Frankenstein Junji Ito Story Collection

This is a collection of short horror stories, including a fairly faithful retelling of Frankenstein. I think Junji Ito is better at short-form storytelling like this, but he's still not great. His art, as always, is outstanding.

It's a surprise anthology collection. The majority of the book is basically Ito's retelling of Frankenstein. It's very faithful to the book, but the monster feels less sympathetic. The focus is more on the horror of Frankenstein being haunted by his creation. The rest of the short stories loosely follow this one guy. I always think it's interesting how Ito links up these totally random horror stories. I don't always remember the stories, but I tend to enjoy these short random stories best. Oh, and Ito and his pet stories. I think they're cute and weird, but it bums me out when you find out the pet has passed away.

I’ll start by saying that I’m a HUGE Frankenstein fan and when I became aware that Junji Ito adapted it into a horror manga, I knew I had to read it. The art style is phenomenal and really captures, not only the creepy vibes but also the Victorian feel of the scenes without the monster. Ito took a bit of a different direction with the ending and but nothing that really changed the overall outcome of the story and I think it allows him to show more of his creepy story-telling abilities. The second half of this collection is a bunch of original short stories and I really enjoyed reading these as well. Some standouts are “The Hell of the Doll Funeral” and the last two which are about Ito and the family dog named non-non. I read this entire collection in one day and had such a fun time looking at all the art and being creeped out by the stories. I definitely recommend checking this out!

Note: I received a copy of Frankenstein by Junji Ito via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. Don’t quote me on this — but, I’m under the impression that Frankenstein by Junji Ito will be released in a story collection. However, I only received the galley for the Frankenstein portion, so that’s all I will be reviewing. Junji Ito has been on my mind, ever since Jak wrote a news article on his manga-turned-anime series published on Cult Cryptic. I’m pretty disappointed that I’ve slept on Junji Ito for so long. He’s everything I could possibly want in life: very grotesque horror mixed with manga-style art? YES PLEASE. There have been multiple Frankenstein retellings — from the comedic film Young Frankenstein to Disney’s Frankenweenie; at this point, I feel like everyone has indulged in some sort of Frankenstein tale. Please, horror friends, don’t hate me for this next comment, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I have major respect for the story, but reading it was a total drag. So, upon seeing Junji Ito’s rendition of the classic, I had a pretty good inkling that he would not let me down. & alas, he did not! I read through this manga in about an hour (which, granted, wasn’t that difficult as it wasn’t very long). The story, basically, stayed true to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; there may have been minor differences that I can’t actually remember from the original. But, in general, this is the story that I know as Frankenstein. Honestly though, it’s not the story that makes Frankenstein by Junji Ito a good read. It’s the creepy artwork within the pages. I absolutely loved his imagery & the way that he visioned Frankenstein’s monster. Creepy vibes screamed through every single page. If you are a fan of horror, of Frankenstein, or of manga — I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Frankenstein by Junji Ito.

some of these were silly, a lot of them were connected, my favorite was Frankenstein!