Four additional cast members have been revealed for Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre. The new members have previous credits ranging from popular shonen series like Bleach to prominent horror series like Attack on Titan, and more.

It’s nearly impossible to visit an anime store without seeing several “featured” Junji Ito manga volumes and Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre will mark a second attempt to adapt some of those works into an anime. Announced last month by Junji Ito himself, the series will feature 20 stories from his short horror story volumes, including stories from Souchi, Hanging Balloons, and his debut volume Tomie.

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This previous Monday, the official website for Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre revealed that four new voice actors have joined the cast. Risa Shimizu, Ayaka Asai, Hajime Iijima, and Tomoko Kaneda are all joining the cast as a part of the anime’s adaptation of “The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Seance”. They will join Romi Park and Takahiro Sakurai, two previously revealed cast members, voicing Kiko and Kazuya Hikizuri, respectively. The story will be one of 20 Junji Ito stories being animated for the first time and released on Netflix in 2023.

While the previous adaptation of Junji Ito’s work, The Junji Ito Collection, failed to impress viewers, the year after its release saw a rise in Junji Ito merchandise, from manga lining store shelves to the exclusive merch collection revealed at Crunchyroll Expo 2019. With more Junji Ito merchandise available now than when the previous series was released, it’s easy to imagine Junji will have more fans tuning in this time around. Hopefully, more details will be revealed in the coming months regarding the other stories in the upcoming series, including those from Tomie.

Tomie is Junji Ito’s second highest-rated volume on Myanimelist, which bodes well for the upcoming adaptation. Junji Ito’s work excels in conveying a sense of dread and eeriness, usually in a world that’s familiar, but just a little bizarre. If done well, it’ll make a great addition to the horror anime genre.

Viewers may recognize Romi Park as the voice actor for Attack on Titan’s Hange Zoe. The new cast members have a long list of previous roles in popular series as well, but their big roles are few and far between. Additionally, with how poorly The Junji Ito Collection was received, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre could easily be just as disappointing, but only time will tell.

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Source: Anime News Network