Scary Book 3
Posted: May 29, 2007 Filed under: Scary Books 2 Comments »I know before I wasn’t really getting into these, but that doesn’t mean I wanted them to disappear. This series has recently been terminated along with Museum of Terror and Octopus Girl, which makes Dark Horse suck a lot more than I thought they did. I really got into this last volume, which I saved for a special occasion since I know there weren’t any more. This is also the case with Museum of Terror. Let me tell you, that’s the biggest loss you’re going to hear about manga-wise this year because Junji Ito is truly the king.
Anyway, Scary Book. I actually like Kazuo Umezu a lot more now that I’ve visited his site ( go to Same Hat for the guide to the Japanese version, which is a necessary experience). The Where’s Waldo shirt as usual dress would have been enough for me, but he’s an eccentric 80-year-old man who draws horror comics and loves being weird in public, which puts him a notch above Hirohiko Araki on my personal rank meter.
What was I talking about? Faces? Okay. There are two stories in this volume, and the second one is probably one of the most awesome manga short stories ever. A girl who is mad at her teacher (named Miss Style) writes an obnoxious letter directed at Miss Style to make herself feel better, then mails it to an address she makes up. This made-up address turns out to be real, and the girl who receives it (whose name was made up as well) happens to be afflicted with everything in the letter. The girl who wrote the letter goes slowly insane as the ordeal she made up is covered by the media and everything she wrote comes true. Aside from that being one of the best short story premises ever, the ending is also pretty good.
The other story, which is the longer one and comes first in the volume, is good because it’s got a great twist ending. A girl who is tired of being in her sister’s shadow has to treat her sister kindly after a fall disfigures her sister horribly. The sister does a complete turnaround personality-wise and becomes a psychotic recluse. A lot of weird things happen involving both the main character and the sister’s boyfriend, but really, the ending is what makes that story.
This was by far my favorite of the Scary Books, and it made me that much more sad that we won’t ever see anymore. Pick up all three volumes if you’re even vaguely interested, because they’re definitely worth it… especially this one.
I loved the twist ending on the first story despite it feeling kind of out of nowhere. The focus on the eyes reminds me of the scene in Jojo where Iggy fights the bird and the many closeups of the bird’s eye which in turn reminded of what a a minor bit of “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by George Martin would look like if it was portrayed in comic format.
Any instance of extreme focus on the eyes in any format makes me think of one of those.
Also surprised me that Viz never got back onto the Ito train after re-releasing Gyo and Uzumaki a couple of years back. Usually that type of thing is to get interest building up for the author and a new title but maybe they didn’t sell very well or it was never in the cards to begin with.
That surprised me, too. The Junji Ito collections that Dark Horse licensed and never finished implies that he has several titles that are worth picking the best from and compiling into a series like that. Gyo and Uzumaki seemed so popular (at least popular enough to warrant a reprint), I’d be surprised if they weren’t successful, so it is strange that Viz didn’t pursue any further Ito titles. I’d love to read something else by him.