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伊藤潤二恐怖博物館 [Ito Junji Kyōfu Hakubutsukan] #9
Frankenstein
The master of horror manga brings the world's greatest horror novel—Frankenstein—back to life.
Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster—and the fouler beast who created him—to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for.
Also included are six tales of Oshikiri—a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him.
Bonus: The Ito family dog! Thrill to the adventures of Non-non Ito, an adorable Maltese!
Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster—and the fouler beast who created him—to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for.
Also included are six tales of Oshikiri—a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him.
Bonus: The Ito family dog! Thrill to the adventures of Non-non Ito, an adorable Maltese!
408 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
455 people are currently reading
5502 people want to read
About the author
Junji Ito
203 books14.8k followersJunji Itō (Japanese: 伊藤潤二, Ito Junji) is a Japanese cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his horror manga.
Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists.
His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism.
Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists.
His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism.
Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,186 reviews
March 15, 2019
Frankenstein collects horror manga-ka Ito's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a series of short stories about a school boy, Oshikiri, who keeps getting into various creepy situations, and a bunch of one-off short-shorts at the very end, including one in tribute to Ito’s dog.
The Frankenstein story is the longest one, and it’s a (too) faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's original. It turns out to be rather flat, compared to Ito’s own original work, and less than scary. Shelley’s story weaves in social commentary, but Ito lets that go to focus on the basic story, and this turns out to be a disappointing approach. What is terrific is Ito's line work, and yes, he only seems to be getting better as an artist.
The second half of the book features loosely connected stories of Oshikiri, a short—this fact makes its way into every story in some way, yes—largely uninteresting and unpopular boy who is living alone in a large mansion which seems to feature an alternate dimension. These stories are the best part of the book by far, because they allow Ito to do what he does best, to go a little crazy with his art work in order to creep us out. The stories involve friends who get murdered in this parallel world, noises in the walls (reminded me of Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart”), shallow graves, and so on.
* Some are ludicrous, such as “Neck Specter,” where Oshikiri seems to hallucinate his friend with an elongated neck. But the twist at the end from what we assumed was Oshikiri’s madness makes it turn successful creepier. Horror and the ludicrous are often wedded, but especially in Ito. Something that both Poe and Hitchcock fully understood.
* "Bog of Living Spirits” involves a small lake where students disappear, including a very popular boy followed by a crowd of creepy girls; they force Oshikiri to swim into the bog to look for the cool guy's droned body, no luck; ghost orbs hover, an indication of all the drowned.
* "Pen Pals” features a loner girl whom Oshikiri befriends who clearly is writing letters to herself, increasingly threatening letters leading to her violent suicide. Again, as with “Neck Specter,” we think we know what is going on, until (gulp), Oshikri himself begins to get threatening letters in his own handwriting.
* In ”Intruders” Oshikiri hears footsteps in his house and invites some classmates in, where they discover the graves of their own dead selves, killed in another dimension.
*”Hell of the Doll Funeral” is a short nightmare of children turned into dolls, and, well, then funerals. The translator calls this “dollification,” heh.
I don’t like it when Ito writes about his own cats and dogs, as he does here at the end. Breaks the ghostly mood. Collect them elsewhere..
This is not in the greatness category of Ito's Uzumaki or Tomie; it’s, if you think mainly of the workmanlike Frankenstein adaptation, a three star book, but the improving artwork and some of the Oshikiri stories pushes this into the four star category for me. I thought this might also have been intended as an homage to nineteenth century horror beginning with the Shelley and then with some nods to Poe here.
The Frankenstein story is the longest one, and it’s a (too) faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's original. It turns out to be rather flat, compared to Ito’s own original work, and less than scary. Shelley’s story weaves in social commentary, but Ito lets that go to focus on the basic story, and this turns out to be a disappointing approach. What is terrific is Ito's line work, and yes, he only seems to be getting better as an artist.
The second half of the book features loosely connected stories of Oshikiri, a short—this fact makes its way into every story in some way, yes—largely uninteresting and unpopular boy who is living alone in a large mansion which seems to feature an alternate dimension. These stories are the best part of the book by far, because they allow Ito to do what he does best, to go a little crazy with his art work in order to creep us out. The stories involve friends who get murdered in this parallel world, noises in the walls (reminded me of Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart”), shallow graves, and so on.
* Some are ludicrous, such as “Neck Specter,” where Oshikiri seems to hallucinate his friend with an elongated neck. But the twist at the end from what we assumed was Oshikiri’s madness makes it turn successful creepier. Horror and the ludicrous are often wedded, but especially in Ito. Something that both Poe and Hitchcock fully understood.
* "Bog of Living Spirits” involves a small lake where students disappear, including a very popular boy followed by a crowd of creepy girls; they force Oshikiri to swim into the bog to look for the cool guy's droned body, no luck; ghost orbs hover, an indication of all the drowned.
* "Pen Pals” features a loner girl whom Oshikiri befriends who clearly is writing letters to herself, increasingly threatening letters leading to her violent suicide. Again, as with “Neck Specter,” we think we know what is going on, until (gulp), Oshikri himself begins to get threatening letters in his own handwriting.
