The anime series will adapt 20 stories from a number of Itou's manga for the first time, including Tomie, Souichi, and Kubitsuri Kikyuu (The Hanging Balloons). (Source: MAL News)
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Do yourself a favor and just check out Ito’s manga. This adaptation is done by much of the same staff as the abysmal Junji Ito Collection and comes with all of the same problems. Everything feels so flat, bland, and careless that I could barely force myself to finish it. All of the detail and dread from the manga is gone, and we’re left with a subpar mess of an adaptation again. Feels like a cheap cash grab at best. The shoddy animation undermines a lot of the payoff scenes, and the lack of detail is all the more noticeable when compared to the sourcematerial. Anything but a closeup on a character’s face looks muddy at best. Backgrounds are overly simple and the palette does little to add any atmosphere or emotion to the scenes. Characters are noticeably expressionless and do nothing to convey the distress and horror of the situations they find themselves in. Honestly, many scenes that are meant to be horrifying just look, well, pretty boring. Here’s hoping Adult Swim’s Uzumaki adaptation is worth the wait, because this show just isn’t any good.
In case you want to watch only the worthy shorts, here's a review of each one of them with a summary if you want to watch all of them. "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings": 3/10 I couldn't get into this one, too many annoying characters for an annoying plot, not the best to start with. At least we're immediately presented with more quality than the previous adaptations. The animation sometimes feels better, the colors are better, lights, movement, but yeah, not a good story. "The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel": 4.5/10 Not a bad one, but can't reach being decent. It's just a little spooky story that crescendos with goofyanimation that I couldn't take seriously. A problem with Junji Ito stories, is how it uses manga to its maximum potential. Moments allow imagination to thrive; sounds to exist inside one's head, the monsters moving as terrifyingly as you think about it. Sometimes, adding color and an okay presentation can't compensate for everything else. I do like some of the foreshadowing elements, how fear is revealed slowly, but surely. "Ice Cream Bus": 4/10 This one is simply really weird, and not because of the premise itself, I did like where it was going, feeling a horrible disturbing sensation. Sadly, what happened was way, waaaay less messed up than what I thought. I felt like one of those weird, nonsensical endings that Ito likes. It can work and most probably the manga felt a little bit more intense, but this isn't that good in general. Another middle of the road one. "Hanging Balloon": 5/10 Watching this one was just sad. I've heard the hype around this little story for such a long time. Not finding the time, it stayed in my list until today and, well, sure, story is good. The animation, on the other hand, terrible. Those moments of horrible, foreboding visuals coming, surpass when they actually show us. Having so much build-up, and moments of anticipation, only to look at silly 3D animation of the balloons, or the bodies hanging, moving like ragdolls from gmod. The music choices ruined the tone of some of the creepier scenes, and really, this ends up being the biggest wasted potential to one of those "end of the world" Ito stories. "Four x Four Walls": 5/10 I had fun with it. Sometimes Ito manages to create a stupid story with some really weird moments and aesthetics. Character designs being uncomfortable without anybody noticing, situations making no sense, but the people react as if it's an inconvenience. It feels like a David Lynch comedy, that isn't totally to my liking, but I appreciate this one. "The Sandman’s Lair": 8/10 One of, if not, the best one. Almost no music, a different aspect ratio, giving a nice, special aesthetic. The colors feel overexposed, like the 2000s animation sphere. It all feels perfect to a certain aspect, only with some animation problems. Most of this short simply feels like a cosmically strange, and still, sensical story about losing yourself and everybody else. I loved almost everything about this one. "Intruder": 5.5/10 Well, I would've liked some closure. Not a bad premise, effectively animated, interesting concept, even with the typical uncharacteristic Ito characters. The execution of everything is the overarching problem. The dimensional elements not only serve for a bigger story, but the fact that it's so short whiplashes you into knowing you just got 1/5 of a story. Not even a climax, twist, just a random situation that ends up back in square one without even consequences. I can't find anything terrible about it, but I didn't like it that much. "Long Hair in the Attic": 9/10 Characters, just what I need in this fucked up world. It's not easy to grow sympathetic towards characters you know will suffer soon. I really loved this premise, this realistic depiction of long-lasting relationships, promises, choices. Nothing mattered in the end; the same thought personifying itself into the monster of the story. Vengeance against the one who promised everything and gave nothingness. I like that there isn't entirely horrible characters, since we know for a fact the guy who broke off the relationship knew the girl really well. Small little details as "This is the sound of her teeth" feel like such a tiny thing that spells out so much, coupled with great and creepy sound design. Obscuring characters and scares, the horror was effective, and the ending was perfect. I love this one in every sense, except for some art looks. "Mold": 6.5/10 I like mold. Solid animation, solid story, solid everything. This