I van still some of the story from the review/summary
You nailed exactly why I think uzumaki is far superior to Tomie. Those were also my two first junji ito books and I was also expecting a lot more out of tomie’s ending after reading uzumaki.
23:00 I think, as it was established before that all Tomies share their memories (not only passing them from Tomie to Tomie via her prolification), that the experience of aging and losing her youth would transfer over to all Tomies, breaking the curse. Of course thats quite too technical to suit a storytelling thats so thematic, but i guess it works well both ways, in all Tomies being one.
I just got the Tomie manga like your one for Xmas haha I actually like it it’s different from what manga I usually read which is usually the mainstream manga
I've a theory about the whole "why didnt burning the fingers stop her from regenerating" deal. The fundamental fear that the entire Tomie story works on is powerlessness. Junji Ito established a hope in both the characters and readers that there was a way to defeat Tomie. By having her regenerate from ashes, he ripped away that lifeline and forced everyone reading the story to confront their (the protagonist's) powerlessness. I think he did that to establish a long shot hope that could be smashed. He wanted people to feel powerless against a force of nature far bigger than any human's ability to cope.
Loving these reviews for manga that aren't One Piece! Your taste and interests are often different from mine. As a result, the manga you choose are also so different from mine. It's introducing me to interesting new things things! Keep it up!
I always felt that as evil as Tomie is, she is ultimately the victim of a hell like existence. She lacks self control. She has no awareness. She was designed to be this way, and no matter what she does, no matter what position she is in, those around her and slowly but surely going to be consumed to the point of murdering her. She will heal, form a new persona and repeat. It is almost a story about the curse of what it is like to be a pretty woman in this world. Men often try to be nice, act from kindness, but the darkness underneath boils and bubbles until horrific vioence is unleashed. Its such a left field yet genius concept. And yet Ito gets us to almost cheer for her downfall. Again and again. There is a catharsis for watching her get her just dessert sometimes. my three favorite stories are the first (just good paranormal horror) the story about the three siblings and the sister who cements her in place so she will be forced to grow old, and the last the story about the old couple who adopt her.
I think with the fingers burning, is that the fleshed burned, but not the bones and that they were in the ashes. I think that the fire has to be to destroy the bones too, but I could be absolutely, totally wrong, but that's what I think about that bit in the short stories.
If there is any of junji ito's stories that I can recommend that you have not gotten into yet i would recommend remina. I think it has one of the strongest stsrts of all of itos work Also if you ever want just a psychologically horrific but amazing short story check of long dream
You should check out the live action Tomie movies. They're not "good" mind you, but I did find them interesting. The movies made me feel like she was a far more sympathetic character and I was GREATLY disappointed in the fourth movie when they had a great chance to go that route but chose to make her more of a monster in that one.
Although I like Tomie very much I`d say that I liked Uzumaki a little more. I mean yeah, some of the middle parts were a little lame or at least parts where you asked yourself...how does this still belong and connect to the story? At parts it felt like multiple short stories with the same characters in the same town. But in the end I think you can see the connections more and more. Although I had enough of the snails after two or three chapters...but well. It had some very interesting and multi-faceted ideas. Like e.g. with the umbilical cord or this loving couple that twists together as a kind of snail. And that`s what I missed a bit in Tomie...and although Uzumaki can feel out of touch at some point, I think it has more of a connection altogether than Tomie. With Tomie I felt more like it is a collection of short stories centering around this girl. Some characters appeared in more than one chapter, yes. But most of them were written of after max. 3 chapters. I can absolutely understand why. I guess if the whole story was centered around only one area, like in Uzumaki, it would not be as good as it is, because then I guess it would still rush into boredom. And to come back to one of my first points...I would not say that Tomie wasn`t as creative as Uzumaki. But still every chapter had kind of the same topic. Tomie seduces one or more guys, maybe gets into discussions and confrontations with girls, gets killed by the boy, then is reborn again out of her detached body parts, organs, blood cells etc... All in all every story was structured like that. Only the places, circumstances and characters changed. And although I love Junji Ito`s work...character development is not really his thing. Besides Tomie every character in this book is just for the purpose of having a person who collides with Tomie, the beautiful succubus. They even all react kind of the same towards Tomie. And yeah, that is the point of the story. But I think Uzumaki managed that a little better. The characters in these story are also not really well-developed. None of them really changed for the better. But it doesn`t really matter that much bc in the end they are dying anyway. To make a long story short, it just impresses me how Ito can even create a great horror story out of just a shape. That is truly brilliant and the stories he tells are innovative and creative as well. Tomie is also very cool. But I think her stories are just not as innovative and creative. Not even her as just a person. Succubi are nothing new. Rebirth is also nothing new. He still creates a great story around her, but Uzumaki shows how creative and terrifying Ito really can be imo
SPOILERS . I think the rule isn’t burning is the final death, I think it’s burning delays the regrowth until the ashes get planted? That’s the only way I could accept it lol IE so theoretically if any of the other Tomie’s had been planted they would have regrown too
I don't even know what I would want the ending to be. It's such a vast and complicated story and each story is a different Tomie that I'm unclear on how you would bring that all together. Best I could think would be every living Tomie left alive meets and they either just swap stories or it's a battle to the death for the one true Tomie. Or Tomie divides so much that there are enough Tomies to control the entire population of men and they all die for her and the world becomes nothing but women and Tomie and Tomie is finally free to live her life without fear of murder.
