{"id":16818,"date":"2022-08-24T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=16818"},"modified":"2022-08-21T21:26:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T01:26:53","slug":"review-deserter-junji-ito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-deserter-junji-ito\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Deserter by Junji Ito"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"banner<\/p>\n

\"cover<\/p>\n

Deserter<\/em> by Junji Ito<\/strong><\/a>
\nVIZ Media (December 2021)<\/strong>
\n392 pages; $18.99 hardcover, $11.99 ebook<\/strong>
\nReviewed by Danica Davidson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Deserter <\/em>is a short story collection by Junji Ito, one of Japan\u2019s most famous and successful horror manga creators. While you can see how he\u2019s improved over time, the essence of his horror work is still here, and this is still definitely a worthy read.<\/p>\n

The first story, \u201cBio House,\u201d has shakier artwork than we\u2019re used to seeing from him, but it still gets across all those gruesome vibes he\u2019s so good at creating. In the story, a girl who likes eating exotic foods \u2014 like insects or snake blood \u2014 bites off more than she can chew when she finds someone into foods even more exotic and skin-crawling. All of the rest of the artwork in this book is improved from here, and it\u2019s not as if this artwork is in any way bad. It\u2019s just that Ito is such a phenomenal artist that you can tell this is an earlier work.<\/p>\n

In \u201cFace Thief\u201d there\u2019s some difficulty telling characters apart, but then it becomes clear this is the point of the plot, as a character is literally able to steal other people\u2019s faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere the Sandman Lives\u201d has an author who insists his dream self is trying to take over his life. The images of the dream self doing this are visceral, imaginative, and downright amazing, making this a particularly creepy story.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Logic,\u201d an otherwise happy girl suddenly commits suicide. And when her friend tries to figure out why by listening to a recording of her before her death, he finds himself in over his head against a terrible power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Long Hair in the Attic\u201d opens with a girl being dumped by her boyfriend, and ends with a terrifying discovery in the attic.<\/p>\n

\u201cScripted Love\u201d is another story where a man dumps his girlfriend, but this time she\u2019s not about to let him get away with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Reanimator\u2019s Sword\u201d is about death and immortality, and what it takes to bring someone back from the dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Father\u2019s Love\u201d is about a family with a strict father. The two older sons commit suicide, and the youngest daughter may as well unless it\u2019s figured out what is driving them to hurt themselves.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Unendurable Labyrinth,\u201d two young women end up lost in the forest. They come across some ascetic monks, but these aren\u2019t your usual Buddhist monks. They hide a fearsome secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cVillage of the Siren\u201d gets into some Western mythology, and a Japanese man claims to be the reincarnation of a magician from Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cBullied\u201d is about the cycles of bullying, and unsettling for its realism.<\/p>\n

The final and titular story, \u201cDeserter,\u201d is about a military deserter hiding in Japan years after World War II, because the people hiding him convince him the war is still going on.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s listed as his earlier work, this is not amateurish. The stories still get across Ito\u2019s penchant for supernatural, creepy horror. People who are already his fans ought to check it out, and horror fans who haven\u2019t read Ito ought to take a look at his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deserter by Junji Ito VIZ Media (December 2021) 392 pages; $18.99 hardcover, $11.99 ebook Reviewed by Danica Davidson Deserter is a short story collection by Junji Ito, one of Japan\u2019s most famous and successful horror manga creators. While you can see how he\u2019s improved over time, the essence of his horror work is still here, … Continue Reading! “Review: Deserter by Junji Ito”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,444],"tags":[767,2589,2217,79,851],"class_list":["post-16818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-comics","tag-danica-davidson","tag-deserter","tag-junji-ito","tag-reviews","tag-the-comic-vault"],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Deserter by Junji Ito - 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