is the most competent one so far, but it doesn't get out of its way to excel. Itchy storytelling with great visuals and really gross ideas that work with its lack of lighting in the Ito style. Can't say much, it's just nice to see one I can't get angry at in any way. "Library Vision": 7/10 Stylistically, the most beautiful one, in a strange way. Much more about visual storytelling, about dialogue attention, character driven. The titular library feeling as the curse of knowledge, led by trauma or obsession leading to one's downfall. It felt melancholic, strangely sad, all around, it looked really great. The changes in visuals feel the best in this compilation. "Tomb Town": 9.5/10 Almost perfect, just almost, but damn. Akin to the "Paranoia Street" manga, with a touch of the "Four by Four Walls" episode; this one feels like a town where a strange rule exists and people act normally around it, with much more sad connotations. Hospitals react in certain ways against this rule, moving people from their deaths means much more, and the accident the main characters suffered creates this ambience of tension. This story feels like guilt being splattered onto the culprits of an accident, leaving nothing but hatred for themselves, nightmares and consequences for the people involved. Nobody is saved, nobody gets closure properly, they just live with it, or end it. This is how you do the open ending. Now what holds it back from a 10, is the monster 3D animation, which I get, it would take too many resources, but yeah, I adore everything else. "Layers of Terror": 7/10 The other kind of Ito protagonists, batshit insane when revealed with a new rule in life. A concept is introduced, and somehow something within that concept happens that gives it a new meaning when it happens with a person. The metaphor happens, unfathomable horror is seen, in the end, consequences befall the characters. I can't say it doesn't work, it feels like the Ito formula of his best stories. Not bad, I'm just accustomed to it. "The Thing that Drifted Ashore": 3/10 Maybe it ended there, but man, this didn't even let its own concept grow or anything. This was like a small documentary in an alternate reality, one that we're shown around 10% of. Something horrid is presented, well, the end, hope you enjoyed. I wish we could've stayed a tad bit longer. "Tomie・Photo": 6/10 As a fan of the Tomie manga, I enjoyed this little piece of the story, even if it isn't the best part of it. The beginning of the Tomie story seems like the best place to start, so why not start there? Strangely enough, if you've read the manga from beginning to end, it feels coherent, the visuals feel in place, but since we don't get context, it feels as if it comes out of nowhere. Fans will like this one, but newcomers, I don't think so. "Unendurable Labyrinth": 2/10 Just boring. I didn't feel any horror from this one, since it ruins the essence of how a manga works. The page turn isn't there, the build-up to a horror moment gets taken away, and sound effects only manage to eliminate the tension of certain moments. I don't feel like I'm watching something silly, not even an interesting premise. People scream, horror situation happens without horror or importance. The worst as of now. "The Bully": 6/10 I don't know how to feel about this one entirely. The story started out wonderfully, with characters you hate, and one you root for, devolving into subtly disturbing. The twist of the flash-forward works really well, and we have a circling story from beginning to end. However, why did that ending feel so much more strange than usual? Maybe the fault of the art style, since black on white can function, but adding those colors to the face removed the horror, just leaving me feeling disappointed about the whole thing. An ending that cannonball's you into not being able to take what happened seriously. "Alley": 4/10 Too simple, too obvious, I just didn't like how generic this horror story was. Like one of those dumb urban legends from neighbors to scare you. Not much to say, just a bit boring, with at least situations that feel sincere with the context. "Headless Statue": 3/10 When consuming so much of Junji Ito at a time, stories like this don't excel at practically anything, and since the horror isn't really, well, scary; nothing works that well to become interesting. Not that good in my opinion. "Whispering Woman": 10/10 Junji Ito, simply making life a living hell. It seems characters flip-flop around being nothing sandwiches to great characters worthy of analysis and love. There was no monster, there was no extreme horror to couple this tragic situation, we only had people in terrible situations finding respite with each other. Eventually, another tragedy strikes, and somehow, this depiction of mental illness managed to get an actual scare out of me, with simple sound design. After not hearing that voice for so long, we get that eternally devastating idea of the dead making an impression on us, as well as imprinting hatred into the living. This is the absolute best. We didn't need great animation, or a monster to accompany horror, it's just about those visuals and ideas that make it feel all the more distressing. A tragedy, with a sad conclusion. "Soichi's Beloved Pet": 5/10 A much lighthearted Lynch comedy that leaves everything on an okay note. I wish we had this episode somewhere else, since the previous one was the best of them all, at least in terms of story. However, I don't hate this little recurring plot; slightly funny, slightly silly, with the touch of surrealist horror, can't despise it. Overall, 5.7/10 A mixed bag of stories, ranging from the bad, okay, to amazing. I liked going through all of them, and I enjoyed everything enough to appreciate the attempt to adapt such a strange author, with his strange little stories.
