"Black Paradox" by Junji Ito brings us to a new Ito horror world filled with detailed art and graphic horror content. The manga follows 4 individuals that meet on an online website for group suicide. Only to find out that there is more going on amongst one another than they signed up for. The after life becomes a huge topic in this manga and Ito does an amazingly horrific depiction of another way to view the afterlife and what people's obsession with it can do. I am a huge fan of Ito and I am reminded again by his graphic art and his chilling stories.

This story begins as one, dark and twisted thing and sprouts into an entirely different and larger scale dark and twisted thing by the end. As with any other of Ito's work, I'm grossed out, freaked out, and along for the ride.

I can't make a single complaint about any Junji Ito creation. His work is genius. This is creepy. It's bizarre. It's nightmare inducing. It's all I could ask for in a horror story!

3/5 stars. Not my favorite of Ito’s cannon, but a disturbing, strange, entirely unique tale, nonetheless. An initial pact to commit suicide leads to other worlds, fleshy tumors, orbs of nuclear souls, and much more.

TW/Suicide
4 strangers meet on a website called Black Paradox to arrange their group suicide, which takes an unexpected and sinister turn
Fun read, great illustrations as always. Perfect manga for spooky season.
Thanks NetGalley for the free ARC

Per usual, Junji Ito provides incredible artwork and an interesting story! Its dark, creepy, and entertaining.

**Thanks to Viz Media and NetGalley for the review copy**

Fans of Ito's work will not be disappointed with this new addition to his collection. The story follows the discovery of a new mineral and the the entrance to a new world.

Overall the book was OK, it did drag a but for me in the middle of it and the ending was a bit lack luster. But it was a pretty good ride that left me unsettle at times. The imagery and horror was done in a way that will haunt my dreams to come.

Junji Ito never disappoints. This is another horrifying addition to his works. For me, this stands up well with the classics that have already earned so much praise. The artwork is spectacular and adds so much to this story. Highly recommend.

Let's premise that there is no Junji Ito work that I don't like (as of yet, as I haven't read them all to be quite honest). Meaning, I enjoyed Black Paradox.

Cosmic horror is a good label for this one, as we deal with an unknown parallel universe or realm that manifests in the form of unusual portals. Not much body horror going on, I'm afraid, but still the good brand of strange, macabre, and/or disgusting that Ito is known for.

Still, the plot suffered from repetition, and at times it feels like the quartet (or trio, at a later point, since one a a robot) isn't really going anywhere with their discoveries. I wouldn't say that it's slow-paced--it just feels like nothing much is happening.

Definitively not Ito's best work, but still appreciated by fans and horror-readers alike.

As a side note, I highly recommend that you don't eat nor drink while reading this one. There are some very disgusting scenes (and by that I mean the robot vomiting because oh lord I can stand everything else but that was even too much for my stomach) that can spoil the appetite.

Thank you Netgalley and VIZ Media for sending me a digital ARC of this book in return for my honest thoughts and opinions.

This was messed up on so many levels, but it was also just so good. I dont typically like horror, as I said in my last review, but Junji consistently keeps me on the edge of my seat. I think I liked this one better than the last one, simply because it had a coherent story the entire way through, and wasnt just short stories. DEFINITE content warning for suicide and mental health, though. I highly recommend this during spooky season, definitely grab a copy and be thoroughly creeped out

So good, so creepy, so fun. I loved it!! I really love the subtle existential horror baked into the overt horrific graphics!!

This was my first Junji Ito book and it was absolutely bonkers. It wasn't what I expected at all, but it was interesting for sure and the artwork is, no surprise, incredible.

Black Paradox may not be Ito's best work, but it's still extremely good. An apt and timely commentary on climate change (if perhaps a bit on the nose), it's an interesting read.

This work is a great representation of just what kind of world Junji Ito can give us and bring us in to. I have read this author before and knew I would be entered into a horror-type scenario, but this was a new experience for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was astounded on just what all Junji Ito is capable of. Thanks for the opportunity!

This was a strange story. It starts with a group of strangers committing to a suicide pact and ends with the eventual annihilation of earth. It involves doppelgangers, robots, portals, and mad scientists. I'm not sure how Junji Ito's brain works that it starts one way and veers away from the straight line. I still found this story interesting. I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than his last published work, The Liminal Zone. It's a good way to pass the time, a quick read, and his art doesn't disappoint.

Ito's works are popular in my library. I try to order almost everything he publishes. Black Paradox brings four unique people together. Each one has a reason to commit suicide, but it does not work out the way they planned. A mysterious orb appears that is classified as the most precious mineral in the world. Due to their wealth, the four of them swear off suicide, but other greedy people have sinister plans for them, one of them being the source of the mineral. I think I like his short stories better than the full length novel like Paradox.

CW: suicide ideation

While not quite as cohesive as some of Ito's other works, <i>Black Paradox</i> draws an interesting line between greed and death, implying that the former can lead to the latter in a variety of ways.

First, a sincere thank you to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Junji Ito does it again! The master of suspense and body horror takes readers through the story of four strangers who meet up to commit suicide together. Sprinkle in devious doppelgangers, robots, crazed doctors, and an unconventional portal to the other side and you get a top notch, unnerving horror story that I just couldn't put down. Black Paradox mixes supernatural and body horror in a way that only Junji Ito can do. If you're interested in the supernatural, body horror, and the moral complexities of people, this is the book for you.

There's not much that is typical about Junji Ito's manga work, but he certainly had his own style and methods for delving into the dark, the bizarre and the horrific, with no small amount of body horror. That's sounds like it might be somewhat formulaic, but within that genre he often manages to be very creative and surprising. Some of his works are episodic in nature, each chapter revealing a different type of horror that individually culminate in an explosive manner building up to an even more shocking conclusion, and that is very much the style of Black Paradox. Within that however, anything can happen...

Four young people - Taburo, Pii-Tan, Baracchi and Maruso - gather together under unusual circumstances, meeting on the site Black Paradox and agreeing to form a suicide club. Without much preamble, they drive out to a location where they will realise their desire to exit this world. Each has their own motives but there is a common feeling that drives them in some way, a presentiment of 'other selves' where they feel that they no longer have a place in the world. Maruso certainly notices something strange about two of the others - and is struck by the belief that one of them might actually be a robot.

Arriving at the site, there's an escalation of drama that Ito illustrates in his own highly expressive and wavy way, a surprising and shocking change of circumstances that lead the group to put off the idea of a group suicide for a while. Which means there are other chapters and other opportunities to try and for things to go wrong and get very, very strange again. You can count on that, just as you can count on each chapter building on the horror of what has come before. Without giving anything away, the failed suicide attempts have opened the way to what appears to be the spirit world. Of course, how Ito depicts it is nothing like you can imagine. Yes, you know to expect a few familiar elements and body horror, but as ever the artist's imagination and artwork is extraordinary, creative and ever extreme..

This was my first foray into manga. Once I realized that I had to read the panels from right to left, the story made a lot more sense!
Four strangers meet up to complete suicide together, but things go horribly wrong. Throw in some doppelgangers, a robot, a little bit of romance (very little), a mysterious stone, and an evil scientist and you have the makings of a great horror story.
I was surprised by the ending, but it made the story all the more horrific.
If you have never read manga, this would be a great first book to try. The story is terrific, and the black and white artwork adds to the creepiness of the story.

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