Junji Ito is back again with another impeccable horror manga that is sure to be a classic in its own time. Easy to read, interesting stories, interesting characters.

My review has been published at IZ Digital: https://interzone.digital/a-review-of-tombs-and-hit-parade-of-tears/

Another solid collection from the master of horror Junji Ito. Some stories are hits and other misses but you're definitely in for a good ride with some creepy tales and atmosphere.

This was a very creepy (and at times very disgusting) collection of stories, but I read this all in one go. I just couldn't stop reading. I'll definitely be picking up more from Junji Ito! 4.5★

TOMBS - Wow this one was a punch to the gut. I felt the horror and the tragedy so clearly. This was my very first Junju Ito story and I was not disappointed. A small, remote town with an a very unusual way to bury bodies.

CLUBHOUSE - This one is a ghost story and I felt it ended very abruptly. Still creepy, but I wanted more after that last panel.

SLUG GIRL - Holy shit that was horrifying and so disgusting and I feel a bit sick. Body horror and slugs are never things I ever want to see together again. That last panel will be haunting me for a while.

THE WINDOW NEXT DOOR - Very good and very creepy, also I would be gone that very first night, no going back, no way, no how.

WASHED ASHORE - A mysterious deep-sea creature washes ashore and something is inside it. This was super interesting, but I would have loved for this one to be longer!

THE STRANGE TALE OF THE TUNNEL - A tunnel and a mountain that pulls people into it's depths.

BRONZE STATUE - A story of a woman's narcissism and a man's twisted sense of art. This was intriguing and one that actually felt like a complete story.

FLOATERS - Your thoughts float around out in the world were everyone can hear them and even catch and keep them. Absolutely terrifying and tragic.

THE BLOODY STORY OF SHIROSUNA - Another small town story to end out this collection, and all I can say is be careful what you drink.

I’m not terribly familiar with Manga, but I have read a few other Junji Ito books. I don’t find them particularly scary at all, but they are usually pretty twisted. This book was no exception. There were some fairly twisted stories and some that were just meh, but I enjoyed it overall. I think if you’ve enjoyed other Junji Ito books then you will enjoy this one as well.

After being a bit disappointed by some of the more recent Junji Ito translations, this seemed like a real return to form. The stories were genuinely distressing and not just because of the body horror (though that didn't help). I really enjoyed being upset by this book!

As always, thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this manga!

I love Junji Ito with a passion, and if you're a major fan like I am, I highly recommend this read. If you aren't familiar with his works, this is also a good intro sample to step into. Collections are hit or miss for me, but this definately is a winner. Again, this is an immediate add to my personal collection.

Picture this: a small community, shrouded in darkness, with rows upon rows of eerie tombstones creating a haunting sight. But that’s just the beginning of the horror that lies within. Join a brother and sister as they experience a traffic accident in the midst of this town of the dead, leaving them wondering what their fate will be. Or follow the terrifying tale of a girl whose tongue transforms into a slimy slug, rendering her speechless and helpless. Can her friend find a way to save her before it’s too late? And, brace yourselves for a story about a young man who discovers that his grotesque neighbor, with only one window in their entire house, calls out to him every night. What could this neighbor’s twisted intentions be? Each story is a classic example of Ito’s unmatched ability to create uniquely unsettling and disturbing horror premises.

Tombs is a collection of horror stories ranging from mildly unnerving to downright bizarre, and is easily one of my favorite of Junji Ito’s books thus far. In most of his collections, there’s at least one story that didn’t quite click with me, but I genuinely loved every single installment here and could barely even choose a favorite (though I did eventually narrow it down to ’The Bloody Story of Shirosuna’, the final story. Whether you’re brand new to Junji Ito books or a seasoned fan, you absolutely can’t miss this one.

→ Tombs ★★★★★
I loved this story and thought it was such a fantastic tone-setter for the collection. In typical Junji Ito fashion, we have a mixture of body horror and Weird Shit in a Small Town™️ with no real explanation for why any of it’s happening.

