Junji Ito is best known for his contributions to the horror manga scene, his most iconic piece being “Tomi.” This Japanese artist was not originally in the manga scene, he was studying to be a dental technician. However, while he was thinking of switching career paths, the Kazuo Umezu Award was launched. Ito applied this with his work, “Tomi”, which went on to become one of his most iconic pieces. Key features of his work include highly detailed images drawn in ink, emphasizing grotesque facial expressions, transforming. The background of his pieces is either black or grey or highly intricate patterns, and he does this to show the tensions within his art.
Ito’s art journey began as a kid when he picked up his first manga, “Orochi”, which was coincidentally also in the horror genre, and attempted to copy the images being drawn. He also drew heavy inspiration from his hometown, a city outside of Nagano, reflecting on the many intricacies of the alleys that seemed to surround the city, like a maze. In “Tomie”, the main character Tomie Kawakami is an immortal being, with the ability to seduce any man and drive them into madness, many times ending in her demise. Her character is modeled after a boy who passed away while he was in middle school, and how quickly he was taken from the world, but Ito always thought he would come back. In the portrait of her face below, we can see the delicate nature of each hair stroke, while also seeing the grotesque nature of her face being split into two gruesome parts. Ito’s attention to detail shows us, Tomie’s two sides, the beauty but also the curse and madness that she can spew onto others. His art also highlights his ability to do close-up portraits and the intricate details of each of the character's faces.
For how scary his art may seem, his creative process is like that of many other artists. Ito draws inspiration from multiple things such as nature, his own experiences, or even the works of other artists. From there he can jot down ideas in a notebook, and when he sits down to write a story, he picks out the best of them and begins to try and fit characters into the ideas. This method works best for him if there is a clear idea, and a majority of the time attempts to evoke an unsettling feeling such as anxiety or the breakdown of sanity.
Ito’s works and main themes can be compared to the focus book, The Code Breaker, by Walter Isaacson because of the parallels between body horror and genetic manipulation. Many of Ito’s works highlight transformation of the body, it can be compared to CRISPR and its applications in the manipulation of DNA. Many ethical questions arise when manipulating DNA for selfish purposes and moving beyond the betterment of society.
Thank you for linking resources with this. I love reading manga but I have yet to read any of Ito's work. I have heard so much about them and I really love how you outlined his process and core tendencies in creation. That feeling of anxiety and horror can be difficult to capture in the style many mangakas use, and yet Ito seems to capture it over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. Ito's work is very well known, but I feel like his creative process, and similarities to other artists, are rarely highlighted. I appreciated that you referenced examples of his art, and shared an example of a story that his work was based off of. A lot of horror media and horror art is ignored in creative circles, and thought of as relatively uncreative, just using blood and gore, but there are many intricacies to evoking a feeling of horror in the reader, and Ito is very talented at that.
ReplyDeleteHis use of body horror, and the changes that can be made to the human body, connected well to your focus book.
I love your post! Junji Ito's works was how I got into manga, so it really brought back some warm memories. I never knew what inspired his unique drawings, so it was great that I got to learn more about that in your post. I found the part about finding inspiration through the alleys in his hometown particularly interesting. It is seemingly unrelated to horror, but it makes a lot of sense as to why his drawings are so detailed and intricate, lending to the unsettling and disturbing feeling of his manga.
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