It is sensible that Netflix determined so as to add Junji Ito’s title to the title of Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, the brand new anthology present based mostly on the famed mangaka’s quick tales. Each for advertising functions, Ito is likely one of the most well-known and beloved horror manga writers and artists of all time, and so nobody would get it confused with the opposite Netflix unique present titled Maniac (to say nothing of the 1980 movie and its 2012 remake).
What doesn’t make as a lot sense, and admittedly feels a bit culturally icky, is the inclusion of the subtitle “Japanese Tales of the Macabre.” Whereas “macabre” isn’t precisely a misnomer for the tales within the anthology, it feels reductive to the number of tones within the twenty tales (throughout twelve episodes) the sequence presents.
Selection Is The Spice of Horror
Whereas each episode of Maniac is tailored from certainly one of Ito’s quick tales by Kaoru Sawada and directed by Shinobu Tagashira, there’s a stunning quantity of range within the quick tales. Not solely of their content material, which ranges from outright comedy to stomach-churning physique horror and atmospheric psychological horror, but additionally in fashion. Nothing right here is wildly experimental, however some fascinating selections set just a few of the shorts aside.
The quick “Tomie’s Pictures” contains photographs of rooms that stay static whereas characters go away and return, in addition to a stunning use of darkish purple destructive photos once we see by way of a movie picture digicam. “Mould” is totally in black and white, permitting viewers’ minds to fill in all the filthy colours of decay in a house overrun by mould.
Together with these bolder selections, there are vital shifts between two extra widespread kinds: tales principally made from grey and brown photos and people in virtually painfully vivid greens, blues, reds, and yellows. The present alternates between these two major kinds in a approach that creates uncertainty about what you’re going to get subsequent, including one other layer of discomfort to the expertise of watching the present.
The sequence additionally presents a variety of flavors of music, all by Yuki Hayashi, that complement the shorts’ totally different atmospheres nicely. There are the requisite traditional horror seems like high-pitched synthesizer sounds and eerie piano, but additionally some playfully creepy flute and even one thing approaching free jazz all through the twenty tales.
Adaptation Features and Losses
Any adaptation of Ito’s work to movie or TV in reside motion or animation is instantly in an uphill battle to even examine to his iconic paintings, a lot much less enhance upon it. Ito’s artwork is characterised by merely drawn faces that distinction with intense shading and deep blacks to make his horrific photos pop off of the web page. It’s distinct and immediately recognizable for any horror manga fan, and Maniac’s makes an attempt to convey it into movement are inconsistently profitable.
Unsurprisingly among the most placing photos within the present are nonetheless photos, whether or not they be the static backgrounds towards which characters are animated or images throughout the narratives. It makes good sense; animating the extent of element with which Ito attracts can be painstaking. However in these moments, the present appears extra like an commercial for studying and taking a look at Ito’s manga work.
Sadly there are additionally extra vital downsides to the variation right here. A number of parts in every quick are rendered digitally in three dimensions as an alternative of hand drawn. That works advantageous when that 3D factor is a automotive however turns into an issue when it’s certainly one of Ito’s horrifying creations.
Two shorts, particularly, endure from this drawback. The primary, “Hanging Balloon,” is conceptually one of many strongest of the group, however the vital use of 3D for each creatures and human our bodies is distracting and detracts from the success of the quick total. The second, “Tomb City,” contains each a 3D and 2D rendering of a creature, permitting us to see simply how significantly better the 2D creature appears by way of cohesion with its world and as an object of terror.
However there are additionally advantages to the variation. Probably the most instantly noticeable is the addition of colour to most of those tales, particularly one thing like “Ice Cream Bus,” which supplies the titular bus a vivid bubblegum pink end, however probably the most thrilling is the addition of movement to the tales with physique horror and gore. Our bodies shifting or reworking in methods they shouldn’t, and explosions of blood and guts achieve one thing in a medium based mostly on motion that they lack on the web page.
Hits and Misses (However Principally Hits)
Like all anthologies, Maniac has highs and lows. Some tales are extremely disturbing and play out their easy premises completely, whereas others really feel like they go on a bit too lengthy or are too slight to make a lot of an impression.
However even the shorts which might be disappointing in comparison with the present’s excessive factors convey one thing to the desk. Not one of the shorts are boring, a advantage of short-form storytelling, and each one presents a daunting idea which will nag at viewers hours after ending the present
7/10 SPECS
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is now streaming on Netflix.
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This text was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