→ Clubhouse ★★★★☆
This was a really short, fun little paranormal story that I think would make an awesome short in a horror film anthology. I loved the ending!

→ Slug Girl ★★★★★
This was absolutely DISGUSTING and, as someone who hates slugs as much as Yuko does, I’m probably going to have nightmares.

→ The Window Next Door ★★★★★
How creepy! There’s something so unsettling about the idea of a mysterious neighbor trying to crawl in through your window, and that last page made me a little queasy.

→ Washed Ashore ★★★★★
Despite loving the ocean and sea creatures, I actually have a solid case of thalassophobia, so the idea of this bizarre deep-sea creature unlike anything ever seen before washing up on a beach intrigued me from the start. While it’s a very quick story, this is one of my favorites!

→ The Strange Tale of the Tunnel ★★★★★
This reminded me of a few other of Junji Ito’s stories, though I can’t say why without spoiling the twist. That said, I’m always amazed by how he can take the most mundane things and turn them into something terrible that I’ll never look at the same way (like spirals!).

→ Bronze Statue ★★★★☆
This was my least favorite in the collection, but as you can see by the rating, I still enjoyed it a lot! It had a bit of an “urban legend” feel to it that was a lot of fun.

→ Floaters ★★★★★
This one was so bizarre and fun! What an awful idea, to think of little things floating around mimicking your darkest thoughts—and what a tragic ending!

→ The Bloody Story of Shirosuna ★★★★★
The final story in this collection was, in my opinion, the best one of them all — in fact, it’s one of my favorite Junji Ito stories out of all of his books! It’s such an incredibly unnerving piece that, in his usual way, leaves us with no real explanation for why these awful things have happened, and that ambiguity is part of what makes it work so well.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

Although not the strongest of Ito's collections, there are still enough stories to make this worth reading. The title story is one of them, as it nicely pairs Ito's signature horror style with the creeping inevitability of death in a town where the deceased sprout gravestones where they die. The final story takes a different approach to the same theme, in a town where a history of maiden sacrifices have a horrible legacy. Beyond that, there's a lot that feels a little too similar to Ito's other collections, but if you're a fan, you'll probably find at least one or two pieces to like.

Another wonderful creepy collection by Junji Ito. Nine stories full of terrible human choices that have disastrous consequences. My favorite was the title story "Tombs" where everyone who dies in this town, a tomb forms where the body died, but if they don't their soul is restless and causes destruction to the town. I also enjoyed how grossed out I felt while reading "Slug Girl."

The black and white artwork also does such a great job of creating an unnerving atmosphere and making you focus on the characters and drawing you into the story. Another successful collection.

This was a chilling read. The art style of Junji Ito brings intensity and life to the story. I would recommend this to any horror fan!

Junji Ito does it again with this collection, Tombs. A perfectly eerie group of tales, Tombs will crawl under your skin and keep you checking over your shoulder for monsters.

Junji Ito Brings Us More Gory Goodness in ‘Tombs’

While horror manga master Junji Ito is largely known for his long-form works—Uzumaki, Gyo, Tomie—I tend to think that he really shines in his shorter, punchier projects. VIZ Media has done a spectacular job collecting these desperate tales of curses, hauntings, and otherworldly transformations into a growing number of hardcover volumes, each combining Ito’s stark, evocative black-and-white illustrations with skillful English-language translations perfect for western horror fans and manga-lovers alike.

The newest release, Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection, is easily the best in recent memory, boasting nine macabre tales that run the gamut from the already iconic to the relatively unknown. Most importantly, there’s not a stinker among them.

Things kick off with the titular “Tombs,” which savvy readers will no doubt realize was recently adapted as “Tomb Town” for Netflix’s Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre anime series. A modern morality tale with a typical western three-act structure, it’s a great entry point for fans just making their way into Ito’s wicked world.

