Junji Ito Takes Home an Eisner

By Evan Valentine

When anime fans think of horror in the medium, more often than not, one name rises above all others in Junji Ito. With the prolific artist responsible for creepy tales such as Uzumaki, Gyo, Enigma at Amigura Faults, and countless others, it's no surprise that the mangaka has received a number of awards over the years. Now, at this year's Eisner Awards ceremony, the artist has added another award to his resume as he was recognized for his recent anthology series known as Lovesickness.   

Ito's Lovesickness, an anthology series that featured stories including, not limited to, a mysterious woman stalking the foggy streets of Japan, won the award for "Best U.S. Edition of International Material, and considering who the horror mangaka was up against, its quite the achievement. Other nominees in the category included the likes of Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man, Naoya Matsumoto's Kaiju No. 8, Toranosuke Shimada's Robo Sapiens: Tales of Tomorrow, Tatsuya Endo's Spy x Family, and Haro Aso's Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. 

Viz Media used its Official Twitter Account to congratulate the master of horror on his latest Eisner Award:

This is far from the first time that Junji Ito has won an Eisner Award, however, with the manga artist claiming his first for his adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and his additional two awards begin received for both Venus in the Blind Spot and Remina. 

As previously mentioned, there are two new anime adaptations in the works for Junji Ito's material, with Adult Swim's Toonami continuing work on the anime series Uzumaki and Netflix getting in on the horror action with a new anthology series with the running title of Junji Ito's Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, which will bring to life a number of short stories for the first time. With Uzumaki being delayed indefinitely, it will be interesting to see which of these two spooky anime series will arrive first. 

What is your favorite spooky story from Junji Ito? What creepy tale do you want to see brought to life in an anime? 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.

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