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Sensor
Horror master Junji Ito explores a new frontier with a grand cosmic horror tale in which a mysterious woman has her way with the world!
Did she wander in? Or was she drawn in…?
A woman walks alone at the foot of Mount Sengoku. A man appears, saying he’s been waiting for her, and invites her to a nearby village. Surprisingly, the village is covered in hairlike volcanic glass fibers, all shining a bright gold. That night, as the villagers gaze up at the starry sky, countless unidentified flying objects come raining down on them—the opening act for the terror about to occur.
Did she wander in? Or was she drawn in…?
A woman walks alone at the foot of Mount Sengoku. A man appears, saying he’s been waiting for her, and invites her to a nearby village. Surprisingly, the village is covered in hairlike volcanic glass fibers, all shining a bright gold. That night, as the villagers gaze up at the starry sky, countless unidentified flying objects come raining down on them—the opening act for the terror about to occur.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2019
About the author
Junji Ito
253 books13.2k followersJunji Itō (Japanese: 伊藤潤二, Ito Junji) is a Japanese cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his horror manga.
Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists.
His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism.
Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
Ito was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1963. He was inspired to make art from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's horror comics. Until the early 1990s he worked as a dental technician, while making comics as a side job. By the time he turned into a full time mangaka, Ito was already an acclaimed horror artists.
His comics are celebrated for their finely depicted body horrors, while also retaining some elements of psychological horror and erotism.
Although he mostly produces short stories, Ito is best known for his longer comic series: Tomie (1987-2000), about a beautiful high school girl who inspires her admirers to commit atrocities; Uzumaki (1998-1999), set in a town cursed with spiral patterns; Gyo (2001-2002), featuring a horde of metal-legged undead fishes. Tomie and Uzumaki in particular have been adapted multiple times in live-action and animation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,570 reviews
August 28, 2022
3.75
To było totalnie odklejone, ale podobało mi się 🤷🏼♀️
To było totalnie odklejone, ale podobało mi się 🤷🏼♀️
September 14, 2021
Some of Junki Ito's best art paired with his worst writing. It's the story of a young woman who visits a village at the bottom of a volcano. These golden hairs blow off the volcano landing on the residents and giving them psychic powers. An incident happens that replaces the woman's hair with the golden volcanic hairs. The following stories revolve around others trying to find her and track her down. Some for good, some as part of some crazy cult. As with most of Ito's stories, they take strange turns. The turns in this one didn't always feel planned out. It was just random things happening. I do like how Ito's art is evolving. While it is still very detailed, the characters have much cleaner lines, standing out against the backgrounds.
July 27, 2021
A mysterious young woman with golden hair becomes the focus of a cult and a reporter. But what is her connection to the volcanic countryside she can’t seem to escape?
Despite having all the usual features of a Junji Ito book - weird horror, weirder women, body horror, and some bonkers imagery only Ito could draw - Sensor is the least interested I’ve been reading any of his work.
The story is a jumbled mess of half-baked ideas. There’s this girl who arbitrarily gets chosen by the universe or something, undergoes a transformation, gets kidnapped by a cult, there’s some suicidal giant bugs, a hypnotherapist who meets a sticky end, the cult try to see everything through adjusting all the traffic mirrors in the country, and, to top it all off, there’s a time-travel finale!
Ito’s afterword (that he says he had to write - this entire book feels like he’s just filling space/meeting his obligations, rather than doing something he really wants) is quite revealing. He mentions that he started with a rough structure and then abandoned it to basically freestyle the rest of the book. And it shows! It’s almost like he knows it’s a shambles and he’s apologising for how it turned out - “this is really the result of the bus driving away before everyone is on board.”
Junji Ito’s comics have become really popular these last few years so demand might’ve caused him to rush projects like this. His publisher needs new product - hurry hurry hurry! - so he can’t spend enough time planning his stories and so you get books like this. That said, I don’t know for sure if that’s the case, I’m just speculating, so I’m probably wrong. Maybe he approaches all of his books the same way and Sensor just didn’t come out as well as the others?
Because generally Ito’s stories branch off into strange, unexpected directions - except they’re usually more interesting than this. Kyoko Byakuya, the mysterious girl, wasn’t an interesting figure - like all the characters, she’s one-dimensional and dull - and the volcano-centric stories did nothing for me. Not these strands of lava that are dubbed “angel hairs”, or what happened to early Christians in the past, or the bizarre suicide bugs digression - none of it.
A lot of it was so absurd, it was almost like a South Park parody. The unkillable cult leader who uses meditation as if it were like NORAD’s DEFCON countdown, the insane plan to crash cars into every traffic mirror in the country, covering them with the angel hairs, to create a spy network for… reasons?? One scene involves giant brains crushing everyone that looked so silly, it was like the giant foot coming down at the end of the Monty Python opener!
Maybe Ito was going for a Lovecraftian cosmic horror-type book with Sensor, and in a way he accomplished it because this story is as boring and vaguely stupid as Lovecraft’s cosmic horror stories were. Still, of all Ito’s books I’ve read so far, Sensor is the worst one: a childishly-plotted, incoherent, forgettable and pointless story that failed to entertain or scare in the slightest.
Despite having all the usual features of a Junji Ito book - weird horror, weirder women, body horror, and some bonkers imagery only Ito could draw - Sensor is the least interested I’ve been reading any of his work.
The story is a jumbled mess of half-baked ideas. There’s this girl who arbitrarily gets chosen by the universe or something, undergoes a transformation, gets kidnapped by a cult, there’s some suicidal giant bugs, a hypnotherapist who meets a sticky end, the cult try to see everything through adjusting all the traffic mirrors in the country, and, to top it all off, there’s a time-travel finale!
Ito’s afterword (that he says he had to write - this entire book feels like he’s just filling space/meeting his obligations, rather than doing something he really wants) is quite revealing. He mentions that he started with a rough structure and then abandoned it to basically freestyle the rest of the book. And it shows! It’s almost like he knows it’s a shambles and he’s apologising for how it turned out - “this is really the result of the bus driving away before everyone is on board.”
Junji Ito’s comics have become really popular these last few years so demand might’ve caused him to rush projects like this. His publisher needs new product - hurry hurry hurry! - so he can’t spend enough time planning his stories and so you get books like this. That said, I don’t know for sure if that’s the case, I’m just speculating, so I’m probably wrong. Maybe he approaches all of his books the same way and Sensor just didn’t come out as well as the others?
Because generally Ito’s stories branch off into strange, unexpected directions - except they’re usually more interesting than this. Kyoko Byakuya, the mysterious girl, wasn’t an interesting figure - like all the characters, she’s one-dimensional and dull - and the volcano-centric stories did nothing for me. Not these strands of lava that are dubbed “angel hairs”, or what happened to early Christians in the past, or the bizarre suicide bugs digression - none of it.
