I recently purchased Junji Ito's Shiver collection, which has nine of his self-descirbed "best" shorts inside: Used Record Shiver Fashion Model Hanging Blimp Marionette Mansion Painter The Long...
I recently purchased Junji Ito's Shiver collection, which has nine of his self-descirbed "best" shorts inside:
- Used Record
- Shiver
- Fashion Model
- Hanging Blimp
- Marionette Mansion
- Painter
- The Long Dream
- Honored Ancestors
- Greased
And while overall I would say the collection was well worth the £16 it cost, I will say I was somewhat disappointed in the varying "shivers" delivered by each short.
For example, I found the Fashion Model short to be quite frustrating: compared to the creativity and build up of horror present in some of the other shorts such as Hanging Blimp, it was essentially "creepy looking lady is serial killer". Others such as Used Record seemed as though there was a lot of wasted story.
Meanwhile, some such as Marionette Mansion did a grand job of building a suspenseful atmosphere and The Long Dream was certainly scary to dwell on.
I understand variable impact on the reader is to be expected for so many different works, but for what Ito described as nine of his best I was a little disappointed.
Outside of this collection, the only work of Ito's I have seen is the one where people enter holes carved out for their bodies (which for the record I also enjoyed).
Are others familar with Junji Ito's work? Recommendations for his or similar artists work would be very welcome.
Edits: paragraphing.