I really recommend you all Shuzo Oshimi's works if you like Ito's works! Though they have different styles but I think in terms of the level of 'horror' Shuzo Oshimi does a better job( It's just my personal thoughts...I think Ito is better in making you uncomfortable while Oshimi's depiction of facial expressions is just God-tier).
I really really enjoyed watching this video please stay safe and enjoy your reading 📖 love your amazing channel love your number one Australia fan John
cant wait for u to read the manga Monster by Naoki Urasawa (i think i saw it on ur TBR) bc i feel like u would LOVE it and have such interesting thoughts on it
I've been a silent audience on your channel for a year now and I love that you're now into manga so I will recommend reading "A Trail of Blood/Blood on Tracks" I REALLY WANNA PUT SOME SMALL DESCRIPTION HERE OR A SYNOPSIS BUT I WOULD LOVE YOU TO GET INTO THIS MANGA WITHOUT KNOWING MUCH If you have the will please do read this, people loves this and I can assure that 😁 Edit: also this manga is called "the manga that breaks people or hearts"
I think you'll find that Uzumaki's ending is the exception, not the rule when it comes to Junji Ito. He is most well known for coming up with interesting concepts and twisting those concepts into the most terrifying things you can imagine. But once he feels like he has explored his idea enough, the story will (usually) just end. You should read one of his short story anthologies next!
Yes!!
Also Uzumaki was written as one long story and Tomie was a collection of short stories released from 1987 - 2000
An interesting note about Tomie: It's actually his first work as it was meant to be a bunch of short stories that just happened to have one central theme for a Manga Magazine. The ending probably felt like it wasn't as climatic was because it was never meant to. He was just trying to find ways to do character studies with her and that's why the thread was more interesting than the end as the ending was never the point. He took what he learned for Tomie and brought it into his other works and tried to push different aspects of his skills to each one. It's interesting that you felt like Uzimaki felt more disjointed as a lot of fans of Jinj Ito usually feel like Tomie is the second weakest work due to it being his first and they start off with *everything* else before going to Tomie, so they see the beginning flaws that he fixes in other works. I think Gyo was was his second work, and that one people think is the weakest as he was first doing environmental? But I could be wrong, but I know most people rank Gyo as the weakest of the work for various reasons.
I never knew Gyo was viewed as his weakest. Gyo was the first one that I have ever read, so I might be biased, but it was always one of my favorites. Plus the backup story at the end of the book is the Enigma of Amigara Fault, which is one of my FAVEOURITE short pieces of literature ever lmao
@@matthewnash8556 actually the people who see that short prefer the short over Gyo. This is mostly what I have seen of the people I have watched, and their tastes really differ on how they view the stories too I think. They still like the works, but they mostly look at the progression.
Gyo was the first story that I read from Ito, I didnt knew it was his weakest.
What is considered Ito best story?
@@NecroCh Enigma of Amigara Fault is usually the most beloved, even when it's a short story. It's just something I've noticed people gravitate to more to the short stories than the longer one, but Uzimaki being the strongest of the longer stories, but they still prefer the short stories more.
I didn't enjoy Gyo much, I don't think it was bad, but I read it right after Uzumaki, so I noticed a drop in quality, now from Gyo what i really like was the bonus chapters at the end, I loved them both, one is short and the other one is long and I think those extra chapters are far superior in comparison to the main plot.
The issue with the Tomie story, is that it really is just a collection of short stories. Tomie is essentially a recurring character in Ito's numerous serialised stories (some of his best work can be found in these one off horror tales). Hence the finale is still a serialised single issue story with some call backs, and since this collection was made Ito has produced new Tomie stories.
Btw my favourite Ito one shot is 'the town without streets', its like a non-apocalyptic Uzumaki with the 'curse' being a much more meta issue than an obvious one present in their world.