A lot of it was so absurd, it was almost like a South Park parody. The unkillable cult leader who uses meditation as if it were like NORAD’s DEFCON countdown, the insane plan to crash cars into every traffic mirror in the country, covering them with the angel hairs, to create a spy network for… reasons?? One scene involves giant brains crushing everyone that looked so silly, it was like the giant foot coming down at the end of the Monty Python opener!
Maybe Ito was going for a Lovecraftian cosmic horror-type book with Sensor, and in a way he accomplished it because this story is as boring and vaguely stupid as Lovecraft’s cosmic horror stories were. Still, of all Ito’s books I’ve read so far, Sensor is the worst one: a childishly-plotted, incoherent, forgettable and pointless story that failed to entertain or scare in the slightest.
September 13, 2024
probably my least favourite junji ito but still happy I read it
May 8, 2023
Volcanic 'hair' that grants clairvoyance + a cult looking for ultimate power + mirrors that allow individuals to stalk you + a mysterious 'goddess' with golden hair + spiderlike creatures that might be the reincarnations of people who committed suicide = SUPER CREEPY STORY! Junji Ito at his best! The master of 'organic horror' has done it again: put this one down for a great Halloween read this year!
June 2, 2023
3.5 Stars
As always, Junji Ito's artwork is amazing. I loved the panels in this one. Unfortunately I found the story itself quite disjointed from a story and narrative perspective. Not one of his strongest works.
As always, Junji Ito's artwork is amazing. I loved the panels in this one. Unfortunately I found the story itself quite disjointed from a story and narrative perspective. Not one of his strongest works.
July 16, 2021
Get this: there's a village in Japan called Kiyokami, close by an active volcano. Over 60 years ago, golden hair rained down on the village, completely covered it. A Christian missionary, Miguel, had visited the village, and was hidden from local forces, who found him anyway, and threw him and the villagers into the volcano. Before his death, Miguel blessed the villagers. The golden volcanic hair supposedly was Miguel's hair.
Still here? We're almost done with the intro, I promise.. a young woman called Kyoko Byakuya visits the village in current times, and sees the golden hair everywhere - stuck to houses, to animals, to the villagers themselves. The hair functions as antennae, making it possible for the villagers to sense more. Then the volcano erupts and destroys the village and everyone in it. Except the young woman! She was saved, and her hair is now replaced with the golden volcanic hair!
And so starts this set of short stories, all connected by the golden hair, the sect that's obsessed with it, the girl Kyoko Byakuya and an intrepid reporter, who keeps trying to find her.
It's prime Junji Ito territory - it's scarily over-expressive faces, it's insects that want to be stepped on, it's an insane sect, it's obsessive people, it's bulging eyes and tongues, it's cosmic horror, it's lots and lots of gore. It has something for everyone!
It's also the first Junji Ito work I've read, where the ending has a tiny spark of hope in it, which was nice, actually.
I loved it.
(Thanks to VIZ Media for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
Still here? We're almost done with the intro, I promise.. a young woman called Kyoko Byakuya visits the village in current times, and sees the golden hair everywhere - stuck to houses, to animals, to the villagers themselves. The hair functions as antennae, making it possible for the villagers to sense more. Then the volcano erupts and destroys the village and everyone in it. Except the young woman! She was saved, and her hair is now replaced with the golden volcanic hair!
And so starts this set of short stories, all connected by the golden hair, the sect that's obsessed with it, the girl Kyoko Byakuya and an intrepid reporter, who keeps trying to find her.
It's prime Junji Ito territory - it's scarily over-expressive faces, it's insects that want to be stepped on, it's an insane sect, it's obsessive people, it's bulging eyes and tongues, it's cosmic horror, it's lots and lots of gore. It has something for everyone!
It's also the first Junji Ito work I've read, where the ending has a tiny spark of hope in it, which was nice, actually.
I loved it.
(Thanks to VIZ Media for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
October 30, 2021
My second new Juni Ito horror manga in a week, to prepare for Halloween. Just finished Lovesickness, which is maybe novella length, and not his best, but creepy. The title of this one, Sensor, refers roughly to our senses as a way of experiencing the world. Not sure why it has this title in particular. So this one I maybe didn’t like quite as much, though it is quite different from the bloody Lovesickness. This one has a kind of psychic orientation and a religious cult. I think it has a kind of Lovecraftian supernatural air to it. Cosmic horror.
Near Kiyokami, there’s a volcano, into which Miguel, a Christian missionary is thrown, in keeping with an edict against Christianity during the Edo period in Japan. After that murder, golden hair falls all over the village, for some reason (well, Miguel had golden hair, but beyond that. . . . no real reason, though it would seem the goodness of Miguel showers down on the people. The hair transmits psychic powers to the villagers). (I am not smirking as I write this! One element of Ito's horror is the ludicrous. He likes pulpy campy stuff as much as any horror manga-ka anywhere).
''So then maybe. . . this is angel hair? But the nature of angel hair is still a mystery. Some people say it's spider silk or that it comes from UFOs.''
Kyoko Byakuya, she of the flowing golden hair, visits the village and sees this hair everywhere. Bad things begin to happen after that--horror, remember? And the religious cult, natch, with its creepy leader. And then--maybe the best part--suicide bugs (no, gotta read it to get it). No real reason for the bugs except creepy.
In Ito’s afterword he says he had 1,000 words to write in the afterword and admits he doesn’t have much to say:
"I had to write a thousand words for this afterword, so I went on and on there about things that didn't really need to be said."
which gives you a sense of the lack of purpose of the whole book, kind of casual, diy, random plotting. He tells us he had a plan, abandoned that, added a reporter to try a different point of view, left the reporter in and then sort of abandoned him.
So if you want to try Ito, try one of his best--Uzumaki or Tomie-- and not this, though if you pick this up as yr first Ito it is still better than most horror out there. It still has this batshit crazy approach that Ito takes, like Deep Unreason, close to madness, and of course great art, at the top of his powers.
Near Kiyokami, there’s a volcano, into which Miguel, a Christian missionary is thrown, in keeping with an edict against Christianity during the Edo period in Japan. After that murder, golden hair falls all over the village, for some reason (well, Miguel had golden hair, but beyond that. . . . no real reason, though it would seem the goodness of Miguel showers down on the people. The hair transmits psychic powers to the villagers). (I am not smirking as I write this! One element of Ito's horror is the ludicrous. He likes pulpy campy stuff as much as any horror manga-ka anywhere).
''So then maybe. . . this is angel hair? But the nature of angel hair is still a mystery. Some people say it's spider silk or that it comes from UFOs.''
Kyoko Byakuya, she of the flowing golden hair, visits the village and sees this hair everywhere. Bad things begin to happen after that--horror, remember? And the religious cult, natch, with its creepy leader. And then--maybe the best part--suicide bugs (no, gotta read it to get it). No real reason for the bugs except creepy.
