3 out of 5

Directed by: Shinobu Tagashira

A two-part OVA of Junji Ito’s classic Tomie released as part of the Junji Ito Collection series (which also featured its own Tomie-starring half-episode), while that show’s major detraction of a cheap animation style is still evident, what worked for the series works especially well when given room for a fleshed-out tale to be told.

Having not read the original Tomie mangas, I’m not sure if the OVA covers a single story or a couple, but I’m supposing the latter, as our titular succubus – always a focus of desires that blossom into obsessions – dies and reappears more than once.

Moving slowly, amping up the creeps, with Tomie’s actress perfectly nailing a haunting vocalization for this spectre of manipulation, there’s a good bit of direction (likely using source material as a guide) that juggles showing the horror off-screen or in our face, in a balance that makes it most effective.

Besides the extra runtime, though, the justification for featuring these as OVAs and not episodes is a little puzzling; the characterization and plotting is still on par (i.e. minimal – again, likely only what’s in the manga) with any given good excerpt from the series, meaning Tomie is more satisfying as part of a run of Junji adaptations than it would be as a standalone.