Junji Ito Discusses Tomie’s Upcoming U.S. Adaptation

Junji Ito has created scary stories that revolve around terrifying doppelgangers of victims soaring above them as balloons, plants that have the ability to teleport and smash those foolish enough to steal their sap, and towns that are ravaged by obsessions with spirals that may or may not turn them into human snail hybrids. Tomie may almost seem quaint in comparison, following a succubus who places men under her thrall, but it does have a US produced film in the works and we had the opportunity to chat with Ito himself about his thoughts!

We asked Junji Ito, who has been creating some of the most nightmarish stories for decades, at the Crunchyroll Expo how he felt about the upcoming adaptation for his succubus story, which will be produced Alexandre Aja who created horror hits such as the Hills Have Eyes remake and High Tension:

“There are Japanese movie versions of “Tomie” previously, but this time, it’ll be an American version. I’m already looking forward to it because I’m wondering what actress will play Tomie and how the story will play out when it’s set in America.”

Ito also described how he came up with the idea for this unique story:

“The reason I got the sudden idea for “Tomie” was because I had been confronted by the death of someone close to me, and I felt that death was so mysterious and strange and it felt like the person who had died could still show up in front of me like nothing had ever happened. I wanted to write a story about someone who was supposed to be dead but is somehow still alive. You might think that the subject of “Tomie” is Tomie the character, but it isn’t. “Tomie” is a series of short stories with the subject of the story being the idea of this girl named Tomie would drive men crazy with her charms. That ends up getting her killed by getting chopped up into pieces, which then results in several Tomies forming from those pieces. When I was drawing “Tomie,” I kept that idea in mind and created several variations of short stories.”

Aside from having some Japanese films, Tomie was also featured in the most recent anime adaptations for Junji Ito that arrived to mixed reviews. The Junji Ito Collection took a veritable cornucopia of Ito’s stories and translated them into an anime anthology series, though the animation simply couldn’t live up to Junji’s original line work.

Are you excited for Tomie? What have been your favorite story from the mind of Junji Ito so far? 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!