okay so i’m gonna start blogging my manga/anime reviews! this is not only my first post, but also my first manga review ever so please go easy on me 🤧

★·.·´¯`·.·★ 𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖆 𝖗𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖜 ★·.·´¯`·.·★

𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓪 𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮:

gyo by junji ito

𝓼𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓹𝓼𝓲𝓼:

“the floating smell of death hangs over the island. what is it? a strange, legged fish appears on the scene... so begins tadashi and kaori’s spiral into the horror and stench of the sea. here is the CREEPIEST MASTERPIECE OF HORROR MANGA EVER from the creator of UZUMAKI, junji ito. hold your breath until all is revealed.”

𝓹𝓵𝓸𝓽/𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂: 7/10

the story, while a little far-fetched, is interesting. at the beginning, the story did not spook me or weird me out that much. it wasn’t until i was about 1/4 through the manga ( the kaori incident in chapter 8: infection ) that things began to get to me. as far as the ending goes, it would be an understatement to say that i was dissatisfied. i felt like i was left guessing, but not in a good way. usually, i enjoy things that are left to the imagination, but i feel like junji ito left TOO much to the imagination ( i’ve been told that he can’t write endings for the life of him, however this is the first manga of his that i’ve read ). the horror aspect, however, was fantastic, and that’s mainly what i read this manga for. there were times when i wasn’t sure if i could continue reading because of how physically sick i felt from the images that were placed before me ( that, and thinking about what was happening inside their bodies. i also have a phobia of that bloating type of deal so i may have been more affected by it than the average person ).

there are two short stories in the back that i will briefly discuss here. the first short story, the sad tale of the principal’s post, didn’t have much to it but it still greatly disturbed me. the second short story, the enigma of amigara fault, was a stomach-churning little tale that i thoroughly enjoyed. 10/10.

𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷/𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓲𝓰𝓷: 10/10

junji ito’s drawings always perfectly capture the horror that he is attempting to portray, and i’ve known this way before i ever read one of his mangas. the man is brilliant with his art.

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼: 6/10

i didn’t really feel attached to the characters. i mean, from the very beginning, tadashi yelled at kaori which made me assume that their relationship was a little rocky. tadashi didn’t have much personality to him. kaori was more insane than she was sane for the majority of the manga, so i didn’t get much character development from her either. ms. yoshiyama had no personality, she was just a pretty assistant. and koyanagi’s ending just seemed to not really have a purpose, in my opinion.

𝓪𝓾𝓭𝓲𝓸/𝓼𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓴:

n/a

𝓪𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼:

i’m not sure if i could stomach another read, but if i felt like i could physically handle it, then i would.

𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷:

overall, i really enjoyed this manga. i had a hard time putting it down. if you’re looking for a strong horror manga, i suggest this one, but be warned that the ending may leave you disappointed. however, if you are easily scared or are prone to nightmares/queasiness, definitely do not pick up this manga.