Junji Ito fans rejoice! Not only is one of his mostfamous works,Uzumaki, being faithfully adapted for television, but Netflix has also decided to throw its hat into the ring with its own spin on his horrifying bibliography.Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabrewill be a brand new animated anthology series that’ll encapsulate twenty of his short stories, some of which have never been adapted for the screen before. The announcement was initially made during Netflix’s Geeked Week back in June 2022, according toCollider. But, in just a few short months, more information about the series has come to light.
Fans of Junji Ito’s work will no doubt remember that this isn’t the first time an anthology has been attempted. TheJunji Ito Collectionwas originally released in 2018 and followed a similar format for the upcoming Netflix series, adapting pairs of short stories in an anthology format. However, the short-lived series was widely critiqued for its inability to truly capture the sheer terror that flowed through Ito’s original inked pages. Seeing howUzumakiis shaping up to be an incredibly faithful adaptation, here’s hoping that Netflix can nail something similar.
Here is everything we know aboutJunji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre.
Junji Ito Maniac: The Plot
As stated previously, this new series will be an animatedhorror anthologythat covers a wide variety of Junji Ito’s stories. Twenty stories are set to be adapted, with a handful of them being given official names: “The Hanging Balloons,” “Souichi,” “The Long Hair in the Attic,” and a handful of others. Whether these stories will be connected to each other thematically or narratively remains to be seen.
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If you’re unfamiliar with Junji Ito’s work, a handful of characters make multiple appearances across multiple stories. The most famous of these is, without question, Tomie – a beautiful woman that harbors a dark secret. Her beauty is so intense it drives people insane, lulling them to perform violent acts or whatever else she may request. Should you attempt to kill her, she’ll come back in pieces, multiplying and changing into horrible abominations like a mutated worm. Given the character’s popularity, with multiple appearances across several animated and live-action adaptations, we can expect a cameo from her at the bare minimum.
Souichi is another recurring character who appears to have been given his own short. Acreepy boywith a severe iron deficiency, Souichi is known for maliciously childish antics involving the occult and self-taught black magic. As a result of his deficiency, he can often be seen chewing and sucking on iron nails, giving him the appearance of a vicious piranha. His stories tend to lean more toward dark comedy, as his plotting often backfires on him in a grim fashion.
Junji Ito Maniac: The Cast & Crew
Being an anthology, we can expect to see a large cast of voice actors to bring Junji Ito’s characters to life. Anime fans will likely recognize a few of thevoice actors on board: Yuki Kaji, known for his role as Shoto onMy Hero Academia;Yoko Hikasa, known for voicing Mio onK-On; and Fumiko Orikasa, who played Rukia Kuchiki onBleach,are just a fraction of the talented actors on offer here. With less than half of the stories being announced so far, there’s room for a lot more talent on deck.
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Seeing as how Junji Ito himself has been involved with the development oftheUzumakiadaptation, he will also be involved withManiac’sproduction. Netflix initially announced the series with a short teaser starring Ito himself as he spoke about some of his stories. During this, he showed off several model sheets for characters that will be appearing in the show. If he’s directly involved with the animation, we can be certain he’s also being consulted for any potential changes to the stories.
Release Date
The series is currently slated to release on January 19th, 2023.Junji Ito’s other major animated work,Uzumaki, was originally slated to release in October 2022 but was delayed to produce the best quality product possible. With the recent key art that has been released, it appears thatManiacwill hopefully release as scheduled.
Everything Else We Know
Seeing as how a number of stories will be animated for the first time, there’s no shortage of horrifying material that can be brought to the screen. “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” is arguably one of Ito’s best, chronicling a series of human-shaped holes in the sides of the titular fault that are perfect fits for those who approach them. “Grease” is a stomach-churning story featuring a sick obsession with cooking oil and pustules. “The Long Dream” features an upsetting story about aging ten years every time you fall asleep. These, plus any of his other stories, can be potential candidates for adaptation.
Maniacis a rare opportunity. We’re essentially being given a do-over of the originalJunji Ito Collection, this time unrestrained by the boundaries thattraditional televisionbroadcasting was placed upon it. Given that Netflix is host to a variety of their own horror anime – including the reveredDevilman Crybaby–it looks as ifManiac’ssuccess is a guarantee.