In Ito’s afterword he says he had 1,000 words to write in the afterword and admits he doesn’t have much to say:
"I had to write a thousand words for this afterword, so I went on and on there about things that didn't really need to be said."
which gives you a sense of the lack of purpose of the whole book, kind of casual, diy, random plotting. He tells us he had a plan, abandoned that, added a reporter to try a different point of view, left the reporter in and then sort of abandoned him.
So if you want to try Ito, try one of his best--Uzumaki or Tomie-- and not this, though if you pick this up as yr first Ito it is still better than most horror out there. It still has this batshit crazy approach that Ito takes, like Deep Unreason, close to madness, and of course great art, at the top of his powers.
October 19, 2021
Sigh. Junji Ito's work will always either blow me away, or leave me bored and wanting so much more - sadly, this was the latter. That said, I think anyone who is a Junji Ito fan should at least give this a try, as it's definitely unique from the rest of his works that I've read and it carries an interesting premise! I think I was mostly thrown off by the weird religious storyline that really comes into play near the end.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!
November 6, 2021
In his afterword to Sensor Junji Ito jokes that the characters got away from him as they did their own thing. Well, I suppose it isn't a joke if it is just true. This story careens all over the place with volcanoes, Lovecraftian aliens, telepathy, stalkers, cults, suicide, time travel, Christian persecution, and -- despite the convoluted path -- a simplistic battle of light against darkness.
As in Remina, the heroine is a cipher who spends much of the book unconscious or kidnapped. If she's not tied up, she's wandering around with a lost but beguiling air. The male lead is a generic reporter type who just follows her trail.
Anyhow, I don't read Junji Ito for the stories anymore; I'm here for the pictures. They are a little far apart in the book, but there are several very haunting and eerie images that deliver the jolt I'm seeking.
As in Remina, the heroine is a cipher who spends much of the book unconscious or kidnapped. If she's not tied up, she's wandering around with a lost but beguiling air. The male lead is a generic reporter type who just follows her trail.
Anyhow, I don't read Junji Ito for the stories anymore; I'm here for the pictures. They are a little far apart in the book, but there are several very haunting and eerie images that deliver the jolt I'm seeking.
April 19, 2024
Sensor is Junji Ito’s foray into cosmic horror. This is one where I did slightly prefer the artwork to the storyline overall, but I do appreciate what he tried to do here. It’s something different than the norm for him but, of course, still has his brilliant body horror touches.
”Did she wander in? Or was she drawn in…?
4 Stars
”Did she wander in? Or was she drawn in…?
4 Stars
May 15, 2022
Like most Junji Ito books, it's best to go into Sensor knowing as little as possible so I'm not going to say much about the plot. There's a golden haired clairvoyant woman, a reporter, and a library containing all the knowledge in the universe. Since it's Ito, you know a lot of disturbing things are going to happen. And they do.
There wasn't nearly as much body horror as Junji Ito normally features but Sensor is still very unsettling at times. The character designs were good and the overall plot was serpentine but came to a satisfactory conclusion. Like usual, I muttered "This is so fucked up" to myself and also felt my gorge rise a couple times.
Sensor features more cosmic and psychological horror and less body horror than most Ito books. I wouldn't say it's my favorite Ito book but it's easily in the top three.
There wasn't nearly as much body horror as Junji Ito normally features but Sensor is still very unsettling at times. The character designs were good and the overall plot was serpentine but came to a satisfactory conclusion. Like usual, I muttered "This is so fucked up" to myself and also felt my gorge rise a couple times.
Sensor features more cosmic and psychological horror and less body horror than most Ito books. I wouldn't say it's my favorite Ito book but it's easily in the top three.
July 26, 2021
3,5
"Es para que esa vida pueda sentir al universo"
El manga tiene 7 capítulos, más un epílogo. Cada capítulo tiene su final, su propio tema y desarrollo, pero todos siguen un mismo hilo conductor que le da un contexto al manga en general.
Una chica, Kyoko, pasea en la montaña y extrañamente comienza a ver cabellos dorados que estan volando por todas partes, en el camino se encuentra con un hombre extraño que al parecer sabía que ella iría a ese lugar, la estaba esperando. Este hombre la invita a su pueblo y al llegar ella se da cuenta que todo el pueblo esta tapado en estos cabellos dorados, todo brilla como el oro. Se queda en un hospedaje del lugar, pero a Kyoko no le gusta la situación que se está desarrollando y lo que le están contando por lo que decide irse de aquel lugar, pero este hombre que la llevó le dice que esa noche celebrarán una reunión y que vaya a verla, ella se queda y es testigo de un suceso tan maravilloso como aterrador que dará comienzo a esta historia tan inusual.
A esta historia se le agregará un segundo personaje, Wataru, un reportero desconocido que al ver una extraña nube negra, debido que ese día de la celebracion el volcán, Sengoku, cercano al pueblo hizo erupción, por lo que decide ir a investigar. Al llegar al lugar se encuentra con esta chica en la montaña y también con Kagero Aido, lider de una secta llamada Indigo Shadow.
La idea es buena, los elementos que tiene son llamativos, la historia alrededor del pueblo me ha parecido interesante, me recuerda mucho a otra historia del autor, en el que maneja muy bien este elemento de la historia alrededor de un pueblo, a diferencia de Sensor.
Una historia de horror cósmico, esoterismo, obsesión, creencias, sectas, entre otras, y los toques particulares del autor, que avanza de forma extraña, con una historia si bien es interesante, no me ha terminado de convencer, no me gusta ese camino un tanto incierto o indeciso mientras lo leía, lo que no generó el mejor resultado, a pesar de tener puntos fuertes, escenas brutales y perturbadoras que definitivamente son el fuerte de este manga y la temática.
Sinceramente esperaba más, si bien me ha gustado, no ame la historia, a diferencia del arte que es simplemente espectacular, tiene planos excelentes, escenas muy limpias y en ciertos momentos se ve la influencia de otros mangas o creaciones del autor plasmadas en partes de este.
Lo que me ha gustado, es la parte de la secta y el tema esotérico/espiritual que aborda por primera vez con el toque terrorífico, la constante incertidumbre en torno a la chica y a algunos sucesos, además de uno que otro guiño a algunas de sus demás creaciones.
"Es para que esa vida pueda sentir al universo"
El manga tiene 7 capítulos, más un epílogo. Cada capítulo tiene su final, su propio tema y desarrollo, pero todos siguen un mismo hilo conductor que le da un contexto al manga en general.
