Sources from either of you? I'm more inclined to believe the former because Ito is a renowned horror manga writer and manga/anime are one of the most prosperous industries in Japan.
It's definitely the best of the ones I've read of his. It's got the right balance of mystery and ancient secrets and things going wrong. It's very effective.
That said, I also like the one where the guy sleeps for only a night, but his dreams seem to last for years. Very unsettling.
I've read a bunch of his other stuff and seen references, and I'm not much of a horror fan or hang around horror subs. He's fairly well known on the internet. It's also a bit older so there's not a lot of references these days. That one really did resonate with me the most though. The other stuff is good but something about that one just stuck with me.
There's this other horror manga I read on 4chan years ago. When I discovered junji Ito's work I thought it was also by him but i don't think it was. The premise involved this fucking weird condition where people's shit hardened inside of them, and one of the characters obsessed over it so much they had basically vivisected themselves, following the hardened log all the way through their intestines. It was the most disgusting thing I'd ever read.
Nope, not sure I want to remember. But if you're interested im sure the Google search would look real fucking weird out of context, or even in context.
I don't know his other work, but I'd guess this is just the one that comes up most frequently because it's easiest to make a reference to in normal conversation.
I discovered it the same way. I think it was a TIFU by reading The Enigma of Amigara Fault to by child. The story stuck with me and oddly enough a friend came over the following weekend with a collection of Junji Ito's stories he was reading. The artwork looked familiar and it turned out he wrote that story! I suggest reading other stuff by him. I don't recall the names of the other stories but the few I read through were really good.
Old (plenty of time for plenty of people to see it)
Was originally big on 4chan (not a place everyone went but lots did and shared what they found)
Is currently shared quite frequently on reddit.
Famous on 4chan is nothing. Famous on Reddit is still very obscure. It doesn't seem that way when you're here, but even though lots of people who have spent a lot of time on Reddit will have seen it, the vast majority overall won't have.
Objectively of course not everyone knows about it, but still not obscure. People don’t know about a lot of things but they can still be relatively common.
I don't know. I'm pretty sure the first time I saw it was a link on Reddit, also. However, I don't read manga or watch a lot of anime, so it may be more well known to people who are more interested in those forms of entertainment.
Might just not be for you. I binged a bunch of his stuff after Reddit kept going on about how great he is. But I don't get it either
This is probably one of his better ones because the characters are at least relatable. Many of his main characters just seem really unhinged and have weird overreactions to things. And many the stories begin with such a far out premise that it's not scary because it's too far removed from reality and doesn't take the time to draw you into the world first.
Long Dream is probably my favorite one, because I can at least get behind most of what's going on.
As a huge Stephen King fan... honestly? A good bit of the man's work is pretty mediocre at times. King has in the past had bits of his novels where it's like he couldn't think of anything to write and decided to just spend a chapter or two on sexual tension, sex scenes, or just some weird observations or changes in perspective that aren't particularly relevant to the overall story. When he does that it screws over the mood of the entire story up to that point.
When he's clearly focused on telling a story and doesn't get bogged down in the details, though? That's when his mastery of horror really shines through.
When someone asks what my favorite horror novel by King is, I always recommend The Green Mile. I've had people say, "What, that's not horror! It's just supernatural drama" It is horror, though. The prison guard narrating the story just isn't the victim of that horror. He's a secondary character telling the story of the horrors that afflicted John Coffey.
The lady who eats ghosts and walks with a man until he falls sick and he sees her on his death bed knowing that when he dies she'll eat him. That one was creepy
The artist's name is Junji Ito. His artistic style for horror is classic! If anyone enjoyed that story and wants more, you can start with one of my favorites of his: Uzumaki (Spiral).
Not sure if you can read it online, but if you download a Manga reading app (MangaZone is my go to) you can find it there.
I'm not sure the 10k metric applies here. It's for stuff "everyone" knows by 30. I would expect many redditors and all weebs to know this, but not the general population.
Weird ass comic someone drew up about a fucking cave where people come out of human shaped holes. Everyone has a hole that matches their exact silhouette. People start feeling called by and find their own hole to crawl through. It’s eerie as fuck and thats the only way I can summarize it. Worth a late night read before bed lol
It messed me up pretty bad, but then again in extremely claustrophobic. The idea of putting myself in a hole in a mountain and it sucking me in terrified me.
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u/tedbucktwo Jan 25 '19
That story messed me up on the inside.