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潤二の恐怖夜話 [Junji no Kyōfu Yobanashi] #2
潤二の恐怖夜話2 首吊り気球 [Junji no Kyōfu Yobanashi 2: Kubitsuri Kikyū]
言わずと知れた伊藤潤二作品、傑作中の傑作。和子のクラスメイトでアイドルタレントでもある輝美が衝撃的な自殺をした。マンションの外壁に自分を晒すようにして首を吊って。そして輝美の熱狂的なファンたちが次々、後追い自殺する。しかもそのほとんどが首吊り自殺だった。さらに、輝美の幽霊が現れるという噂が広まる。目撃者の証言によると、輝美の首だけが空に浮かんでいるというのだが!?
63 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1994
11 people are currently reading
542 people want to read
About the author
Junji Ito
238 books15.3k 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 58 reviews
February 26, 2020
Whew! Now THAT'S horror.
No explanation. No logic. No rationale. You just have to make it up yourself. These bite-sized Junji Ito horror tales are really perfection incarnate if what you're looking for is getting terrorized out of your pants. I mean, there's no secret there too. The giant floating heads are a representation of a death/extinction anxiety (how 2020). It's simply, straighforward, grotesque and efficient. It's also a nasty switcheroo of a symbol of freedom and innocence (the ballons). When it's time to creep you out, no one does it better than Ito. At least, no one that I know.
No explanation. No logic. No rationale. You just have to make it up yourself. These bite-sized Junji Ito horror tales are really perfection incarnate if what you're looking for is getting terrorized out of your pants. I mean, there's no secret there too. The giant floating heads are a representation of a death/extinction anxiety (how 2020). It's simply, straighforward, grotesque and efficient. It's also a nasty switcheroo of a symbol of freedom and innocence (the ballons). When it's time to creep you out, no one does it better than Ito. At least, no one that I know.
December 5, 2025
Thoughtful concept that could have used more development
April 11, 2023
Inflated egos
Is it the pressure from public persona, the lure of celebrity, or some form of collective guilt that is driving people to the end of their tethers?...
See also:
The enigma of Amigara Fault
The Days of Perky Pat
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Is it the pressure from public persona, the lure of celebrity, or some form of collective guilt that is driving people to the end of their tethers?...
See also:
The enigma of Amigara Fault
The Days of Perky Pat
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
December 25, 2016
Who needed sleep anyway
March 30, 2023
So I'm starting to have an addiction with Junji Ito's mangas. And by far, this one creeps me the most.
October 4, 2021
gee that was so DARK
August 10, 2024
"Los globos asesinos" es un manga de un par de páginas que nos habla de tal cual, de unos globos asesinos. Un día aparecen estos globos que tienen formas de cabezas de personas y una soga, estos globos buscan a la persona que representan y buscan ahorcarlas, pueden hablar y si los destruyes, la persona a la que representan también muere.
Quizás la idea leída suena un tanto absurda, pero ya viendo su ejecución es donde nos damos cuenta lo bien que funciona.
Todo bien contado es interesante: Creo que Junji Ito sabe sacar el terror de casi cualquier cosa y una de las herramientas de las que saca todo el provecho es su dibujo, durante las páginas uno no puede creer lo que está pasando, es una locura y de las buenas.
En resumen es atrapante, corto y se te queda en la cabeza.
Lo recomiendo si:
-Te gustan los globos.
-Quieres leer algo corto de terror.
-Buscas algo para asustarte.
-Te gusta el manga.
-Has trabajado de payaso.
Leí también “El regreso de los globos asesinos”, es aún más corto y aunque expande la historia y contesta algunas preguntas que puede uno hacerse siento que es más una curiosidad.
Quizás la idea leída suena un tanto absurda, pero ya viendo su ejecución es donde nos damos cuenta lo bien que funciona.
Todo bien contado es interesante: Creo que Junji Ito sabe sacar el terror de casi cualquier cosa y una de las herramientas de las que saca todo el provecho es su dibujo, durante las páginas uno no puede creer lo que está pasando, es una locura y de las buenas.
En resumen es atrapante, corto y se te queda en la cabeza.
Lo recomiendo si:
-Te gustan los globos.
-Quieres leer algo corto de terror.
-Buscas algo para asustarte.
-Te gusta el manga.
-Has trabajado de payaso.
Leí también “El regreso de los globos asesinos”, es aún más corto y aunque expande la historia y contesta algunas preguntas que puede uno hacerse siento que es más una curiosidad.