At nearly 60 pages in length, it’s this volume’s most sizable offering, which makes its half-as-long follow-up, “Clubhouse,” seem particularly well placed. It begins with a simple premise—three friends enter a haunted house—before shifting its focus to interpersonal drama (with some noted political undertones) and, finally, tying things up with a dramatic supernatural ending.

“Slug Girl” and “The Window Next Door,” both featured in Crunchyroll’s 2018 Junji Ito Collection, are equally well known for their shocking visuals if not their equally disturbing plots. The former concerns a young woman whose tongue transforms into a slug, while the latter (also known as “The Neighbor’s Window”) starts as a family moves to a new neighborhood. Here our protagonist is a teenage boy who suffers nightly harassment from a lecherous old woman who peers in through his second-floor window. These stories serve as excellent examples of Junji Ito’s more ambivalent narrative arch—neither have what we in the States would think of as a proper, ties-up-all-the-loose-ends resolution—not to mention his fine eye for straight-up body horror.

The book’s mid-point, “Washed Ashore,” is another Maniac inclusion. Further, it returns to that deep, dark well of inspiration that Mr. Ito so adores—the ocean depths. With shades of cryptozoology and a vague whiff of cosmic horror, it’s tight, terse, and terrifying.

“The Strange Tale of the Tunnel” (retold as “The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel” in Junji Ito Maniac) is another lengthier piece, this one combining skeptical science and a more traditional view of cursed places into a uniquely satisfying story. However, in trademark Ito style, it forgoes explanation in favor of wonderfully creepy imagery, the final panels of which are sure to stay with readers long after they put this book down.

“Bronze Statue” begins the book’s final third with another example of an evil-doer getting her comeuppance; in this case, the murderous wife of a small-town mayor ultimately finds herself literally trapped in her own vanity. Like “Bronze Statue,” “Floaters” is another 50-pager, and it’s also the only story in this volume that feels overly long. A clever twist on the classic concept of what happens when our inner dialogs are suddenly broadcast to the masses, it incorporates all of Ito’s go-to story elements—a strange occurrence that starts off in a single community, unrequited teenage love, and the inevitable suicide—but it’s final twist still makes it worth the meandering ride.

Tombs wraps up with “The Bloody Story of Shirosuna.” In this closing tale, a doctor moves to a remote village (the name of which translates to “white sands”) and is quick to discover that the townspeople are all pale, sickly, and lethargic. What unfolds is a totally new take on the old town-full-of-vampires pastiche that ends on a creepy if not wholly unexpected note. Along with “Clubhouse,” “Floaters,” and “Bronze Statue,” this was one of the few inclusions that were wholly unknown to me, and it definitely closed the book out on a high note.

As a diehard Junji Ito fan, I’m always excited when VIZ brings a new volume of his manga to the American audience. While a couple of recent examples (specifically 2021’s Deserter and 2022’s The Liminal Zone) haven’t exactly hit the mark for me, Tombs easily took me back to the days of Shiver and Smashed, the story collections that made me such a fan of Ito’s horror manga in the first place.

Tombs’ blend of known characters (like the Slug Girl and the diabolical old woman across the alley), recently adapted content, and brand new entries to the American market combine to make it a satisfying read for existing fans, and its focus on dark, unexpected, and regularly gruesome stories is sure to attract a brand new crop of horror heads to the realm of manga.

Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection is available now at your online, digital, or brick-and-mortar bookseller of choice. It retails for $22.50 at Amazon and is rated Teen Plus for content.

A digital sample was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review, but the publisher had no input in its written content. Of course, given that my entire forearm is covered in Uzumaki tattoos, they may have had an inkling that I’d enjoy it. This post contains affiliate links.

Junji Ito is the master for the horror genre. His imagination is otherworldly and takes you on quite a ride through these short stories. Seeing these creative horrors and misfortunes is quite the treat. I have no idea just how he comes up with these stories, but I will eat up every single one!

