Manga Icon Junji Ito Shares Reaction to Eisner Award Win

Junji Ito is really having a banner year, with his work being adapted into both an anime franchise at Toonami with the upcoming Uzumaki, but also a live action feature length film in the form of the upcoming Tomie. Aside from his work continuing to break new ground in the field of horror, we recently had the opportunity to chat with the horror legend himself at the Crunchyroll Expo about his recent Eisner Award win for his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein! Though Ito may create nightmares on a regular basis, he remains one of the nicest creators around and you’d never know that he is one of the greatest masters of horror in entertainment.

When asked about his big award win, Junji Ito had the following to say about the prestigious victory:

“The Eisner Award isn’t very well known in Japan. I actually didn’t know much about it either. But I heard it was a very famous award and I am very humbled by it. I really never had any ties with awards like this, so with the fact that I got an American award called the Eisner Award, I feel like all my hard work has paid off and I am eternally grateful.”

Ito specifically won the Eisner Award under the category of “Best Adaptation From Another Medium”. The adaptation follows the original story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster with Ito’s brand of artistic horror, released through Viz Media last year. When it was brought to North America, it allowed a brand new audience to once again wade into the terror of Junji Ito.

One of the major strengths of Ito and his brand of horror is transforming the mundane into a nihilistic, celestial horror that seemingly is inescapable. With stories such as Gyo and the Enigma of Amigara Fault creating elements that dig their way into readers’ subconscious, it’s clear that whatever Junji Ito creates in the future will be worth your attention.

What is your favorite work of Junji Ito’s? Are you looking forward to the upcoming Toonami adaptation of Uzumaki? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and Junji Ito!

The steadiness of Ito’s process is why the creator is still being recognized for his work to this day. In fact, recent years have increased the scope of that recognition as many of his works are getting brand new adaptations. Not only is Adult Swim producing an anime mini-series based on his prolific work Uzumaki, but last year saw a few of his short stories being adapted into the Junji Ito Collection anthology anime series, and soon Tomie will be getting a live-action adaptation from The Hills Have Eyes director Alexandre Aja.