In the story about the fingers, they talk about how they weren't completely burnt; they were only partly burnt, which meant they could still regenerate. This is partly why one of them took longer to regenerate than the others. One was more burnt.
I think she's very focused on book reviews which is good but it doesnt work for a novel meant to inhabit what people tired of ABC plots like. Their supposed to feel unfulfilling sometimes or end abruptly and not have a bigger meaning like a cartoon special lol. Not that that means it's good. On paper her idea mixed into it would be a satisfying i gottcha for tomie but it would just be another horror series where heroes win. Like how US got the edited version of Speak No Evil to appeal to them. Vs the original ending. I feel US likes more structured storytelling and they are brought up (possibly) against very taboo stuff including just weird stories. Sadly it's also why other countries are getting the leg up as they are giving people more unique stuff when people are looking for something different than feel good entertainment. Still she did a great review and i agree with her. great reasoning. Jinjo is not a 10/10 author he's a dentist or something and people like him for following his dream and being weird art wise and not cause he writes the best. Wish fans told others that more. His writing is hit and miss but he's fun.
' In one photo, there was no Tomie and no monster, but...
...There was a sad looking woman, standing alone. '
my fave line in the series
I once again recommend Naoki Urasawa's work if you like psychological thrillers and mysteries.
Monster is probably his best
But 20th Century Boys is also a strong choice !
Indeed! 20th century boy and MONSTER was very hard to put down once I started them
I agree they're some of the best stories I've ever read and have amazing characters, plus some humor, so I think they're a perfect fit for merphy's tastes
I think Merphy has one volume of Monster, she unboxed that red big hard cover edition in an old vídeo so I hope she gets around to reading it.
They’re amazing
im one of the rare people that felt Urasawa nailed the finale. I also disagree with a lot of folk when I say I like the filler and the non sequitors to monster because it really proved that these are all organic characters that are connected even if in a mondane way and most importantly, its the art of a short story that can be self contained. Not enough writers I think have that skill.
I recommend you read Monster by Naoki Urasawa, it's phenomenonal psychological thriller manga. The author has an interesting way of connecting different themes and storylines within it to create a beautiful ending. Also main villain is regarded as one of the best in any story in general.
She needs to read it and also he has 20th Century Boys, Pluto and Billy Bat, three mangas which is as good in different ways.
I was really blown away by Monster, because originally I only picked it up cause I read that it starts out in my hometown. And to this day the manga and anime are in my personal top 5.
She should definitely read it, but I think 20th century boys would be better as her first urasawa story since she's mentioned she likes humor in stories, and 20cb is more lighthearted at points
It's one of my faves. I always read it every year.
Any Naoki Urasawa manga is phenomenal, Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto all of them are worthy of the title of being called masterpiece. I'd go as far as to say Naoki Urasawa is arguably the greatest mangaka of all time.
The story's of Tomie have consistent themes of how woman are treated by people. Not just men but women, it's more evident in the first story where after getting attacked by a male student, female student defends him and justifies his actions. I like to say that Tomie is just a story but the story view on people's visceral reactions to beautiful young women is very true to life. The themes of victim blaming is just poignant. It reminds me of britney spears on how people simultaneously adored her for her pop star image and abhorred her for those same qualities.
I don't think that's true to life. Social media maybe but that's not real life. The people in contact with Tomie are influenced by her mysterious power. They totally don't act like real people. No girl would just agree to carry a body part to throw away and forget about it. Not to mention a whole class of 40+ people and no one freaked out? Lol
What I really like about this story is how it explores how beautiful women are striped of humanity; seen only as commodities that inspire strong emotions in others that are then blamed on them even when unrelated.
Ok but that’s not what ito intended.
@@reginaldforthright805 Why should anyone care what he intended
@@dissidentcrusher well perhaps they shouldn’t. However, his only intent was to create a horror story and Tomie is in no way a sympathetic character and ito makes no attempt to humanize her. She’s a pure monster. So the op is talking out her ass.
@@reginaldforthright805 death of the author. this is basic media literacy dude
@@dissidentcrusher haha. Not at all, madame. Postmodernism is a discredited sham and irrelevant to any serious literary scholar.
Tomie just kept getting more beautiful throughout the manga that each chapter i was excited to reach the next chapter to see how in the world can this mangaka draw her more beautiful and i was not disappointed each time.
TOMIE ENDING SPOILERS:
As many have said, it's a collection of short stories that feature the character Tomie so there will probably never be a definitive 'ending', having said that, there are apparently some new chapters brought out since the release of that collection you have, and a cameo. Also, as far as I can tell with the 'certain chapter', her fingers weren't 'completely carbonized' (per the wiki) and so they were still able to regenerate.
