Winter 2023 Preview: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the
Winter 2023 Preview: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the
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Winter 2023 Preview: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre
20 terrifying tales from Junji Ito, the Japanese master of cosmic body horror are coming to Netflix this winter with a promise to chill your heart.
One of the most anticipated titles being released in 2023 is Junji Ito’s Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre. Containing 20 of his most twisted and terrifying tales, the new anime series promises to be a seminal version of this cult favorite horror author. Strong first images, a stellar voice cast, and fan-favorite chilling stories have horror aficionados in eager anticipation for its upcoming release. Considered a master of cosmic and body horror, Junji Ito has been terrifying millions with his stories for decades. He’s been nominated for and won several Eisner awards, most recently for Remina (Hellplanet Remina) in 2021, a story about a planet-sized world-eater that heads towards Earth, and the subsequent cruelty and chaos that ensues.
Although his work has been successfully adapted in the past, Junji Ito has had middling success with many adaptations, including Crunchyroll’s 2018 Junji Ito Collection, widely considered a flop, and Adult Swim’s version of Uzumaki, a story often listed as Junji Ito’s best work, about a town cursed by spirals. This four-part adaptation was announced in 2019 but has yet to receive a firm release date, despite renewed promises that this will occur in 2023. Thus, all eyes are on Junji It’s Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre to see if it can break this spell.
In the Netflix Intro he did back in June, Junji Ito mentions 3 of his most famous stories that will be included in the series: Tomie, Souichi’s Diary of Curses, and The Hanging Balloons. Tomie, one of Junji Ito’s first stories, concerns the titular immortal beauty who drives men to murder and madness, and has been the image focused on in both subsequent Netflix official clips, including what appears to be the title sequence, with the opening song “Paranoid” by MADKID, who’ve done previous work on Rise of the Shield Hero. Certainly, her character is both visually appealing, disturbing, and perhaps one of the most familiar to Junji Ito fans. There are currently 9 installments of the Tomie manga and many adaptations including an 8 part of live-action series. Rie Suegara will reprise her role as Tomie from The Junji Ito Collection, and is familiar to fans of Bochi the Rock and Haikyuu!!
In another reprisal from The Junji Ito Collection, Yuuji Mitsuya will again play Souichi, the wicked iron-nail-chewing protagonist of Souichi’s Diary of Curses. This unnerving fan-favorite bad guy with a devilish propinquity for cursing people, will be featured in the story “The Room With Four Walls.” Similar bad vibes can be found in The Hanging Balloons, where giant heads float in the sky and attempt to hang the people they resemble. It’s been a fan favorite since its original release in manga form on August 1, 1994, with a film adaptation as one of three Junji Ito shorts in Kubitsuri Kikyuu in 2000.
What To Expect
Other highlights from the 20 short stories that will be featured in the series include the never previously officially translated into English “Tombtown.” Also known as “Tombs“, “Street of Gravestones” or “Gravetown” the story is principally concerned with guilt and death in a town where the dead transform into gravestones that occupy every inch of the city. It will finally be released in an English-language collection, Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection this March 2023. Other stories include the Library of Illusions, a horror story particularly suited to bibliophiles, Headless Sculptures for art fans needing a bit of terror, and Ice Cream Bus, if you no longer wish to enjoy ice cream ever again.
The series will also feature one of the few stories of Junji Ito which contains no supernatural element at all. “Bullied” also known as “The Bully” is the story of a bully who falls for her victim once they become adults. It’s a complicated piece of revenge that relies strictly on psychological elements to reach its open-ended conclusion. While the result of the main character’s final break is never know, it’s very clear that it won’t be good. Natsumi Takamori, whose voice-over work is mostly games, will play Kuriko, the bully in question, joining a very large cast of voice actors which includes Risa Shimzu, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in the Japanese voice-over for Game of Thrones.
The full impact of Junji Ito’s Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre won’t be felt until its premiere on Netflix this January 19, 2023. Still, fans are tossing and turning over the images, video highlights, and cast list. Hopefully we can all lose a bit of sleep once the series begins to scream…screen.
