As I previously discussed in my post on his semi-autobiographical work depicting his troubled relationship with fiancée’s cats, Junji Ito is one of the most unique creators working in the manga field today. His back catalogue of work features some of the strongest entries in the horror manga genre you’ll see from Uzumaki and Gyo to the aforementioned domestic horror comedy Junji Ito’s Cat Diary. This latest collection features seven brand new short stories that perfectly showcase his insane/terrifying art and storytelling.

A pair of twisted siblings-Yuuma, a young man obsessed with the devil, and Chizumi, the worst little sister in recorded history-cause all sorts of tragic and terrifying things to happen wherever they go. These scary short stories will shock you with a literal interpretation of the ills that plague modern society.

One of Ito’s main strength is to take something common/every day and make it absolutely terrifying (case in point what he did with fish in Gyo and what he did with cats in Junji Ito’s Cat Diary). He has plenty of opportunities to indulge in this for this collection. The opening story that this collection is named after appears to have all the hallmarks of your traditional high school drama for the first few pages, but as soon as Chizumi makes her first appearance (who ranks pretty high amongst the most terrifying depictions of children), you’ll know this is anything but. Without going into spoilers, the horrific events that follow wherever this girl ends up are not for the faint of heart and Ito is clearly having the time of his life. One of his other strength is the variety of ways he depicts regular people. Granted none of his characters have the more sleek style favoured in most manga today, but he still finds ways to make all his characters different with some looking more traditional (Azeri and Keiko come to mind) to the more out there and creepy (Chizumi and the premature aged Maiko from the fourth chapter standout).

Whereas Junji Ito’s Cat Diary was Ito going slightly out of his usual remit, Junji Ito’s Dissolving Classroom is very much in his established playbox and that’s definitely a great thing. Don’t miss this opportunity to see one of the greatest names in horror manga in his element cutting loose.

Junji Ito’s Dissolving Classroom is published 31 January by Vertical

9781942993858 – P/B £9.99

Find more titles from Junji Ito here

Read our spotlight on Junji Ito’s Cat Diary here

See our preview of Dissolving Classroom below:

Post by Leo