FOR THE ACCURATE EXPERIENCE WATCH IT IN GRAYSCALE! Been waiting for that show for quite some time now. And I'm glad I watched it. Creepy, twisted and dark works of one and only Junji Ito are well knows around the world and remembering last attempt to adapt his work being worried was more than justified. Not to mention few last Studio Deen works weren't the best. But here we are, we got 20 short stories from Ito's rich and vile world, some were great, some quite disappointing, unfortunately what works on paper not always works on the silver screen. Regardless that - it was fun yettwisted watch. Definitely the best two shorts were Hanging Baloons and Tomie, as expected, two of the most renowned and known of his works. We all known that Junji Ito's works are blend of deeply unsettling psychological horror and body horror, sometimes taken to the genres extreme. But always having one thing in common - profound impact on the reader, wether it's just a creepy short like The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel or a bit more complex The Thing that Drifted Ashore, also both adaptations of these stories were quite on par with original. But moving onto Studio Deen, I'm always saying that, didn't have greatest streak lately, yeah, but I'd like to remind everyone that they are, after all, creators of em few horror animes that are worth watching after years, namely - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (need to add that while it's at best average adaptation, it stands on its own as a standalone work) and dark and deeply moving Jigoku Shoujo. Yes, I'm not a fan of anime horrors, unlike in live-action, these tend to be quite disappointing, let me just mention Another of the head, which can't decide whether it wants to be a full on horror, or another teen fucking drama. And that goes for most of the anime horrors in recent years, no need to mention that horrible adaptation of Corpse Party, isn't it. But here we are, this time simplicity in animation actually works miracles in this show, while Junji Ito's works are full of detail, in its core are quite simple. And it works in favour of the adaptation. Fluidity and backgrounds are quite on par with it, the main con I would have is of use CGI, sometimes overusing 3D models on 2D backgrounds hurt my eyes, but in general it's more than acceptable, this time Deen had enough time to finish the work. Sound design and voice acting are among the best in recent years, beautifully crafted soundtrack only makes entire show more unsettling.Dark ambient mixed with smooth electronics and proper orchestration here and there gives proper chills even listening outside of the show. Voice acting on the other hand is a powerhouse. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Sound design in general was bloody spot on, amazingly atmospheric yet eerie. Couldn't ask for more in that departement, definitely one of the better sounding shows in recent months. I'm not a fan of the opening theme though, but ending theme on the other hand is one of my Winter 2023 favourites. For better or worse it's a quite successful adaptation of Junji Ito's works, brings them no shame, to be honest looking at the picked works it is actually quite great entry into his works. It isn't particularly scary, but it's really creepy and unsettling, especially in these stronger episodes. Releasing it all at once isn't the greatest idea since consuming it all in one go can be quite hard, not only because of themes but as well as psychological exhaustion. Summing it up it's quite good show, respecting its source material and amazing audio. Animation wise it ain't the best, especially when mixing too much of CGI with more grounded 2D animations but nothing, that would kill the atmosphere. Bacgrounds are spot on, character designs stay true to the source and overall manages to keep up with the creepiness of the original work. Best enjoyed alone in darkness, ain't work to enjoy with friends and definitely not your regular entertaining shows. Being a seinen I believe should be watched by more mature audience and definitely audience that understands this type of work. I am satisfied, could be better but it's good enough to pass the mark. 6,5/10
I would say that this was one of my most anticipated Anime of all of 2023 and one of the ones that excited me the most, and now that I was finally able to see the adaptation of 20 Junji Ito shorts in Anime, I have several things to say about it: 1. As a fan of Junji Ito and his works, I expected a lot of adaptations like Tomie, the Hanging Balloons, and many others and I must say that I have mixed feelings, Studio Deen is not my favorite studio but I must admit that this time it did surprise me, the Anime toa certain extent I liked how it was directed (some stories) and the animation was better than I expected, the only thing that could be criticized here could be the CGI combined with 2d poorly implemented but even so I was comfortable with that side. (By the way the Opening 10/10) 2. Leaving aside the technical aspects, I do not feel that the work has managed to transmit in the same way what Juni Ito transmits in the Manga, I mean obviously it will not be the same because of the medium in which it is transmitted but in this case I feel that the only story in which I was able to feel a true adaptation were in Tomie and in the hanging balloons, the others lacked time and