Going back home can be hard. In Ryusuke's case, it's even tougher with the trauma he left behind there. Years ago, when he was just a little kid, he gave a woman a bad fortune during a night of anger. She went on to kill herself in grief. Now corner fortunes are popular in this town once more and people are killing themselves in a similar fashion. Is Ryusuke connected to these deaths? Can he stop them?

At this point, I'm experienced enough in manga to know that anything with Junji Ito's name on it is a must buy. Lovesickness is another solid entry in the creator's library. Ito plunges the knife in with a shocking moment and then continues to twist it with each chapter, sending the story into unparalleled levels of terror.

Ito is in complete control of the scares in Lovesickness. It starts out strong and only gets more frightening as it goes on. I'd compare it to a roller coaster, but there's rarely a down moment. You're uneasy from page one all the way through to the end of this 400+ page collection.

No punches are pulled either. Ito turns steers right into the most uncomfortable and unsettling concepts of the story. He forces you to witness them and take them all in. You want to look away but you just can't because you have to see where this disturbing journey goes next.

Lovesickness features some absolutely horrifying imagery as we witness countless young people kill themselves in gruesome ways. That would have been enough blood and gore for anyone, but that's really just the beginning. Their reanimated corpses are still looking for love and answers. They haunt the streets at night, becoming an army of lost spirits spreading anguish and madness wherever they go.

Fog plays a big part in Lovesickness and Ito handles this beautifully. It creates a hazy atmosphere where anything could be lurking nearby. Is that figure the haunting boy in black that's been sending people to their doom? Or is it a friend ready to lend a hand? You won't know until it's too late.

This collection also includes The Strange Hikizuri Siblings and The Rib Woman, two additional tales that are just as creepy as the main story. The former is a bit stranger than most of what I've encountered. It's downright weird, but Ito makes it work within the context of this world. It follows a dysfunctional family playing with the supernatural. The Rib Woman is something else entirely. It's shocking is a great way to end the book. Although it's a short story, it leaves a very lasting impression.

Just in case you needed another example of how brilliant Junji Ito is, Lovesickness is here to showcase the creator's impressive talents. Ito's work is uniquely terrifying, delivering scares that will stay with you for some time.

Lovesickness includes a collection of a few Junji Ito short stories. The titular story is the strongest work--a boy moves back to his fortune-telling-obsessed childhood hometown, and he is forced to confront (and relive) the horrors of his past. The other two stories, as other reviewers have mentioned, are not nearly as strong as Lovesickness--but Lovesickness is a real treat. I would absolutely recommend that any Junji Ito fan pick this up, but if a reader was just starting out with his works, I'd recommend that they start elsewhere.

I have a love affair with Junji Ito. I want to read everything he has ever written. I love his twisted creative mind and everything that unfolds from him onto a page. The first thing I read by Ito was Uzumaki many years ago and it was then that I feel head-over-heels in love with Ito, his style, his stories, his mind.

When I received a copy of Lovesickness I was beyond myself with excitement. I knew I was going to have a good time. I was going to be pushed, creeped out, disgusted and I was going to love it. I was correct.

Lovesickness is a collection of some of Ito's short stories, the stand out being Lovesickness and it's sequels, of course. Lovesickness is the story of a town where there is a lot of fog, and on those foggy days if you go to a crossroad and wait with a question, the first person who comes along will tell you your fortune. There is also a myth of a boy, dressed all in black, who roams those streets during the fog, giving fortunes.

I don't want to say much more because it is deliciously wonderful and I consumed this book very quickly in an hour or so. It was strangely beautiful and explored a lot of conversations about human kindness. Of course going into Ito you have to be aware it could be pretty triggering or gruesome, so keep that in mind and look up trigger warnings if you are interested in this one.

I'll definitely be thinking about this one for a long time, fondly.

Thank you so much to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, VIZ Media, and Junji Ito for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Junji Ito is quite the iconic horror mangaka in Japan. I have read many of Ito's other volumes, and the VIZ hardbacks make a beautiful part of any collection.

This volume is just over 400 pages. The majority features the story "Lovesickness," which is broken down into parts. A strange handsome man gives fortunes at the crossroads. Mostly women seek their fortunes about love, though others have sought carious fortunes from the stranger. Any fortune told becomes a sort of sick, twisted truth--and curse--leading those who sought fortunes to die a horrific, untimely death. Surely someone can solve the mystery of the prince at the crossroads, right?

There were a few other, shorter stories to make up the latter 150 pages of the book, though certainly not quite as interesting as Lovesickness. Each has its own aspect of horror compiled with Ito's unique and recognizable art style. This is a must read for Ito fans and classic horror lovers alike.

Junji Ito is a master at storytelling and his distinctive art style and approach to horror have made his creations, like Uzumaki and Tomie to name a few, some of the best to release. Much like his other works, Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection, outlines his characters' descent into madness as they each become obsessed in various ways. This collection contains multiple stories, so it has quite a bit of content to dig into, but unfortunately, only one of its stories continued to haunt me by its end.