* In ”Intruders” Oshikiri hears footsteps in his house and invites some classmates in, where they discover the graves of their own dead selves, killed in another dimension.
*”Hell of the Doll Funeral” is a short nightmare of children turned into dolls, and, well, then funerals. The translator calls this “dollification,” heh.
I don’t like it when Ito writes about his own cats and dogs, as he does here at the end. Breaks the ghostly mood. Collect them elsewhere..
This is not in the greatness category of Ito's Uzumaki or Tomie; it’s, if you think mainly of the workmanlike Frankenstein adaptation, a three star book, but the improving artwork and some of the Oshikiri stories pushes this into the four star category for me. I thought this might also have been intended as an homage to nineteenth century horror beginning with the Shelley and then with some nods to Poe here.
September 22, 2021
For me, UZUMAKI remains my favorite by Junji Ito, but I have more yet to read.
I thought this one was ok. The Frankenstein story was good and I loved the artwork though the tale ended kind of abruptly. I think I liked the short stories better than the main story here. Those long necks freaked me out! People coming out of walls, doors to different dimensions-those short stories spanned the spectrum.
Anyway, I shall continue my Junji Ito with one I bought by mistake: VENUS IN THE BLIND SPOT.
I thought this one was ok. The Frankenstein story was good and I loved the artwork though the tale ended kind of abruptly. I think I liked the short stories better than the main story here. Those long necks freaked me out! People coming out of walls, doors to different dimensions-those short stories spanned the spectrum.
Anyway, I shall continue my Junji Ito with one I bought by mistake: VENUS IN THE BLIND SPOT.
Read
July 16, 202016/7/20
This was great! I haven't read Frankenstein myself (yet), but regardless of that, I really enjoyed the story. There is something about Ito's work that has me both at times laughing and disgusted at the same time. I think it's the sharp contrast between the lack of personality in his characters and the horror he displays -- it just works perfectly! I was also pleasantly surprised to see that half of this book comprised of his short manga stories :)
16/7/20
Slowly but steadily working on completing my Junji Ito collection :)
You can find me on
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Website | The Storygraph
This was great! I haven't read Frankenstein myself (yet), but regardless of that, I really enjoyed the story. There is something about Ito's work that has me both at times laughing and disgusted at the same time. I think it's the sharp contrast between the lack of personality in his characters and the horror he displays -- it just works perfectly! I was also pleasantly surprised to see that half of this book comprised of his short manga stories :)
16/7/20
Slowly but steadily working on completing my Junji Ito collection :)
You can find me on
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Website | The Storygraph
October 29, 2021
Junji Ito adapts Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel Frankenstein in this book, which also includes a number of short stories, most of them featuring a creepy kid called Oshikiri. I wasn’t that taken with the Frankenstein adaptation but the short stories were pretty decent.
I’d hoped that he would do something different with the story - like a contemporary version or modify it in some way - but Ito’s Frankenstein is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Shelley’s cumbersome and overrated novel.
Do I need to say SPOILERS for an adaptation of a 200+ year old novel? There we go anyway.
Even putting aside the absurdity of stitching together corpses into a giant humanoid monster animated by electricity, Shelley’s story is full of poorly conceived rubbish. Like how the monster learns language, critical thinking and a number of other things through a hole in a woodshed adjoined to a house where the inhabitants just happen to be going over those subjects. And he’s never caught and he picks it up that quickly? I mean, come on.
The maid is executed for murdering Frankenstein’s little brother, solely on the “evidence” that she had the boy’s pendant on her person. That’s 18th century justice for ya! And then later when he creates the Bride of Frankenstein, he just happens to come across a town full of freshly deceased young women! And all he needs is his sewing kit and some jars of liquid to animate the Bride because it’s just that easy to create life!
I know, it’s a fantasy, and an allegory about the then-contemporary fear of resurrection men, but it’s still a very silly story. Mary Shelley was 21 years old when it was published and it reads like something someone very young would cobble together. I’ve just read this same story far too many times to get anything out of yet another retelling of it. Still, Ito’s artwork is excellent and the monster does truly look terrifying. If you’re not disposed to trudging through Shelley’s novel but would like to read a more accessible/concise version, Ito’s Frankenstein does the trick.
The Oshikiri stories are the highlight of the book. The first two aren’t that great though. The Neck Spector is about Oshikiri murdering his friend because he grew taller than him, but then is haunted by images of lengthening limbs everywhere. The Bog of Living Spirits is about Oshikiri’s popular friend who decides to escape his obsessed fan club of schoolgirls by faking his own death and running away. But does he make it away to freedom - or has he actually died in the bog...?
The Neck Spector is a weird story as it glosses over the strangest detail: that a schoolboy would murder his friend for something as natural as growing! And The Bog of Living Spirits is a very Japanese story - most Western teenage boys, swamped by the attention of girls in their school, would probably welcome it and have sex with them all, rather than run away! Anyhoo, they’re fairly unremarkable tales - Oshikiri is haunted by strange happenings, etc. ho hum.