dedication, since I feel that their poor execution meant that the message was not transmitted well and that is why many people are not satisfied I don't feel like it's the worst adaptation, but it could have been better, although coming from Studio Deen it doesn't surprise me much. 3. Now, at this final point I will answer the question of whether I would recommend it or not, if you are a fan of Juni Ito's works and you decide to see this, you will surely not be very happy due to certain errors already mentioned and that did not manage to capture what that the author wanted to show the audience, and partly they had a lot of time to do it and I feel very sorry for Juni Ito and his fans but at this point it cannot be changed. Now if you don't know anything about Juni Ito this would be a perfect entry to his works and if you like it then you can go and read his works, which are much better than the adaptation itself, and you can really feel the terror of Junji Ito. To finish, I feel that more could have been dedicated to the adaptation and to improve certain technical and directing aspects of the work, but if you are someone who does not know anything about the world of Junji Ito, you may have liked it and if you want to enjoy more, you can stop by to read, and this adaptation would be a good bridge, now if you are a reader of the manga then the opinions about the adaptation depend on your tastes. Rate: 7/10
Every time you hear the word horror near anime or manga, it's closely followed by someone ranting about how great Junju Ito is. If this is the calibre of his work then I REALLY don't know where that's coming from. The short horror stories range from the outright weird like an invasion of giant balloon heads that want to hang people to the utterly mundane, by which I mean 10 minutes straight of "this guys brother is irritating" with absolutely zero plot nor payoff. The writing is inconsistent. In one episode the explanation for the event would be summarised by a shrug, because there was no rhymenor reason to them, and the next you'll have a character halt the story for some painfully stilted exposition to explain everything they've ever done and how that relates to, at best, a mildly creepy plot. The only way most of this even qualifies as horror is if you'd faint in terror because someone said the word "ghost" or vomit at something most would look at and go "oh, that's a bit gross." There's such little atmosphere, so little build up or tension, and even less payoff nine times out of ten.
Being a massive fan of Junji Ito's manga, i'm terribly sad to be giving this adaptation such a low score. The same exact score as for the 2018 "Collection" unfortunately. Horror is quite a peculiar genre, requiring a lot more suspension of disbelief than others and is usually much more effective the more it leaves to the imagination. Which is why it tends to work much better in prose, or graphic novels, where your mind has to fill in a lot more between each sentence or panel with your own personal terrors. This is true for all the greatest horror writers like Poe, Lovecraft, orStephen King, with very rare exceptional adaptations actually doing justice to the original work. In the case of Lovecraft, i'm still waiting for a good one, despite all the attempts. When the suspension of disbelief is stretched too far, horror quickly turns into into its opposite - comedy. And the line between these two genres is surprisingly thin. Often fused to great effect in many movies - Peter Jackson's early filmography being a prime example in my mind. But here the laughable moments are not intentional and just constantly break any possibility of imersion and enjoyment. The minute you find yourself slowly slipping inside the unfolding world being portrayed, some utterly non-sense scene, or some ridiculously absurd dialogue, just pops up to brutally remind you this is all fake. Junji Ito is a master of atmosphere, but doesn't really know how to end a story most of the time and he tends to lobotomize his characters of most of their common-sense... This certainly doesn't help the job at hand, but is completely forgivable in the manga format, where the ambience and pacing superbly make up for it. On screen they become hugely exacerbated to a point where i almost suspect the studio was deliberately trying to highlight these flaws. I refuse to believe Junji Ito is impossible to adapt and i rather think the story-boarding work for this anime was rather lazy - basically adding frames between the manga's panels, beat by beat, without any artful attempt at an actual proper re-telling. This is the third peculiarity of horror adaptations: different media require different approaches and the more faithful you try to be to the written word, the less effective you will generally be in a visual format. This becomes a specially huge problem in this genre, where you are much more likely make to a good horror movie, the more you stray from the original work (and the more you risk alienating fans) - a fact that is masterfully evident in The Shinning. But you wouldn't need to go to that far to make a better adaptation, had the story-telling not been absolutely flat and linear, had there been more creative applications of rhythm to the scenes, paired with better sound design, better animation, better camera work, better almost everything...... This could've easily been double the score.