The collection opens up with “Lovesickness”, a story that follows Ryusuke, who moves back to his childhood hometown. In this town, people have become obsessed with “Crossroads fortunes,” which people receive by standing in an intersection and asking the first person who comes by to give them their fortune whether it be good or bad. But when a strikingly handsome boy appears, mysterious deaths start occurring and Ryusuke takes it upon himself to stop him, but of course, there’s more to the story that you’ll discover as it unfolds.

“Lovesickness” is by far the best story in Junji Ito’s newest release, and for me, it was the only one in the collection that I can say I enjoyed reading from start to finish. Luckily, it takes up a large chunk of this book, so it’s definitely still worth the read. The issues it explores, such as our obsession idols and famous people, and how Junji Ito connects this story to our world, albeit through a far more twisted lens, is incredible.

On multiple occurrences, I felt uncomfortable or uneasy while reading, which is expected, and I could feel these characters’ struggles. Because of this, I at times became angry or annoyed. These are strong, unpleasant emotions, and while I don’t like feeling them, this one in particular was a success because Junji Ito did a fantastic job at pulling me into this story and its characters, especially Ryusuke’s, minds.

Since the opening story is so strong, the one that follows, "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings", which is more slapstick, struggles to keep up and pales in comparison. One issue with this one is that I found the characters so annoying I couldn’t enjoy it at all. I get why, because they are despicable people, but I just couldn’t connect to anything in this story. The main problem I had, however, is that there wasn’t anything all that exciting about it.

The rest that followed kind of suffered from the same issues. They are short stories, so they have to be quick and concise, but they just didn’t really do much for me and kind of felt like afterthoughts in comparison to “Lovesickness”, which was longer and more hashed out.

As for the rest of the stories in this volume, “The Rib Woman” wasn’t terrible, but not incredibly memorable either. I didn’t mind the “Phantom Mansion” story, because it explored some interesting ideas and takes a new look at the concept of pain. And the last story, well, I’m not even sure what to say about that one. All I kept asking myself was, “Why?”. You’ll understand if you read it, but the last story in this collection, while left a lasting impression, didn’t leave a good one. Actually, it left a rather stinky one.

What all of these stories had in common though is that they featured amazing art. Junji Ito’s work is as gory and hard-hitting as ever in Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection with horror-filled panels that gave me chills. Not just because they were mortifying to witness, but because they were so well-drawn as well. It’s definitely not his best release to date, but it has shining moments that make this one worth checking out.

Junji Ito is a legend in horror manga. His imagination is vivid, he creates the most unsettling imagery that is haunting and disturbing, and the build up of his horror is gradual and terrifying in its pay off. However, the only issue I have with his storytelling at times is the lack of explanation in his tales. Sometimes it works to his benefit. Sometimes it leaves me unsatisfied.

This is broken up into two: one large story called Lovesickness, and two short stories, and honestly the first story is the only one worth remembering. Lovesickness was wonderful. It exemplifies everything Ito is famous for and, just when you think the horror has reached it peak, it gets better and better in freaking you out. I only wish Ito focused on it more and spent more time developing it, because the ending felt unsatisfactory in that too much was left unexplained, and it felt a bit disconnected to the rest of the story as a whole, but it was still a great read.

I can’t really say that for the other stories, because they were pretty forgettable. It was such a let down to how good the first story was, so moving on to the sibling story annoyed me. It felt more slapstick than horror, and I couldn’t wait for it to finish it. The last short story was just weird.

If you’re going into this because you’re an Ito fan, then the story Lovesickness is the best one. It’s grotesque and chilling, and it’s one I still thought about long after I finished it. Excellent!

Some of these stories have been published before but there were a couple new ones. I really like the first one. I hated the second, but that was only because it made me so uneasy which is the whole point so mission accomplished! I liked it in general and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes horror.

Junji Ito always freak me up and scare me! If you love horror you should read this manga artist. He is original and unique and it will keep you awake at night! I recommend it!

I don't know what I expected but it sure wasn't this.

I'm a huge Junji Ito fan. I've read lots of other books of his, and yet it's been a while so I was just floored by the art in this. Gorgeous, graphic, glorious gore that had me gasping on just about every page. The title story, Loveickness was undoubtedly my favorite and the one with the siblings after was a bit slapstick for me but Lovesickness was just glorious. Just beautiful.

I'd say it's now probably my favorite story of his, but the others in the book I didn't like super love so I gotta give it a bit less stars for that especially the final one. Like...not sure why that was the final story? It seemed to not fit the others at all.

Still this is worth picking up for the title story, you won't regret that. Just amazing lovely images of gore and guts that makes me want to go back and reread it again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viz Media for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.