Junji Ito Isn't Sure What Is Scarier, His Manga or the Real World

Junji Ito recently had a Comic-Con Panel in which he dived into the world of his latest work in Sensor, a story that explores terror from the stars, and during the recent question and answer session, the master of horror went into detail about how his manga might not be scarier than real-world events. As Adult Swim and Production IG continue to work on the anime adaptation of Uzumaki, the Ito tale that focuses on a cursed town struggling with an obsession with spirals, it's clear that the mangaka isn't stopping his career of making terrifying tales any time soon.

During the Comic-Con Panel, Ito was questioned as to whether he believed that the real world would become so scary that the mangaka's tales would be unable to compete:

"Yes, there have been some horrible incidents lately that make me think real life is scarier than manga. But my manga is far removed from reality and many of them couldn't happen in real life. So I don't think it really competes with reality. But eventually, if science develops to a point where we enter a period where things begin to happen that you couldn't imagine, then I have wondered if that's maybe the end of my manga. But I hope such a day will not come."

If you haven't heard of Junji Ito's latest scary manga story, the official description of Sensor from Viz Media reads as such:

"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, and all of it shines a bright gold. At night, when the villagers perform their custom of gazing up at the starry sky, countless unidentified flying objects come raining down on them—the opening act for the terror about to occur."

One of Ito's biggest strengths in weaving tales of terror comes from his ability to blend the mundane with incomprehensible horror, usually of the cosmic or supernatural variety. While the real world certainly is filled with scary events, we doubt that there will be anything that will be able to match the horror that erupts from the mind of the horror mangaka himself.

What is your favorite Junji Ito story? Are you excited about the arrival of Sensor? 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 Junji Ito.