Lovesickness is a great addition to an avid collector of Junji Ito's works, but I wouldn't consider it a must-read. Ito shows skill in short story form, but, personally, I still prefer his longer works where he dedicates more time toward character development.

I love Junji Ito, but this wasn't a banger. Didn't care for the first half of Lovesickness. One short of its concept is fine, but the same plot dragged out over and over didn't thrill me. The second half of the book was much better because of its variety. I always love his short stories because of how unique each premise is. I even liked the Poop story.

Art is still fantastic and it's always a joy diving into Ito's world, but this one isn't essential.

Some of the stories were slightly less enjoyable for me compared to his other work, but it is still a very solid book. This was just a bit less memorable to me but I would still recommend it to fans of Junji Ito.

I liked the first series (about the middle school student and the crossroads fortune telling), and the creepy family of siblings. The one about the ribs was not very scary because it felt kind of rushed? But the illustrations are amazing!

There’s no denying the power of Junji Ito’s ability to terrify and entertain global audiences. In this story collection, translating several of his classic tales, Lovesickness explores love, dysfunctional families, and cosmic horror with a splash of black humor and haunting visuals.

The collection is divided into two sections. The first half collects the titular horror serial “Lovesickness,” a story about a foggy town obsessed with fortune-telling. The latter focuses on a few smaller, more contained tales. The rest is a collection of shorter tales that share some of the twisted horrors takes Ito is known for.

Best known for his horror classic Uzumaki (about a town that falls victim to a mysterious spiral) and Tomie (a collection of loosely connected stories about the titular character, a beautiful and otherworldly girl who brings ruin to everyone who meets her), Junji Ito is a Master of Modern Horror. Lovesickness is the latest volume of Ito’s short stories to be translated into English from VIZ Media, following other collections of his short work–including Venus in the Blind Spot, Shiver, and Smashed.

Fortunately, Ito’s work can be read in any order, letting you dive right into the stories. Most of these stories were originally published in the late 90s and early 2000s and they reflect that period, catering to the rise in urban legend horror (and serving as a precursor to today’s Creepypasta) like The Ring (1998) and The Grudge (2004). In many ways, they feel as if they belong in another era which, for some, may contribute to their overall otherworldliness as much as the tales themselves.
Lovesickness

When teenager Ryusuke and his family move back to Nazumi, the small town where he grew up, he finds that the past has been waiting for him in unexpected ways. Reunited with old friends–and an old crush–he discovers the town’s peculiar obsession with fortune-telling. The popular ritual involves a person standing on a street corner on a foggy day. When someone approaches, they ask the stranger to tell their fortune, often asking a question about their future love life or present situation. While this feels like a harmless pastime, it quickly dissolves into a story of fate and obsession.

This tale twists into something far more complicated than it originally appears. Past secrets reveal that something sinister is going on and people begin to meet unfortunate ends. Suicide features heavily in this volume; lovelorn girls are driven to drastic measures by a force beyond their control. Eventually, the story shifts to the urban legend of a strange, beautiful boy at the crossroads.

Like much of Ito’s work, the art does most of the heavy lifting in these tales. Junji Ito never fails to produce chilling, suspenseful scenes that keep you turning pages just to discover the next twist. He never shies away from grotesque imagery–though it always manages to feel at home in his surreal, nightmarish worlds. The town itself becomes more of a character than a setting. Nazumi’s foggy streets and shapeless, mazelike structures keep the reader guessing as much as the characters within.

Each death and the shadowy ghosts that subsequently lurk along the street corners are as horrific as they are compelling. You can’t skip over the details in his art. Ito’s work won’t let you look away. Ultimately, this story rests on its examination of desire and how we perceive the inevitability of fate in our lives. It’s an urban legend unfolding even as the people involved aren’t able to stop themselves from creating it.
The Strange Hikizuri Siblings

The next two stories in the collection feature the “Strange Hikizuri Siblings,” which blend dark comedy and horror elements. These unusual siblings are just as weird as their schemes and familial relationships. Selfish, morbid, and delightfully bizarre, the author designs their family dynamic to make you uncomfortable, and also give readers a bit of a laugh. These stories feel more akin to a black comedy than a serious scare. These will most likely resonate with fans of Ito’s fan-favorite tales of Soichi: a sadistic child who torments those around him, only to face karma for his actions.

It’s a bit of a break from the earlier serial, so it can feel abrupt by comparison. However, I’d argue that this is just representative of Ito’s work: you are never quite sure what you’re going to get next.
Other Tales

There are a few other tales in this collection, as well. “The Rib Woman” explores the complex relationship young women often have with their bodies and the concept of beauty. Unhappy with her body and convinced that the shape of her ribs are the problem, Yuki considers plastic surgery as an option to define her (already slender) waist. Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one to be caught up in her desire to feel beautiful at any cost. As she and her friend find themselves haunted by a melody only they seem to hear, readers begin to wonder how the two are connected. When the truth is revealed, it’s suitably bizarre and terrifying!

