In this month’s Anime Horrors we return to the world of manga with a review of Junji Ito’s latest short story collection: Smashed.
With the English version having released this past April, Ito offers fans thirteen supernatural stories, each exploring its own flavor of uneasiness and suspense. As usual with any work of Ito’s, the art is stunning. From his brilliant use of shadows to create somber moods to the way he illustrates faces and gore, Ito’s drawings have the power to leave haunting images that’ll linger in one’s mind for some time
To a degree, when a reader begins a story of Ito’s, they know what to expect; with Smashed, however, I found something a little different about this anthology. While he has written numerous tales that incorporate emotion and psychological horror, Smashed overall leans more into this direction over in-your-face gory storytelling. Starting with the first chapter, there’s a tremendous air of tension and dread.
“Bloodsucking Darkness” is a story that intertwines the supernatural with the horrors of an eating disorder. Later on we come into “Earthbound”, which masterfully uses chilling body imagery without ever venturing into gore; the twist to this story is one of the collection’s best, adding an emotional depth to the narrative. “Death Row Doorbell” and “Library Vision” are also splendid entries, both exploring the traumatized psyches of their characters. There’s a touch of sadness in much of these stories that allow for the reader to feel for characters, packing more of an emotional punch as said characters suffer.
When it comes to the more body horror driven stories, “The Mystery of the Haunted House” (which comes with two different tellings), “I Don’t Want To Be A Ghost”, “Soichi’s Beloved Pet”, and the titular “Smashed” are the most violent. All five provide a plethora of gruesome and uncomfortable imagery that have the potential to turn one’s stomach.
The one compliant I have is that of the “Ghost of Prime Time”; while it has some interesting plot elements, it lacks any sort of visual or emotional component compared to the other chapters in Smashed. While many of the stories have a memorable image or moment, “Ghost of Prime Time” doesn’t have anything that special going for it.
That said, Smashed is still a great read that all fans of Ito’s will enjoy. Smashed offers plenty of moments for readers to not only be shocked, but to also feel, making for a satisfying horror experience. With the anthology’s strong focus on psychological horror, as well as its overall grim atmosphere, Smashed is a compelling collection of stories full of emotional dread and tension.
