4 The first chapter of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki (1998-99) spirals right into the helical horror.īut not just the eyes – all of the detailing in Ito’s manga is incredibly intricate, which is another prominent feature of his art style. This allows fearful emotions and the insanity of the characters to stand out, even when other elements of the horror are not visible in a particular panel. In particular, the eyes tend to be drawn with more detail than the surrounding face. The plain face provides an excellent contrast for details that are drawn on, and emphasises any unnatural elements that are present. This creates a sense of ‘inhumanity’, which is a common theme in Ito’s manga, and adds to the overall ambience of his stories.Īdditionally, character faces tend to have minimal shading, other than for dramatic effect. This visual choice contrasts with that of most other manga, and gives the characters a pallid, lifeless look. Of particular note is that, despite the intricate details drawn into their faces, Ito’s characters never have any blushing in their cheeks. While one would think that this lends itself to humanistic, lifelike characters, this is not the case for Ito’s work.
Human characters rendered by Ito tend to have white skin, with realistically detailed features. 3 Ito is no different, taking this lack of colour and using it to create eerie images, with characters that appear devoid of life. Obviously this is normal for manga, and does not prevent the conveyance of a wide range of moods and aesthetics. A wholly trypophobic image from Junji Ito’s collection, Shiver (2015)īeing an author of manga, Ito’s artwork is almost entirely black and white, with colour only being used for cover pages. Wading through the depths of these images, one thing is made immediately clear: Ito has a very distinct style, and it is horrifying. 2 Body Horror & Visceral Detail: Ito’s Aesthetic AppealĮven a simple Google search for Junji Ito brings up pages upon pages of gory screenshots from his manga. Interestingly, the anime adaptation was criticised for falling short of the original works, partly due to an inability to replicate Ito’s incredibly detailed art style, and partly due to a lack of atmosphere. So what is it that makes his work so unique and appealing? In order to try and answer this question, this article will examine two aspects of Ito’s manga the visual aesthetic, and the narrative themes.Īs a side note, this article will be focusing on Ito’s manga specifically, not the recent anime adaptation Junji Ito Collection (2018). 1 Yet even within the scope of this appeal, Ito’s manga always stands out, edging above the rest in terms of creativity.
As a genre overall, there are many aspects that make horror appealing the suspense and tension, the adrenaline that accompanies fear, and the social activity that it engenders. The world of horror manga is vast, with many excellent titles to choose from. If you’re a fan of horror manga, then there is no doubt that you will have come across the works of Junji Ito, a prolific horror mangaka whose stories will leave you questioning and deeply unsettled.
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