Pen Pal is where the stories start to get interesting. It’s about an odd girl (it’s quite a school Oshikiri goes to!) who pretends she has imaginary pen pals that write her letters - and then the letters turn nasty once she befriends Oshikiri and things get darker and darker from there. It’s an unpredictable and increasingly tense narrative with a fine ending.
Intruder unexpectedly ties into Neck Spector as Oshikiri’s eerie empty mansion turns out to be a portal to another dimension and an evil version of Oshikiri is entering this dimension to bury the bodies of his victims. It’s a fascinating development of this character’s story and explains why Ito kept writing stories featuring this schoolboy character. That’s why he was so crazy in Neck Spector but then behaved normally in the other stories - it was evil Oshikiri in the first story and the regular kid in the others.
The Strange Tale of Oshikiri continues exploring evil Oshikiri’s character as he infiltrates the regular Oshikiri’s dimension more and more. Some really disturbing visuals in this one, otherwise a fairly meh story with no real attempt at explaining how dimension-hopping is a thing (not that any explanation would suffice really)!
The Walls is my favourite story of the collection. An earthquake opens up some old walls in the house revealing the corpses buried within them - and then his long-missing parents suddenly return from working abroad. Or are they his parents…? Definitely the scariest and most macabre story here.
The collection closes out with some throwaway short-short stories. The Hell of the Doll Funeral, about a couple whose daughter transforms into a doll, is visually striking, but not much else. Face Firmly in Place is a Pit and the Pendulum-esque story of a woman trapped in a surgical device by her ears - but how will she escape? For such a nightmarish story, it was an unusual choice to close out with a jokey ending that wasn’t that great. And the Boss Non-Non shorts about Ito’s dog were instantly forgettable.
Ironically, Junji Ito’s Frankenstein book is worth reading for the non-Frankenstein material. The art is strong in Frankenstein but the story is too well known to me at this point to be at all interesting - and I wasn’t that enthralled with it the first time either! The Oshikiri stories are a mixed bunch but have a lot of imaginative and compelling horror scenes in them to make this book worth checking out for fans of this author and/or horror manga.
I’d hoped that he would do something different with the story - like a contemporary version or modify it in some way - but Ito’s Frankenstein is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Shelley’s cumbersome and overrated novel.
Do I need to say SPOILERS for an adaptation of a 200+ year old novel? There we go anyway.
Even putting aside the absurdity of stitching together corpses into a giant humanoid monster animated by electricity, Shelley’s story is full of poorly conceived rubbish. Like how the monster learns language, critical thinking and a number of other things through a hole in a woodshed adjoined to a house where the inhabitants just happen to be going over those subjects. And he’s never caught and he picks it up that quickly? I mean, come on.
The maid is executed for murdering Frankenstein’s little brother, solely on the “evidence” that she had the boy’s pendant on her person. That’s 18th century justice for ya! And then later when he creates the Bride of Frankenstein, he just happens to come across a town full of freshly deceased young women! And all he needs is his sewing kit and some jars of liquid to animate the Bride because it’s just that easy to create life!
I know, it’s a fantasy, and an allegory about the then-contemporary fear of resurrection men, but it’s still a very silly story. Mary Shelley was 21 years old when it was published and it reads like something someone very young would cobble together. I’ve just read this same story far too many times to get anything out of yet another retelling of it. Still, Ito’s artwork is excellent and the monster does truly look terrifying. If you’re not disposed to trudging through Shelley’s novel but would like to read a more accessible/concise version, Ito’s Frankenstein does the trick.
The Oshikiri stories are the highlight of the book. The first two aren’t that great though. The Neck Spector is about Oshikiri murdering his friend because he grew taller than him, but then is haunted by images of lengthening limbs everywhere. The Bog of Living Spirits is about Oshikiri’s popular friend who decides to escape his obsessed fan club of schoolgirls by faking his own death and running away. But does he make it away to freedom - or has he actually died in the bog...?
The Neck Spector is a weird story as it glosses over the strangest detail: that a schoolboy would murder his friend for something as natural as growing! And The Bog of Living Spirits is a very Japanese story - most Western teenage boys, swamped by the attention of girls in their school, would probably welcome it and have sex with them all, rather than run away! Anyhoo, they’re fairly unremarkable tales - Oshikiri is haunted by strange happenings, etc. ho hum.
Pen Pal is where the stories start to get interesting. It’s about an odd girl (it’s quite a school Oshikiri goes to!) who pretends she has imaginary pen pals that write her letters - and then the letters turn nasty once she befriends Oshikiri and things get darker and darker from there. It’s an unpredictable and increasingly tense narrative with a fine ending.
Intruder unexpectedly ties into Neck Spector as Oshikiri’s eerie empty mansion turns out to be a portal to another dimension and an evil version of Oshikiri is entering this dimension to bury the bodies of his victims. It’s a fascinating development of this character’s story and explains why Ito kept writing stories featuring this schoolboy character. That’s why he was so crazy in Neck Spector but then behaved normally in the other stories - it was evil Oshikiri in the first story and the regular kid in the others.