“Countless tombstones stand in rows throughout a small community, forming a bizarre tableau. What fate awaits a brother and sister after a traffic accident in this town of the dead? In another tale, a girl falls silent, her tongue transformed into a slug. Can a friend save her? Then, when a young man moves to a new town, he finds the house next door has only a single window. What does his grotesque neighbor want, calling out to him every evening from that lone window?–Fresh nightmares brought to you by horror master Junji Ito.” (Viz Media)


Viz media continues its collection of works by the esteemed master of the macabre, Junji Ito, with its most recent collection “Tombs” highlighting the mangaka in top form as a master storyteller in the horror genre. In fact, “Tombs” proves itself to be what is, perhaps, the best collection to date of the mangaka's work.

What makes the collection stand out is its variety in exploring the different elements of what Ito excels at, while also, thankfully, being devoid of any comedic segments. The collection offers up body horror, supernatural, metaphysical, otherworldly, and, the less explored aspect of Ito's storytelling, the horrors other people can inflict on one another. Furthermore, the series comes off the back of the recently released “Junji Ito Maniac“, and reiterates how superior the source material is to the underwhelming adaptation. Stories such as “The Strange Tale of the Tunnel” even have a different ending and additional details than the adaptation, making the short worth exploring beyond the anime. As far as ‘originality', the stories themselves are a mix of familiar, due to the TV series, and new to publication. In total, there are four stories (half) that have not been in print or adapted previously.


The strong collection makes it difficult to pick a favorite, though “Slug Girl” already having notoriety and being previously published does make it more of a welcome addition as a fan favorite as opposed to a definitive entry in the collection. However, the collection offers up pleasant surprises in the stories focused on human behavior, with “The Bronze Statue” showing avarice taking over characters and causing them to commit horrific crimes–it also contains one of the most ghastly deaths Ito has ever committed to the page. Comparatively, “The Clubhouse” captures paranoia among a group of warring students that showcases how Ito can excel as a mangaka in the horror realms outside of evoking sensational elements like the paranormal.


There is little to comment on when it comes to the art of Junji Ito that has not already been said, as his style and the way he crafts nightmarish visions are detailed and unique unto himself. Still, there are glorious defining moments of horror within, and entries like “Tombs” and “The Bronze Statue” contain some of the most grisly illustrations conjured by the mangaka. The book itself continues with the same quality as the rest of Ito's collected works, complementing the other hardcover releases that look so sharp on one's manga shelf.


The important aspect of the collection is that no segment falls short or offers a tonal shift that distracts from the elements that Ito excels. This makes it an ideal place to start for those unfamiliar with the mangaka, those wanting to introduce his work to others, or a collection worth revisiting when one wants a quick dive into the divine madness that only Ito can create. Ultimately, “Tombs” presents Junji Ito at the height of his skill as a masterful storyteller of the macabre and is a must-grab for fans.

Tombs is a terrific collection of short horror stories. This manga is haunting and left me wanting to read more by Ito.

I really enjoyed this new story collection from Junji Ito! His imagination and story telling ability never ceases to amaze me. It is thrilling and terrifying; Ito continues to be the master of horror manga!

At this point I'll devour any Junji Ito collection I can access, so this was a treat. While I would have liked more from a couple of the stories, it's a well-balanced set of body horror and psychological torment, and the art and plotlines all thoroughly creeped me out and/or made me recoil slowly as I turned the pages. Standout stories for me include "Tombs," "The Strange Tale of the Tunnel," and "The Bloody Story of Shirosuna."

This is the first Junji Ito book I have read and it did not disappoint! There are nine short stories in this book each delving into different phobias and fears. Several of the stories are setup to make the reader feel uneasy and tense, before gradually escalating into body horror that often fuses organic and inanimate objects together. His stories aren't actually scary, it's the tense build up and imaginative characters that make this book so special. The art style is incredibly detailed with purposeful choices and expressions that add to the intense feelings the story evokes. I was disappointed in the way a couple of the stories ended abruptly and felt unfinished. However, I understand that this is a book of short stories. I highly recommend this to any horror fan or someone looking to get into something a little scarier.