Tombs: Story Collection by Junji Ito
TRANSLATOR: Jocelyne Allen
LENGTH: 344 pages
GENRES: Horror, Manga, Short Stories, Fiction
PUBLISHER: VIZ Media: VIZ Signature
RELEASE DATE: 28 March 2023
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Countless tombstones stand in rows, forming a bizarre town. What fate awaits a brother and sister after a traffic accident in this town of the dead? In another tale, a girl falls silent, her tongue transformed into a slug. Can a friend save her? Then, when a young man moves to a new town, he finds the house next door has only a single window. What does his grotesque neighbor want, calling out to him every evening from that lone window?
Fresh nightmares brought to you by horror master, Junji Ito.
My Review
“What’s this thing in the middle of the road?”
“It looked like… a tombstone.”
“A tombstone? Why would a tombstone be standing in the middle of the road?”
I’ve decided I wanted to get into more horror lately, and that I’ve wanted to read more translated stories (the only one I’ve really read was Another), so what better place to start than the works of Junji Ito? Nowhere, I thought, so I checked out Tombs on Libby and got reading.
And it didn’t disappoint. It was as strange, horrific and unsettling as promised.
The short story collection that I read had eight different stories of varying length, and were all disturbing on different levels. The ones included in this volume were: Tombs, Clubhouse, Slug Girl, The Window Next Door, Washed Ashore, The Strange Tale of the Tunnel, Bronze Statue, Floaters and The Bloody Story of Shirosuna.
I enjoyed them all to some degree, but my favorites were definitely Tombs, Floaters and The Bloody Story of Shirosuna. I’ll be thinking about all of the stories here, though, for a long time.
The thing that surprised me the most about the works in this volume, however, was how much they all gave me Twilight Zone vibes. Like, the way that Ito tells his stories and frames some of his panels really reminded me of The Twilight Zone. The stories are all distinctly unsettling throughout, and the feeling that something isn’t quite right floats around the back of your mind while your eyes take in the material. There’s also just some straight up weirdness I’m some of these that also gave me TZ vibes.
So yeah, I really liked Tombs. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys horror or is a fan of The Twilight Zone. You need to experience this. Or fans of manga and graphic novels that can deal with some gore and disturbing stuff.
Anyway, as always, thanks so much for reading and I hope that you have a lovely day/night!
See ya ~Mar
Creepy Stuff I Enjoyed from This
The area was completely overgrown, but I knew the tunnel was there. It was lying there with its mouth open, waiting for me.
Yes.
That tunnel was waiting for me.
“There’s no indoor plumbing in the village. Please use the well out back. The water turns red sometimes, but it’s nothing to worry about.”
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