Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection

Like the Frankenstein collection before it VIZ media publishes another great Junji Ito story collection. This collection is definitely one of the more meatier entries you get over 412 pages and over 13 short stories. Now if you compare it to Frankenstein collection as much as I enjoyed that one the last 3-4 stories were 1-3 pages. In this collection all stories are over 20-30 pages or more. There are no 1-3 page stories in this collection. He uses all 412 pages for longer stories. So what do you get if you buy this collection? The stories (no spoilers) you get are: Blood sucking darkness Ghosts of prime time Roar Earthbound Death Row Doorbell The Mystery of the haunted house The Mystery of the haunted house Soichi's version Soichi's beloved pet In mirror valley I don't want to be a ghost Library Vision Splendid shadow song Smashed I know some fans are a little upset about how some of the titles of the stories are translated but I don't mind them too much.Each story is pretty great and unique. None of them share the same concept/creature/protagonists(except the haunted house). Some stories will make you feel disgusted, others will make you feel confused, others will just gross you out. It really is a great collection that shows off how he can take wildly different concept and make them scary or unsettling. I could babble on more about it but I would start spoiling the stories and I don't want to do that. All I am going to say is I just really enjoyed this collection a hell of a lot more than I thought I was. The stories here are just great self contained experiences. Finally I have to say VIZ media keeps knocking it out of the park. I rarely mention it but the quality of the books are pretty amazing. The paper is great, the hardcover always has great art, and they all look great on my bookshelf together. I eagerly await the next story collection.

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.

Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection is a collection of 13 horror stories created by the master of horror manga. This book is a lot like his other books in the sense that they all contain unique and creative stories, creepy and disturbing art, and enjoyable characters. Junji Ito never seems to fail his readers, this book was great. I really enjoyed it, so much so I finished it in one or two days. It was truly difficult to put it down once you pick it up. The stories are creative and truly unique, you don't see plots like these just anywhere you look. His style of art is disturbing and beautiful at the same time. The art compliments the stories perfectly. After so many stories you'd assume the personalities, mannerisms, and backgrounds to the characters would get redundant, but you'd be wrong. Every character's personality, mannerisms, and so forth are very unique to each one. I honestly couldn't be any happier with this manga. The copy itself was good, the print and translation seemed really good to me. The packaging was also good. Overall I didn't have any issue with the manga or packaging. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone considering getting it. I really couldn't praise this book or any other of Junji Ito's books any more. This book was wonderful, not as good as other titles like Uzumaki but still wonderful nonetheless.

As for the quality of the book itself its great, corners came slightly dented from shipping, but nothing substantial that caused fraying etc, I dont mind personally. If you want it to be in 100% pristine condition I would head to a bookstore and inspect them in person. I work in a UPS warehouse and I promise you your packages are getting manhandled, flung around and sometimes stepped on, even if they're labeled as fragile. We do our best to be respectful, but unloading and sorting about 1000 packages an hour, we are more so just trying to do our job. Beside that tangent; this was another enjoyable read. Currently reading through his entire bibliography, and I have no complaints about this one. Some stories I enjoy more than others, but as a Junji fan they were all good.

This was my first book by Junji ito and I loved it. It was a good starter into manga and horror since I'm not really big into horror. It was a good beginner and I'm looking forward to reading his other stories. I started with something light and something people didn't deem as scary enough so I could slowly ease myself into his books. I have a good few stories I enjoyed a lot, it's a really good book. I suggest to start with this story if you're not familiar with manga and horror just because it gives you a good balance of manga and then having the stories be unsettling but, not too scary. 10/10 recommend!!

Very good quality hardcover book! Can’t really go wrong with Junji Ito. Book is decently thick and doesn’t have any major scuffs. Printing quality is good aswell. 10/10 would recommend this book!

Junji Ito writes some of the most original horror stories I’ve ever read. They’re also often some of the most grotesque. If you can stomach them, you know you’re always in for a treat with his work, and I’m just sorry I’m a little bit late to the party. Smashed is another stand out collection, featuring some truly impeccable stories. I’m not always a huge fan of Ito’s Soichi stories, but two here, “The Mystery of the Haunted House” and its companion, “The Mystery of the Haunted House: Soichi’s Version” were two of my favorites. I especially loved what appeared to be the return of another Ito character, one featured in one of my favorite stories from his Shiver collection. Other standout stories include the oddly eerie “Roar” and “Earthbound,” which featured a satisfying twist. “I Don’t Want to Be a Ghost” was another gruesomely fun favorite. Highly recommended for Ito fans, Smashed is also an excellent introduction for newcomers to his work.

If you like horror or manga or especially both then you can not go wrong with Junji Ito. It doesn't really even matter which book or collection you start with. You will love what you get. BUT if you buy books from Amazon that you don't intend to read immediately(I bought Smashed, Shiver, Sensor and Frankenstein all in the same order after reading and loving Tomie), do yourself a solid and THOROUGHLY INSPECT YOUR BOOK BINDING, particularly on the inside where you wouldn't catch any damage immediately if you don't read it right away. My copy of Smashed came with the inner binding being pretty mangled, mangled in such a way as ut would get worse over time without rubber cement or something. I ordered in August so what I'm sure would have been a hassle free exchange had I caught it in time is instead a loss for me at this point. Viz Media really goes out of their way to make Junji Ito's books sturdy and beautifully presentable but once they hit Amazon's warehouse they seem to treat them with reckless abandon somwtimes. So inspect it before you shelf it to wait its turn in line because you'll likely want to read these books more than once and amazon is pretty good about fixing issues if you actually catch them in a timely manner. The book itself is a five star but Amazon warehouse's treatment of it is a one star.