Very happy seeing you continue the Ito journey and looking forward to hearing which of his short stories are your favourite!
"There didnt feel like a climax"
I mean, with a story of an immortal being forever killing her clones to be "The Highlander", i feel like there can't be a climax because she just persists. There is no climax with immortality, it just keeps going
I honestly think the ending she thought was gonna happen would’ve been satisfying having one Tomie that turns old wanting to be the youthful fem fatale again would’ve connected the previous stories together nicely
Tomie really is pitiful. You really end up feeling bad for her in certain chapters because she doesn't want to be this. She can't help but expand. She can't help that men want to kill her. How many times do you have to be brutally murdered and threatened by another version of yourself before you just lose it?
i think i can answer some of your questions, though probably in a very unsatisfying way (loved hearing your take on this by the way, Tomie is close to my heart ❤and i never noticed that thing with the photographs!)
1. Uzumaki was a single story written for a single publisher, released as one work in three volumes i think, so it was Ito trying to fit his usual short-comic-strip form of writing into an overarching plot with development and all that, which is why he had to tie it all together at the end. However, you can see that he really doesn't wanna let go of his usual story length (standard for serialized manga), which is why it can start to feel repetitive and all over the place, before building up to a finale.
2. the Tomie book you have, on the other hand, is an anthology of comic strips ranging from the 80s to contemporary times, and NOT a single project that Ito had in mind - it's just something put together by the publisher. (i.e. it's not a "novel" with "chapters"). The first Tomie story was the one that launched his career, so it is wonderful, as you said, to see how he develops as an illustrator and story-teller using the same character and story idea over and over again. The way people originally read these stories was spaced out over many years, and I think it's unlikely Ito had an idea that he was creating a Tomie-verse that would have an overarching narrative. probably sometimes his publishers told him, "hey, sales are flagging, let's have another Tomie story," and he'd say "ok", and other times he'd have a stroke of inspiration to return to her. I think that explains why there are inconsistencies in the "Tomie lore" and why there's no climax or conclusion, and i totally see why you would be expecting one after reading Uzumaki first. the good side to this is that, while Uzumaki is a finished work, the Tomie series is unended, and who's to say she won't keep reappearing and regenerating now and again in new stories to lure in fans like us as long as Ito Sensei keeps drawing and writing!
hope that helps! i think Ito is much better at writing short stories than novel-length ones, but if you want that kind of long-form narrative development then i think he achieves it best in Gyo! it's also just great, plz read it! 🐟❤
Yeah i think she has trouble coming from a book reader. She wants that satisfying western big buget movie ending that leaves you happy and closes all ends. Jinjo is popular not cause he follows that trend and does it well but the opposite. Its why i get annoyed when people say so and so popular thing iss overrated. Usually it's just a popular thing that's not for them. People forget that the world has billions in it and only a fraction even read or watched the most popular stuff. In reality it's shocking we like anything together. With all our taste. We all likely just gathered on one opinion or something. Lol.
At this point Nothing will surprise me on Murphy channel as she clearly showed range, understanding, appreciation and patience for great art as well as she can enjoy fun.
If she reads Faulkner, Joyce, Shakespeare or Woolf next year I shall not utter Surprised Pikachu face!
I would love to hear Merphy comment upon Shakespeare's plays!
I think she would be excited to realize they are never what we'd expect from a tragedy or a comedy... , but a mix of both - really complex, food for thought... And she may also be very angry with some characters lol - but she just needs to get used to the language. (Please don't read adaptations, Merph!)
Junji Ito serialized Tomie in Monthly Holloween (a horror manga magazine aimed at girls) from 1987-1995, released some one shots, and started a second series in 1999 to coincide with a movie adaptation. It was the work that made his name at age 24 and at age 37 it was pretty much a horror movie franchise in Japan. I imagine editors kept asking him to make Tomie stories well after he lost interest but the money was too good to walk away from. That is not to say later Tomie is bad, he just went from telling Tomie's story to telling stories with Tomie in them.
18:00 that was a very small fire and bone needs a lot of heat to burn to ash. It’s very likely especially given the language of the 4 Tomie’s that the fire didn’t burn all of it and far from it.
yea, that and the guy who got all burnt up and was injecting babies with Tomie's blood at one point states that you must cremate her to permanently "kill" her or atleast prevent her healing factor from kicking in
It's short, but Junji Ito's "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" is probably his scariest story. You may want to give "Gyo" a pass, unless the phrase "Haunted Fish Fart Apocalypse" sounds appealing.
