Great collection of some of Ito's best works.  Junji Ito seems to be a polarizing figure, as some of his works can sometimes be a bit too wild, pressing into goofy territory.  Personally, I find the absurd horror just as enthralling as the grotesque and shocking.  Ultimately, he's not an author to miss, and Venus is not a collection to miss either!

I really liked this manga book set in Korea, focusing on young adults coming of age.  There was some real sickness in this story, with people being sewn together, and the woman who was doing it was just out there.  Fun story though, with some really good graphics.

Im a bit sad, I have loved every single one of his books before this but this one could not capture me in the way the other ones did. maybe 2 of the stories had me turning the pages frantically but the rest of the book left me wanting more.

In an attempt to give Junji Ito a fair shot after not liking , I looked at what manga I could read through Viz Media access. This one seemed like an interesting choice to get a good sampling of Ito’s horror ideas and maybe something would click for me. Venus in the Blind Spot is a collection of ten, short horror stories from the man himself. Some of them are his more infamous on shots like the Human Chair, which is a Ramp Edogawa story, and his The Enigma of the Amigara Fault story featuring an area of land where human shaped holes are drawing people into them. A very Close Encounters of the Third Kind kind of deal.

I can’t help but feel like I shot myself in the foot by choosing this one. None of these stories really clicked for me. Some were just obvious and didn’t have the time of actually making some interesting development. Others just outright told you what was going on and left it at that, like the Human Chair. Very much like “this is certainly a strange thing going on, isn’t it? Yes, yes they are. What else are you trying to say to me? Something tells me a reason why Junji Ito made it big in the west, besides some obvious works that I haven’t read, are that it’s “this is weird and its from Japan” kind of angle? I could be completely wrong about that.

Pushing the nature of the short story aside, it could be the combination of media that didn’t work for me either. I am not a big horror fan beyond Psychological horror, so body and shock horror doesn’t really do much for me by itself. There is also the nature that manga and anime generally are strange in general? So just having strange incidents happen without any sort of meat or characters I can get attach to doesn’t work for me. This is why things like Jujutsu Kaisen, Fullmetal Alchemist, and D Gray Man have clicked with me. I like the cast and I want them to be ok. Venus in the Blind Spot suffers from this. This is why a collection of stories doesn’t work, but maybe it will work for you?

I’m going to give Venus in the Blindspot an ok. There were some eh stories that I enjoyed more then others, some classic stories that reminded me of what I’ve read from English class like TheTell-Tale Heart, and things like that. So there is a lot of potential that is unrealized and maybe the reader can do all of this themselves. The art work is also, like usual, very unique and very pretty to look at and such. I’ve got a way for you to read if it this does sound interesting.

A terrifying collection of Japanese stories. These graphic novel short stories are all classics in Japan; and I can definitely see why. I had two struggles with this book of stories: 
1) Forgetting to read right to left. It's a bit odd as the pages flip right to left (like English books); but the pages themselves are read right to left (not left to right as most are used to). So I had to keep reminding myself. I think I'd have preferred the book was bound 'backwards' where you read back to front as then I wouldn't have been so likely to forget which place to start on each page. 
2) Some of these stories are burned into my brain. Like weeks after having read some of the early ones I'm still seeing them and remembering them. Given how much I read; and that I'm generally not awesome at details, it disturbs me how ingrained a few of these are on my brain. The only things that truly ever stick in my brain like that normally are terrifying or horrific. Although I suppose it supports my thought that this is an intense horror collection. 

Please enjoy some quick notes/words about each story: 
Story #1 - Billions Alone
Well that was truly scary. Like disturbing scary. Love it! (please don’t judge me, lol). This is so creepy to read while on lockdown from a pandemic (March 2020). It could be the story of the virus; if instead of getting sick you got sewn together dead... *shudder*

Story #2 - The Human Chair
I can barely concentrate on this story because I’m still thinking about the first...  
Yep if I was home alone I’d be freaked right out. The chair I sit in at home is a laz-y boy and so it’s large and cushy like the one in this story. Even with my husband home I have shivers down my back reading this one. So well done.

Story #3 - An Unearthly Love
More disturbing than creepy I think... although the more I consider the story the creepier it becomes.
These first 3 stories are all amazing so far. Now it may also be that my husband playing a creepy video game with creepy music is enhancing the experience... I’m not very smart some days (lol!)

