The first thing that surprises Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Talesavailable on Netflix is that it displays color in its episodes. A special point when you consider that the work of the famous mangaka bases a significant part of his personality on black and white. But in his television adaptation, shadows are replaced by exposure to different color palettes.
The horror of the animate world then manifests itself in nuances, in long silences. The faces of the characters who look at the screen with mischievous smiles. Undoubtedly, such a decision gives the production plot independence and separates it from the artist’s extensive paper. But this is not the most suitable solution for capturing the essence of the material from which it comes.
Perhaps the point is that every work of Junji Ito, which includes a catalog of painful reflections on the repulsive nature of man, is directly related to the contrast of black and white. A metaphor for the collision of two shared realities in his theme. For better or worse, aesthetics in this case is an aspect that should be considered essential to the interpretation of the screen version. After all, in addition to horror stories, narratives cover an art form whose visual weight is of fundamental importance. Netflix’s production decision creates a paradox. Will it become more powerful by avoiding obvious locations in the creator’s universe?
Rather, are you taking unnecessary risks that jeopardize the power of adaptation in general? No doubt the compilation reinforces its menacing air by preserving, as far as possible, the most distorted images of the material from which it is taken. However, from the perspective of a world as specific as Ito’s, the platform anthology lacks the power of the originals. This, even if it is considered a worthy and sober tribute to his career.
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Taleshorror between lines and strokes
However, this also reduces its impact. Either because most of Junji Ito’s narratives rely on drama to create atmosphere, or because contrasts emphasize implicit darkness. The truth is that staging is the inoffensive dimension of a work of art known for its frontality.
Of course, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales continues to retain the ability to embody monsters. The mangaka’s obsession with life, death, and the supernatural is discussed with an almost dreamlike air. The terrible exists not only in a set of terrifying images (which it is), but also in variations of the sinister.
From allusions to cannibalism, to the introduction of traditional auteur characters like Tomie Kawakami and Soichi on the small screen. Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales is a combination of Junji Ito’s main traits and his spirit as a horror creator. But in most cases the series unable to grasp the terrifying perception of their world on paper. Despite careful animation and neat storylines, Netflix’s selection of stories from a cult author is not true.
Twelve episodes Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky TalesSometimes they tell the same story. But most often they report two versions of reality. The adaptation captures the sense of insanity aside, as if every bit of information is a door to an irrational world. Creatures that devour pieces of iron, others whose attractiveness is irresistible and deadly.
Each chapter gathers a different dark perspective, which, however, coexist in a single universe. So depraved and at times chaotic it seems the whole staging is based on his ability to cause discomfort.
Journey through the dark
First episode titled The Strange Hikizuri Siblingsis an adaptation of part of the book horror world. Like his paper version, it tells the story of the bond between two dysfunctional brothers, but without the perverse sense of the original’s persecution. In fact, one of his biggest problems is that the harrowing tension of the story he comes from is diluted with beautiful but empty imagery. However, the episode Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales it’s an appetizer that mimics the stylized darkness of the book it comes from as best as possible.
Notable legends of ghosts, haunting ghosts, and the author’s horrifying predictions are included in History of the Mysterious Tunnel / Ice Cream Bus. As with the stories it comes from, it examines supernatural events from a morbid point of view.
But also in an urgent search for the meaning of what lives after death. Can the imagination grasp such a thing? Episode Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales he insists that the possibility that awaits him at the moment of death is as frightening in nature as the worst memory.
hanging ball perhaps the most confusing fantasy about choice Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales. When fear has turned into paranoia, the plot of hideous balloons looking for victims becomes an allegory for mystery. Much more when he delves into the idea of claustrophobia and primal horror under a collection of shocking imagery. This is perhaps the most elaborate piece, and the most similar to the material it adapts.
Great Obsessions Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales
Undoubtedly, the horror of one’s own inner shadows, which is part of the work of Junji Ito, is also present in Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales. In particular, chapter 7, tomb citygoes deeper into the idea and turns it into a series of notions of perverted moral responsibility.
An element that is also present in the episode Layers of fear, a tribute to the mangaka’s work as a spokesperson for horror. But, at the same time, to the idea of each of his stories about what lives in the darkest expanses of the human mind.
May be, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Spooky Tales not the best choice for a long time fan of the artist. but this a clever introduction to a much wider universe, which fascinates with all its consequences. Obviously, the anthology is intended to be the beginning of a more thorough journey through the author’s stories.
So, despite its incompleteness, inevitable in such a deep and well-planned work, it continues to be sufficient research. Which announces that it is possible that the next entries will be more developed. A more accurate journey into the center of the horror cult fantasy collection.
Source: Hiper Textual