I think his story ‘The Bully’ is the scariest because of how real it is. It’s horrific and unsettling in a different way.
Hard disagree about Gyo, even though I think it's his weakest 'long series', I think she still should read it.
@@GuiTheKratos yeah, still interesting story.
My favorite Tomie chapter, and perhaps the one that meant the most from a thematic standpoint, was the step mom chapter with left the "ugly" son trying to explain true beauty to her before realizing its a worthless effort.
When i first heard how the story of tomie goes, it reminded me of those people who kills babies or animals just because they're too obsessed with their cuteness. I think this is similar to the case of tomie.
btw i recommend reading junji ito's other longer stories like gyo, remina, dissolving classroom, sensor, no longer human, frankenstein, and lovesickness.
Yeeeeeees! I'm so happy that Merphy is embracing Manga so deeply 😊👌
It's not a happy story- or a horror manga- but you should also consider reading Oyasumi Punpun. It's a story that follows the life of a boy from childhood to adulthood, where the protagonist is stylistically represented as a caricature (usually a bird) in a world where everyone around him is drawn normally. Apparently the story is semi-autobiographical and the author drew the protagonist that way to put some emotional distance between himself and the situations/heavy themes the story deals with since they are personal to him. The art is beautiful and employs surrealism in its visuals a lot despite telling a very grounded story. Also it's fully released which is always great. All that being said I would not recommend reading this to anyone who isn't in a place for an emotionally draining story, friendly reminder to take care of your mental health y'all ✿
I got knocked out and depressed for a month after Punpun.
@@Unimportant I put the last chapter down at like 4am, ugly sobbed, then blankly stared at the ceiling until 6am.
Oyasumi PunPun is something else...
I'm pretty sure the ink the author used was made of crystalised depression...
There is no other explanation
I'm hearing about it now and again, but I'm afraid to try because I'm still on antidepressants even without it.
Merph doing consistent manga content? Yes please!
In tomie manga is like watching his art style improvement too :D
20th Century Boys plz!!....The mystery is amazing
I can't believe we just... created another cultured person LOL
I recommend Hellstar Remina by Junji Ito if you're still in the mood for his work! It involves intergalactic horror!
there is a old Tomie in one One-shot named Souichi Possesed, Souichi is another character of Ito, who is recurrent in many stories, there you can see Souichi talking with a very old lady, he says that she told him she was Tomie, in the end you see the brother of Souichi talking with a young lady about his brother and the old lady... Souichi's brother was talking with a young Tomie.
Honestly I always thought the theme of this story was being unsatisfied, despite tomies desire to be the most beautiful there are always other tomies, despite how madly the men would fall for her it was never fulfilled, despite how many times she was killed she could not be stopped, their is no real ending because there is no answer to the question "what do we do about tomie?" She just is, regardless of everyone else, even tomie herself.
Tomie is really fascinating. I just finished it and it doesn't feel like a horror to me but more of a mystery. Idk if she's actually evil. The further I read, the more I feel like she doesn't have control over her impulses and instinct. At her mature stage in her life cycle, she will intoxicate people so that she'd get chopped up and multiply. She hates that process when it happens, but she can't help herself. It's a metamorphic life cycle that she simply go through as a creature. She does enjoy ruining people's lives though. But that could also be part of the programming to raise the chance of her getting chopped up. Cool story.
Edit: I kinda disagree that she "lose her humanity" over time. I don't think she ever had any humanity. I don't think she became more evil either. I feel she's the same from start to finish.
Edit 2: it's interesting that there seems to be a generation concept of Tomies where only the ones from different generations want to kill each other, but the ones grown from the same group of body parts don't. Like in the water fall story or the fingers, they don't hate each other. Doesn't apply to the blood injection ones though.
I'm actually early for once. Will definitely check this this out. I need to get into more horror manga.
THiS IS BRILLIANT! Merphy-senpai just recommended a Manga I have never heard of....I'm so proud to be apart of the Grand Mer-Fleet ❤❤
For me some of the best works of Junji Ito’re hidden in short stories. I would especially recommend to look up “Long dream” and “The enigma of Amigara falls”.
Tomie was one of the earlier works of Junji, so maybe that's why he didn't quite manage to land the ending that well?
Tomie is a collection of short stories rather than a continuous narrative, though all stories involve Tomie in some way. From what I know Ito intended on doing more Tomie stories but the series has been on hiatus for a while.
Reading Junji Ito's works reminds me of the feeling of reading Du Maurier's books as well as Case Closed. It's immersive and addicting despite the genre wasn't a cup of my tea.