US Netflix decided to add "Japanese Tales of the Macabre," as a subtitle for this series, however, not all of the stories presented are actually macabre. The stories in this anthology series tend to run more on the weird or wtf did I just watch (not derogatory) side of things, which sets it apart from Itou Junji: Collection, though sometimes you do run into some truly macabre stories. Going through each episode, sometimes it was obvious why whatever particular story hadn't been animated before because some of them seemed to lose something in the transition from manga to anime whether it was in terms ofambiance or pacing. That said, it wasn't a bad anthology and the stories picked had good structure. This is why I liked Collection more than I liked Maniac. If you liked Collection, like Itou Junji, or enjoy things that are a bit weird and creepy simultaneously then you'll probably like Maniac.
I think that this was the best adaptation of Junji Ito's works! Most of the artsyle was able to translate and I think it is a great way for anybody new to Ito's work to get into them! Ofcourse I think the manga is better, that is just a given as it translates better in manga than anime with the horror he potrays but I think this is a great and much more affordable way to enjoy quite a bit of his short stories. The sound track and voice actors were amazing! The 2d animation was aswell! The only critique I would have about it isthe 3d animation, it doesn't seem to be the animators main skill and it didn't look the best but it wasn't used too often so I can put that aside. Last critique I'll give it, is the story pacing, although it mostly does the originals justice, it isn't the best with the pacing and seems a bit fast pace compared to the originals to me. All in all though this is a great adaptation and I mostly loved the Soichi parts, would love to see a comedy come from that lol.
Glossing over the other review, I understand the mix feelings about this adaptation. The animation style could have been better and use of color somewhat kills some creepiness that the original manga gave. I was initially disappointed in the first few episodes of this adaptation, where I was not necessarily feeling scared or creeped out, but rather just laughing and cringing at the scenes. I think if you are still a fan of Ito Junji's work you should give this adaptation a try as the later episodes encompass the original manga's vibe much better. Overall while not perfect I do not think this is asbad as what most people make it out to be.
What this series is: A good horror anthology anime What it's not: A replacement for the original manga And that's okay! Especially compared to Studio Deen's previous Junji Itou Collection, Junji Itou: Maniac is a big step in the right direction. While it's pretty obvious that this series still has a low budget, it's clear the creators kept that in mind this time when choosing which stories to adapt, focusing on more conceptual and dialogue-based stories rather than ones with detailed monsters. While the overall direction is much better, one major issue is how saturated the colors are in most episodes. I really recommend lowering colorsetting on your monitor/TV for a better viewing experience. Junji Itou: Maniac is a good series for viewers looking for an enjoyable horror anthology, but it still pales in comparison to the original works it's based on. If anything though, it's a pretty good entry into Itou's work for people who don't read manga particularly often.
First and foremost save yourself the pain and skip the first story. Nothing happens and it’s all just loud screaming that can only be summed up as essentially 20min of Zenitsu and Asta with no breaks. The manga is definitely far better and the anime skips some of the better ones. Personally I was exited to see ‘whispering woman’ but the animation, by skipping certain shots, misses the creepy feeling and anticipation or twist that the manga brings. The art style however definitely compliments the weird feeling of the stories. Disappointed and not something I’d rewatch, but overall not something I’m unhappy about watching at least once.