The Strange Tale of Oshikiri continues exploring evil Oshikiri’s character as he infiltrates the regular Oshikiri’s dimension more and more. Some really disturbing visuals in this one, otherwise a fairly meh story with no real attempt at explaining how dimension-hopping is a thing (not that any explanation would suffice really)!
The Walls is my favourite story of the collection. An earthquake opens up some old walls in the house revealing the corpses buried within them - and then his long-missing parents suddenly return from working abroad. Or are they his parents…? Definitely the scariest and most macabre story here.
The collection closes out with some throwaway short-short stories. The Hell of the Doll Funeral, about a couple whose daughter transforms into a doll, is visually striking, but not much else. Face Firmly in Place is a Pit and the Pendulum-esque story of a woman trapped in a surgical device by her ears - but how will she escape? For such a nightmarish story, it was an unusual choice to close out with a jokey ending that wasn’t that great. And the Boss Non-Non shorts about Ito’s dog were instantly forgettable.
Ironically, Junji Ito’s Frankenstein book is worth reading for the non-Frankenstein material. The art is strong in Frankenstein but the story is too well known to me at this point to be at all interesting - and I wasn’t that enthralled with it the first time either! The Oshikiri stories are a mixed bunch but have a lot of imaginative and compelling horror scenes in them to make this book worth checking out for fans of this author and/or horror manga.
July 5, 2021
Vlog/Review: https://youtu.be/p2CBjnqf6Gs
Um...I think Junji Ito just isn't for me. I'm drawing the line in the sand at this point. I just don't like his endings. They aren't satisfying for me. I know that Junji Ito is a very beloved author and artist and I completely understand why. It just doesn't work for me. Not going to continue with his work.
Um...I think Junji Ito just isn't for me. I'm drawing the line in the sand at this point. I just don't like his endings. They aren't satisfying for me. I know that Junji Ito is a very beloved author and artist and I completely understand why. It just doesn't work for me. Not going to continue with his work.
September 2, 2022
Contains an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein along with 10 short stories most of which are semi-connected.
Frankenstein - ★★★
Junji Ito's adaptation follows the original story almost verbatim. It follows the story too closely. It feels flat and lifeless. The art is great though.
Neck Specter - ★★★
A student kills his best friend and starts hallucinating that the boy's neck continues to grow after his death. Then he starts hallucinating that the people he talks to have necks that start elongating too. It's really weird like a lot of Ito's stuff.
Bog of Living Spirits - ★★
A boy is tired of girls following him around because of how in love they are with him and jumps in a bog to get away from them disappearing. I found the story for this one pretty weak.
Pen Pal - ★★★
Hmm, all of these short stories seem to feature Oshikiri in some capacity. Here he meets a girl with no friends and befriends her. Things start going strange as she corresponds with her pen pals.
Intruder - ★★★
Oshikiri meets some friends who are really into the supernatural. The subject of alternate dimensions comes up and starts playing a part in a lot of these stories. Oshikiri's house is some kind of gateway.
The Strange Case of Oshikiri - ★★★★
A girl from school appears suddenly in Oshikiri's house and then disappears. He then befriends the girl at school. When she follows him home one day, things get wonky.
The Strange Case of Oshikiri: The Walls - ★★★★★
Oshikiri find a petrified body in the walls after an earthquake exposes it. Things get nuts when his parents finally come home. The best story yet.
The Hell of the Doll Funeral - ★★★★★
Parents have to watch their daughter get sick and go through dollification. This is messed up. I loved it.
Face Firmly in Place - ★★★★★
This was excellent. It's about a woman who is placed in a machine where she can't move and then forgotten about. This is one of those fears I think we've all suffered when put in a position where everything is beyond our control and we're completely at someone else's mercy.
Boss Non-non and Hide-and-Seek with Boss Non-non - ★★
Two short comics about Junji Ito's dog.
Frankenstein - ★★★
Junji Ito's adaptation follows the original story almost verbatim. It follows the story too closely. It feels flat and lifeless. The art is great though.
Neck Specter - ★★★
A student kills his best friend and starts hallucinating that the boy's neck continues to grow after his death. Then he starts hallucinating that the people he talks to have necks that start elongating too. It's really weird like a lot of Ito's stuff.
Bog of Living Spirits - ★★
A boy is tired of girls following him around because of how in love they are with him and jumps in a bog to get away from them disappearing. I found the story for this one pretty weak.
Pen Pal - ★★★
Hmm, all of these short stories seem to feature Oshikiri in some capacity. Here he meets a girl with no friends and befriends her. Things start going strange as she corresponds with her pen pals.
Intruder - ★★★
Oshikiri meets some friends who are really into the supernatural. The subject of alternate dimensions comes up and starts playing a part in a lot of these stories. Oshikiri's house is some kind of gateway.