Spoilers:
I agree with everything you said. I just finished reading Tomie, and I loved it, but the end felt lackluster and anticlimactic to me. I was expecting it to reveal there were now more Tomie's than the earth's human population. As the stories progressed, we saw Tomie in so many different locations (for example, in the "Revenge" chapter the mountain seems to be outside of Japan) that I assumed it would finish with the implication the world was doomed. In a way it sort of did, but without being straightforward or explicit?
Glad you liked it! this is probably one of the few authors we have in common lol
If you want more horror manga I would recommend Happiness, Flower of Evil or Blood on the tracks by the author Shuzo Oshimi. It's more psychological horror but definitely worth it.
Not sure if she would like Flower of Evil, I couldn't make myself continue it from how awful all the characters were.
No rush but I would definitely love to hear ur opinions on a Berserk Review and Hellsing as well🔥💯
A shame Berserk will forever remain unfinished
Rest in Peace Miura...
Also, obsession is actually a theme that you could see in all of Junji Ito's works
(SPOILERRRR)
Wait the whole thing around 22:45 was a really great idea?? Like the whole thing about how everyone was Tomie
I preferred Uzumaki over Tommie. The end of Tommie was a bit anticlimactic for me.
As for the fingers chapter, what I understood from it is that burning her doesn’t kill her but makes her re-grow with a ugly face. But I might be wrong…
I think for the one part that she regenerate herself on the ugly brother is still logical.
She want to be loved like you say but she hate herself, so when she want to die the fire will consume her but in this instance she's so obsessive over him that it surpass the hatred she has for herself and live for the obsession that overcome her dying wish.
At least that's what i understand form it.
Love your video murphy ❤️
Idk how comment notifications work for creators, but I’m watching ur Peter Pan video rn and my body is- SO EXCITED. I’m in the beginning stages of loving it, I just finished reading it for the first time and now am doing research!!!
Gyo next! It's a lot more on the weird and kinda gross end, but it has one of the best of his stand alone stories in between some chapters.
And then you'll have his collections to work through
HIGHLY RECOMMEND MONSTER BY NAOKI URASAWA!!! Anything written by Urasawa is absolutely incredible and out of this world
I liked the Painting and the photograph chapters. I love it when Tommie monstrous true face is revealed.
The new Sensors book is very unique even for Ito. Remina is probably my favorites. Gyo is a little silly but has enough going on to make the ending interesting.
I never heard of this one, but I'm down for more Manga with Merph
Another's great Junji Ito work. I'm so glad that you finally gave manga a chance after One Piece there are so many great work of fiction in the manga segment!
she has read Death Note and FMA way before
@@rrcastillo9973 Really I didn't know that. Thanks for this information.
Both Uzumaki and Tomie are great picks. You should review Gyo next.
I'm excited for you to dive into his short stories as well
I've read 3 of Ito's works so far. Uzumaki, Tomie and Gyo (with Ito's retelling of Frankenstein being next on my list). And I would rank them in that order with Uzimaki being the best due to how Ito managed to tied everything together in the end. And Gyo being the worst since it felt more like a horror comedy which ain't my cup of tea. I love Tomie because of that's were Ito's character work got to shine.
no longer human the best one with uzumaki
Frankenstein is great! It's a bit more satisfying in some ways. Really great and brutal
Am i a bad person if i recommend "oyasumi pun pun" and "no longer human"????
Nope. Infact along with those two i want her to read Chi no wadachi ( when it gets completed) too. Those are actually really good mangas.
1:25 just have to leave a note here.
Obsession whit Spirales just constantly reminds me of Gurren Lagann an Anime whos Powersystem is literaly Spirals.
And there is no deeper Connection between these two, but I just find it hillarious.
Tomie got Highlander rules
Imagine a crossover between Tomie and the Dissolving series.
Check out Junji Ito's shorter works from early in the career. They're quite something.
I kinda wish someone would get her to read "Holyland" by Mouri Kouji. I consider it a masterpiece, but I can never describe why. It's about street fighting, but it's so much more than that. It's about a lost kid that wants to feel at home somewhere, but it's still so much more than that. I consider it a masterpiece, and I know I'm not alone in that, I've seen a lot of people share my opinion, but In a way I don't even know why. It's just sort of magical. Idk. I'd love Merphy's opinion on it.
Ito Junji, most of his works are just short stories put together, when they come to the west they put them together in one book, it was a different time back then in the 1970s and 80s. Whenever these type of stories could do good and get Big. Also his first Original work was Tomie.
