4 out of 5

I love that Viz has put out many of these lovely Junji Ito collections, all with unique contents thus far, and we’re still plucking material from the 2010s. Some later works have been published of course, and I suppose you could say that all the classics were published first, and we’re getting to outlier stuff, but I’d disagree: while Junji certainly repeats his themes, the constant stream of material inevitably produced some really fun / weird stuff on the fringes, and I’m so pleased to get those fringes translated and properly collected.

Moan should qualify as a sub-classic: it’s stuffed with some really haunting ideas, that kind of poke and prod at the creator’s more humorous side (think Shinichi), while sticking to the Unknowns and body horror that are Ito’s trade. Supernatural Transfer Student is rather in your face with that poking and prodding, but as though playing into the joke, Ito keeps anteing up the concept very amusingly. The title story and the later Flesh-Colored Mystery both suffer from reading like patchwork jobs – smashing multiple ideas into one – and even if Ito isn’t able to successfully blend the stitches of that patchwork, the pieces are all sufficiently weird and interesting. Inbetween, Blood Orb Grove wins for being one of the artist’s more disturbing stories without necessarily being overly graphic: it taps into unsettling vibes and has a very Gothic structure, while also better highligting the subtleties of Ito’s character work that is often overwhelmed by his concepts (and admittedly sometimes completely missing…). Near Miss is maybe the most generic ghost tale here but is nice and short and very well illustrated, giving us some rare large scale action, while closer Under the Ground is quite perfect, inclusive of its conclusion – generally Ito’s weakest point.

The book’s color scheme and cover montage from Adam Grano feel kind of garish, but in retrospect, it’s a good match for the contents’ fun mish-mash of tones. Jocelyne Allen delivers a consistent feeling translation with no pacing hiccups.