Una chica, Kyoko, pasea en la montaña y extrañamente comienza a ver cabellos dorados que estan volando por todas partes, en el camino se encuentra con un hombre extraño que al parecer sabía que ella iría a ese lugar, la estaba esperando. Este hombre la invita a su pueblo y al llegar ella se da cuenta que todo el pueblo esta tapado en estos cabellos dorados, todo brilla como el oro. Se queda en un hospedaje del lugar, pero a Kyoko no le gusta la situación que se está desarrollando y lo que le están contando por lo que decide irse de aquel lugar, pero este hombre que la llevó le dice que esa noche celebrarán una reunión y que vaya a verla, ella se queda y es testigo de un suceso tan maravilloso como aterrador que dará comienzo a esta historia tan inusual.
A esta historia se le agregará un segundo personaje, Wataru, un reportero desconocido que al ver una extraña nube negra, debido que ese día de la celebracion el volcán, Sengoku, cercano al pueblo hizo erupción, por lo que decide ir a investigar. Al llegar al lugar se encuentra con esta chica en la montaña y también con Kagero Aido, lider de una secta llamada Indigo Shadow.
La idea es buena, los elementos que tiene son llamativos, la historia alrededor del pueblo me ha parecido interesante, me recuerda mucho a otra historia del autor, en el que maneja muy bien este elemento de la historia alrededor de un pueblo, a diferencia de Sensor.
Una historia de horror cósmico, esoterismo, obsesión, creencias, sectas, entre otras, y los toques particulares del autor, que avanza de forma extraña, con una historia si bien es interesante, no me ha terminado de convencer, no me gusta ese camino un tanto incierto o indeciso mientras lo leía, lo que no generó el mejor resultado, a pesar de tener puntos fuertes, escenas brutales y perturbadoras que definitivamente son el fuerte de este manga y la temática.
Sinceramente esperaba más, si bien me ha gustado, no ame la historia, a diferencia del arte que es simplemente espectacular, tiene planos excelentes, escenas muy limpias y en ciertos momentos se ve la influencia de otros mangas o creaciones del autor plasmadas en partes de este.
Lo que me ha gustado, es la parte de la secta y el tema esotérico/espiritual que aborda por primera vez con el toque terrorífico, la constante incertidumbre en torno a la chica y a algunos sucesos, además de uno que otro guiño a algunas de sus demás creaciones.
August 30, 2021
Well, that was odd. Even though I did enjoy it I'm not quite sure what that was. It opens with shades of 'Brigadoon' then goes into cult horror and then into some kind of 'From Beyond' vibes all in a mish-mash of cosmic horror. It does not sour me on reading more of Ito's work though.
August 20, 2023
Cosmic Enmeshment
Soundscape
THE STORY:
On a basic level, a horror story involving a mysterious young woman who miraculously survived a volcanic eruption on the one hand, seemingly endowed with special faculties, and a chilling cult leader set on achieving godhood using her as a sort of mystical vessel...
MY OPINION:
This stunning manga poses apt questions about transcendent spiritualism, in an downright disturbing manner. My favourite part about it is the way the timeline is all jumbled to fit in the odd events of the story. I will certainly remember this one manga, alongside Remina when I will have forgotten everything else by Junji Ito... This sense of timelessness feels as haunting, as addictive as, say, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick, or Canto general by Pablo Neruda...
Kiyokami village, covered by golden "Angel Hair"
----
'I am the one who created the universe. I am its Great Creator. Well, more precisely I will become so.
Rocks, winds, liquids and gas...
only exist because I perceive them.
And the cosmos is only real because I inhabit it.'
Dixit the genuine fruitcake Kagerou Aido
----
An excerpt from Les Pensées by Blaise Pascal:
'Que l'homme contemple donc la nature entière dans sa haute et pleine majesté, qu'il éloigne sa vue des objets bas qui l'environnent. Qu'il regarde cette éclatante lumière, mise comme une lampe éternelle pour éclairer l'univers, que la terre lui paraisse comme un point au prix du vaste tour que cet astre décrit et qu'il s'étonne de ce que ce vaste tour lui-même n'est qu'une pointe très délicate à l'égard de celui que les astres qui roulent dans le firmament embrassent. Mais si notre vue s'arrête là, que l'imagination passe outre; elle se lassera plutôt de concevoir, que la nature de fournir. Tout ce monde visible n'est qu'un trait imperceptible dans l'ample sein de la nature. Nulle idée n'en approche. Nous avons beau enfler nos conceptions au-delà des espaces imaginables, nous n'enfantons que des atomes, au prix de la réalité des choses. C'est une sphère dont le centre est partout, la circonférence nulle part. Enfin, c'est le plus grand caractère sensible de la toute puissance de Dieu, que notre imagination se perde dans cette pensée.
Que l'homme, étant revenu à soi, considère ce qu'il est au prix de ce qui est; qu'il se regarde comme égaré dans ce canton détourné de la nature; et que de ce petit cachot où il se trouve logé, j'entends l'univers, il apprenne à estimer la terre, les royaumes, les villes et soi-même son juste prix. Qu'est-ce qu'un homme dans l'infini ?
Mais pour lui présenter un autre prodige aussi étonnant, qu'il recherche dans ce qu'il connaît les choses les plus délicates. Qu'un ciron lui offre dans la petitesse de son corps des parties incomparablement plus petites, des jambes avec des jointures, des veines dans ces jambes, du sang dans ces veines, des humeurs dans ce sang, des gouttes dans ces humeurs, des vapeurs dans ces gouttes; que, divisant encore ces dernières choses, il épuise ses forces en ces conceptions, et que le dernier objet où il peut arriver soit maintenant celui de notre discours; il pensera peut-être que c'est là l'extrême petitesse de la nature. Je veux lui faire voir là dedans un abîme nouveau. Je lui veux peindre non seulement l'univers visible, mais l'immensité qu'on peut concevoir de la nature, dans l'enceinte de ce raccourci d'atome. Qu'il y voie une infinité d'univers, dont chacun a son firmament, ses planètes, sa terre, en la même proportion que le monde visible; dans cette terre, des animaux, et enfin des cirons, dans lesquels il retrouvera ce que les premiers ont donné; et trouvant encore dans les autres la même chose sans fin et sans repos, qu'il se perde dans ses merveilles, aussi étonnantes dans leur petitesse que les autres par leur étendue; car qui n'admirera que notre corps, qui tantôt n'était pas perceptible dans l'univers, imperceptible lui-même dans le sein du tout, soit à présent un colosse, un monde, ou plutôt un tout, à l'égard du néant où l'on ne peut arriver ?
Qui se considérera de la sorte s'effrayera de soi-même, et, se considérant soutenu dans la masse que la nature lui a donnée, entre ces deux abîmes de l'infini et du néant, il tremblera dans la vue de ces merveilles; et je crois que sa curiosité, se changeant en admiration, il sera plus disposé à les contempler en silence qu'à les rechercher avec présomption.