January 8, 2022
TW: Suicidal hanging ( graphic depiction of suicide & mentions) , strong language , body horror
NOW THIS IS HORROR!!! I think this is the first time I’ve enjoyed something by Junji Ito. Hanging Balloons is a short story derived from “Shiver”. It was bittersweet & bizarre. The execution is amazing; there’s no explanation for the phenomena so it gives the readers room to think and ponder. EERILY FASCINATING THIS ONE!
NOW THIS IS HORROR!!! I think this is the first time I’ve enjoyed something by Junji Ito. Hanging Balloons is a short story derived from “Shiver”. It was bittersweet & bizarre. The execution is amazing; there’s no explanation for the phenomena so it gives the readers room to think and ponder. EERILY FASCINATING THIS ONE!
June 2, 2020
Balloons is the story about a girl named Kazuko who has locked herself up in her room, hiding from something that started with the death of her friend. A monster with a face that resembles her own is after her, and soon flying heads with nooses hanging from their necks try to lure everyone that looks like them into committing suicide for mysterious purposes.
November 14, 2021
What I love about Junji Ito is how the origins of these horrors are never truly explained: when you explain something, you give it purpose and a way to defeat it, and in horror, it immediately kills the tension. Not knowing the origins of these balloons and a way to defeat them makes it terrifying. Junji Ito is a goddamn genius in his work and the art never ceases to look gorgeous.
August 28, 2018
Masterful short horror. Utterly haunting.
January 19, 2022
Chilling to read, yet a delight all the same.
This is one of Junji Ito's iconic works.
This is one of Junji Ito's iconic works.
January 3, 2024
masterful and chilling and desolate. a beautiful way of depicting the sensationalization of grief. junji ito is a genius
January 2, 2023
Straight up nightmare fuel!
May 15, 2023
"Qué horrible... Esa es mi voz palabra por palabra. Mi voz me está llamando desde afuera, en la segunda ventana. No estoy alucinando, esa cosa está usando mi voz. De alguna forma suena como yo, pero definitivamente no soy yo. No sé lo que es, todo lo que sé es que después mi vida se acaba. Siempre está ahí, esperando afuera de la ventana".
March 19, 2023
😖😖😖
El concepto de esta historia es buenísimo.
Me gustó mucho y sí sentí miedito en algunas partes.
La viñeta final me dio ñañaras.
4,5 estrellas, no le doy 5 porque se me hizo muy corto y me hubiese gustado saber más. Además el final queda muy abierto para mi gusto.
El concepto de esta historia es buenísimo.
Me gustó mucho y sí sentí miedito en algunas partes.
La viñeta final me dio ñañaras.
4,5 estrellas, no le doy 5 porque se me hizo muy corto y me hubiese gustado saber más. Además el final queda muy abierto para mi gusto.
December 7, 2020
"I'm feeling a decent to strong 9" -Anthony Fantano
Jesus. This is bone-chilling....and comfortable.
Before I start this review, I wanted to start off with a detour. Usually, when I read books I like to listen to an album, a specific genre of music for a specific of writing and my go to music for Lovecraftian horror is dark ambient but more specifically, the early works of The Caretaker: 'Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom', 'A Stairway To The Stars', 'We'll All Go Riding On A Rainbow' etc, around that time period. This manga sync up so well to 'A Stairway To The Stars' that it feels like some type of conspiracy theory type stuff like 'The Darkside of Oz' theories where an album and film sync up so eerily well.
So tl:dr, I think you should listen to some of The Caretaker's early works when reading (specifically 'A Stairway To The Stars', it elevates the experience to reveal extremely terror-inducing moments, as well as clipping, unyeilding suspense. Anyways detour over.
The Hanging Balloons is a short horror manga by Junji Ito, a prolific mad lad with a cavernous mind that gives birth to terror-shows such is this. Armed with his unique hyper-realistic art-style, he crafts images that bore into the mind of the reader, images of twisted body horror and that signature fear of the unknown, present in the works of Lovecraft, just through his art!
The Hanging Balloons is about Japan being attacked by huge balloon heads that try to hang humans whose head the balloon's head is. When I put it like this its sounds stupid and weird but trust me, when you're engrossed in the book, it's hard to gain back that silly sense because the whole story is undertoned by this unsettling feeling.