The mysterious music the female characters hear–which their male companions cannot–speaks to the pressure felt almost exclusively by women. This tale taps into our unconscious fears about the side-effects of body modifications as well as our desire to be seen as beautiful. This very human desire twists into something horrific and pathological throughout this short.

The last, “Memories of a Real Poop,” is a two-page semi-autobiographical glimpse into Junji Ito’s childhood. It’s awkward and delightfully strange in a way that only this author can achieve.
Final Thoughts

This collection feels disjointed. There’s no overarching theme like some of the other English language collections (Shiver comes to mind) and they aren’t collected chronologically by publishing date, either. Still, it’s a great way to get your hands on some lesser-known work from the author. While I wouldn’t call any of the stories in Lovesickness a favorite of mine, they’re all effective. Junji Ito is at his best when he’s pulling apart aspects of everyday life and revealing how unsettling it can be.

Lovesickness is a great addition to any Ito fan’s collection. It’s heavy on existential horror, and it also includes moments of absurdity and dark humor that are both confounding and entertaining. While not as great an introduction to his work as earlier translated short work collections (e.g. Venus in the Blind Spot), Lovesickness once again demonstrates the versatile nature of Ito’s work.

Junji Ito never fails to deliver. His stories and illustrations are delightfully grotesque. Terrifying, absurd, and disgusting- what more could we ask for? The stories may be based on a ridiculous premise, but even the weirdest premise can grab you by the end. This collection is no different. The first half of the book centers on a town shrouded in fog and creeping dread. People stand at the crossroads to ask a stranger to tell their fortune, though a mysterious figure twists these fortunes to disastrous results (a decidedly non-American version of a supernatural crossroad exchange.) The stories in this section start quietly, but build to a fantastic miasma of ghosts and blood. While Ito is not everyone’s taste, those that are drawn to his wonderful, grotesque tales will enjoy this collection too.

Spooky, it is a good addition to any horror manga collection. I think I'm not exactly a fan of his writing but I will most definitely revisit this review at a later time.

What I like about this manga is how it tells these stories, especially the main one. While Lovesickness is, primarily, in Rysuke’s POV, we get to see how the beautiful boy’s words have affected people in different ways and how everything links back to the same source. It’s not as simple as the boy telling people to kill themselves (though that DOES happen), in some cases he’s telling people they aren’t worth his time, or to worry about bigger problems, things that get twisted up in horrific ways.

I absolutely LOVE that we never get a definitive answer on where the boy came from, in fact, we don’t get definitive answers on where any of the horrors in this anthology come from. I have my suspicions, of course, especially when you learn more about Ryusuke’s backstory, but it’s left ambiguous. The boy could be a reflection of our main character, or he could be a result of the foggy town, or he could be a representation of, well, lovesickness, that moment where you have such a single-minded view of love that you lose all sense of reason, only, in this case, it leads to bizarrely horrific consequences.

The review score is closer to 4.5/5.

This is classic Junji Ito storytelling. Very gruesome and creepy. My only qualm is that all of the victims are love sick girls. You would think there would be at least a few boys, minus the ones who became deranged of their own volition. The style is classic and I had to check for the original publishing date to verify that it wasn't originally written in the 80s or 90s, what with the style and lack of cell phones. If a date was mentioned, I did not pick up on it.

I've read a few Junji Ito books before – my favourite being 'Shiver' – and I've always found them to be original, imaginative, weird and genuinely scary. This one, though, was a bit of a miss. The book mostly consists of the multiple-part stories 'Lovesickness' and 'The Strange Hikizuri Siblings', and I found both of them far too long and too reliant on gore or bodily functions. The much shorter 'The Mansion of Phantom Pain' was the highlight for me – it was strange, creepy and an original idea. The very short 'The Rib Woman.' was also strong. And the final story, 'Memories of Real Poop' – honestly, I don't even know what that was meant to be.

Overall, only two of the stories worked for me, and that's not enough. I'll definitely read more Junji Ito in the future, but I would recommend skipping this one.

Lovesickness is makes for an excellent introduction to the breadth of Ito’s work. Many of his other collections tend to highlight the extremes in his writing, Lovecraftian cosmic horror or extensions of a premise taken to wacky conclusions.