The Strange Case of Oshikiri - ★★★★
A girl from school appears suddenly in Oshikiri's house and then disappears. He then befriends the girl at school. When she follows him home one day, things get wonky.
The Strange Case of Oshikiri: The Walls - ★★★★★
Oshikiri find a petrified body in the walls after an earthquake exposes it. Things get nuts when his parents finally come home. The best story yet.
The Hell of the Doll Funeral - ★★★★★
Parents have to watch their daughter get sick and go through dollification. This is messed up. I loved it.
Face Firmly in Place - ★★★★★
This was excellent. It's about a woman who is placed in a machine where she can't move and then forgotten about. This is one of those fears I think we've all suffered when put in a position where everything is beyond our control and we're completely at someone else's mercy.
Boss Non-non and Hide-and-Seek with Boss Non-non - ★★
Two short comics about Junji Ito's dog.
July 11, 2024
probably one of my favourite junji ito collections!!!
October 4, 2024
Mi historia favorita entre todas las que reúne este tomo es indudablemente la adaptación de "Frankenstein", que me pareció diferente a su manera, un buen homenaje. El resto de las historias no estaban tan a la altura, pero no eran malas tampoco. En relación a otras recopilaciones, creo que se nota bastante que acá la principal, la que se lleva todas las palmas es la homónima, y las demás tratan de acompañar. Las más flojas son las últimas, que se sienten más de relleno.
October 10, 2022
I've never read Frankenstein (I know, shock horror, not even at school! We did A Kestrel for a Knave instead. A Northern classic). So I thought this might be a good introduction, going down the manga route. And to some extent it was. It's simplified, yes but the overall story is there. I'd probably feel very different if I'd read the original though.
Also, Frankenstein only covers the first 200 pages. The rest is some short manga serials that are just as confusing and disturbing as the rest of Junji Ito's tales, featuring such horrors as alternate dimensions of killer children and melting people.
Not a favourite, but still an interesting read.
Also, Frankenstein only covers the first 200 pages. The rest is some short manga serials that are just as confusing and disturbing as the rest of Junji Ito's tales, featuring such horrors as alternate dimensions of killer children and melting people.
Not a favourite, but still an interesting read.
November 6, 2018
I figured from the title that Frankenstein would obviously take center stage, but I wasn't expecting it to take almost half of this 400 page book. Also, side note, I hated Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and I've never cared for the story or the monster so take that as you will.
The second half mostly featured an alternate universe and the same kid and his friends and his empty house and honestly I didn't care much about any of them. I liked the more randomly selected collection of stories in Shiver: Selected Stories than I did this book. Nothing was scary either, or gross ... it was all just kind of disappointing.
Oh well.
The second half mostly featured an alternate universe and the same kid and his friends and his empty house and honestly I didn't care much about any of them. I liked the more randomly selected collection of stories in Shiver: Selected Stories than I did this book. Nothing was scary either, or gross ... it was all just kind of disappointing.
Oh well.
December 7, 2021
This manga is only the second one I ever read and holy cow did I ever pick a good author to start with because Ito is so talented. Frankenstein by him was absolutely fabulous! It’s big and chunky and filled to the brim with awesomeness. The artwork is absolutely out of this world, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such beautiful illustrations! They are beyond stunning and incredibly creepy and a true work of art. My favourite story by far was Frankenstein and I SO wished it was longer because Ito’s interpretation was so damn good. While I did love this compilation of stories I didn’t quite love it as my guest read by Ito. I wanted more gruesomeness and things to disgust and horrify me. It is still such a great read though and I highly recommend it for horror fans looking to dip their toes into the world of manga.
November 26, 2020
This was absolutely amazing, the art work was fantastic and the storytelling was great. I was kind of shocked by how short the Frankenstein story was but it did not need more because it was told and shown perfectly. And so the rest of the book was Junji Ito’s own short stories. These stories were so engaging and interesting, it was so easy to read. Junji Ito is becoming one of my favorite horror writers and might be my favorite manga author. I can’t wait to read more of his work because the art is so good and he knows how to draw readers in.
January 31, 2023
I felt in the mood to re-read Frankenstein, so of course I went for Junji Ito’s illustrated adaptation because I have really been enjoying his Manga work lately. This is one of his short story collections, with Frankenstein being longer than the rest at around 180 pages. It is a faithful adaptation to the original and the art style suits it well - wonderfully gothic. Despite it being lengthier than his short stories Frankenstein did feel as though it ended abruptly.
The main bulk of the other stories are about a character called Oshikiri. These are; Bog Of Living Spirits, Pen Pal, Intruder, The Strange Tale of Oshikiri, and The Strange Tale of Oshikiri: The Walls.
The main theme throughout is that of alternate dimensions and inter-dimensional travel. It’s really fun to see how these stories link and see how it all unfolds for Oshikiri and his group of classmates.
The last four stories are;
- The Hell of the Doll Funeral, where 30% of the world’s population of children are mysteriously turning into dolls. Terrifying, body horror, goodness!
