What is going on in the mind of Junji Ito?

Heyy, back from yet another busy month. The thunder storm of college season is finally calming down (THANK GOD). Of course I still want to crawl into a ball, as it is senior year, but getting that out the way lifts an enormous bowlder off my shoulder.

Aside from college, which is something I can babble about forever, I'm really here to to talk about finally dipping my feet back in the manga world (horror manga to be exact) and its change me a bit and I'm not sure if it's in a good or bad way. While it might be a bit off that I read horror in the midst of November, horror for some reason attracts me more in other months than in the single month it's suppose to attract people.

Anyways, I keep rambling, but I FINALLY got my hands on a manga by the one and only Junji Ito. Shiver is my first ever read from him, it is a collection of short stories, and it has made me a both nervous and curious to how his other works are. Without further ado here are some of my favorite stories. :)

- The Hanging Blimp -

The bizarre short story of a blimp that has the face of the person it is trying to capture. As the story sadly started off with the "suicide" of the protagonist's close friend, it was interesting to believe that an inanimate object such as a blimp could haunt you with your own face in attempt to hang you.

- The Long Dream -

This had to be one of my favorite stories of the collection, it was extremely thought provoking and frightened me a bit. One of the characters, Tetsuro Mukoda, was a hospital patient that was subjected to dreams that appear as being a few minutes but to him his dreams became grew from days to years. The dreams grew longer and his age got older along with them. It is a strange thought that a dream can literally kill you from being so long, and you could live on in that dream eternally.

- Marionette Mansion -

Firstly, I would pay to be a puppet for 5 minutes (maybe less), I don't have enough trust for any longer than that. The brief experience of being able to fully relax and leave your mind for a vacation to give someone else your responsibilities seems like a great experience. As many of the characters in the story enjoyed being a controlled as a puppet so much that they fully transformed into one, I'd just like a few puppets to assist me in my daily task.

While some of the stories were more disturbing than others, the fact that theses unconventional stories grew from a piece of work in high school, a dream from a relative, or coming even from his own dream fascinates me. I continue to tell myself I need to cut back on purchasing things (especially books), I might have to give myself the benefit of the doubt and get a hold of another one of Ito's works.