Car enfin qu'est-ce que l'homme dans la nature ? Un néant à l'égard de l'infini, un tout à l'égard du néant, un milieu entre rien et tout. Infiniment éloigné de comprendre les extrêmes, la fin des choses et leur principe sont pour lui invinciblement cachés dans un secret impénétrable, également incapable de voir le néant d'où il est tiré, et l'infini où il est englouti.
Le Gouffre, a poem by Charles Baudelaire:
Pascal avait son gouffre, avec lui se mouvant.
- Hélas ! tout est abîme, - action, désir, rêve,
Parole ! Et sur mon poil qui tout droit se relève
Maintes fois de la Peur je sens passer le vent.
En haut, en bas, partout, la profondeur, la grève,
Le silence, l'espace affreux et captivant...
Sur le fond de mes nuits Dieu de son doigt savant
Dessine un cauchemar multiforme et sans trêve.
J'ai peur du sommeil comme on a peur d'un grand trou,
Tout plein de vague horreur, menant on ne sait où ;
Je ne vois qu'infini par toutes les fenêtres,
Et mon esprit, toujours du vertige hanté,
Jalouse du néant l'insensibilité.
Ah ! ne jamais sortir des Nombres et des Etres !
----
Soundtrack: The Witch of Hemwick - Bloodborne OST
Also see:
The Shadow Out of Time in The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
The Magic Mountain
Ficciones
Les jardins statuaires
Childhood's End
Remina
Valis
Immunité et autres mirages futurs
The Cyberiad
Films:
The Thing
In the Mouth of Madness
Sunshine
Games:
Bloodborne
Little Nightmares 2
Soundscape
'Que dois-je faire. Je ne vois partout qu’obscurités. Croirai-je que je ne suis rien ? Croirai-je que je suis dieu ?'
Blaise Pascal
THE STORY:
On a basic level, a horror story involving a mysterious young woman who miraculously survived a volcanic eruption on the one hand, seemingly endowed with special faculties, and a chilling cult leader set on achieving godhood using her as a sort of mystical vessel...
MY OPINION:
This stunning manga poses apt questions about transcendent spiritualism, in an downright disturbing manner. My favourite part about it is the way the timeline is all jumbled to fit in the odd events of the story. I will certainly remember this one manga, alongside Remina when I will have forgotten everything else by Junji Ito... This sense of timelessness feels as haunting, as addictive as, say, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick, or Canto general by Pablo Neruda...
Kiyokami village, covered by golden "Angel Hair"
----
'I am the one who created the universe. I am its Great Creator. Well, more precisely I will become so.
Rocks, winds, liquids and gas...
only exist because I perceive them.
And the cosmos is only real because I inhabit it.'
Dixit the genuine fruitcake Kagerou Aido
----
An excerpt from Les Pensées by Blaise Pascal:
'Que l'homme contemple donc la nature entière dans sa haute et pleine majesté, qu'il éloigne sa vue des objets bas qui l'environnent. Qu'il regarde cette éclatante lumière, mise comme une lampe éternelle pour éclairer l'univers, que la terre lui paraisse comme un point au prix du vaste tour que cet astre décrit et qu'il s'étonne de ce que ce vaste tour lui-même n'est qu'une pointe très délicate à l'égard de celui que les astres qui roulent dans le firmament embrassent. Mais si notre vue s'arrête là, que l'imagination passe outre; elle se lassera plutôt de concevoir, que la nature de fournir. Tout ce monde visible n'est qu'un trait imperceptible dans l'ample sein de la nature. Nulle idée n'en approche. Nous avons beau enfler nos conceptions au-delà des espaces imaginables, nous n'enfantons que des atomes, au prix de la réalité des choses. C'est une sphère dont le centre est partout, la circonférence nulle part. Enfin, c'est le plus grand caractère sensible de la toute puissance de Dieu, que notre imagination se perde dans cette pensée.
Que l'homme, étant revenu à soi, considère ce qu'il est au prix de ce qui est; qu'il se regarde comme égaré dans ce canton détourné de la nature; et que de ce petit cachot où il se trouve logé, j'entends l'univers, il apprenne à estimer la terre, les royaumes, les villes et soi-même son juste prix. Qu'est-ce qu'un homme dans l'infini ?
Mais pour lui présenter un autre prodige aussi étonnant, qu'il recherche dans ce qu'il connaît les choses les plus délicates. Qu'un ciron lui offre dans la petitesse de son corps des parties incomparablement plus petites, des jambes avec des jointures, des veines dans ces jambes, du sang dans ces veines, des humeurs dans ce sang, des gouttes dans ces humeurs, des vapeurs dans ces gouttes; que, divisant encore ces dernières choses, il épuise ses forces en ces conceptions, et que le dernier objet où il peut arriver soit maintenant celui de notre discours; il pensera peut-être que c'est là l'extrême petitesse de la nature. Je veux lui faire voir là dedans un abîme nouveau. Je lui veux peindre non seulement l'univers visible, mais l'immensité qu'on peut concevoir de la nature, dans l'enceinte de ce raccourci d'atome. Qu'il y voie une infinité d'univers, dont chacun a son firmament, ses planètes, sa terre, en la même proportion que le monde visible; dans cette terre, des animaux, et enfin des cirons, dans lesquels il retrouvera ce que les premiers ont donné; et trouvant encore dans les autres la même chose sans fin et sans repos, qu'il se perde dans ses merveilles, aussi étonnantes dans leur petitesse que les autres par leur étendue; car qui n'admirera que notre corps, qui tantôt n'était pas perceptible dans l'univers, imperceptible lui-même dans le sein du tout, soit à présent un colosse, un monde, ou plutôt un tout, à l'égard du néant où l'on ne peut arriver ?
Qui se considérera de la sorte s'effrayera de soi-même, et, se considérant soutenu dans la masse que la nature lui a donnée, entre ces deux abîmes de l'infini et du néant, il tremblera dans la vue de ces merveilles; et je crois que sa curiosité, se changeant en admiration, il sera plus disposé à les contempler en silence qu'à les rechercher avec présomption.
Car enfin qu'est-ce que l'homme dans la nature ? Un néant à l'égard de l'infini, un tout à l'égard du néant, un milieu entre rien et tout. Infiniment éloigné de comprendre les extrêmes, la fin des choses et leur principe sont pour lui invinciblement cachés dans un secret impénétrable, également incapable de voir le néant d'où il est tiré, et l'infini où il est englouti.
Le Gouffre, a poem by Charles Baudelaire:
Pascal avait son gouffre, avec lui se mouvant.
- Hélas ! tout est abîme, - action, désir, rêve,
Parole ! Et sur mon poil qui tout droit se relève
Maintes fois de la Peur je sens passer le vent.
En haut, en bas, partout, la profondeur, la grève,
Le silence, l'espace affreux et captivant...