Story #4 - Venus in the Blind Spot
Not nearly as scary as the other stories so far. Interesting perhaps but feels out of place with the other 3 so far. Although it does have a great title. 

Story #5 - The Licking Woman
There is something deeply unsettling about this one. It’s got an ick factor for sure; but also just feels too close to how humans do transmit disease. Especially in our current covid world.

Story #6 - Master Umezz and Me
I’m definitely missing something here. Perhaps because I don’t know manga tropes?

Story #7 - How Love Came to Professor Kirida
I feel like this was missing a critical piece but of something. Yet I can’t quite figure out what that might be...

Story #8 - The Enigma of Amigara Fault
No word of a lie I am shaking after reading this one. If you are claustrophobic in any way at all this story is an absolute nightmare.
My main two fears are generally spiders and water (yes all water, but especially dark lakes and the ocean). I think climbing into a mountain-side rock hole might have just shot near the top. *nervous laugh*

Story #9 - The Sad Tale of the Principal Post
You know an artist and writer are good when in four pages, just four pages of panels they can make you shiver. There's a whole other story to be discovered in these four panels; and we will never know what it was...

Story #10 - Keepsake
Maybe it's because I cannot have a child of my own; but I did not find this story nearly as disturbing as some of the others. It's creepy and icky to a certain degree; but not quite as shiver inducing as many of the other stories are. 

Overall
A fantastic collection of translated 'illustrated' short stories. What do you call a graphic novel when it's not novel size? I honestly don't know. 
If you like horror, are interested at all in a taste of Japanese culture, or love good ol' black and white artistry then this collection is for you. 

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

This is a stunning collection of Junji Ito’s short stories, including full colour pages and illustrations to display both the beauty and horror of his work.

I have admired Ito’s work for a number of years, he has such a unique way of structuring stories and weaving eeriness in to everyday life. There is no doubt that he is the master of horror manga and I have struggled to find anything that even comes close to his style.

The collection contains some stories that fans of Ito have seen before, including The Enigma of Amigara Fault, alongside new tales and retellings of works by Edogawa Ranpo and Robert Hichens. Of these I had only read one previously and I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of stories, from Ito’s own experience being asked to adapt the work of Kazuo Umezz, to The Licking Woman, a truly creepy tale that does exactly what it says on the tin.

My favourite of the collection is Billions Alone, this story packs a punch from the beginning when bodies are found across the city, naked and sewn together with fishing line. This starts to get out of control as any gatherings of people mysteriously vanish and an unknown force is trying to encourage people to “all come together… reach out from the heart...”

I would recommend this collection to anyone new to Ito’s work, it introduces his dark and upfront style in bitesize stories whilst giving a great taste of the grotesque.

In an attempt to catch up with the reviews I fell behind on in 2020 I am only leaving star rating for the books that I didn't feel incredibly passionate about.

Junji Ito is an amazing artist and this book of short stories is a wonderful addition to any Junji Ito collection. I was excited for the inclusion of “The Human Chair,” which I remember reading online a few years ago.

This was an interesting collection of short stories.  Those who are fans of horror, graphic novels, and Manga will like this.

standard, good Ito. He is the best practitioner of manga in the horror genre. I am glad they are finally publishing his works in collected form in English.

Thank you to Viz Media and NetGalley, for the digital ARC!

I am a bit biased and have loved all the material that Junji Ito has released, and have been following their career for a while now.

As such, when I saw there was a new collection, I was eager to read.

This collection contains a mix of Junji Ito's most famous works as well as some new stories. The horror aspect of his work continues to work off the grotesque and the psychological, making these stories into chilling reads.

As always, the artwork is very well done, and their play off the "page turn/jump scare" always works well. 

The title story was an interesting one, regarding beauty and the desire of men to control it. Billions Alone contained extremely disturbing and creepy images. The Licking Woman culminated in an ending where I wanted to learn more. Keepsake was disturbing, but kept me intrigued. 

And, the famous "Human Chair" and "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" make a reappearance in this collection. 

Overall, if you are looking for horror short stories, definitely look at this!

