In the realm of manga there is a man whose name is inescapable when the genre of horror is brought up. That man is Junji Ito and his work is considered legendary for its artistic detail, mastery of manga paneling and it’s outlandish imaginative concepts. Up till now his work has yet to have an adaptation that fits his legacy despite a number of attempts to do so. And now with completion of the Junji Ito Collection anime I can sadly say that fact still remains. This animes greatest failing is the lack of effort to truly adaption Junji Ito’s work to animation with the animation being bare bones to truly awful and the art not even coming close to his iconic style. This anime at least can be watchable due to the creativeness of the material but having passable animation, voice acting and music isn’t a good enough trade for the quality of the source itself.
The stories all have a problem with endings where many of them just cut off abruptly and move on to the next tale without much breathing room. Few have conclusive ends to the story being told and can feel like they were cut off in the middle of the tale. Some stories also are questionable choices with the main examples being the Souichi stories when are more black comedy than horror and stick out awkwardly when compared to the other content. The horror stories themselves fail to be scary though some do have some disturbing ideas while others prove to be far too silly to be taken seriously. Otherwise Ito’s general weakness with characterisation can have people acting in awkward or idiotic ways.
Horror anime is unfortunately a rarity and it was a solemn hope of mine that this could be something special despite skepticism. Sadly be it due to staff or studio there felt like no real heart put into this production. A meer attempt to cash in on the legacy of some who puts tremendous effort and time into his craft. A man that deserved better than this.The soundtrack has no notable tracks, the opening is a questionable rock song and the presentation weakens the content that while not making a terrible show, unfortunately turns it into a mediocre one. I do not recommend this be your first introduction to the works of Junji Ito and this isn’t really an anime worth watching, nor remembering.