Frankly, Junji Ito's stories themselves are incredibly interesting, off-putting, upsetting, uncanny, perhaps even frightening; unfortunately, though, in this adaptation, they are the most appealing aspect of the series, because their execution is usually, for the most part, not. The soundtrack is odd and off in places to the point of occasionally sounding like it were insinuating one should approach the entire story with a comedic interpretation (not inherently wrong, but perhaps disorienting if not sold as such, considering what title and synopsis promise), the animation can't quite seem to figure out a balance between maintaining shots from the originals and translating panel stills into movingframes, and the use of CGI for some key components of one or two stories aren't integrated well enough into the rest of the animation to make keeping immersion easy. The voice acting from very talented names often exceeds the quality of the episode in a way that creates this odd disparity between the skill of the seiyuu, and the episode they're featured in (for example, terrorised screaming over a shot that seems like they'd forgotten to animate a screaming face, ((not as creative choice, mind you, or at least not delivered as such)). Most upsetting, though, is that, even the ones that stick the landing slightly better don't give you a chance to truly experience the atmosphere, likely because of the choice of adapting multiple one-shots into one episode of about 20 minutes each. The episodes nearly speed-run the stories, and even if the open ending sounds good on paper, considering how quickly the episode gets to it, it almost looks as though it had just gotten tired of telling you about it, leading to build-up's that never earn the title of 'well-executed crescendo'. Not recommended as adaptation of Junji Ito works, and because of pacing, animation, soundtrack, not much of a recommendation for people wanting to experience some horror one-shots independently from whether they're familiar with Junji Ito or not.
This is a compilation of some Junji Itou stories. I put mixed feelings. I personally have not read a single Junji Itou manga. I plan to and it's definitely on my list. With that said, I personally enjoyed the series well enough. A few stories were lackluster. Some stories were obviously incomplete. Though it also had some good stories as well! I'd watch for the food adaptations alone. Though I'll say with caution. Watch this before reading the manga. A lot of the people who have read the manga, says that this series doesn't compare.Reading the manga ruined the enjoyment of this series, because they just saw this as an inferior version of the manga.
So everyone is being pretty harsh on this adaptation but I do feel it is much more faithful to the original stories than the Junji ito collection was. I was very happy with a majority of these stories as they were in the same realm of things and typically leave you with a feeling of unease but I feel as tho the last few episodes were a branch off from the disturbing and supernatural nature of the stories told before hand making things a bit less cohesive in my opinion. I definitely think the hanging balloons was a high point for this series! It really leftyou with a sense of inescapable horror. The only episode I wasn't a fan of was the last episode Soichi's beloved pet. It was definitely more mundane a story compared to the others and without giving to much away I feel it was a low point in the series. I wish they would have ended it with the bully or the unendurable labyrinth as those cary the essence of the show alot better than Soichi's beloved pet. All that being said I would definitely recommend this to any fan of horror. It isn't perfect but if I had to rate it 1-10 I would definitely give it an 8. Also can we talk about the fact that the theme song had no business being so FIRE! 🔥
I didn't read the manga before watching the anime but even I could tell that some of the stories are incomplete — the half-episodes were the worst and I really wish each story was a full 24 minutes because I could tell that the premises were really interesting, they just ended right when I thought it was starting and we didn't have enough time to get to know the characters. The art style is decent but I saw a few screenshots of the manga afterwards, and the sshow absolutely does not capture the same eeriness and detail. Still, my favorite ones are Hanging Balloon and Layersof Terror.