Definitely not for the faint of heart, this new collection of Junji Ito stories continues to live up to Ito's reputation as a king of horror manga. Each story is more fraught and tense than the last, and Ito's art renders each panel in graphic detail, pulling you through each horrifying story.

An excellent collection of horror master Junji Ito's work. This edition contains essentials like "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" and "The Human Chair," as well as lesser known but equally entertaining short pieces like the title story. The translation is excellent — just as one can expect of Viz's Junji Ito titles — and the addition of color to key pages makes this a gorgeous edition.

I have never read a Junji Ito before, so I was so excited to read this one.
I love the art style, it actually inspired me to paint something from this manga. The cover page of the chair story to be exact. I can't wait to do it!
But to review this book, I want to say that not all of the stories are gold, but i loved most of them! My favorite story might actually be the first one with the sewing of bodies together. It felt the most interesting to me personally. But I also really loved the chair story. All of these stories felt appropriate to be in a book together. And some were longer than others. But overall I want to purchase my own copy because I enjoyed them so so much! I highly recommend this book to someone who has been wanting to try out his work. I certainly loved it!

English-speaking manga fans received a number of treats this year, including the release of Venus In The Blind Spot — a sort of “greatest hits” volume of mangaka and horror master Junji Ito’s most notable work.

If you’re already familiar with Ito, you’ve probably read many, if not all, of the stories within Venus In The Blind Spot; it includes classics like “The Human Chair” (which is a personal favorite of mine), “The Enigma of Amigara Fault,” and of course the titular tale, “Venus In The Blind Spot.” As such, I’d recommend this one more for folks who are just getting into Ito — it’s an excellent introduction to his unique and unsettling brand of horror. 

That said, though, it’s still a beautiful volume; notably, it includes a number of full-color pages beyond the standard black-and-white ones, which, uh… well, let’s just say they bring a whole new level of horror to Ito’s illustrations.

I enjoyed this book for the most part, it was short and succinct. Some of the stories were taken from his other works and weren't surprising, and the title story was a bit lackluster.

Over the weekend I finally got to reading Junji Ito’s manga, devouring all three volumes of Uzumaki in as many days. So while I haven’t exactly read enough of this horror master’s work to know what constitutes the “best” of his canon, I will say that the stories collected in Venus in the Blind Spot were mostly enjoyable—and rife with Ito’s trademark body horror ingenuity.

This collection reminded me quite viscerally of when I was kid and I’d read anthologies of horror folklore at my local library (featuring stories like “The Green Ribbon,” about a girl also named Jenny whose fate freaked me out for years). Similarly, I don’t think I’ll be forgetting some of the tales in Venus in the Blind Spot anytime soon.

Thank you NetGalley and VIZ Media for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Billions Alone (★★★☆☆)

20-year-old Michio has been a recluse for the last 7 years when he’s approached by his former classmates to attend a class reunion and coming-of-age ceremony. Except that bodies keep turning up in his town—“group corpses” who’ve been grotesquely stitched together using fishing line.

What a parable about the perils of gathering in groups! (And the gruesome lengths to which a murderous vigilante group will go to enforce social distancing 😅)


The Human Chair (★★★★★)

This is a classic Ito tale (based on the story by Edogawa Ranpo) that I hear about often and finally got a chance to read. A girl stops by a furniture store to request a comfortable, sturdy chair be made for her to work in. The shopkeeper begins to tell her a story within a story (within OUR story) about the origins of a “human chair”—one in which a man sat ensconced and concealed, in order to be close to a woman he had fallen in love with.

I GET THE HYPE.


An Unearthly Love (★★☆☆☆)

Based off another original story by Edogawa Ranpo (aka the seminal Japanese mystery writer who took pen-name inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe), this tells of a woman who marries an emaciated-looking man known to “hate women.” While it doesn’t appear that he hates her, he certainly is strange—sneaking off in the middle of the night to visit a woman who the narrator is convinced is his lover.

As with every Ito story, all is not as it seems! However, the twist to this one was surprisingly feeble. Colour me unimpressed. :(


Venus in the Blind Spot (★★★☆☆)

Mariko Shono is a UFO fanatic who quite literally disappears from view—but only those views of certain men in her life. The collection’s eponymous story references how the lovely Mariko is as beautiful as the Venusian that George Adamski, renowned ufologist (can’t believe I just typed that word), claimed to have conversed with.