- Face Firmly In Place, the horror of being trapped in the orthodontist
- Boss Non-Non and Hide-and-seek With Non-Non, about the Ito family dog.
Overall, this was a good collection of horror stories and I look forward to reading more of Ito’s work! He has me hooked. The Shiver collection was definitely my favourite so far though! 💀🖤
The main bulk of the other stories are about a character called Oshikiri. These are; Bog Of Living Spirits, Pen Pal, Intruder, The Strange Tale of Oshikiri, and The Strange Tale of Oshikiri: The Walls.
The main theme throughout is that of alternate dimensions and inter-dimensional travel. It’s really fun to see how these stories link and see how it all unfolds for Oshikiri and his group of classmates.
The last four stories are;
- The Hell of the Doll Funeral, where 30% of the world’s population of children are mysteriously turning into dolls. Terrifying, body horror, goodness!
- Face Firmly In Place, the horror of being trapped in the orthodontist
- Boss Non-Non and Hide-and-seek With Non-Non, about the Ito family dog.
Overall, this was a good collection of horror stories and I look forward to reading more of Ito’s work! He has me hooked. The Shiver collection was definitely my favourite so far though! 💀🖤
July 3, 2025
this is by far one of my fav works of junji ito. this had amazing visuals and compelling stories. i couldn’t put this down at all. these stories gave me some chills for sure. and that ending story?? i could cry omg
December 12, 2020
Frankenstein is really well done in this one. Ito is truly the master of horror manga.
November 6, 2024
Soooo cool!
October 26, 2024
Beh... dopo l'ennesima opera del mangaka horror, non posso che decretarlo il mio preferito in assoluto, per particolarità, per disegni ed anche per le storie che riesce a creare.
In questo caso però, oltre alle sue storie del body-horror, qui il mangaka si cimenta nel rappresentare e far rinascere il mito del libro di Mary Shelley: Frankenstein. Progetto molto difficile, ma per me ci è riuscito ed è andato anche oltre. Magnifico!
Poi, nelle "altre storie", ci troviamo a percorrere le strade insieme ad Oshikiri, il nostro protagonista, che scoprirà, nella sua vecchia e decadente dimora, un qualcosa che travalica il reale e...
In appendice, infine, ci troviamo alcune storielle, di pochissime pagine, ma dense di atmosfera cupa e devastante. Una situazione penosamente quotidiana, che d'un tratto prende risvolti inquietanti, oppure l'esatto contrario, tutto nell'arco di neanche 20 pagine!
In questo caso però, oltre alle sue storie del body-horror, qui il mangaka si cimenta nel rappresentare e far rinascere il mito del libro di Mary Shelley: Frankenstein. Progetto molto difficile, ma per me ci è riuscito ed è andato anche oltre. Magnifico!
Poi, nelle "altre storie", ci troviamo a percorrere le strade insieme ad Oshikiri, il nostro protagonista, che scoprirà, nella sua vecchia e decadente dimora, un qualcosa che travalica il reale e...
In appendice, infine, ci troviamo alcune storielle, di pochissime pagine, ma dense di atmosfera cupa e devastante. Una situazione penosamente quotidiana, che d'un tratto prende risvolti inquietanti, oppure l'esatto contrario, tutto nell'arco di neanche 20 pagine!
July 7, 2021
My first Manga (my daughter got me to try it out as she is obsessed by them). The form to took a while to get used to (reading backwards was sometimes confusing) but not bad, it was just an adaption of Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein'. It was the addition short stories that I enjoyed the most, especially the stories 'Neck Specter', 'Bog of Living Spirits', and 'Hell of the Doll Funereal'. Japanese horror is weird, creepy and disturbing whether it's film, novels or manga and Junji Ito is one of the masters of the craft and this was a good introduction to his work. I definitely will be reading more in the future.
October 13, 2022
Frankenstein is a collection of Junji Ito horror tales, leading off with an adaptation of Mary Shelley's iconic tale.
My wife got me this for my birthday but it feels much longer ago due to the fluid nature of pandemic time. It's good shit.
So Frankenstein is the lead tale here. Sure, the monster is grotesque as one would expect from Junji Ito but I was way more interested in the other stories featuring Oshikiri, a teenage boy who lives by himself in a haunted mansion. There is some body horror but it's comparatively small for Ito's usual output. There's a lot more creeping dread, though. Bodies buried in the courtyard, mysterious footsteps, doppelgangers, insanity, etc.
Not my favorite Ito but it's a keeper for sure. 4 out of 5 stars.
My wife got me this for my birthday but it feels much longer ago due to the fluid nature of pandemic time. It's good shit.
So Frankenstein is the lead tale here. Sure, the monster is grotesque as one would expect from Junji Ito but I was way more interested in the other stories featuring Oshikiri, a teenage boy who lives by himself in a haunted mansion. There is some body horror but it's comparatively small for Ito's usual output. There's a lot more creeping dread, though. Bodies buried in the courtyard, mysterious footsteps, doppelgangers, insanity, etc.
