The king of horror mangas, Junji Ito, is no stranger to monsters. The anime Junji Ito Collection, an adaptation of Junji Ito's short stories, shares some of the most unsettling creatures that have graced Junji Ito's mangas. Of course, not all monsters are made alike, and some are more frightening than others. Going straight to the terrifying, this looks at the most disturbing nightmares in Junji Ito Collection.
To help keep everything organized, there will be two categories used to separate the monsters. The first is the insectoid creatures, which Junji Ito revisits with his monsters. Not surprising since the combination of insects and horror has always worked side by side. The second is the humanoid monster; this category is coving the more human-like monsters that Junji Ito has touched on because what scarier than humans.
Creepy Crawlers
Some of the most disturbing monsters in the Junji Ito Collection are insect-based creatures. The first one that comes to mind is the centipede-like monstrosity in "Honored Ancestors." This story is the first one told in episode eight, and the viewers are introduced to Risa, a young girl who is amnesia. While recovering from this, her fiance begs her to leave the house, explaining that it will help her mind. During this time, Risa is also battling horrible nightmares of a giant centipede coming after her. Eventually, Risa's fiance gets to visit his home, where his ill father waits to see her.
A shocking scene of the young man crawling on his back into the room surprises Risa. Feeling unsettled, Risa leaves, only to return when the word for her soon-to-be father-law dying. It is here that Risa discovers the truth, her fiance's family has been attacking their heads to a host, keeping the memories of them alive. The long growth of heads has created a horrifying centipede-like creature, and her fiance is now attached to it. The story ends with Risa being trapped as the bride of this monster to give birth to the next inheritor one day. This isn't a traditional insect monster, but the appearance of hunters of human heads attached to one another creates a fantastic illusion of legs and body segments. With the host crawling along on the ground after Risa, it's hard not to have nightmares of this thing.
In episode three, the second insectoid monster is from the second story, 'Slug Girl.' The story focuses on a high school girl Yuuko but is told from the perspective of her friend Rie. According to Rie, Yuuko was extremely talkative until recently. She'd been having trouble pronouncing things. Soon Yuuko stopped coming to school. Wanting to make sure Yuuko is okay, Rie visits her house, where her parents were killing an infestation of slugs. They welcome Rie, guiding her to Yuuko's room, where they discover a giant slug coming from Yuuko's mouth. In an attempt to kill the slug, Yuuko's parents place her in a tub filled with salt, except the slug didn't shrink; Yuuko's body did. According to Rie, Yuuko can be seen in her parents' garden, like a snail with a beautiful shell.
What makes these insect monsters so horrifying isn't that they are bugs, but because they were once human. For some reason or another, their bodies morphed into these monsters. Creating an amalgamation of human and insect, something that is unsettling. Knowing that before the transformation, they were human and that maybe this could happen to anyone at any moment.
Human Monsters
Even though some of Junji Ito's monsters appear human, it doesn't mean they are. Monsters like Miss Fuchi from the story "Fashion Model" and Tomie from "Painter" wear a mortal shell but aren't human. The beast that does come to mind from this series is from "Greased." In this story, shared in episode 10, Yui, her brother, and her father live above their restaurant. Here Yui's home is covered in grease no matter how much they clean, and as the story progresses, Yui can tell how high the grease saturation level is.
Now the oil isn't the monster here; it's Yui's father and her brother. The more Yui's brother abuses her, and more the saturation level rises. It also increases exponentially after Yui's father kills her brother and feeds him to his customers. By the time it reaches 100%, Yui realizes that her father was forcing her to drink oil, preparing her for butchering. She avoids this by staying awake, but it's too late. Yui's father has already lost his mind. Yui stands and watches while oil leaves the wound instead of blood, cutting off his foot to eat.
As mentioned before, the grease isn't the real monster here, even though it's gross to think about. No, the real monster is Yui's family, a distant father who is also a murderer and an abusive dad. This isn't a new monster. These kinds of beasts are found in real life. This short story reminds us of the creatures that walk among us and how the victims must feel in these situations. In the end, the most terrifying and disturbing monsters are the ones that live among us.
To watch the other stories in Junji Ito Collection, head on over to Crunchyroll for streaming.