Venus in the Blind Spot (Junji Ito Book 0)

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Over the weekend I finally got to reading Junji Ito’s manga, devouring all three volumes of Uzumaki in as many days. So while I haven’t exactly read enough of this horror master’s work to know what constitutes the “best” of his canon, I will say that the stories collected in Venus in the Blind Spot were mostly enjoyable—and rife with Ito’s trademark body horror ingenuity. Content warnings for: murder, torture, violence, body horror, corpse desecration, necrophilia, animal deaths, stalking, scenes of terror

Subsequent chapters are less effective, with the weakest being "How Love Came to Professor Kirida," a story about the obsessive love of women that transcend death to terrorize the men that rebuffed them. Similarly, "Keepsake" also features a man haunted beyond the grave after an eerie child is found born from the corpse of his dead wife. "Master Umezz and Me" is a humorous autobiographical chapter about Junji Ito and his childhood and later work intersecting with his favorite horror manga creator, Kazuo Umezz ( Kazuo Umezu), the creator of The Drifting Classroom and Cat Eyed Boy. The opening chapter "Billions Alone" feels exceptionally relevant given the current times but would function exponentially better as a short series ala Uzumaki than as a single chapter. Overall, this collection is super strong and full of intense and gripping stories. There were a couple that stood out and really stole the show. I think many readers will enjoy this horror short story collection. Billions Alone: Where corpses are being found in rivers and forests throughout Japan sewn together to make one corpse. Utterly frightening imagery and what a great start to this collection. The Sad Tale of the Principal Post' is... an odd inclusion to say the least, considering that this collection is billed as a 'greatest hits'. There's no point in describing what happens as I'd give the whole thing away. Its whole reason for existing seems to be that it's a horrifying visual pun on the phrase 'man of the house'.

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Something I’m starting to realize as a recurring theme in Ito’s work is obsessive men pining—and becoming violent—over beautiful women. This one was definitely cool but not really my cuppa tea; I’m not so hot on alien conspiracies. Nov 20 From the U.S. to Japan, You Can Control the Life-Size Moving Gundam from the Comfort of Your Own Home

Venus in the Blind Spot- 5 stars This story was perfect. It has the allure of being a creepy a UFO story, but it is much more sinister than a simple UFO. This is a story that I barely want to explain because even talking too much about it would give away its brilliance. One of my favourite short stories is "Human Chair." It's just so odd and bizarre, as is the notion. Perfect. Born in Gifu Prefecture in 1963, he was inspired from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's comics and thus took an interest in drawing horror comics himself. Nevertheless, upon graduation he trained as a dental technician, and until the early 1990s he juggled his dental career with his increasingly successful hobby — even after being selected as the winner of the prestigious Umezu prize for horror manga.The Sad Tale of the Principal Post- 3 stars This is the most forgettable story in the collection. The concept is there, but the execution isn’t fleshed out for it to be memorable or groundbreaking in the horror genre.

The Enigma of Amigara Fault- 5 stars This story was so horrifying. I can still see the outline of the bodies being stretched in the fault lines for miles. It follows the story of fault shaped bodies being found in a mountain that are the exact shape of people. Horrifying and creepy. Venus in the Blind Spot is described as a 'best of' collection, featuring 'the most remarkable short works of Junji Ito's career'. Standouts from the book are 'An Unearthly Love' (unpredictable and tense), 'How Love Came to Professor Kirida' (incredibly entertaining) and the classic 'The Enigma of Amigara Fault' (disturbing as hell). However, I found the selection here less compelling than the previous collection Shiver (which incidentally is also described as a best of!) and the complete Tomie. You might not comprehend it right away, but if you think about it, you might be able to figure out what Ito is trying to say. Interesting. After reading this, I'm relieved that I can enjoy my own company and don't require outside entertainment on a regular basis. I like it when these collections feature the same characters in different stories - Ito does this often - but I wanted more with the female author and felt like her story just ... ended. The other stories are mostly ok but either not long enough or not particularly memorable. The titular story for me was one of the weakest ones, but The Sad Tale of the Principal Post was especially dumb and pointless. Hi, this is my first time reading Junji Ito and experiencing his horror manga and I am a fan. Like why did I think his stuff would be so disgusting and traumatizing that I couldn’t read it. Well, I won’t lie the opening story in the horror manga collection will leave some readers traumatized. Think Sally from the Hotel season of American Horror Story when she sews her two lovers to her body because she loves them so much and they die. Yea, the first story is like that but more intense, so if you think that will make you throw up then maybe skip this collection or Junji Ito altogether. I, however, totally am hyped by this new discovery and I’m obsessed. I loved it. The experience was visceral and now I will break down my thoughts on all of the stories.

This collection of stories felt like opening up pandora’s box. Its an art form. Ridiculously suspenseful. Its opened me up to reading more Manga. ABOUT JUNJI ITO Overall, this was a solid collection with several standout stories. This is well worth adding to anyone's collection. The Sad Tale of Principal Post… Another re-read from a different book. Short and depressingly dark. It's no secret that Junji Ito is a master of horror. This collection of short stories was marvellous, as to be expected. There's no doubt I'm going to be bingeing his content in the near future. Venus In The Blind Spot: The titular tale. What would you do if you couldn’t see the person you love up close but only from a distance? Could it be the work of aliens or something more human…?