Sur le fond de mes nuits Dieu de son doigt savant
Dessine un cauchemar multiforme et sans trêve.
J'ai peur du sommeil comme on a peur d'un grand trou,
Tout plein de vague horreur, menant on ne sait où ;
Je ne vois qu'infini par toutes les fenêtres,
Et mon esprit, toujours du vertige hanté,
Jalouse du néant l'insensibilité.
Ah ! ne jamais sortir des Nombres et des Etres !
----
Soundtrack: The Witch of Hemwick - Bloodborne OST
Also see:
The Shadow Out of Time in The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
The Magic Mountain
Ficciones
Les jardins statuaires
Childhood's End
Remina
Valis
Immunité et autres mirages futurs
The Cyberiad
Films:
The Thing
In the Mouth of Madness
Sunshine
Games:
Bloodborne
Little Nightmares 2
September 17, 2022
As other's have pointed out, this feels more like a series of vignettes than a novel. It would have worked better as perhaps a series of interconnected short stories. The narrative is very disjointed (actually it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense).
I loved the sequence with the suicide bugs, that felt like vintage Junji Ito to me. Very weird, creepy, a bit funny as well. There's a great sequence with bulging tongues and eyes that goes on until the man disappears into vapour. But these are just a few highlights from an otherwise underdeveloped story.
I loved the sequence with the suicide bugs, that felt like vintage Junji Ito to me. Very weird, creepy, a bit funny as well. There's a great sequence with bulging tongues and eyes that goes on until the man disappears into vapour. But these are just a few highlights from an otherwise underdeveloped story.
July 14, 2021
"The true nature of the universe is darkness. The universe is made of darkness."
Ito was one of those authors that I randomly discovered and I never looked back. His twists of GN and horror are something to truly be amazed at. He sucks you into his story with gruesome illustrations and then his words send shivers down your spine. It's perfect. (Perfect for this weirdo)
A woman having her way with the world. Volcanic glass fibers that are hair-like. Shimmery gold that's distracting. Countless flying objects blazing the night sky. Terror is about to reign down on us all.
This was truly f***ing bizarre. It starts off with you glued to the page and never lets up. I started to question everything after reading this and my mind if seriously blown. This was a twisted delight and I loved it.
Ito was one of those authors that I randomly discovered and I never looked back. His twists of GN and horror are something to truly be amazed at. He sucks you into his story with gruesome illustrations and then his words send shivers down your spine. It's perfect. (Perfect for this weirdo)
A woman having her way with the world. Volcanic glass fibers that are hair-like. Shimmery gold that's distracting. Countless flying objects blazing the night sky. Terror is about to reign down on us all.
This was truly f***ing bizarre. It starts off with you glued to the page and never lets up. I started to question everything after reading this and my mind if seriously blown. This was a twisted delight and I loved it.
November 10, 2021
After reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito, I went straight into Sensor.
I expected more of the same of what I got in Uzumaki and for the most part it was: weird, mysterious and plenty of material to make my overactive imagination run wild. Where it differed, this one had a resolved ending....one I was completely NOT expecting, but it worked in all the right ways! I am such a huge fan of the artwork....my one critique is the female main characters look almost exactly alike from the two mangas. We'll see what happens when I get my hands on the others Ito has written.
This manga was more mysterious in nature than horror, but I really enjoyed the supernatural elements explored and the aspect of the reporter being the one to investigate and narrate the majority of the story.
I expected more of the same of what I got in Uzumaki and for the most part it was: weird, mysterious and plenty of material to make my overactive imagination run wild. Where it differed, this one had a resolved ending....one I was completely NOT expecting, but it worked in all the right ways! I am such a huge fan of the artwork....my one critique is the female main characters look almost exactly alike from the two mangas. We'll see what happens when I get my hands on the others Ito has written.
This manga was more mysterious in nature than horror, but I really enjoyed the supernatural elements explored and the aspect of the reporter being the one to investigate and narrate the majority of the story.
August 18, 2021
Junji clearly couldn’t decide if he wanted this to write a short story collection or a full-length one-shot, so he sort of did both and just haphazardly threw a plot on top of it. The art isn’t up to his usual standard, there are elements that are just thrown in for the hell of it and have no clear relevance to the main plot, and worst of all the plot itself is almost entirely incoherent.
April 17, 2022
The Cat in my Brain: "What shall we read today filthy biped?"
Me: "Well, I was thinking of something a little light after finishing Iris Murdoch."
Cat in my Brain: "How about a comic book? We could read more Saga?"
Me: "Nah, I was thinking Junji Ito!"
Cat in my Brain: "JUNJI ITO?!! That guy's the entire opposite of light! He makes random shapes into dense philosophical horror concepts! He's like...you know what's really terrifying? SQUARES! And then he makes you fear the very nature of the square! BEWARE RANDOM SHAPES! And you do! You're like....'noooo' and having nightmares that triangles are out to get you and stuff."
Me: "Well, a lot of triangles do seem kinda creepy with those unknown angles and everything..."
Cat in my Brain: "Oh jeez."
Junji Ito: "Welcome to our horror story for today. SENSOR. This book is about a young girl with amnesia who goes to a small Japanese village that's been covered in golden volcanic hair. Also called Pele hair. Small tiny fibres of gold-looking glass that sometimes result from volcanic eruptions. Anyways an entire town is covered in it, making it look shaggy. And all of the people in the town have volcanic hair attached to their heads. It gives them psychic powers and lets them communicate with the universe."
Me: "What?"
Junji Ito: "So the girl speaks to the universe too and she sees a great darkness at the center of the universe. The great darkness sees them and the volcano erupts and the girl is covered in a cocoon of volcanic golden hair which protects her. And then the cocoon hatches and she comes out with a head covered in volcanic golden hair. She is now enlightened. Soon a reporter becomes interested in her and goes to the site of the eruption where a strange dark cloud has emerged. He sees the girl in the wilds and chases her but they're both captured by a weird cult who link their minds to the girl to access the library of all information at the center of the universe which has now become a dark cloud hanging above them. Which is much superior than the computer cloud for storing information fyi."
Me: *looks at Cat in my Brain*
Cat in my Brain: "Well, Eldritch space horrors usually have a much faster connection than 5K."
Alex Jones: *Screams*
Junji Ito: "And the cult wants to obtain the information in the cloud, but the girl with the golden volcanic hair warns against it. And the cloud turns into brains and eyes and stuff and falls from the sky and squishes the cult. And the reporter gets away but is haunted by this event."
Me: "I SHOULD SAY SO."
Junji Ito: "And then the reporter tries to track the girl down and he's led to a hypnotherapist who has a HUMDINGER of a tale to tell. Where his own son hypnotises the girl with the golden hair to discover her secrets, but they found out she's connected to the universe and the whole reason for us to live is to appreciate the universe and experience it with our senses. Like all of our senses. Sight, smell, taste, touch. And because the girl is the living embodiment of the universe she is meant to be licked and smelled and groped and such stuff."
