Tomie

Tomie's artwork is truly remarkable, as one would anticipate from Junji Ito. In fact, that's probably the manga's greatest asset. You see Tomie's images all over the internet, and she has become a classic emblem of "Yes, I'm an edgy Tumblr girl who enjoys Japanese horror art, okay?" (I include myself in this group). People are getting tattoos of her because she appears so beautiful and mysterious. Ironically, that’s precisely what Tomie and her story are about—possessing people and making them adore her. It's fascinating to observe how her influence extends into the real world.

I read the manga almost in one sitting, and I must admit it might not have been the best decision. Each story is unique and interesting in its own way, but eventually, you grow weary of one tragic ending after another, and you start feeling sympathy for the victims. Therefore, I recommend reading the manga with breaks in between so you can fully experience and appreciate each chapter before moving on to the next one.

“Tomie” by Junji Ito is a psychological horror masterpiece that dives deep into themes of obsession and immortality. The intricate narrative structure, combined with unexpected plot twists, adds layers to the story, keeping readers hooked. The detailed artwork, while sometimes confusing during action sequences, crafts an authentically eerie atmosphere. The deliberate confusion within the story may challenge some readers but enhances the overall sense of unease. “Tomie” is a captivating read for those who enjoy horror that defies conventions, although both the art and the narrative require careful attention to fully appreciate. At first, I found the chapters perplexing and seemingly out of chronological order, as if deciphering the sequence was necessary. However, as I continued through the chapters, I grasped how the plot functioned—it all revolves around Tomie! Regardless of the timeline, the focus remains on her. It also became clear that the chapters follow stories that either succeed or run parallel to previous ones. Tomie not only captures the hearts of men but also dominates this manga. In conclusion, I don’t give it a perfect score due to the issues I mentioned earlier—the occasionally non-intuitive artwork and the confusion I experienced with the plot at certain points. Nevertheless, as my first encounter with Junji Ito’s work, I found it incredible!

Tomie – Spoiler Free – Mixed Feelings

TLDR
Overall: 6/10

Disclaimer: due to the nature of this work – a collection of short stories – my normal parameters of Story, Art, Characters and Enjoyment with a weighted average won’t be applied. Instead, a global overview will be offered.

Tomie's probably one of Junji Ito’s biggest short story compilations known to date, even surpassing Uzumaki. Comprising almost 800 pages, Tomie’s stories are united by a common figure – a succubus called Tomie. Contrary to Uzumaki or Gyo, there isn’t a single story being told, but just an exploration of the adventures and capabilities of this succubus in her multiple forms.

Unfortunately, most stories are mediocre at best, without being scary at all. However, unlike some of his larger stories, Tomie doesn’t have that many leaps of faith, for the simple reason that the logic inherent to the succubus rules out classical logic for characters. Her superhuman powers come to the fore, justifying the hysteria surrounding her; this is a common aspect in many of Tomie’s stories. It does make it, however, for some very predictable stories with a supernatural twist around the corner: men get enchanted by Tomie, and she either drives them crazy or commands them to do something heinous, and the story develops almost always with this premise in mind. The stories also aren’t memorable, with the few exceptions almost exclusively at the beginning of the manga.

Some stories, although fewer in number compared to Uzumaki, are also funny, such as in the last pages of Moromi – but there aren’t many, being much more serious than Gyo or even Uzumaki. In comparison, one must also state that Uzumaki is still the best of his longer stories, although the allure in Uzumaki was the small village and the spirals, here it is the character.

In fact, one of the most intriguing aspects of this manga is Tomie’s character design: her character is beautiful, seducing men effortlessly. The fact that she is a succubus makes sense with her design. Moreover, in terms of art, we have great panels, such as at the beginning of the Painter chapter, for instance. This touches on what may be the focus of Tomie’s success: her charm. The reader is charmed by the likes of Tomie; it has a certain grace, a elegance that justifies its cult-like status. It’s not about Tomie’s stories that set it apart in the grand scheme of Junji Ito’s (very) long career: it’s the character’s elegance and eloquence; it’s the allure, the “je ne sais quoi” in Tomie. This is perfect for a character as ominous as her, and as Junji Ito’s greatest character to date – not that he is known for his complex characters. The remaining characters in Tomie – all of them, for that matter – play according to her tune and dance to her liking. They merely serve to fulfil her murderous and manipulative wishes.

Tomie, however, cannot be recommended for its stories, for they are mediocre; but while the character compensates for some of its shortcomings, a story without a robust narrative – or narratives and concepts, in the case of short stories – is nothing but a shell of itself. While the stories are worse than in Uzumaki, the character is definitely better. But it doesn’t deserve more than a 6 – or fair – score. For these reasons, Tomie deserves a Mixed Feelings stamp.

This was pogs. The artwork is incredible and sometimes made me feel scared and uneasy. Ito's art never fails to amaze. The story was quite good too. Although, at times, I wished it would delve deeper into Tomie's past. There's so much mystery surrounding her. The characters were somewhat okay. I loved the main character and especially enjoyed Tomie as well. However, there were some downsides. Some characters were just meh, and others you wouldn't care about at all. I wish Ito had explored Tomie's lore more deeply. There were many elements and small hints that intrigued me while reading. Despite these issues, I enjoyed it nonetheless, and if you're a fan of horror, I'm pretty sure you will too.

I began my journey into Junji Ito's works with this series, and honestly, I feel like I should have skipped it altogether. It's all undeniably mediocre for a J-Horror saga.

Tomie seems to be a horror figure clumsily pieced together from the remnants of various other works, borrowing elements from gothic horror, slasher flicks, ghost stories, and cosmic horror. A mishmash of mismatched influences all centered around Tomie, a monster in human form who is as irresistible as she is indestructible, a sort of 'waifu' version of Michael Myers.

Throughout its three volumes, the story remains very repetitive. The artwork, especially in the earlier chapters, is subpar. Characters are so inconsistent between pages or even panels that I've had difficulty identifying who is supposed to be who and what Ito intends us to see in their nonsensical actions. Tomie appears as a monster without explanation or purpose. All Tomie wants is to seduce her victims, but this inevitably leads her to be killed.

The sense of time is nonexistent; some stories drag on too long, where each non-recurring character tries to stop Tomie, and they all inevitably fail because the narrative lacks any meaningful development. Ito seems unable to write humane characters. The disposable victims are on par with B-grade 'so bad it's good' schlock, except none of it is funny—just boring. These people stand there, encounter Tomie, try to stop her or sleep with her, and get absorbed.

Tomie kills a child, Tomie vs. Tomie, Tomie goes to school, Tomie on the moon... If we think about it, it could have been worse; Ito could have given Tomie alien origins!

I think I'll take my leave before I decide to tackle Uzumaki.

This was decent overall. The collection featured a mix of quite engaging stories and some that were less impressive. A few tales stood out for their creativity, whereas others seemed hollow or too similar to one another. I believe the concept behind Tomie could have been thoroughly examined with half the number of chapters. The fact that many of these chapters represent his early work, where his artistry was still developing, somewhat diminishes the experience since his unique art style is a major attraction of his narratives. Additionally, I didn't feel particularly connected to most of the characters, possibly due to the segmented plot structure lacking continuity. It was an enjoyable read, but I much prefer works like Gyo and Uzumaki. Some of my favorite stories from this collection include: Model, Painter, Hair, and Revenge. The plight of that elderly couple in Orphan Girl also left me feeling quite melancholic.

I'm going to be honest... this was kind of disappointing. I feel like I've heard a lot about "Tomie," but now that I've actually read it, I feel somewhat misled. I might reread it to ensure I didn't miss any crucial details. As a first-time reader though, I'll say this story isn't for everyone.

There's a lot of body horror involved, and I found that pretty interesting. Otherwise, I have several issues with how the story was presented. The first is its episodic nature. Normally, I wouldn't make such a big deal out of this, but unlike "Uzumaki," I feel "Tomie" needs a concrete narrative line to be more comprehensible and enjoyable. As it stands, the different "episodes" feel very disconnected, and because they all tend to follow a similar plotline, they become repetitive. It's a shame because "Tomie" had a lot of potential as a more fleshed-out story, but that's not really the case here.

I also want to note that the art quality changes a lot throughout the series. The earlier chapters especially are rather rough around the edges; for example, there's a panel in the first chapter that isn't even colored in.

Another problem I had with the narrative was that almost every character was unlikeable - especially Tomie. I wish we'd been given more backstory to understand who - or what - she is and what her life has been like. I don't think she deserved being treated the way she was, but she wasn't presented in a light that easily lended to sympathy. She takes advantage of old people and children, which is hard to defend when I know so little about her. One could draw conclusions about victim-blaming from this (I believe I've heard "Tomie"-related discussions on this topic before). However, those kinds of messages don't need to be obscured as much as they are in "Tomie" - with some exceptions, thankfully. If you've seen the movie "Jennifer's Body," then perhaps you'll know what I mean when I say that it executes the concept of "Tomie" better than "Tomie" itself does. That movie shows what a difference proper backstory and characterization can make. Could I defend Jennifer's actions? No, but at least I knew enough about Jennifer and her story to understand WHY she did what she did. Unlike "Tomie," the subtle messaging about victim-blaming (among other themes) was both more creative and better-connected to the narrative. Overall, this series has many moments where it sets up characters and plotlines only to never really use them to their full potential. That was frustrating.

Finally, I want to point out that, alongside the lack of backstory for Tomie, there's a lack of explanation of who or what she is and how her "powers" work. This creates inconsistencies and confusion in the narrative, making it harder to piece together what's happening. At several points, I felt Junji Ito was just kind of... making things up as he went, and that's not the impression you want to give your readers. For example, there are rumors about a horde of Tomies living in a lake (which is true), yet when villagers investigate, they find no one there. But later in the chapter, all the Tomies emerge from the water. Maybe I'm just stupid, but moments like these are annoying, especially because simple questions like "Where did all the Tomies go?" could have been easily resolved with one or two cutaway panels.

Overall, this isn't a bad work but it's definitely not my favorite thing I've read. It's good if you want to make a small commitment to something short, but otherwise, I wouldn't get my hopes up much. Maybe you'll find some sort of meaning in it that I missed.

Sounds incredibly niche for a book filled with such harrowing depictions, yet I found myself devouring it in just two round-trip train journeys. Honestly, it was so utterly captivating that I became completely engrossed and almost missed my stop.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to any of my friends, even those who aren't fans of manga or anything Japanese, because it genuinely transcends those categories. I absolutely loved it, and having the hardcover edition made the reading experience all the more satisfying and delightful to display on my shelf :).