English. Look, I know that with the first chapter you will be bored a lot, but if you wait and manage to endure that first episode they will show you several episodes which are very worthwhile, even so do not expect much, most episodes are quite disappointing and their endings are quite abrupt In addition to the fact that they remain very unfinished, I think that there are several that should have been talked about much better and there are several that should have ended much earlier, it depends a lot on how terrified you are or whether you are going to like the series ornot, in my opinion. This case is very disappointing since I expected a lot from it and I didn't get to love it 100% as I thought I would, it's a bit anthological and there are some episodes that last long and others that are divided into two, it also depends You may have liked this episode but not this one (an example: I loved episode 7 but I hated episode 1). If you like horror, you can give it a try, but the truth is that it left me very dissatisfied and I wouldn't recommend it that much. Español. Miren sé que con el primer capítulo les aburrira muchísimo, pero si te esperas y logras soportar ese primer episodio te mostrarán varios episodios los cuales valen mucho la pena, aun así no esperes mucho, la mayoría de episodios son bastante decepcionantes y sus finales bastante abruptos además de que quedan muy inconclusos, creo qué hay varios que debieron de hablarse mucho mejor u hay varios que debieron de terminar mucho antes, depende mucho del terror que tengas o que te dé miedo si te va a gustar o no la serie, en mi caso es muy decepcionante ya que esperaba mucho de está y no me llego a encantar al 100% como pensé que me llegaría a gustar, es un poco antológica y hay algunos episodios que tienen una duración larga y otros que se divide en dos, también depende del episodio este puede que si le haya gustado pero este otro no (un ejemplo: el episodio 7 me encanto pero el 1 lo deteste). Si les gusta el terror pueden darle una oportunidad pero la verdad a mi me dejo muy insatisfecho y no se los recomendaría tanto.
I think this show had potential, despite stories with little explanation. It needed more suitable music (Higurashi-style) the animation is fine, however the character design is not. You will have cute girls/pleasant looking characters with some obviously grotesque ones mixed in. some of them don't make sense such as episode 1 where we're presented with a small girl who looks like an old man. Some of the stories are still creepy, however there is little atmosphere. I think partially due to the music. the VAs are fine for the most part/ The writing is not the absolute best but this could have been compensated with somegood atmosphere, pacing.. the other issue I have is when one of the characters does something completely unnatural and creepy and there is little emotion or reaction from the other persons' part. I mean, you can't portray horror like that. I found Higurashi creepier despite the cutesy animation style.
'Junji Itou: Japanese Tales of the Macabre' adapts 20 stories of the famous mangaka Junjii Itou for the first time. Since I'm not a connoisseur of the manga, my rating is purely on the anime. Each episode consists of one or two self-contained stories, so perfect for in between. I'm not a big fan of anthology series, too often the stories leave me dissatisfied. This is also the case with this anime, too often you get thrown into a plot and/or it ends abruptly. Not that the stories are bad per se, but entertaining in a different way than expected. The anime fits into the horror and supernaturalgenre, although I can only agree with the latter. Each story has something weird, supernatural about it, but that sort of horror or spooky vibe didn't really resonate. Rather, the stories were a little strange, sometimes unintentionally funny. I can't tell if that's unintentional or how it should be. Also, there wasn't an episode that I found overly good or bad. They don't really stick in the memory either. The animation style of the anime was very realistic and mature, which basically fit the tenor of the stories. However, I'm not really a fan of it and I found some of the characters very ugly. But that's my very subjective opinion, and probably just adapted to Junji Itou's style. All in all, I can only say that 'Junji Itou: Japanese Tales of the Macabre' didn't particularly inspire me, but the sometimes very strange stories entertained me in a humorous way here and there. I wouldn't bother watching a sequel or watching the anime again though. I wouldn't recommend him either.
Unfortunately a bunch of really bad stories with no point bring the whole thing down (horror stories with no point is kind of staple for Junji Ito though, so if you don't mind creepy things that don't really lead anywhere, you might like it more than I did). The animation is also quite basic and kinda static, but it has some good scares and detailed monster frames at times. Just wish it had more of that, and better animation. As it is, the aimless episodes don't work as well as they do in the manga without the amazing art style. However, wanted to write this reviewto list the parts I thought were at least worth watching and I would recommend the show if you watch only these (rest not mentioned I think can be skipped, and are better experienced in one of Junji Ito's Mangas instead). My favorite episodes in order: 1. Layers of Terror (felt like the most complete story) 2. The Bully (this one freaked me out and I felt bad long after watching the episode. Really really good) 3. Whispering Woman (not really horror IMO, but I liked the feelings it evoked) Tomb town and Ice cream bus are honorable mentions that I almost liked. The rest really didn't bring any cool visual or scares and so I felt kinda bored watching them but if you like all of the ones I listed above then you can try the rest of the episodes.