Although there was one moment that really broke the suspense, where I laughed out loud at the ridiculous events unfolding before me, that I thought brought down the story a bit but Junji Ito got me there because that laugh I let out was a sense of hope which he immediately squandered in the next few panels. You'll know what that was when you see it.
It's such a simple, yet, terrifying mystical and surreal concept that, as much as it is unrealistic, it is still extremely unsettling to think about. What would you do when a giant car-sized version of your head is talking to you in your own voice and trying to lure you outdoor to hang you before going back into the sky it came from? I couldn't think of much but trying to contemplate a solution really wouldn't work against this brand of horror because the point is that it is inescapable and weirdly, I take comfort in that, it helps ground the complicated world we live in, in some surreal way.
4.5/5 stars (probably 4/5 stars if I didn't listen to 'A Stairway To The Stars' while reading this. Seriously. It's great. Check it out on his Bandcamp page or on youtube. I'd give that album a 4.5/6)
Jesus. This is bone-chilling....and comfortable.
Before I start this review, I wanted to start off with a detour. Usually, when I read books I like to listen to an album, a specific genre of music for a specific of writing and my go to music for Lovecraftian horror is dark ambient but more specifically, the early works of The Caretaker: 'Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom', 'A Stairway To The Stars', 'We'll All Go Riding On A Rainbow' etc, around that time period. This manga sync up so well to 'A Stairway To The Stars' that it feels like some type of conspiracy theory type stuff like 'The Darkside of Oz' theories where an album and film sync up so eerily well.
So tl:dr, I think you should listen to some of The Caretaker's early works when reading (specifically 'A Stairway To The Stars', it elevates the experience to reveal extremely terror-inducing moments, as well as clipping, unyeilding suspense. Anyways detour over.
The Hanging Balloons is a short horror manga by Junji Ito, a prolific mad lad with a cavernous mind that gives birth to terror-shows such is this. Armed with his unique hyper-realistic art-style, he crafts images that bore into the mind of the reader, images of twisted body horror and that signature fear of the unknown, present in the works of Lovecraft, just through his art!
The Hanging Balloons is about Japan being attacked by huge balloon heads that try to hang humans whose head the balloon's head is. When I put it like this its sounds stupid and weird but trust me, when you're engrossed in the book, it's hard to gain back that silly sense because the whole story is undertoned by this unsettling feeling.
Although there was one moment that really broke the suspense, where I laughed out loud at the ridiculous events unfolding before me, that I thought brought down the story a bit but Junji Ito got me there because that laugh I let out was a sense of hope which he immediately squandered in the next few panels. You'll know what that was when you see it.
It's such a simple, yet, terrifying mystical and surreal concept that, as much as it is unrealistic, it is still extremely unsettling to think about. What would you do when a giant car-sized version of your head is talking to you in your own voice and trying to lure you outdoor to hang you before going back into the sky it came from? I couldn't think of much but trying to contemplate a solution really wouldn't work against this brand of horror because the point is that it is inescapable and weirdly, I take comfort in that, it helps ground the complicated world we live in, in some surreal way.
4.5/5 stars (probably 4/5 stars if I didn't listen to 'A Stairway To The Stars' while reading this. Seriously. It's great. Check it out on his Bandcamp page or on youtube. I'd give that album a 4.5/6)
August 6, 2020
4.5 estrellas:
Aunque parezca irreal en su azar, esta historia corta ha sido mi primer acercamiento a la obra del artista Junji Ito y también el único manga que había leído hasta el momento. Me aventuraría a decir que no solo me ha encantado, sino que me ha motivado a querer leer más del autor y libros dentro del género (horror / manga).
En tan solo 60 páginas Ito crea una narrativa intrigante mediante la trama, que se basa en unos globos súper naturales que buscan colgar a los habitantes de Japón por las sogas que constituyen sus cuerdas. A pesar de esta premisa un tanto extraña no puedes evitar sentirte capturado por el estilo de dibujo que en su aspecto grotesco logra llegar a adquirir un tono romántico, detallado y atmosférico en su terror.
El final no solo completa el círculo narrativo sino que eleva el suspense justo antes de concluir, dando un carácter abierto al libro pero que encaja perfectamente con esta particular obra.
En definitiva, esta me ha resultado una historia corta simplemente perfecta, con imágenes preciosas y una escenografía icónica que se me ha quedado grabada en la mente. No puedo esperar a leer más de Junji Ito, y estoy segura de que no me puede decepcionar.
