Back to bridievinn's Profile bridievinn's Profile

I was really hopeful for this adaptation, I really was. Unfortunately it fell short, and I apparently felt so strongly about it I was urged to write my first review here.

When it was announced there was to be an anime adaption of Junji Ito's work, I think we can all agree there was a lot of anticipation, Ito being one of the best horror artists in manga. There was, however, many disappointments. As the anime progressed, I desperately hoped it would pick up or find its rhythm, but it never did.

The first flaw was splitting up multiple stories into ten minute pieces. As a result ... of this decision, it often feels lackluster - things don't come to any sort of conclusion (which I know is sometimes a feature of some of his stories), it left me feeling dissatisfied and made the stories seem almost unfinished. Various stories have multiple different lengths, so sometimes they had to spread it out unnaturally long, or in the case of stories like Tomie - cram in a lot of material into only ten minutes. I feel if the anime focused on just one of the stories, this could have been resolved.

Another issue was the art. The art, for me, was another one of the biggest disappointments of the anime. His work, as many raised concerns over, is often rather difficult to translate into animation. While in the manga his art tends to be detailed, intricate, striking, the anime completely failed to deliver - while at times there was unsettling and interesting imagery, the art was often incredibly bland, poor and dull. There were occasions in the anime where the animation was literally so terrible, you could tell they were blatantly running over budget.

Partly as a result of failing to translate from paper to screen, some of the horror is missing too - and to such a degree that the anime at times felt silly. There simply isn't the creepiness factor to the same degree as in the manga, minus a few frames.

Overall, i'd say this adaptation was incredibly underwhelming and failed to contribute anything worthwhile in terms of the recreation of his work. However, if you are a fan of Junji Ito (or horror in general), I would still recommend watching it and see how you feel about it yourself, (Even better, read the manga!) While my review is not particularly favorable, the anime did produce some enjoyment. As a fan of Junji Ito, I was intrigued to see where it went - and it was interesting to see it adapted as an anime, even if just making me wonder about the possibilities of a better quality adaption.