Cat in my Brain: "So...the hypnotist's son was Matt Gaetz?"
Me: "What a twist!"
Junji Ito: "And then the senses of the hypnotist's son become engorged and grow to gigantic size because they have to be larger to take in all of the girl's truth and wisdom! So his eyeballs grow out of his head and his ear-drums spill out of his ears and his tongue gets too big for his mouth and his nervous system explodes out of his body and becomes a celestial constellation."
Me: "..."
Cat in my Brain: "F*cked around and found out."
Junji Ito: "And from there Sensor discusses suicidal bugs that carry the souls of the remorseful dead, stalkers, cults, and time-travelling Jesus in Japan. All this and more is awaiting the reader in the collected series SENSOR!"
Me: "Jesus?"
Cat in my Brain: "Just in time for Easter!"
Me: "Well, I was thinking of something a little light after finishing Iris Murdoch."
Cat in my Brain: "How about a comic book? We could read more Saga?"
Me: "Nah, I was thinking Junji Ito!"
Cat in my Brain: "JUNJI ITO?!! That guy's the entire opposite of light! He makes random shapes into dense philosophical horror concepts! He's like...you know what's really terrifying? SQUARES! And then he makes you fear the very nature of the square! BEWARE RANDOM SHAPES! And you do! You're like....'noooo' and having nightmares that triangles are out to get you and stuff."
Me: "Well, a lot of triangles do seem kinda creepy with those unknown angles and everything..."
Cat in my Brain: "Oh jeez."
Junji Ito: "Welcome to our horror story for today. SENSOR. This book is about a young girl with amnesia who goes to a small Japanese village that's been covered in golden volcanic hair. Also called Pele hair. Small tiny fibres of gold-looking glass that sometimes result from volcanic eruptions. Anyways an entire town is covered in it, making it look shaggy. And all of the people in the town have volcanic hair attached to their heads. It gives them psychic powers and lets them communicate with the universe."
Me: "What?"
Junji Ito: "So the girl speaks to the universe too and she sees a great darkness at the center of the universe. The great darkness sees them and the volcano erupts and the girl is covered in a cocoon of volcanic golden hair which protects her. And then the cocoon hatches and she comes out with a head covered in volcanic golden hair. She is now enlightened. Soon a reporter becomes interested in her and goes to the site of the eruption where a strange dark cloud has emerged. He sees the girl in the wilds and chases her but they're both captured by a weird cult who link their minds to the girl to access the library of all information at the center of the universe which has now become a dark cloud hanging above them. Which is much superior than the computer cloud for storing information fyi."
Me: *looks at Cat in my Brain*
Cat in my Brain: "Well, Eldritch space horrors usually have a much faster connection than 5K."
Alex Jones: *Screams*
Junji Ito: "And the cult wants to obtain the information in the cloud, but the girl with the golden volcanic hair warns against it. And the cloud turns into brains and eyes and stuff and falls from the sky and squishes the cult. And the reporter gets away but is haunted by this event."
Me: "I SHOULD SAY SO."
Junji Ito: "And then the reporter tries to track the girl down and he's led to a hypnotherapist who has a HUMDINGER of a tale to tell. Where his own son hypnotises the girl with the golden hair to discover her secrets, but they found out she's connected to the universe and the whole reason for us to live is to appreciate the universe and experience it with our senses. Like all of our senses. Sight, smell, taste, touch. And because the girl is the living embodiment of the universe she is meant to be licked and smelled and groped and such stuff."
Cat in my Brain: "So...the hypnotist's son was Matt Gaetz?"
Me: "What a twist!"
Junji Ito: "And then the senses of the hypnotist's son become engorged and grow to gigantic size because they have to be larger to take in all of the girl's truth and wisdom! So his eyeballs grow out of his head and his ear-drums spill out of his ears and his tongue gets too big for his mouth and his nervous system explodes out of his body and becomes a celestial constellation."
Me: "..."
Cat in my Brain: "F*cked around and found out."
Junji Ito: "And from there Sensor discusses suicidal bugs that carry the souls of the remorseful dead, stalkers, cults, and time-travelling Jesus in Japan. All this and more is awaiting the reader in the collected series SENSOR!"
Me: "Jesus?"
Cat in my Brain: "Just in time for Easter!"
August 14, 2021
Honestly my 3 stars is a bit generous. I’ve read almost all of Ito’s works but this one honestly felt all over the place. It definitely contains the usual imaginative intrigue and eerie elements, but within it something felt disconnected. And then I read in his Afterword how he essentially felt while creating the story that the characters and plot and narration wasn’t working—-and you can evidently tell this while reading it that he’s lost the plot. I would NOT recommend this to newbie fans trying to get into Ito’s works. His short story collections are much better. Quite a shame given the gorgeous cover and hardback design this got.
December 14, 2021
I read pretty much everything Junji Ito has published, but I was always especially in love with his short stories collections. There is just something about the longer stories, I find them less scary. To be honest with you, being a big consumer of horror media, I find it hard sometimes to actually get scared, especially by books. But Junji Ito's works, with his grotesque and sometimes disgusting body horror, and his terrifying faces (man those faces!), always find a way to come back to me even after years.
That is why I will always read anything he publishes, even if I end up not particularly creeped/intrigued by it (like in this case). I liked the plot of this graphic novel, I found it very lovecraftian - and as always the artwork is amazing - but I don't think I will ever re-read it or remember parts of it in the future, like I do with his other works. Still, you can't deny that the man is a genius.
July 28, 2023
“THE JOURNEY TO LIGHT’S VICTORY IS STILL AHEAD.”
December 6, 2021
Not exactly the kind of horror one would expect from Ito but still very disturbing and his art is as breathtaking as always.
October 24, 2021
La historia comienza con una joven, Kyôko Byakuya, que está de excursión en las cercanías del monte Sengoku, un antiguo volcán. De dicha montaña salen una especie de pelos dorados, algo que no queda muy bien explicado. El camino, y el seguimiento de estos pelos, así como la aparición de un extraño, la llevan hasta una pequeña aldea que parece sacada de tiempos pasados, tanto por sus edificios como por sus habitantes. Estos viven bajo la influencia de los pelos celestiales, que les otorgan poderes, como la telepatía, y parece que sabían que Kyôko estaba iba a venir. Y algo sucede, el volcán entra en erupción. Posteriormente, conocemos a otro personaje, el periodista Wataru, que empieza a investigar por la zona, donde ha aparecido una extraña y gigantesca nube negra. Y no cuento nada más, ya que sería destrozar el manga.
‘Sensor’ (2019), es una de las últimas obras publicadas por Junji Ito, el maestro del terror japonés, y la verdad es que tiene momentos bastante alucinantes y locos.
