Oblio e altre storie

by Junji Ito, Silvia Ricci (Translator)

Racconti terrificanti e sorprendenti che soddisferanno gli appassionati di qualsiasi tipo di orrore: dal body-horror al terrore cosmico, da antiche maledizioni a maniaci omicidi inarrestabili... storia dopo storia Ito si conferma un maestro che alla quantità di pagine prodotte unisce una qualità fuori scala!

Genres: Manga, Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Short Stories, Fiction, Adult

340 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Junji 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.

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann]

Ok not the total banger that Shiver, Smashed and Tombs are but definitely very good. Like if this was your introduction to Junji Ito, this would do the trick! You’d get hooked!
Great artwork, totally disgusting with lots of full page creepy gross outs. I loved the first handful of stories the most. Definitely need this one for the growing collection! Read my updates for story-by-story notes.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange)]

3.0 Stars
These stories were fine but suffered in my enjoyment because they all felt too similar to his previous art. I love his artwork style but at this point, I think I have read too much of their work and realized how similar it all has become. I think I am burnt out from reading so many of these stories over the last several years and I am now finding it hard to see if it's me or the stories.

[Sam Quixote]

Alley is the latest Junji Ito horror manga collection to be reprinted (it first appeared in 2011) and it’s not up there with his best. Of the 10 stories here I only really liked 2, but luckily one of them was the longest story so it’s not as bad a read as it could’ve been.

The title story is one of the two good stories here. A lodger hears spooky sounds emanating from the alley outside his room and begins investigating what happened there once upon a time - with spooky results!

The other good story is Town of No Roads, the longest story in this collection, which reads like a fever dream/escalating nightmare. A girl imagines a boy at school who likes her is sneaking into her room at night whispering her things to make her fall in love with him - and then Jack the Ripper starts appearing in her dreams!

The story is told in this pretty clunky way, like Ito had various ideas that he slapped together and it’s very obvious that they don’t gel as they sit awkwardly alongside each other. One episode sees her family suddenly start spying on her for no reason and then she decides to run away to visit her aunt who lives in this utterly insane town.

As clumsily as the story progresses, it’s undeniably interesting and imaginative - and the idea of a fully covered town, like it’s one giant house, is really unnerving. Especially how the inhabitants maintain their privacy.

There are a few stories about creepy “things” - evil tobacco/mould/ice cream - and Ito turns everyday locations - like a local inn and a hospital - into disturbing hellscapes, but the stories just aren’t that compelling and feel silly more than anything. The other stories are just plain forgettable like the one about floating people, the guy trying to get his girlfriend’s father’s blessing for marriage, and the girl with the false memories.

If you’re after a decent Junji Ito collection, check out Frankenstein or Shiver - Alley is really only for the birds. This one wasn’t up my… street.

[Jan Agaton]

Love how unique these stories were! My faves were Descent, The Ward, and Memory. Docked a star because a couple were just a tad too long for no reason

[Chad]

A weaker collection of Junji Ito stories. Most of these are just quirky more than scary. Even the creepier ones don't make a lot of sense like the longest story in the collection about a girl whose family starts spying on her. She decides to go to her Aunt's and for some reason the town she lives in has turned into one endless house where they have to let everyone walk through and people wear masks to hide their identity. It's more bizarre than anything else, but not bad.

[Rod Brown]

A creepy collection of pretty standard Junji Ito short stories stuffed with ghosts, body horror, serial killers, and a whole lot of eerie imagery. This isn't his top-tier work as the stories aren't particularly long or have deep resonance and often end with a sort of well-that-happened shrug, but they are sure to satisfy that old horror itch for a few minutes at a stretch at least.



FOR REFERENCE

Contents: Alley -- Descent -- The Ward -- The Inn -- Blessing -- Smokers' Club -- Mold -- Town of No Roads -- Memory -- Ice Cream Bus

[Davis Morgan]

Another solid collection of Ito’s stories, although definitely not as strong as some of the others that I have covered so far.

