Ito Junji began working on Tomie almost sixty years ago. I know I wasn't born back then. Tomie was published in 1987 and then would go on to receiving honorable mention. The series also won awards causing it to become a hit in the Japanese Shojo/horror scene. Since then the series has been published then reprinted into many different formats. The manga inspired live actions movies that currently have eight installments to date. A television special was also created for a three episode run in 1999. VIz media has been getting the licenses for most of Ito's early and latests works and released Tomie as a hardcover for fans in North America a few months ago.
It took my forever to get my hands on a copy of this hardcover edition. I had seen it in a bookstore when I was traveling out of state but decided not to buy it then because I figured the bookstores in my own state would have it. I got home and no stores had any copies of Tomie. I had to keep calling and reserving online only to find that no shipments had been sent to the stores neat me. So, I just decided to give up until shipments finally came in. Soon some did come in, thankfully. I'm an fan of Ito Junji's works but I didn't care for Gyo or the side stores like Fragments of Horror but I loved Umizaki. I've also seen some hot his other works, Just looking at them tells me right away that they won't be for me because I don't like stories that are just created without a stable footing only to end with nothing being resolved. Tomie caught my eye because of the films. These films have been in my face for years. I always ran across them in the video store but wasn't interested in checking to see what they were about. I finally watched a few of the Tomie films and loved them so naturally I looked up the manga too but they manga wasn't available at the time. Fast forward to the present, I bought Tomie and took my own sweet time reading through the pages. Its a pretty big hardcover book with color illustrations created by Ito himself. Tomie is a supernatural beauty that can never die. no matter how much you kill her she comes back to life. Men instantly fall in love with Tomie and she can control anyone(male and female) to do her biding but she hates females most of all. The manga is presented in different chapters that can range from a few pages to longer than nine pages. Certain chapters run longer than others and the story will span over more than one chapter. Tomie's most scary aspect can be her ability to use human desire to completely make a person destroy themselves. At times she never lifts a finger, just present while events unfold. Tomie's always at the center of the conflict though. Her appearance is never the same either but the mole under her left eye is the quality of her face that never changes. Think of all the girls back in your high school/middle school days that were absolute bitches because their looks gave them popularity. Tomie has this same personality times ten. Her attitude in some of the stories was so outlandish that I couldn't help laughing out loud. Only the best is good enough for Tomie and she doesn't care who she has to control to get it. As a read, I started to care less about Tomie and more about the characters that unfortunately become involved with her. You can only hope that someone can resist her and get the hell away from her but she hard to shake off, literally. Anyway, The plot deals mostly with human desire, greed, envy, jealousy, etc. If humans didn't have these emotions naturally ingrained into their hearts, Tomie could do much damage but since these emotions drive us on a daily basis, we're all easy picking for Tomie. I forgot to mention that Tomie also goes through her own issues that frankly make the plot more freaky visually. I'm not going to reveal too much here though. Go pick up a copy for yourself folks.
Ito Junji is a visual genius of horror story telling. Its not his stories that are scary but the visual aids that come with his stories. You will see the Ito's progress as an artists while you read the earlier stories of Tomie to the later stories he created. The art work for the first five or six chapters don't look like much. In fact, it looks like something a student would draw in his notebook instead of paying attention in class but a charm is resonates from what was drawn. Chapter by chapter, the art starts to look more like the art we are used to seeing from Ito today. characters faces are sketched in to look more refined and the eyes of Tomie are drawn to look sharper with a hint of seductive gleam. I enjoyed seeing the art change like time was passing by before me eyes. Tommy that looked like doodle sketches was the homie of the 1990's while Tomie that was remastered was more of the 2000s version of her character. A great strategy that Ito does is adds a shock factor through the relationship between his art and the progression of his stories. One comparison would be opening a door to a room not knowing whats inside but your mind makes you believe that whatever is in that room isn't going to be good. All of Ito's works use the dreaded page turn to scary you almost to death. The next page always gives you a panel that contains some of the most disturbing visuals you ever want to see. I didn't want to turn the page sometimes because I knew what was coming. This also makes reading his works fun too. Just be warned, don't eat while you read Ito's works.... Tomie wasn't as bad as Gyo(ugh!) or Umizaki but it does have its moments in there.
I was satisfied with what I read for the most part because I knew what I was getting myself into. Tomie is a story that will never end but most of the content hints at this fact before the conclusion. I took a long hard look at myself after reading the manga completely. Looks are nice but they fade with time...... unless your Tomie, that is.........
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