‘Sensor’ (2019), es una de las últimas obras publicadas por Junji Ito, el maestro del terror japonés, y la verdad es que tiene momentos bastante alucinantes y locos.
May 15, 2021
Hermoso. Mi primera experiencia con Junji Ito, que tanto lo recomendaban como maestro del manga de terror, y me dejo sorprendida y llena de ganas de más.
❗Posee imagenes impactantes para gente sensible o con tripofobia.
❗Posee imagenes impactantes para gente sensible o con tripofobia.
July 9, 2023
4⭐️ boy, do I feel sorry for kyoko Byakuya! That girl has had it rough. She had nice hair, though. 😊 This story was such a mix of energies that I couldn't quite keep up with it. Whilst this book had its horror, I found Kyoko to be peaceful and calm? I wasn't sad when her life ended the way it did. More Jungi Ito please!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2021
Two stars is about the minimum you can give Junji Ito just because of the art.
This is the weakest of the recent years wave of translated Ito work the U.S has been getting, he’s been having quite the moment and is sort of a darling is a lot of review sites and podcasts who grab on to one or two mangaka every couple years either out of honest revelation or to stay up with each other idk.
Ito is a master of horror comics and is a exquisite artist, but this is half cooked, almost entirely narratively uninteresting, and feel like we have this edition because it was time for another Ito edition to be released and this, as said, is his moment on these shores.
He’s still a talent where you grab anything he does especially if you like horror comics because he is a singular talent, this just happens to be a lesser work.
This is the weakest of the recent years wave of translated Ito work the U.S has been getting, he’s been having quite the moment and is sort of a darling is a lot of review sites and podcasts who grab on to one or two mangaka every couple years either out of honest revelation or to stay up with each other idk.
Ito is a master of horror comics and is a exquisite artist, but this is half cooked, almost entirely narratively uninteresting, and feel like we have this edition because it was time for another Ito edition to be released and this, as said, is his moment on these shores.
He’s still a talent where you grab anything he does especially if you like horror comics because he is a singular talent, this just happens to be a lesser work.
May 23, 2023
3.75 Stars for my first Junji Ito read.
Triggers for body horror, bugs, scenarios and descriptions drawn of self-termination, religion and cults, stalkers & obsessive behaviors depicted, immolation, burn trauma - forgive me if I left any out.
So, this story starts with a young woman, Kyoko Byakuya, feeling drawn to this mountain, Mount Sengoku. Road trip. Arriving at the mountain, she meets a man who has been waiting for her. What? Yeah, the Amagami (angel-hair like cooled lava strands) told him she was coming and she's supposed to bring happiness. Uh huh okay. He leads her (hello? stranger danger!) to his village, Kiyumaki, which lies at the foot of the mountain.
That place & everything in it is drenched in golden angel-hair (real phenomenon by the way). Apparently it gives them the "power" of telepathy and the ability to peer into the cosmos (enter cosmic horror angle). They invite her to stay for the night (yeah no thanks) after explaining the Edo-era ancestry of their village. Back in the day, they harbored a Christian missionary, Miguel, which bad move because the Shogunate put them all to death for not renouncing their faith. Jump to them now believing that Miguel is God and the Amagami is his hair and proof that their village is "chosen".
They ask her to join in their ritualistic nightly star gazing, amplified by an influx of Amagami, they peer into the abyss looking for Miguel. However, uh oh, the abyss is looking back at them & it isn't their benevolent chosen benefactor but some dark entity.
Cut to 60 years later, the mountain has erupted again, leaving a cocooned Kyoko to be discovered by scientists surveying the area after the eruption. What follows is her being chased down by multiple people, including a cult of the darkness & a "no-name reporter", for her experience with the Amagami - "The Heavenly Hair". Spanning decades, important moments are depicted of not only Kyoko but also those chasing her culminating in many show downs and enlightened (no pun intended) discoveries. No spoilers!
The artwork is suitably fascinating, bringing into visual life the unfathomable horrors of space (also oceans because twinsies). He encourages the creepy dread of looking up at the sky only to find disturbing visions of deep space monstrosities and the incomprehensible knowledge that we as a planet are just one infinitesimal grain of sand on the Universe's beach.
It's been suggested that as an Ito intro, Sensor is possibly okay, but that maybe I should have started with the short story collections like Smashed or Fragments of Horror. Learn from my oops! and start there then graduate to his other works (like the one about Spirals everyone is traumatized from).
Triggers for body horror, bugs, scenarios and descriptions drawn of self-termination, religion and cults, stalkers & obsessive behaviors depicted, immolation, burn trauma - forgive me if I left any out.
So, this story starts with a young woman, Kyoko Byakuya, feeling drawn to this mountain, Mount Sengoku. Road trip. Arriving at the mountain, she meets a man who has been waiting for her. What? Yeah, the Amagami (angel-hair like cooled lava strands) told him she was coming and she's supposed to bring happiness. Uh huh okay. He leads her (hello? stranger danger!) to his village, Kiyumaki, which lies at the foot of the mountain.
That place & everything in it is drenched in golden angel-hair (real phenomenon by the way). Apparently it gives them the "power" of telepathy and the ability to peer into the cosmos (enter cosmic horror angle). They invite her to stay for the night (yeah no thanks) after explaining the Edo-era ancestry of their village. Back in the day, they harbored a Christian missionary, Miguel, which bad move because the Shogunate put them all to death for not renouncing their faith. Jump to them now believing that Miguel is God and the Amagami is his hair and proof that their village is "chosen".
They ask her to join in their ritualistic nightly star gazing, amplified by an influx of Amagami, they peer into the abyss looking for Miguel. However, uh oh, the abyss is looking back at them & it isn't their benevolent chosen benefactor but some dark entity.
Cut to 60 years later, the mountain has erupted again, leaving a cocooned Kyoko to be discovered by scientists surveying the area after the eruption. What follows is her being chased down by multiple people, including a cult of the darkness & a "no-name reporter", for her experience with the Amagami - "The Heavenly Hair". Spanning decades, important moments are depicted of not only Kyoko but also those chasing her culminating in many show downs and enlightened (no pun intended) discoveries. No spoilers!
The artwork is suitably fascinating, bringing into visual life the unfathomable horrors of space (also oceans because twinsies). He encourages the creepy dread of looking up at the sky only to find disturbing visions of deep space monstrosities and the incomprehensible knowledge that we as a planet are just one infinitesimal grain of sand on the Universe's beach.
It's been suggested that as an Ito intro, Sensor is possibly okay, but that maybe I should have started with the short story collections like Smashed or Fragments of Horror. Learn from my oops! and start there then graduate to his other works (like the one about Spirals everyone is traumatized from).
October 17, 2024
I really liked the story but I have some unanswered questions about the characters !
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