Aunque parezca irreal en su azar, esta historia corta ha sido mi primer acercamiento a la obra del artista Junji Ito y también el único manga que había leído hasta el momento. Me aventuraría a decir que no solo me ha encantado, sino que me ha motivado a querer leer más del autor y libros dentro del género (horror / manga).
En tan solo 60 páginas Ito crea una narrativa intrigante mediante la trama, que se basa en unos globos súper naturales que buscan colgar a los habitantes de Japón por las sogas que constituyen sus cuerdas. A pesar de esta premisa un tanto extraña no puedes evitar sentirte capturado por el estilo de dibujo que en su aspecto grotesco logra llegar a adquirir un tono romántico, detallado y atmosférico en su terror.
El final no solo completa el círculo narrativo sino que eleva el suspense justo antes de concluir, dando un carácter abierto al libro pero que encaja perfectamente con esta particular obra.
En definitiva, esta me ha resultado una historia corta simplemente perfecta, con imágenes preciosas y una escenografía icónica que se me ha quedado grabada en la mente. No puedo esperar a leer más de Junji Ito, y estoy segura de que no me puede decepcionar.
January 14, 2018
For all tense and purpose everything started to go bad when the body off a young starlet, Terumi was found hanging. This death would not only affect lots of people, namely her fans and garner interest from the press, this death is seemingly the catalyst for the scary event that would behold all in that town, country and quite possibly the world.
In this story we meet a teen girl by the name of Kazuko who is huddled in a corner terrified about what awaits her outside.
We flash back and learn of her friendship with up-and-coming starlet and classmate Terumi and see everyone's reaction to her death and behavior afterwards. The death of this one girl seems to have taken on a life of it's own causing people to spiral and for others believe they are hallucinating her ghost, more specifically her head floating in the sky.
Worried about the mental health of Terumi's boyfriend Kazuko agrees to meet up with him to see things for herself and it is when she uncovers witnesses this 'hanging balloon' and knows nothing will ever be right or safe again.
In this story we meet a teen girl by the name of Kazuko who is huddled in a corner terrified about what awaits her outside.
We flash back and learn of her friendship with up-and-coming starlet and classmate Terumi and see everyone's reaction to her death and behavior afterwards. The death of this one girl seems to have taken on a life of it's own causing people to spiral and for others believe they are hallucinating her ghost, more specifically her head floating in the sky.
Worried about the mental health of Terumi's boyfriend Kazuko agrees to meet up with him to see things for herself and it is when she uncovers witnesses this 'hanging balloon' and knows nothing will ever be right or safe again.
January 20, 2023
Un concepto muy interesante que me hizo leérmelo todo del tirón.
Me parece una alegoría a la gran tasa de suicidios en Japón muy buena.
No te dan una explicación, lo que suele ser un acierto en historias de este tipo, por mucho que me encantaría saber el por qué de todo lo que sucede en este manga.
Aun que el padre saliendo a trabajar en una situación así me parece muy ilógico, y las muertes que proceden a esa no me encantaron, se lo compro ya que eran necesarias.
Me parece una alegoría a la gran tasa de suicidios en Japón muy buena.
No te dan una explicación, lo que suele ser un acierto en historias de este tipo, por mucho que me encantaría saber el por qué de todo lo que sucede en este manga.
Aun que el padre saliendo a trabajar en una situación así me parece muy ilógico, y las muertes que proceden a esa no me encantaron, se lo compro ya que eran necesarias.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2017
another SUPER UNNERVING comic by junji ito. i read this when i had my horror comics phase 2 yrs ago. i have read so much horror comics during those 2 years but this is one of the few comics that really scared me and got me thinking about it for a day or two after reading it.
April 28, 2021
No llego a entender de como de una idea tan descabellada y absurda, puede llegar a salir algo tan terrorífico, sin mencionar que todas sus protagonistas, lucen siempre tan inteligentes en situaciones así y solo cuando caen en la desesperación es que acaba todo
August 12, 2021
Honestly, one of the best short stories Junji Ito ever wrote. The premise is so random yet so weirdly fascinating. This might not be everyone's cup of tea so I would recommend this to people who like bizarre/obscure horror.
June 25, 2017
-upside down emoji-
July 9, 2017
Interesting...
January 11, 2018
Creepy AF. I love it!!
November 4, 2018
ooky spooky
December 24, 2018
Holy shit. This one is good. The whole metaphor of the balloons is crazy creepy especially with the whole history of Japan.
January 12, 2019
Super spooky and creative. Interesting balloon-metaphor.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews