Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories

I completely intended to read this one slowly, spacing the stories out, but once I started, I just couldn’t put the book down. Junji Ito is a more recent discovery of mine, but I’ve become addicted to his work in recent months. This is a great selection for those new to Ito. It features nine of his favorite stories, plus one bonus new story. I was already familiar with many of these due to the Junji Ito Collection animated series, but it was still enjoyable reading the originals. The collection even featured two of my favorite segments from the show, “Fashion Model” (about a deranged and frightening looking model) and “The Long Dream” (about a man whose dreams last for years at a time). My other favorite stories in this collection include the surreal story, “Hanging Blimp” about giant balloons bearing people’s faces attacking their human lookalikes. The bonus story was also super spooky, featuring the same freaky model from “Fashion Model.” The only story I didn’t personally like was “Greased.” It was well done but just a little too gross for me. This is a great collection for both those new to Ito and long term fans of his. Each story is followed by a note from Ito explaining the origins of the story, so even if you’re familiar with these tales already, Shiver is worth checking out for those interesting bonus author notes.

A selection of some of Junji Ito's best short stories! Need I say more? Ok fine, they're all great! True to Ito's style they're full of deranged and through-provoking concepts mixed with evocative and terrifying imagery. Sure the characters are somewhat underdeveloped and thin, but that's easy enough to overlook in favor of all the nightmare-inducing imagery. It's hard to pick favorites in a collection this good, but here are a few that are really burned into my brain: "Hanging Blimp" - a rash of suicides that quickly escalates into a full-blown apocalypse of giant floating heads with nooses; as wild in concept as it is hard to explain. "Marionette Mansion" - a family who have built a house allowing them to be fully controlled like marionette dolls by strings and people in the ceiling; also a creepy demon puppet that causes excruciating havoc in the end. "The Long Dream" - a frightened hospital patient whose dreams continue to increase in length (though his sleep time remains the same) and whose body begins to transform because of it; a really interesting concept with some shocking images. There's also one story, called "Greased," that I won't ever read again just because it was so effectively gross. And not like in a gory way or anything, I just can't handle greasy pimple stuff (you weirdo pimple-popping video watchers will love it :P).

So Junji Ito ... my wife is addicted to his writing and manga ... so when he was at SDCC ... I knew I was in trouble. So we went to his speaking engagement and the man is really brilliant (honestly I had no idea who he was prior to this) ... I felt bad for him because his hands are very badly gnarled because of years of drawing. But no one can take away the horror he inspires with everything he writes and draws. He creates horrors that give nightmares horrors ... the things he writes and draws is amazing and terrifying and beautiful at the same time. The stories are all enthralling and tell tales that will give you nightmares but you will soon realize that even your nightmares pale in comparison to the nightmares he is writing. It's truly awe inspiring to be honest. One day we will lose this horror genre master but for now, I recommend everyone buy his books and be both inspired and terrified.

Junji Ito is truly a master at his art! This collection has some of my favorite stories of his!! The artwork is beyond amazing. So beautiful, yet disturbing. Just so haunting in all the right ways. The stories themselves are just as amazing. Such fun, creepy, chilling ideas. I would recommend this to any and every one who's a fan of horror!

I see a lot of reviews saying this isn't for fresh readers of Ito's work and I couldn't disagree more. I've been a long time comic-book and anime fan, so I've known of Ito and his work for years, just never bit the bullet. I finally decided it was time and got this collect, because I figured why not go with what the man himself suggests. I'm glade I did, the stories in this book vary, but are all horrifying in their own way. It's the kind of scary that makes your skin crawl. As someone who thought he was desensitized to most horror Ito has proven me wrong. Sometimes it's his amazing art work that makes the story send chills, others it's simply the eerie implication or vary idea of the story. If you're thinking of getting into Junji Ito's work, and don't want to start on say Uzimaki, I highly suggest this collection.

This is my favorite Junji Ito read right next to Tomie. This book is basically the shows best stories put into Manga form if you’ve ever seen it. Even watching the show before has read the book, knowing the stories, I still really enjoyed this!!

Few horror cartoonists—if any—elicit the shudders that I feel when I read a tale by Junji Ito of Japan. The current widespread availability of his work in the United States shows an increasing interest here, and it’s not hard to fathom why this is so. My favorite stories by this mangaka are his short, standalone tales. His drawings are fairly realistic with simple clean character designs, but when he adds texture or renders a “shock panel,” his art gets significantly darker, more detailed, and quite vivid. The Ito collection entitled Shiver is my favorite of what I’ve read so far, though Fragments of Horror has some gems in it as well as well. In the former, Ito contrives a series of interesting weird fiction scenarios that grow more unsettling as the stories progress, and his shock panels leap off of the page and are truly unsettling. These are not “fun” images of zombies munching on a victim or some vampire’s sanguinary sucking, but genuinely disturbing nightmares that put a bad smell in the air that hangs between the tip of your nose and the open book. I have read (and watched and written and filmed) a lot of repellant stuff, but the acne-centric story ‘Greased’ is a truly repulsive wonder, as are the revelations in the story “Shiver.” In addition to these and other repugnant morsels, nonsensical but engrossing nightmares that seem stolen straight from Ito’s id are explored in ‘Hanging Blimps,’ and the premise of ‘Marionette Mansion’ is a very bizarre original about a family that chooses to give control of their limbs over to unseen controllers in the crawlspace above. Clever premises, engaging mysteries, malodorous shock panels, and nightmare wanderings combine in the uniquely unsettling and uncommonly vivid work of Junji Ito, which I highly recommend to horror fans.

I have been a fan of Junji Ito for about 7 years now. It started out with a poster I saw in a store of Tomie and from there on I was reading some of his panels through search and watching his series. His art work is incredible and I love the way he reaches his audience with a more psychological scare if anything. Hard cover will look awesome on my shelf now that I have started my manga collection! The price is a steal for sure.

Product arrived in perfect condition.

La copertina rigida è bellissima. Il libro è ben rilegato e ogni storia è più bella dell’altra. Junji Ito è un grande artista e che riesce a creare un’angoscia senza precedenti! Se siete fan di Ito è da avere! Il pacco è arrivato puntuale, perfetto e senza danni.

Good quality of paper. Nice art

This book arrived in almost perfect condition and was amazing to read