Tomie: Complete Deluxe Edition (Junji Ito)

Tomie has come to the western world for the first time in almost 20 years in the form of this exquiste hardcover omnibus. And let me tell you it's worth picking up. The first story from acclaimed Horror Mangaka and winner of the coolest man ever award (from me) Junji Ito, Tomie is about....well...a lot of people, and their interactions with her. Never the protagonist but the only consistant character, so it is effectively her story. Tomie is main draw and what will sell you on this manga (aside from Ito's reputation or art i suppose). So lets quickly go down who Tomie is on a basic level: 1- She's a pathological liar and manipulator, sometimes for personal gain sometimes for the hell of it. We dont know her past, her ultimate goals, or anything about her. She's like the Joker always changing her own background for fun. All even we as a reader know for sure is her name. 2- She can seduce nearly any man in the world. Only twice has she been denied and that was because of their own psychological issues or her own harmed state and even then it's never for long. And once youre hooked that's it. You are her complete slave now. Tomie also seems to have an occasional control over women too, but that comes off as total mind control rather than seduction. 3- And the biggest aspect of this story, Tomie will never die. Shoot her, stab her, cut her up, give her a few hours and she'll be back on her feet. Actually she does the opposite of dying! Every piece of her you create becomes a BRAND NEW TOMIE. Cut her into a thousand pieces? Well good job now there are a thousand new Tomies. That's actually part of it too, her draw leads to people eventually killing and cutting her up. The art from Junji Ito is of course amazing. Detailed, expressive, unique, gory and beautiful. A happy couple is drawn equally as well as a lovecraftian abombination and i cannot sing the praises enough on it. Though the first chapter is Ito's first story ever, and the art is kind of rough. Not awful just not as great. Now Tomie isnt perfect, though just like the woman herself you have to dig a little to find out why. The premise can get tiresome at times, or rather you can be fatigued by it. I make the distinction because each story is Tomie in a new situation with new people reacting off her which keeps it interesting. But it's something that may get to you if you read this 750 page thing in 1 go. And if you want a story with hard answers, this isnt the place to look. That's typical of Junji Ito, just planting clues or possibilities, but i can see it bothering some people. Honestly i'd like to lie to you people and say it's the greatest thing in the universe so maybe you'll consider getting it, providing for my favorite mangaka and convincing Viz to license more of his stuff. But if you cant trust a faceless Amazon reviewer who can you trust So from that you'll know if this interests you, and i hope it does. Despite it's flaws i love this book. If i had to rank it i'd put it second overall of Ito's work, better than Gyo or Fragments of Horror but lesser than Uzumaki. All of those are great but some things edge out others, as you do. It's a little pricey but even then i'd urge people to give it a shot, you'll find it's worth it.

While I'm very familiar with Junji Ito's work, and have been for a few years, Tomie is a series of his that I never knew of until recently. Being that really only Uzumaki and Gyo were well known in the states at the time, I had no idea how much more excellent material he'd done over the years. After hearing about Tomie's American release, I googled pictures of the series, and initially wasn't very interested, since it looked more tame than the beautifully disgusting Uzumaki and Gyo, but when I actually ordered the book, I found that it's actually more gruesome than anything else I've read from Ito. Joy! Now, in case you have yet to look at the length of this release, I'll just say outright that it's a TOME compared not only to previously released Ito work, but to most manga you'll find in your local bookstore. The reason for that being that Tomie has been going strong, as a loosely connected series of one shots, for decades now. As you'll find in this collection, Ito improved immensely over the years, and seeing his initially amateurish art style evolve from chapter to chapter is a joy for an avid reader of his like myself. Reading through this book is a more daunting task than something like Uzumaki, but the increasingly "out there" ongoing plot, as well as the standalone stories, make the journey very worth the time spent. A huge part of what makes this series so engrossing is Tomie herself. As readers will quickly realize, she's a truly awful human being (or monster, if you prefer), to the extent that it's addictive seeing how she's going to screw over her victims from page to page, as well as how she'll get her occasional comeuppance. Her deplorable personality is often the heart of what makes so many of these tales work as well as they do (in particular Little Finger, which has a brilliant and dark (and I mean dark) fairy tale style to it that puts it near the top of Ito's work for me). Since the book is so huge, of course not every chapter is equal to the last. Most of the book is excellent throughout, but there are some that are subpar, simply because they're so random and/or weird, despite their creativity. Luckily, said lesser stories are few and far between, and most of the ongoing chapters and the true one shots are often equal in their high quality, although the episodic story does get simply insane about halfway through, but not necessarily in a bad way. Overall, though, the compilation is extremely engaging and horrific throughout, so I'm very happy to have bought it. If you're a horror fan looking for their next fix, I'd recommend the previously mentioned Ito works before this one, simply due to their accessibility and length, but if you're well versed in his grotesque and darkly humorous world already, you owe it to yourself to give this a look.

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.

Tomie is the queen of horror manga, and this deluxe edition does her justice. Stunning hardcover, glossy pages, and stories that are equal parts horrifying and hypnotic. This book is both a literary gem and an art piece.

My first junji ito book! It's huge and beautiful, I've been a fan for years and I thought I should start collecting his books! Such a great read! 🩷🩷

This book is absolutely huge. I wasn’t expecting it to be so big but it’s going to be a great gift for my sister. It’s a really good quality book and definitely worth the price.

Came in damaged but readable

Received today, it’s a beautiful piece of work. Only one flaw top right corner was torn but overall this is a great piece. If you’re a texture person you can feel the subtle differences on the cover of the book between the matte illustrations and the glossy writing.