SHIVER -JUNJI ITO — Out Here.

I really don't know a goddamn thing about Anime. Or Manga or any of the 20th/21st century Japanese illustrated whatnot. Not that I’m an Ukio expert or anything but this sort of drawing is an aspect of Japanese culture that hasn’t ever really connected with me. I like all and love some of the Miyazaki things but otherwise, I don’t know anything about it. Which, apparently and thank the gods, allowed for me to have constructed a life totally unaware of Ito (who I gather, is super famous and my “have you heard about this Ito guy?” thing might be like a Japanese fan raving about this underground Alan Moore guy) and thus totally set-up to have him blow my mind to smithereens. I’ve read a few things of his before, and loved them, but the short story is really the mode for him to work in. He has a terrifying imagination, and each story is short and basically outlines a nightmare scenario and lets it play out over a few pages. Since it’s horror they all just get worse and worse then end horribly. It’s an amazing set-up. Something like this rises and falls on the strength of the gimmick in each story and this book has a collection of all killers. We get evil records, evil ancestors, evil puppets, evil grease, evil models, evil giant balloons shaped like people’s heads. Ito’s got a better batting average than the Blackmirror guy or the whole Twilight Zone crew. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this and I’m so glad I’ve already got his second volume of short stories. 4 horrible deaths.