To be honest, I did enjoy the "episodic" aspect of the story. I'm usually happy with individual short stories that are self-contained, and I don't need a bigger narrative to enjoy a book. However it seems that this one falls in between Ito's usual short stories and his rarer "longer" narrative, so you could either see it as a strength or a weakness...
Definitively prefer your ending than the actual one XD
reading tomie, it felt more like she was a force of nature, like the spiral, unlike a real human being. yes, she is a character and does interact with other characters, but i feel like her entire presence is just a force, that can regenerate to multiple versions of herself. she is a force of nature causing chaos all around her, and there's no stopping to it.
Her self absorbed nature and being the "prettiest" I think is what drives her to kill the other Tomies, because you can't be the prettiest when there's so many of you.
My understanding was that she kills the other Tomies because they shatter her false reality that she is not the monster people claim she is. because when she sees them, shes reminded that she is that monster.
Hellstar Remina is good as well. I didn't even know for the longest tomie was a manga. I watched a live series movie of it like 17 years ago
Since you are diving into what Manga has to offer in the horror genre. I highly recommend checking out Homunculus by Hideo Yamamoto. It has beautiful and unsettling art, really compelling story and great themes. It is messed up but obviously in a very intentional way. There are even many video essays on TH-cam really dissecting all the themes in it so I feel you would enjoy that aspect.
I've not read this story, but I wonder if the burning only works if its by her command? maybe the ugly brothers fire didn't work because she wasn't willing it to.
Ohhh sounds spooky. I wanna read his stuff but at same time the art kinda grosses me out with how wild it is. Nice to listen to your reviews, that way I van still some of the story from the review/summary
Try it. The artstyle is soo beautiful
You nailed exactly why I think uzumaki is far superior to Tomie. Those were also my two first junji ito books and I was also expecting a lot more out of tomie’s ending after reading uzumaki.
I recommend you to read Naoki Urasawa's works. You can start with the most famous one - Monster.
"Usually the men will kill her". That must sound... interesting out of context.
23:00 I think, as it was established before that all Tomies share their memories (not only passing them from Tomie to Tomie via her prolification), that the experience of aging and losing her youth would transfer over to all Tomies, breaking the curse. Of course thats quite too technical to suit a storytelling thats so thematic, but i guess it works well both ways, in all Tomies being one.
I just got the Tomie manga like your one for Xmas haha I actually like it it’s different from what manga I usually read which is usually the mainstream manga
I've a theory about the whole "why didnt burning the fingers stop her from regenerating" deal. The fundamental fear that the entire Tomie story works on is powerlessness. Junji Ito established a hope in both the characters and readers that there was a way to defeat Tomie. By having her regenerate from ashes, he ripped away that lifeline and forced everyone reading the story to confront their (the protagonist's) powerlessness. I think he did that to establish a long shot hope that could be smashed. He wanted people to feel powerless against a force of nature far bigger than any human's ability to cope.
I also just read Tomie! I talk about it in my Spooky Reads Wrap Up video.
Loving these reviews for manga that aren't One Piece! Your taste and interests are often different from mine. As a result, the manga you choose are also so different from mine. It's introducing me to interesting new things things! Keep it up!
I always felt that as evil as Tomie is, she is ultimately the victim of a hell like existence. She lacks self control. She has no awareness. She was designed to be this way, and no matter what she does, no matter what position she is in, those around her and slowly but surely going to be consumed to the point of murdering her. She will heal, form a new persona and repeat. It is almost a story about the curse of what it is like to be a pretty woman in this world. Men often try to be nice, act from kindness, but the darkness underneath boils and bubbles until horrific vioence is unleashed. Its such a left field yet genius concept. And yet Ito gets us to almost cheer for her downfall. Again and again. There is a catharsis for watching her get her just dessert sometimes. my three favorite stories are the first (just good paranormal horror) the story about the three siblings and the sister who cements her in place so she will be forced to grow old, and the last the story about the old couple who adopt her.
There's no escaping Tomie
I think with the fingers burning, is that the fleshed burned, but not the bones and that they were in the ashes. I think that the fire has to be to destroy the bones too, but I could be absolutely, totally wrong, but that's what I think about that bit in the short stories.
If there is any of junji ito's stories that I can recommend that you have not gotten into yet i would recommend remina. I think it has one of the strongest stsrts of all of itos work
Also if you ever want just a psychologically horrific but amazing short story check of long dream
Read Shiver or Smashed next for the short stories. Then do Remina or Sensor for scifi horror.
Have to check this one out, other than Uzumaki I only remember reading Itos short stories.