Not my favorite Ito but it's a keeper for sure. 4 out of 5 stars.
December 6, 2018
Junji Ito's work is always worth a look, even if the first half of this collection is yet another adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The monster is gruesome, even if he looks a bit like an extra from Attack on Titan, but the rest of the adaptation is rather pedestrian.
The connected short stories in the back half of the book are more typical of Ito's creepiness, as an evil boy discovers his home is a gateway to alternate dimensions. Unfortunately, they are dark dimensions and his evil doppelgangers start using his house to dump bodies of people they have murdered and perpetrate other schemes. Ito dishes up plenty of the body horror for which he is notorious.
The connected short stories in the back half of the book are more typical of Ito's creepiness, as an evil boy discovers his home is a gateway to alternate dimensions. Unfortunately, they are dark dimensions and his evil doppelgangers start using his house to dump bodies of people they have murdered and perpetrate other schemes. Ito dishes up plenty of the body horror for which he is notorious.
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October 27, 2024Non metterò nessuna stella perché sono ancora molto combattuta.
I manga, i fumetti e le graphic novel non sono la mia comfort zone e il motivo è solo uno, non uso la mia immaginazione.
Trovo le tavole di Ito molto belle, però associate poi ad un dialogo non lo so, non lo sento mio.
Avrei preferito allora solo il disegno, magari diverso ovviamente per raccontare senza l'uso della parola scritta.
Prima di questo ne avevo letto solo un altro di manga, Palepoli, quello mi era piaciuto.
Oh vabbé, sarà per la prossima volta!
Peace & love Ito
I manga, i fumetti e le graphic novel non sono la mia comfort zone e il motivo è solo uno, non uso la mia immaginazione.
Trovo le tavole di Ito molto belle, però associate poi ad un dialogo non lo so, non lo sento mio.
Avrei preferito allora solo il disegno, magari diverso ovviamente per raccontare senza l'uso della parola scritta.
Prima di questo ne avevo letto solo un altro di manga, Palepoli, quello mi era piaciuto.
Oh vabbé, sarà per la prossima volta!
Peace & love Ito
October 20, 2018
I'm not the biggest Junji Ito fan, but I had the opportunity to check out his latest western-released collection of horror stories, so I did. It's October after all. This collects Ito's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a cycle of short stories about a school boy Oshikiri who keeps getting into various creepy situations, and a bunch of one-offs, including a couple about Ito's actual dog.
The titular Frankenstein story is the longest of the collected here, and it's just okay. Mary Shelley's original story is almost 200 years old and it doesn't hold up to the modern standards of storytelling as much as people might expect. It takes forever to get going, it's not particularly scary or gripping and it doesn't really have any message about the nature of humanity or anything like that. The only redeeming feature of this segment of the book is Ito's fantastic artwork, particularly the incredibly unsettling design of the monster itself. Every time this guy shows up on the page, the story livens up. Ito may not be the best horror storyteller, but he is definitely a brilliant horror artist.
The second half of the book is mostly taken up by the loosely connected stories of Oshikiri, a thoroughly unpleasant school student who constantly keeps getting tangled up in some awful situations. Accidentally murdered friends, doppelgangers from parallel worlds, evil spirits, all that jazz. These stories are by far the best part of the book. It's still Junji Ito though, so some of them do get too over the top and fall into the laughably silly territory instead of being actually scary, but other times Ito absolutely nails the tone, and in those moments I can definitely see why he is so highly regarded. And even the silliest of stories are still elevated by his sublime artwork, nobody draws horrifyingly messed up images like this guy.
The last 50 or so pages are padded out with a couple of even shorter unconnected stories, and those are pretty good, too. Ito's tribute to his old dog who passed away in 1998 was sweet and pretty funny.
Overall, this is a nice collection of generally pretty good horror stories, and I think this will be a great spooky October read for a lot of people. I am usually immune to Junji Ito's style of storytelling, and even I found some of these stories genuinely scary, or at least unsettling.
The titular Frankenstein story is the longest of the collected here, and it's just okay. Mary Shelley's original story is almost 200 years old and it doesn't hold up to the modern standards of storytelling as much as people might expect. It takes forever to get going, it's not particularly scary or gripping and it doesn't really have any message about the nature of humanity or anything like that. The only redeeming feature of this segment of the book is Ito's fantastic artwork, particularly the incredibly unsettling design of the monster itself. Every time this guy shows up on the page, the story livens up. Ito may not be the best horror storyteller, but he is definitely a brilliant horror artist.
The second half of the book is mostly taken up by the loosely connected stories of Oshikiri, a thoroughly unpleasant school student who constantly keeps getting tangled up in some awful situations. Accidentally murdered friends, doppelgangers from parallel worlds, evil spirits, all that jazz. These stories are by far the best part of the book. It's still Junji Ito though, so some of them do get too over the top and fall into the laughably silly territory instead of being actually scary, but other times Ito absolutely nails the tone, and in those moments I can definitely see why he is so highly regarded. And even the silliest of stories are still elevated by his sublime artwork, nobody draws horrifyingly messed up images like this guy.