But generally the stories here avoid those traps and are the better for it. The title story in particular is a great ghost story maintains its suspenseful tone throughout, even after introducing a bit of a wish fulfillment running gag. The other stories in he collection aren’t at quite the same level but they do an excellent job of showing the full scale of what Ito is capable of as a writer, and to a greater degree Han most of his collections.

Junji it is the master of horror manga and this collection is delightfully creepy. The main story involves girls killing themselves after asking strangers in the food for fortunes and finding a mysterious boy who gives terribly negative predictions. It is also interesting figuring out who the boy is and how the supernatural events are taking place. The other stories are just as creepy if not more so in some ways.

I enjoyed this collection, especially the Boy in Black/White story line. The building mania in the town reminded me of Uzumaki which is my favorite Ito storyline. The rest of the collection was also enjoyable, though compared to the first, I wasn't as engaged with them (though the Hikizuri children @.@). Ito is still one of the more popular creators in our adult graphic novel section. This title would fit in with the rest.

This is a spooky collection of stories that kept me creeped out and intrigued. Loved it as well as it freaked me out!

This was my first Junji Ito story and my second manga. I am a huge thriller and horror fan and have been meaning to read some of Junji Ito’s work for a long time. I really enjoyed the story centering around the handsome boy that drives girls to suicide. The Hikizuri Family was an interesting story that I also enjoyed. The rest of the stories were a little strange and not my cup of tea. Overall though I am glad that I read it and plan on reading more of his work in the future.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one. The last Junji Ito book I read was Remina and this was far better with better developed characters. The first part of the book was a longer piece of work on which the title is based. It had great imagery and while things went unexplained for the most part, I found the atmosphere creepy. The rest of the book were one shots the veered into the absurd, but I enjoyed them as well. I look forward to his next work.

I would consider myself a tentative Junji Ito fan. I've read Remina and Tomie and I've seen his art in many places. There are certain things that I 100% believe Junji Ito is incomparable at. His art style is very unnerving, he has consistent themes that show the same downfall of humanity, and everything is in general just *uncomfy.* He's a master of those things. For me, personally, where he falls short is plot and I think that can be best described in this collection.

We have several stories. "Lovesickness" (which is the best in this collection, imo) is detailed, multi-chaptered and discomfiting. The plot is clear from the beginning and while I thought the ending was a little lackluster, all of the necessary elements were there to make a good story. Additionally, the boy dressed in black provided a very striking cover image.

Next we have "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings." I hated this one. The story was fine and I would probably enjoy it in another format, but the illustrations were too much for me. And I guess that means Junji Ito blew it out of the park with that one because it genuinely made me so uncomfortable. The characters were like...The Addams Family on drugs without any of the endearing bits. I want to be made uncomfortable, but not like that. So, I think it was successful but. Yeesh. Not for me.

Then we have "The Mansion of Phantom Pain." Very interesting idea, good depictions of unusual horror elements, and unnerving. Again, I had a personal issue with the ending feeling unfinished. Maybe if it was longer.

Second-to-last, we have "The Rib Woman." This is my second favorite and imo the stand out. This story is very short but it manages to say a lot in 30 pages. Original execution. Great.

And lastly, we have...."Memories of Real Poop." I'm not sure what to say about this one. It was a disappointing ending to the collection and made no sense with the horror theme. I think this would have been stronger without this story.

This is somewhere between a 2 and a 3 for me, but I'm rounding up for the sake of simplicity.

Another great collection to add to the Junji Ito list. This one focuses more on character's desires and outcomes from it. Some really good horror but some stories do feel a little flat.

This is my time reading manga. I knew it was extremely popular, but I had no interest in ever reading any of it. When I got the opportunity to try one from Junji Ito I knew I had to give it a shot. Many our of customers come in asking for Junji Ito books so I thought I would check it out. Given that he's more of a horror writer I thought this would be right up my alley (I do enjoy good horror). Overall, I wasn't disappointed. There are several stories in this collection (each story made up of smaller stories [or chapters]). I really enjoyed the first story of the crossroads fortunes and everyone going crazy because of them. There was a good creepiness to the whole thing that got more creepy as the story went on. I really enjoyed it.

I had some problems with the 2nd story about the siblings. They were just a little too weird for me. But each chapter ended so abruptly that I had to stop and go back to make sure I didn't miss something. This story didn't work for me as much.

The next two stories were both really good gothic and scary ghost stories that each had their own type of creepiness to them. They were both short, but effective stories.

The last story made no sense to me. It was literally a story about poop. I didn't get it.

This was a fun introduction to Junji Ito (and manga in general). I think I might check out more of Ito's work.

Thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A creepy collection of short horror stories. Tales about ghosts, spirits, and other paranormal happenings across various towns in Japan. Solid art with the occasional gross/gory depiction of events.