You should check out the live action Tomie movies. They're not "good" mind you, but I did find them interesting. The movies made me feel like she was a far more sympathetic character and I was GREATLY disappointed in the fourth movie when they had a great chance to go that route but chose to make her more of a monster in that one.
Tomie is like a crossbreed of a siren and a succubus
You should read Junji Ito's Cat Diary next. Totally different than his other works and great for a laugh.
Although I like Tomie very much I`d say that I liked Uzumaki a little more. I mean yeah, some of the middle parts were a little lame or at least parts where you asked yourself...how does this still belong and connect to the story? At parts it felt like multiple short stories with the same characters in the same town. But in the end I think you can see the connections more and more. Although I had enough of the snails after two or three chapters...but well. It had some very interesting and multi-faceted ideas. Like e.g. with the umbilical cord or this loving couple that twists together as a kind of snail. And that`s what I missed a bit in Tomie...and although Uzumaki can feel out of touch at some point, I think it has more of a connection altogether than Tomie. With Tomie I felt more like it is a collection of short stories centering around this girl. Some characters appeared in more than one chapter, yes. But most of them were written of after max. 3 chapters. I can absolutely understand why. I guess if the whole story was centered around only one area, like in Uzumaki, it would not be as good as it is, because then I guess it would still rush into boredom. And to come back to one of my first points...I would not say that Tomie wasn`t as creative as Uzumaki. But still every chapter had kind of the same topic. Tomie seduces one or more guys, maybe gets into discussions and confrontations with girls, gets killed by the boy, then is reborn again out of her detached body parts, organs, blood cells etc... All in all every story was structured like that. Only the places, circumstances and characters changed. And although I love Junji Ito`s work...character development is not really his thing. Besides Tomie every character in this book is just for the purpose of having a person who collides with Tomie, the beautiful succubus. They even all react kind of the same towards Tomie. And yeah, that is the point of the story. But I think Uzumaki managed that a little better. The characters in these story are also not really well-developed. None of them really changed for the better. But it doesn`t really matter that much bc in the end they are dying anyway. To make a long story short, it just impresses me how Ito can even create a great horror story out of just a shape. That is truly brilliant and the stories he tells are innovative and creative as well. Tomie is also very cool. But I think her stories are just not as innovative and creative. Not even her as just a person. Succubi are nothing new. Rebirth is also nothing new. He still creates a great story around her, but Uzumaki shows how creative and terrifying Ito really can be imo
You really need to read monster by urasawa naoki :)
A vinland saga review please
And berserk and kozure okami ;)
SPOILERS
.
I think the rule isn’t burning is the final death, I think it’s burning delays the regrowth until the ashes get planted? That’s the only way I could accept it lol
IE so theoretically if any of the other Tomie’s had been planted they would have regrown too
I don't even know what I would want the ending to be. It's such a vast and complicated story and each story is a different Tomie that I'm unclear on how you would bring that all together. Best I could think would be every living Tomie left alive meets and they either just swap stories or it's a battle to the death for the one true Tomie. Or Tomie divides so much that there are enough Tomies to control the entire population of men and they all die for her and the world becomes nothing but women and Tomie and Tomie is finally free to live her life without fear of murder.
Read GYO!! It's really good!!
I really recommend you all Shuzo Oshimi's works if you like Ito's works! Though they have different styles but I think in terms of the level of 'horror' Shuzo Oshimi does a better job( It's just my personal thoughts...I think Ito is better in making you uncomfortable while Oshimi's depiction of facial expressions is just God-tier).
I really really enjoyed watching this video please stay safe and enjoy your reading 📖 love your amazing channel love your number one Australia fan John
The thing about Junji Ito is he does mostly short one shot stories, which goes for Tomie as well. Uzumaki is one of the few exceptions to this.
cant wait for u to read the manga Monster by Naoki Urasawa (i think i saw it on ur TBR) bc i feel like u would LOVE it and have such interesting thoughts on it
I cannot read or watch horror But I love listening to reviews the ones spoiler Especially🥰
When you said "that must be a lot of tomies", I think that each story is a different tomie, even from different times.
I've been a silent audience on your channel for a year now and I love that you're now into manga so I will recommend reading "A Trail of Blood/Blood on Tracks"
I REALLY WANNA PUT SOME SMALL DESCRIPTION HERE OR A SYNOPSIS BUT I WOULD LOVE YOU TO GET INTO THIS MANGA WITHOUT KNOWING MUCH
If you have the will please do read this, people loves this and I can assure that 😁
Edit: also this manga is called "the manga that breaks people or hearts"
Somebody already said this in the comments, but you should read Oyasumi Punpun!
Very good review!