mangaka | Through the Shattered Lens

It’s another year and another October here at Through the Shattered Lens. Those who have continued to follow our shenanigans and escapades here know that October is a favorite month for us here. Co-founder Lisa Marie Bowman is one who loves this month. As I pop my head in to see how things are going I would like to add my two-bits to make this latest month-long horror theme be as memorable as years past.

I begin the month-long horror celebration by highlighting a favorite horror genius who might not be as well-known by the casual horror fan. I am talking about mangaka Jujin Ito.

Junji Ito

Jujin Ito is a giant in the Japanese manga industry. His work as a horror mangaka has been lauded throughout the years with some of his more famous works getting not just anime adaptations but live-action ones, as well.

He has stated in the past that his work has been influenced by authors and fellow mangaka such has Hideshi Hino, Yasutaka Tsutsui and H.P. Lovecraft. His work shares much similar themes as Lovecraft’s in that they both tell tales of a capricious and uncaring universe where the protagonists cannot comprehend and/or escape the cosmic, unknowable horror that plagues them.

Jujin Ito’s artwork often depicts a world where it’s inhabitants (sometimes including the protagonist) body horror sometimes becomes the norm which adds to the uneasiness and existential horror which permeates his stories.

Some of his more famous works include this Tomie series which has been adapted into a 3-episode tv drama and Uzumaki which has been adapted by director Akihiro Higuchi.

The former is a long-running series about a mysterious, beautiful woman named Tomie who impacts the lives of the men and women around her. Individuals who fall under sway will commit brutal acts of violence with some being driven to insanity. It would spoil too much to mention much more, but I do recommend for those who want to check out Japanese horror and why it’s very different from Western horror, the Tomie series is one to check out.

In fact, I would recommend that horror fans check out his entire body of work. They’ll definitely leave a mark on those who try.

Junji Ito 1 Junji Ito 2 Junji Ito 3 Junji Ito 4 Junji Ito 5 Junji Ito 6 Junji Ito 7 Junji Ito 8

The latest choice for “anime of the day” is the one and only Azumanga Daioh.

Azumanga Daioh is the extremely popular and critically-acclaimed series that was adapted from the manga of the same by. The manga ran for over three years and has been collected into three massive volume called tankobon. It’s creator is mangaka Azuma Kiyohiko and just looking at the name one sees the etymology of the series’ name.

The anime adaptation was done by anime studio J.C. Staff and shown by the Japanese tv network TV Tokyo over 26 episodes. The North American license used to be under ADV Films before it’s inevitable collapse wherein the North American licensing rights was bought by a Houston-based company called Aesir Holdings. One could still find the anime series on DVD which is great news since Azumanga Daioh is one of the best slice-of-life genre series with characters fully realized and storylines which range from comedic to drama with the two overlapping at times.

The series is about the lives of six Japanese high school girls and how their friendships evolve through their times together at school and out of it. There’s fan favorite Chiyo Mihama, the child prodigy, who struggles to fit in with her classmates who happen to be five years older. Then there’s the athletic Kagura whose friendly rivalry with the reserved Sakaki forms one subplot in the series. There’s Osaka the transfer student who fills in the role of the spacey and eccentric character in the series with Yomi and Tomo rounding out the cast of friends.

While most of the series focuses on the six friends other characters come in and out of their lives such as their homeroom teacher Yukari Tanizaki and their phys.ed instructor, Minamo Kurosawa. Then there’s Kimura-sensei. It’s this character that may have some viewers watching the series with a bit of discomfort as this character becomes a borderline obsessive with the teenage high school girls he teaches, especially the six girls who the series focuses on. While the series never goes over the line with Kimura-sensei’s behavior some people may still get turned off by it and dismiss the series. Here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen because Azumanga Daioh does a great job of exploring the lives of these six high school girls as their friendships with each other grows.

The anime doesn’t go overboard with surreal and way-out-there scenes. Most of the series really just shows routine, day-to-day activities that the girls go through in high school, but the writing is so spot-on that watching the series will definitely bring back fond, nostalgic memories of one’s own time in high school. There are some surreal moments, but they’re usually reserved for times when Osaka’s spaciness gets the better of her. This usually involves her imagining weird things about Chiyo-chan’s pigtails.

Azumanga Daioh does fall under the moe label due to the cuteness of the animations with special regard to the youngest in the group, Chiyo-chan. This moe aspect plus the fun and heartwarming stories involving the girls make this anime a fine choice to be the latest “anime of the day”.