Something I’m starting to realize as a recurring theme in Ito’s work is obsessive men pining—and becoming violent—over beautiful women.


The Licking Woman (★★★½)

On warm and humid nights, the Licking Woman attacks unsuspecting travellers with a tongue that quite literally kills. (It makes me SHUDDER to look at, but you gotta appreciate the level of detail that went into capturing each slimy pustule.) Years after the woman’s capture, Miku, a victim who was licked and whose fiancé and dog died as result, is still traumatized.

I’m a little dissatisfied with the ending but utterly enamoured with how gross this story was!


Master Umezz and Me (unrated)

This one took me by surprise because it wasn’t so much a horror story as it was an autobiographical snippet about Ito’s experiences growing up with the work of Kazuo Umezu, a popular Japanese horror manga author, musician, and actor. When Ito grows up, he gets a chance to work with his idol.


How Love Came to Professor Kirida (★★☆☆☆)

This one’s based on the English-language story, “How Love Came to Professor Guildea” by Robert Hichens. Obsessive love abounds; this time, it’s one woman pining after Professor Kirida and another lusting after Father Murchison, a white preacher that Kirida has recruited to learn about Christianity from.

I’m not sure I altogether followed the storyline with this one. Maybe it would’ve been more enjoyable if I’d read the source work?


The Enigma of Amigara Fault (★★★★★)

A great earthquake has left a kilometres-long fault line on Amigara Mountain. The chilling thing? It’s exposed thousands of mysterious, human-shaped holes in the solid rock face—holes that were clearly dug from the inside of the mountain thousands of years ago. Two hikers, Owaki and Yoshida, find themselves drawn along with dozens of others to the fault line and the holes.

Claustrophobia? ACTIVATED.
Creepiness? IMMACULATE.
Hotel? TRIVAGO.


The Sad Tale of the Principal Post (★★☆☆☆)
Th-this looks like the principal post… If you move it just to rescue me, the entire house might fall over.

That’s it. That’s basically the story. 😂 Reminds me of those two-sentence horror stories people like to exchange.

A little underwhelming, imo!


Keepsake (★★★★☆)

This one starts off with a bang: a baby has been discovered within the grave of young master Toyoji’s first wife—a woman who has been dead for nine months. In the time since her death, Toyoji has taken his mistress as his wife and welcomed their first child.

Three years later, the corpse baby—Manjuro—has grown into a creepy toddler with bulging eyes and shrunken lips, when the circumstances of his birth come to light.


AVERAGE RATING: 3.3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this work in exchange for an honest review.
I love Junji Ito's works. This is a collection of some of his well known short stories along with several that I have never seen before.
For me, the standouts were Billions Alone and The Enigma of Amigara Fault, the latter being the very first piece of Junji Ito's work that I ever came across. 
Besides being overall creepy, I think I'm constantly most impressed with his endings. They're usually always satisfying or end on a high action note. 
Even in what I think is the weakest story in the collection - The Sad Tale of Principal Post, you are left with a mystery.
I will say that while appreciated, the story featuring himself as a child felt a little out of place within the rest of the collection. I do however enjoy how odd and grotesque he illustrates even stories of himself, like he's injecting a bit of his horror weirdness into everything he does. 
Overall, a solid read for me. I'll leave a breakdown of what I thought the individual stories felt like for me:
Billions Alone: ****
The Human Chair: *** 1/2
An Unearthly Love: *** 1/2
Venus in the Blind Spot: ****
The Licking Woman: ***
Master Umezz and Me: ***
How I Came to Love Professor Kuroda: *** 1/2
The Enigma of Amigara Fault: *****
The Sad Tale of Principal Post: **
Keepsake: ***

A group of horror stories sure to please most horror enthusiasts.  As with most anthologies there were good and satisfactory, but the majority of this collection was good!  Great illustrations and as usual please watch out for the 'triggers'.  Would recommend to those who like creepy and disturbing horror.

This gorgeous, chilling, and horrific work by Junji Ito is the first I've ever read--and I am so utterly in love with how darkly dangerous and yet intriguing it is. The artwork is vivid, equally grotesque, and beautiful, which only elevates the genre further. I'm left wanting MORE.