[daph pink ♡]

A solid 3 star read for me. Alley feels like opening a cursed snack box where some stories absolutely slap and some feel like unfinished nightmares scribbled at 3 a.m. The strongest stories linger in your head in that gross, strangely emotional Junji Ito way, while a few others just kind of exist. Still, the atmosphere is insane throughout — moldy apartments, lonely towns, weird obsessions, bodies doing things bodies should never do. Peak discomfort.

Allry — 3.5 stars
Creepy in a very quiet way. The paranoia and claustrophobia worked better than the actual horror reveal for me.

Descent — 3 stars
Classic Ito body horror. Disturbing visuals carried this one more than the story itself.

The Ward — 3 stars
The hospital setting was unsettling but it felt slightly repetitive. Still had that suffocating Junji Ito energy.

The Inn — 3.5 stars
Probably one of the most atmospheric stories here. Gross, tense, and weirdly immersive.

Blessing — 3.5 stars
This one had emotional horror mixed into the grotesque stuff and it genuinely worked for me.

Smokers Club — 2.5 stars
Fun concept but honestly felt more silly than scary. The ending didn’t hit enough.

Mold — 3 stars
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. I respect it deeply.

Town of No Roads — 4 stars
Easily my favorite. The isolation, hopelessness, and surreal worldbuilding were incredible. Felt like being trapped in a nightmare you can’t wake up from.

Memory — 2.5 stars
Interesting setup but it never fully landed emotionally or psychologically for me.

Ice Cream — 2 stars
I know Junji Ito can make literally anything horrifying but evil ice cream just did not do it for me.

Overall, this collection reminded me why Junji Ito is so addictive even when he misses. Even the weaker stories have imagery that crawls into your brain and refuses to leave. A very uneven collection, but when it works, it works in that deeply unsettling “what the hell did I just read” kind of way.

[Stay Fetters]

"This is a lake of blood. It wells up from hell."

Ito is back with a collection of short stories that'll make you leave all the lights on in your house.

This collection is no different. They creeped me out in the best of ways and they were all seriously f**ked up. I expected nothing else from the master of horror manga.

[Alec Costa]

com contos d março de 92 até maio de 93, achei essa coletânea mt cheia de altos e baixo. gosto de mUITO d uns 2 ou 3 contos (inclusive, o 'Permissão' virou meu conto favorito do Junji Ito), mas o resto p mim é meio pombo; gosto da premissa e da primeira metade deles, mas acho que o final deixa mt a desejar

acho que é um bom ponto de partida, pra vc que quer conhecer a escrita e o traço dele, mas meio que só. se quiser, vale a pena pelo Permissão!

[Jillian B]

I feel like a bit of a broken record with my Junji Ito reviews. As with all of his collections, this one contains gorgeous artwork and delightfully twisted tales. If you’re a longtime Ito fan, you will definitely enjoy this one, and if you’ve never checked out his work, this might be a good introduction.

[Anna Quilter]

Feels like a back to form for this collection of short story horror compared to other collections I've read.
The foreboding artwork always gets me and most of the stories have their gory pay offs or just overwhelms with their weirdness.

[Ashley Daviau]

As usual, Junji Ito NEVER disappoints! And I’m kind of starting to feel like a broken record reviewing his collections because I say that every time but it’s so damn true. I know if I pick up something by Ito that I’m going to love it! I actually think Alley might be my favourite so far, the stories in this one really got to me and thoroughly creeped me out. And of course the imagery was beautifully creepy as usual!

[Luthfi Ferizqi]

The Back Alley is a fairly entertaining compilation to read. However, to be honest, I’ve started to feel a bit bored with Junji Ito’s work this time. It might be because this volume consists of separate, standalone stories, given that it’s a compilation.

[Rissa (rissasreading)]

3.5 - Junji Ito always has some weird stories, and I love it.

My favorites were:
Alley
The Inn
Blessing
Mold

[Tabitha (Reading Tabby)]

3.5*

Not my favorite Junji Ito collection but decent all the same; I just wanted more scares. It's more weird fic than straight horror half the time, with some stories I just didn't understand (Smoker's Club, what was the point of this, someone please tell me) and some I just found kind of boring (Descent, more fantasy thriller than horror I guess) or basic (Blessing is a classic sort of woman in white ghost story). Then there was on in the middle that just draaaagged on for so long (Town of No Roads).