The last 50 or so pages are padded out with a couple of even shorter unconnected stories, and those are pretty good, too. Ito's tribute to his old dog who passed away in 1998 was sweet and pretty funny.
Overall, this is a nice collection of generally pretty good horror stories, and I think this will be a great spooky October read for a lot of people. I am usually immune to Junji Ito's style of storytelling, and even I found some of these stories genuinely scary, or at least unsettling.
November 1, 2023
4.5 rounded up to 5 stars
I really enjoyed this collection. The Frankenstein section was so good and I loved seeing his visuals with one of my favourite stories of all time. Junji Ito's style lends itself so well to gothic horror! It matched the story so perfectly and his Frankenstein's Monster was genuinely quite hard to look at in some panels.
The other stories included were all tied together in a way that I thought was brilliant. I got a little lost for a couple of stories trying to figure out how someone was in the second story after events of the first story but once it was revealed how they were all linked together I was loving it!
I am loving reading all Junji Ito's collections and can't wait to get my hands on the next one!
I really enjoyed this collection. The Frankenstein section was so good and I loved seeing his visuals with one of my favourite stories of all time. Junji Ito's style lends itself so well to gothic horror! It matched the story so perfectly and his Frankenstein's Monster was genuinely quite hard to look at in some panels.
The other stories included were all tied together in a way that I thought was brilliant. I got a little lost for a couple of stories trying to figure out how someone was in the second story after events of the first story but once it was revealed how they were all linked together I was loving it!
I am loving reading all Junji Ito's collections and can't wait to get my hands on the next one!
March 3, 2019
Ito's Frankenstein was good. Nothing amazing but a good attempt to portray the story in manga format. Had that been the entirety of the book I might have given it 4 stars. But the rest of the book is a collection of short stories. They aren't bad, but the setting of a kid living in a haunted mansion was annoying. Same kid, same place-different tales. It's weird having the same kid, having that same conversation with his cousin about not staying there and then, obviously, staying there and going through weird shit. Come up with something a bit more original-at least vary out the weird kid. The only story that was rather cool was the story about the girl with the imaginary pen pals. Cool ending. The rest? Just ok.
So a decent enough collection, but nothing amazing. It is an interesting horror manga but hardly amazing like his other work Uzumaki.
So a decent enough collection, but nothing amazing. It is an interesting horror manga but hardly amazing like his other work Uzumaki.
June 7, 2022
I loved the Frankenstein story. But all the other stories rounded it down to 3 stars.
The other stories were still dark and entertaining. But it was no Uzumaki.
The other stories were still dark and entertaining. But it was no Uzumaki.
April 15, 2020
Perfect company for a lonely time.
April 8, 2022
"Understand Frankenstein? Now it’s my turn for revenge. Prepare yourself. You shall understand once you’ve lost everything you love!"
Junji Ito is the master of horror when it comes to manga. I'll read everything he releases because I know those stories are going to be demented and body melting. Plus this one has a retelling of one of my favorite books.
The art in Ito's stories are always intense. They will stick with you way after reading it and that's one of the reasons why I love these books. The stories are just as intense as the artwork. They make one tormenting combination when paired together.
Frankenstein by Ito was fantastic. It was weird and totally disturbing. There's nothing better than seeing an undead man rip your soul apart.
Junji Ito is the master of horror when it comes to manga. I'll read everything he releases because I know those stories are going to be demented and body melting. Plus this one has a retelling of one of my favorite books.
The art in Ito's stories are always intense. They will stick with you way after reading it and that's one of the reasons why I love these books. The stories are just as intense as the artwork. They make one tormenting combination when paired together.
Frankenstein by Ito was fantastic. It was weird and totally disturbing. There's nothing better than seeing an undead man rip your soul apart.
February 26, 2019
I thought this was a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel, and I especially liked Ito's portrayal of the monster more than pretty much any of the movie versions I've seen. The scene's with the companion monster were particularly gruesome.
The loosely linked shorts were of mixed quality with "Bog Of Living Spirits" being the weakest, and "Neck Specter" and "Strange Tale..." being my favorites. Overall, this book is a lesser among Ito's collected works, but still worth having for me given my love of his work in general.
The loosely linked shorts were of mixed quality with "Bog Of Living Spirits" being the weakest, and "Neck Specter" and "Strange Tale..." being my favorites. Overall, this book is a lesser among Ito's collected works, but still worth having for me given my love of his work in general.
December 13, 2023
I've never read Frankenstein, nor seen any movies. This is my first encounter with the story. I don't know which parts are Shelley's and which parts are Ito's.
I loved it. The story is great and the artwork is extraordinary!
The following short stories are also great, and I liked it was a bundle of Oshikiri stories so there is a line to follow.
Junji Ito is truly a master of body horror manga!
I loved it. The story is great and the artwork is extraordinary!
The following short stories are also great, and I liked it was a bundle of Oshikiri stories so there is a line to follow.
Junji Ito is truly a master of body horror manga!
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