Junji Ito Talks His Favorite Stories From His Spooky Library

Junji Ito is clearly able to do what many cannot in weaving tales of terror unlike anything on the market today. With stories revolving around dangerous planets, walking sharks, and floating doppelgangers hell-bent on eradicating humanity, the manga artist has spent decades weaving spooky stories. Now, in a new interview with Viz Media, Ito reveals which of his stories that he’s created over the years are his favorite and what makes them the cream of the crop.       

Ito explains in the interview with Viz Media that he is always seeking to create stories that he’s never seen before, with the most original tales that he’s weaved being his favorite. These include the likes of the Hanging Balloons, Enigma of Amigura Fault, and The Long Dream. The latter of these stories was depicted in the anthology series, The Junji ito Collection, with the story of the Hanging Balloons set to be brought to the small screen thanks to the upcoming Maniac. At present, it’s still up in the air if we’ll ever see Enigma of Amigura Fault be adapted into an anime series, though we wouldn’t be surprised if it was included in the upcoming Netflix series as it has never been adapted to this point.

Viz Media posted the interview with the master of horror via their Official Twitter Account, not only exploring some of Junji Ito’s favorite stories but also diving into his career as a manga artist and how he worked to create tales of terror that had never been seen before:

We spent some time with mangaka Junji Ito (@junjiitofficial) and talked about fear of the unknown, favorite stories, and his long career! pic.twitter.com/tspNOw7JoO

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) August 5, 2022

If you haven’t had the opportunity to dive into these three spine-chilling stories, they revolve around some wild concepts such as floating doppelgangers attempting to hang innocent victims from a noose, person-sized holes emerging from the side of a mountain that beckon to those who see them, and a man who finds himself trapped in an eternal dream which is having a disastrous effect on his physical condition. Despite spending decades working as a manga artist, Ito himself has shown no signs of stopping any time soon and recently won an Eisner Award for his work, proving how successful the mangaka’s style has become.

What’s your favorite Junji Ito story? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of anime horror.