Itou Junji: Maniac Preview Discussion

TheRealRouges said:
I’m curious to see if it’s going to be any good. Now waiting for the official date of Uzumaki

waalex11 said:
I'm close to completing most of Junji Itou's manga, and have only watched Tomie which was acceptable,
albeit a somewhat lackluster and a not great adaption.

Although, I am aware of the critism and have seen clips of the poorly adapted anime of Itou's collection.
What I wonder though, aside from which 20 stories will be adapted is... who's the director and which studio is producing this?
I'd like to ascertain the potential of how good or bad this adaption could be depending on who the director is, and which studio will animate this.

Fortunately the art looks decent enough from the teaser screenshots.

TheRealRouges said:
I think the only decent enough adaptation of Ito’s works so far is the Gyo movie, which I think it’s kind of underrated, but the original manga itself wasn’t anything incredible. I have a lot of hype for Uzumaki, which is Ito’s best effort, and delays apart it seems to be in good and passionate hands. About this Netflix project I’m really not sure what to think, because we have seen nothing, but the fact that Ito himself was talking about it gives me a bit of hope that it won’t be the mediocre mess that was the Junji Ito Collection

waalex11 said:
@TheRealRouges
I actually have yet to read Gyo and Uzumaki.
Aside from No Longer Human and his latest, The Liminal Zone,
those two are his longest manga that I saved for last after reading everything else just recently.

I rewatched his Netflix interview, which makes me assume he's involved one way or another which gives me extra hope as well.
It seems he picked which stories to adapt himself which is even better, I think.

... Tomie wasn't bad, so even if the anime collection is subpar and flat,
I may decide to watch it for the sake of judgement and enjoy its positives. As well as Gyo. It's short enough to watch, why not.

Memore said:

I think it will be studio DEEN who did the previous Ito-san series. Don't know who will be the director though.

I am sure it will be great manga adaptation. Ito-san is my favorite write in horror genre.

Gyo anime adaptation was done badly. They changed the plot and the ending completely.

Collection was done good, I like it! Stories inself are very difficult to adapt, that is why many people complain about this adaptation. I understand them.

Yes, read Gyo and Uzumaki! They are so cool and fantastic!

It is good to know that Ito-san is involved in this series production. I hope that he chose the most appropriate stories to adat and the most cold-hearted.

Tomie is pretty interesting series, I like it.

TheRealRouges said:

Tbh I liked the plot better in the Gyo movie than the manga, prolly just personal preference

Memore said:

Plot yes, but why did they change it in the adaptation. Strange.

TheRealRouges said:

I dunno, but at least in the movie the female main character isn’t always crying, in the manga she was such a pain in the ass😂

Memore said:

But she was killed at the end.

TheRealRouges said:

Good point😂😂😂

Memore said:

Do you hate poor girl so much?

TheRealRouges said:

Never hate a female character that much, dunno why😅

waalex11 said:
Now with only No Longer Human and The Liminal Zone left to read,
I plan to eventually watch all of the anime adaptions, even though I'm aware of their critism for being mediocre, but I think they may be somewhat acceptable or decent in some aspects even if they completely fail in most from what I saw of Tomie.

I think it won't be a terrible experience to watch the manga come alive in anime, even if it isn't at its best that it could have been.

Sad to now know that this anime will be from Studio Deen with the same mediocre director... but oh well. Hopefully it exceeds our expectations, which I doubt. Worse of bad signs is the fact that it doesn't seem she gained much experience at all after directing the Junji Itou Collection...

I thought I had already reacted to this here, unless it was another post, but anyway.

waalex11 said:
@Memore
I'm especially looking forward to Shouichi, Hanging Balloon and Tomie's great multiplication scenes.
As well as the bizarre twins. I hope Layers is one of them also. ... You?

tsubasalover said:
New Teaser Visual
Additional casts
https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1665668354

JayPatel1304 said:
OK deen is back again
What will happen?
Did they will able to do it properly aur this one also gonna ruin ;-;.

Biisoo said:
Deen has actually done some good stuff, People only know them for Nanatsu no Taizai but they also made Higurashi which is an amazing horror anime (Check it out)
Dont assume its automatically gonna be bad.

waalex11 said:
I'm puzzled as to how Netflix, the production or even Junji Itou allowed Studio Deen with the same director who seemingly hasn't gained (barely) any new experience after directing the Junji Itou Collection to direct this new anime...

I haven't watched the anime collection yet, but I'm aware of how bad it is,
and I am very doubtful this one will be as great as it should be with how the other one failed.
How did Japanese fans even react to this anime? I wonder if it was critiqued the same. Off the teasers, the art looks lackluster as well. It could be better.

waalex11 said:
Deen has some decent adaptions, along with some great animations,
but aside from the already lackluster art that's seen from the teasers, the issue is that it's being directed by the same director who's barely gained any new experience since directing the collection a few years ago.

waalex11 said:
Deen has some decent adaptions, along with some great animations,
but aside from the already lackluster art that's seen from the teasers, the issue is that it's being directed by the same director who's barely gained any new experience since directing the collection a few years ago.

waalex11 said:
@Kingerty
I'm still extremely skeptical.

Sure, she's worked in the industry for 28 years, but she's mostly done key animation/character design, one-episode storyboards, a few full storyboards and directed only four anime in the last years.

I've seen a few of her work (Monster, Kore wa zombie desu ka?, and Kimi Ni Todoke),
but I don't remember those two episodes clearly at all to critically judge them,
but I at least watched her Tomie OVA of two episodes which were somewhat acceptable yet failed to execute in the most pivotal scenes, while producing a lackluster atmosphere.

Even more worrying to me is that she hasn't directed anything since, and after just two projects afterwards of one-episode storyboards each, she's coming back to direct 5 years after the Itou collection.

I'm aware of the anime's critiscm, and even though I have yet to watch it myself yet, soon, it obviously wasn't great.

As for your worry for Tomie,
I think she'll only adapt one or a few more stories of Tomie.
We found out one of the episodes will be Tomie's Photo.

I haven't watched the Tomie episode of Painter in the collection itself yet, albeit clips,
but I had a sense that the OVA failed by default in an aspect, exactly relating to your worry of length, because that OVA is only the first two chapter's introduction of Tomie.

Tomie's story doesn't function with just her origin and one of her stories, because it lacked her classic trope of the many mesmerized men resulting in her deaths, alongside her other horrific abilities and overall narcissistic character.

Funny it doesn't seem like you watched the collection yourself either based on not seeing it in your anime list.

As for the Mars of Destruction point, I have no idea how long the original game is, but it's incredibly difficult to adapt visual novels if not produced with the right length.
... I don't know how much of a factor it is, but she's chosen as a director for the Maniac anime because she's cheaper to hire due to her name of popularity and experience.

I can imagine trusting and believing in a fan who's already directed the only Junji Itou anime, but I'm still surprised they took her back to direct this with how "bad" the collection was.

waalex11 said:
Finally watched the anime, and I have to correct myself. It was great.
Thus, I'm now eager for this new anime, even if Studio Deen's art/animation unfortunately isn't elite to which they probably won't depict the slick gorgeous art similar to Itou's, but they were very faithful with a great cast, even with its few flaws and condensed adaptions with cut content.

My biggest disappointment aside from the slight change of Itou's 'The Circus is Here' was the casting choice for Souichi.
His old creepy man voice does not fit the character of troubled young boy Souichi at all. A shame the actor is reprising that role.

tsubasalover said:
New key visual
https://natalie.mu/comic/news/506314