My favorite story was a spooky one called The Ward about a strange group of girls in a hospital ward, and also Memory was interesting. I wish those two had been longer. The title story, Alley, wasn't at all bad, and Ice Cream Bus was also gross and fun and reminded me of something like RL Stine would write for Goosebumps lol

Overall this is probably somewhere in the middle of everything I've read by Ito so far. I liked it!

Here's the video where I talk about this book: https://youtu.be/PDWCGOefzFc

[Jenny Clark]

This was an interesting collection. Pretty much every story had a rather ambiguous ending, though some parts were obvious others were left a mystery.
Town Of No Roads was the best one here.

Check out my YouTube channel for bookish videos and monthly wrap ups!

[Kayla]

It's probably the best Junji Ito collection I have read in a long time. Some really fantastic artwork with some creepy storylines that rival Uzumaki. If you're going to pick just one new Ito collection to read, make it this one.


Thank you to netgalley for the chance to read, and review this arc!

[Krysta ꕤ]

short story individual ratings:

Alley - 4 stars
Descent - 3 stars
The ward - 2.5 stars
The inn - 3.5 stars
Blessing - 4 stars
Smokers club - 1 star
Mold - 3.5 stars
Town of no roads - 4 stars
Memory - 4 stars
Ice cream bus - 3.5 stars

[Sladjana]

Savršen spoj izuzetnog Itoovog crteža, kratkih horor priča koje su zaokružene i celovite, i koje zadiru duboko u naše strahove

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading]

Loved this collection, especially the Ice Cream Bus! I found this book had way more weird and bizarre stories vs straight up horror. Definitely still thinking about a few of the extra strange ones, even after I’ve finished reading!

[Caro the Helmet Lady]

Very nice, as usual, but it didn't quite move the ground beneath my feet.

[Jordyn]

I'm a big fan of Junji Ito's work and I enjoyed this short story collection a lot. If you like the cosmic horror genre, I highly recommend giving Ito's work a try even if you don't normally read manga

[Victor The Reader]

This collection by Ito is definitely the most frightening and with the most mindbending art I’ve seen from him in ages.

- “Alley” (title story) - The boarding house where a college student has just moved into has an eerie alley that seems to be hiding a dark secret.
- “Descent” - An unsettling and supernatural event occurs involving missing people and a man’s unstable wife.
- “The Ward” - Two women in the hospital recovering from their car crash injuries slowly begin to have a strange feeling from their four ward mates.
- “The Inn” - A girl’s father becomes disturbingly persistent of turning their house into a hotel and builds a fatal hot springs.
- “Blessing” - A young man’s life takes a dark turn after constantly failing to let his girlfriend’s father’s blessing to marry her.
- “Smokers’ Club” - A group of smoking teens are curious about tobacco leaves growing near a crematorium.
- “Mold” - A young man gets an itchy feeling when he returns to his home that he also rented to lodgers.
- “Town of No Roads” - The longest story found, a young girl finds her life turning very bizarre even when she leaves home.
- “Memory” - There turns out to be a dark secret connected to the beauty of a couple’s daughter.
- “Ice Cream Truck” - A charming ice cream truck slowly turns its young customers into an awfully “sticky” mess.

The ones that’ll get your attention are “Alley”, “Descent”, “The Ward”, “Mold”, “Town” and “Ice Cream Truck”.

A (100%/Outstanding)

[Toni]

I sound like a broken record but... Another soild collection of horror shorts from the king of horror himself, Junji Ito!

I enjoyed all, but my faves of the bunch are Descent, Blessing, Memory and Ice Cream Bus!

[Isa]

*3,75

[nari]

actual rating: 4.6

[destiny ♡ howling libraries]

Junji Ito books are always such a delightfully weird time. I hadn't picked up one of his collections in a little while and it was so nice to finally read this one!

I read a final copy borrowed from the library, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also gifted an early review copy. All thoughts are honest and my own.

[amanda]

hann finnur alltaf nýjar leiðir til að láta fólk bráðna. alveg galið. uppáhaldið mitt örugglega samt sagan um bæinn sem er lokaður af. mjög ógeðslegt.

[Dana]

4.5 stars

Disgusting and disturbing. Perfect for me.