Mimi no Kaidan
Mimi's Tales of Terror

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Grittier than your average Itou manga but still nothing to write home about if you checked and weren't shocked by his other horror mangas.

The first thing that may surprise you when checking out Mimi is the fact that for like the first time (at least this was for me), Itou starts the character not only in an urban apartment but the first scary monster is actually portrayed as deadly to the main character.

I'm talking Michael Myers or Freddie Krueger deadly here.

Those who haven't read Itou's other works may wonder what the big deal is when mentioning this tidbit but just so that I don't ... downplay my own critical impression of Itou for those who like these type of horror manga - it's just a case that Itou relies more on village folklore than unstoppable monsters to shock his viewers and even here you will see a sharp decline in the series of short stories after the first one because Itou goes back to his bread and butter.

Other than that, the ending could have been great as it seems Itou tried to gamble with a bad ending but unfortunately at the last minute, he went back to creating open-ended good endings. Had he done so, this might have gone down as a manga better than his most well known work, Uzumaki. Especially the first creature. It is worth picking up just to see how the creature captured the Mary Sue protagonist but again, if you're not a fan of Itou, there's not much else to look forward to until the climax of the last story.

As a fan of guro anime and manga, my friend and I were both utterly surprised when we figured out I hadn't actually come across any of Junji Ito's works before. She set me with links and as this was the shortest one, I decided to start here for my Ito binge for the night.

Mimi's Ghost Stories is a one volume, six chapter manga book that revolves around Mimi, a young (slightly annoying) girl who somehow always ends up surrounded by ghosts or in a situation with them, or at least the paranormal. From ghosts to strange creatures, and a creepy short story at ... the start, this psychological horror manga is probably one of the better places to start with Ito.

I will admit, I did enjoy this, but not as much as I thought I was going to. In fact, I was a little bit let down - having looked into his more gore artwork, and this being psychological, it was a bit deflating to read through. If you're here for Ito being a gore author/artist, definitely do not hold this up to the standard for it. If you want a more psychological read - this is definitely better for the genre.

With well-rounded art and solid storylines, this is definitely some of the best guro mangas I have read - probably the best despite my issues with the character and the let down that it was less gore than I originally expected. I believe if I hadn't been expecting what I had with this, it would definitely be a 9 or 10-star rating from me. Hopefully, if I reread this in the future and I'm more expectant of it and more in the mood for psychological horror, then my rating will go up. It feels almost taboo to give Ito a lowish rating, but the world always surprises you.

If you like psychological horror, this is more than likely one of the shorter mangas you should check out. It's gripping, and some did give me chills. This was an awesome introduction to Ito for me, and I'm about to go read as much as I can from him in one night. A definite recommendation.

Mimi's Ghost stories was, in effect, my first Junji Itou... which I read 15 - 18 years back!

I obviously didn't know who he was at the time. Now almost 2 decades later, and I still remember some of these panels! That's the mark of greatness right there.

This collection is a bit different compared to the author's usual works. They are in fact much, much, MUCH tamer! That's because they weren't written by Junji, they were popular urban legends from that time period. Mimi, the protagonist, is a young lady that ends up living through them as the main framing device.

6 main chapters with a ... few "bonus" tale summaries at the end. The one that stuck in my head for over a decade was oddly Graveman, the most harmless of the bunch but for some reason the most disturbing.

Overall I do have mixed feelings about this one. Yes it was creepy... in the early 2000s. Not so much now though.

I would recommend it for a lightweight of the genre or someone looking into the author's lesser known work, but that's about it.

Spooky!!⚰️
This year I started to read Junji Ito's Mangas, but Mimi caught me.
I think this is the best manga ahead Uzumaki or Soichi *my favorites before Mimi* I really really recommend this manga.
I will be very transparent with you, I did not knew the original work "Shin Mimibukuro" I will probably see the work someday.
Mimi's character remembers me "Kirie" from Uzumaki, but with other context because here we have short histories, not a long history like Uzumaki. I think the art is good, I like womens next door's draw. We can see the stranger things in Mimi's life with her boyfriend.
So... that's all. Enjoy ... this magnific adventure about "Mimi and her stories from beyond the grave" called in Argentina.
💌

I don't know why I read this Manga again...

This was the first manga I read of the master of Horror Junji Ito, coincidentally this being one of the weakest mangas he has ever done. I'm only logging that manga again because I just read an English translation of it, I don't know why I did it, but I did.

The best story in this manga is definitely "The Seashore", being one of the scariest in the entire manga (in my opinion)

The manga is very light for a Junji Ito horror, being great for non-Horror readers and beginners in this new universe, but I feel that it ... is a bit of a thorn in the side because whoever reads this manga and bases Junji Ito only on that, will think that his stories are stupid like these.

"Fragments of Horror" is certainly the best manga (and collection) to start in this world of our beloved Mangaka...