The Liminal Zone (Junji Ito)

Love this book! Amazing horror manga!

Arrived in good condition and faster than expected! Awesome edition and a must have for any Ito or just horror manga fans!

Liminal Zone is a strong if short horror collection. This hardcover book contains four stories, three of which I liked very much.In the first, a young couple attend a funeral where a professional mourner has been hired to cry to the deceased. Following the encounter, the woman starts weeping uncontrollably. In a desperate bid to stop the flow of tears, the couple search for the mourner, only to encounter the village of the weeping women and discover the terrible purpose for their wails of anguished grief.The second story takes place at a Catholic school. Beautiful Maria catches the lecherous eye of the school's principal and thus the displeasure of his wife, a woman believed to be the reincarnation of the Madonna. To survive the strange happenings that bring harm to any who cross the principal's wife, Maria must untangle a web of jealousy, adultery, and murder.In the third story, a terminally ill man and his girlfriend travel to a forest to commit double suicide. As the sun goes down, they find an eerie cave in the middle of the woods that looks like a demonic mouth, and a torrent of spirits rushes out of the opening. The man leaps into the flow, thinking this is a good way to end his life. But in the morning, his girlfriend discovers him both alive and healthier than he's been in months. Addicted now to jumping into the nightly stream of spirits, the man's fate might be one worse than death.The last one is my least favorite. Not that it's bad or anything. I just don't find it as compelling as the three stories that came before in. In this one, a college student begins having vivid dreams of committing murder, only to discover that the murders happened in reality. He must be the killer. There is no other rational explanation, unless something sinister and supernatural is involved.Since this is a very balanced collection with most of the stories being very good, this is a great volume for both Junji Ito fans and readers new to his work.

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 brings forth the edge of the imagination again with mind bending horror stories that are truly unique. Nobody is safe and the fabric of reality is always pierced by the supernatural. Another wonderful collection of horror stories.

I got this book for my boyfriend and he loves it.

This is possibly the most beautiful looking Ito book I own. Just look at that cover! It's gorgeous.As for the stories inside? There are less than are usually in one of his collections, just four stories, but they are all exceptional. Madonna, in particular, is a new favorite. In this story, Ito examines religious obsession. A new girl at a strict boarding school captures the headmaster's attention to the anger of his zealot wife who is convinced that she herself is the actual Virgin Mary. It's one of the most detailed Ito stories I've ever read and contains some truly disturbing images.The other three stories concern a colony of weeping women, a terminally ill man discovering a ghostly phenomenon in the woods, and a man who believes he is killing in his sleep. They are all also prime examples of Ito's wonderful weirdness, even if Madonna stands out the most.The Liminal Zone is a truly beautiful edition of the work of a master of horror manga and a must for any fans of the genre.

I loved all 4 stories in this collection! I have read nearly all of the books by Junji Ito that Viz has translated/published and this is definitely high in my list of favorites. Typically there are 1 or 2 rather forgettable duds in a collection of stories but that's not the case here at all. I will be re-reading all of them again soon. Weeping Woman Way is probably my favorite though. It's a great concept and the way it was executed was just perfect.As for the physical book: I guess I was expecting this to be the glossy hard cover without a dust jacket like Lovesickness and a lot of the other collections but it's not! The book has this thick matte dust jacket with silver foil lettering making it just plain gorgeous. There are less color images then Sensor (and no poster on the back of the jacket) but it's just so nice! I'm so glad I bought this for my growing collection.