Sensor (Junji Ito)

Sensor (at the time of this writing) is Junji Ito's most recent work. So what is this book? It is one 7 chapter story(about 236 pages) about a woman named Kyoko Byakuya and a reporter name Wataru Tsuchiyado and their adventures.

Without spoiling too much the story is about how Kyoko became a minor celebrity after her run in with a mysterious village. Wataru the reporter is constantly looking for her to interview her but slowly finds out she might not be safe and tries to help her.

The story isn't really paranormal there are no demons, ghosts, or monsters. Instead its more sci-fi cosmic horror. It deals with the universe and cosmic beings and even Christian missionaries. Its definitely a wild ride of a story. It has Wataru go to different locations based on hints or tips on where Kyoko is or have him consult experts trying to explain what's going on. Like I said its definitely different than his previous works. Its more a slow burn where you won't fully figure out what's going on until the very end.

Also I noticed a decent chunk of people don't like it. I get it, but I enjoyed what I read. In the afterword I kind of took it as Junji Ito wants to continue this story sometime again. The story kind of has a open ending. Now don't get me wrong Junji Ito's stories always have weird or open endings but the afterword he says if he gets a chance he wants to write for these characters again. If he really does want to continue the story this is a decent foundation to start from/branch out from. So if there is a sequel to this story I think people would enjoy it more. If he just leaves it as is I personally enjoyed it, but I can see why others don't.

Also I just wanted to say his art in my opinion has gotten a lot better. I saw on fan forums some minor discussion about him drawing on a tablet now. Personally to me this looks great. people have different facial structures and some buildings or more cosmic things look great. The book itself is great as well. Viz knows how to make a sturdy and pretty book.

Overall I enjoyed what I read. I can see why people don't like it, but I thought it was a nice departure from his usual stories. If he really does decide to continue the story I do think people will be kinder to it. If he doesn't continue it though I still think its a good story, but I can see it being one of those things the fanbase would argue about.

Junji Ito draws absolutely the most creepy faces in the business. Across the board, world's creepiest faces. Absolute tops. You see a Junji Ito face (usually some combination of one half complete immobility, one half super intense or zany, like just the blankest most serene mouths with the most wide-open horror eyes) and you know you are in for some nightmares.

The plot of this was a little meandering and a lot weird, but I cannot fault the very unsettling visuals. Also in Junji Ito's afterword he says: "I have to write a thousand words for this afterword, so I went on and on there about things that didn't really need to be said," and wow, what a mood. I just think he's great.

This is definitely my least favorite Junji Ito manga. The story and characters were all over the place. The story wasn't really creepy at all. Only a couple illustrations were unsettling. Happy to have it for my collection, but it's really not that great otherwise. It's a shame. Hopefully the next manga will be better.

I have not read the book yet but I am super excited to do so. The rating is based solely off the condition of the book. There was glue marks all over the front cover! I pre ordered this and expected it to be perfect. I am a collector of junji ito and I want all my books to be in good condition. This is really disappointing….

TW: Alludes to suicide, discussions of suicide, lots of bugs,

A town that is covered in what is referred to as The Great Amagami, the heavy hair. Little fibers of hair cover the town and attach to people. They appear every time the volcano erupts. Some say the hair if from Angels, other say it is spider silk or come from a UFO. These fibers are very mysterious and give people tons of knowledge. A no name reporter goes to investigate to try to uncover all the secrets of this town and the fibers that attach to their residents.

This book had a clear definition of evil forces and so there was a prevalent good versus evil dichotomy. It also showed a bit of a time loop with philosophical implications.

This has to be one of my favorite Junji Ito books to date and I highly recommend this.

I had alot of time to read this book today and I finished all 234 pages! Junji Ito really outdid himself with his combination of sci-fi and body horror. I'm not a big fan of Sci-fi themes but this story is really well written and has really cool art work!

I was super sad about this one because I was expecting to LOVE it, since I haven’t disliked a single one of Junji Ito’s works, but I did not enjoy this one very much.

If you’re into cosmic horror that integrates themes of philosophy and social commentaries, then you still may enjoy and really like this one. I personally found it to be a bit confusing at points, and yes I am usually confused at times during his work.. but this one left me confused instead of leaving me satisfied that the story was confusing to create room for some nasty horror.

This one wasn’t altogether that scary either, which let me down as well. There were maybe 2 scenes in the story that made me a bit uncomfy, but nothing like what I’m used to. Even his Sci-Fi heavy Remina had a lot more cringy moments than this one did.

Overall, it’s not bad, but it just doesn’t hold a candle to all of his previously translated works. If you love cosmic sci fi stories that don’t involve much horror, this one may be for you!

I'm biased because I love every Junji Ito story mostly for the artwork and can't really tell if they're good or bad! Just get Sensor, its such a beautiful book. I haven't seen or read much cosmological horror but this is very interesting. If I had any gripe it would be that sometimes Ito will make a chapter work on its own, I mean throughout his entire oeuvre, and so there's almost a seperate-ness or tangentiality from the main plot. 'I can feel it through my mind' is a story crotch and there's an all- over- the- place quality here... So I find it difficult to settle on a theme or figuration interpretation. But who cares, its still great. Getting Tombs soon and anything else he does in future. Here's hoping Sensor has a sequel or more.

[[VIDEOID:a187b5ebb6f25d04a4be4b331ffec724]] Great story and worth buying just for the awesome book sleeve and artwork!

Spoiler-Free Review:

Junji Ito dips again into the genre of 'cosmic horror' but fails to capture the same impact of Hellstar Remina.

Sensor is a "slow burn" type of horror, which is far from a bad thing, but stories with slow pacing need to gradually build tension until they reach a crescendo. Ito's previous works like Gyo and Hellstar Remina are perfect in their gradual escalation of terror and scope. Unfortunately, Sensor suffers from sudden "starts" and "stops" like a car with a bad transmission or faulty fuel pump. This might be due to the entire arc having been broken up into an episodic format but Uzumaki was presented in the same manner and did not suffer from this pitfall. Uzumaki uses its individual stories to build atop each other and achieves a satisfying resolution to its story arc. In the case of Sensor, it often goes off course and introduces elements that are tangential, at best, to the main narrative.

The "source" of the horror in this story is revealed too early and the form it is presented as in the end lacks the same impact or sense of dread. By the final chapter, I felt a little underwhelmed and frustrated. The overall plot could be maintained but would have been improved by presenting events in a different order and trimming away some of the superfluous characters/elements.

Ito's art is, of course, always stunning in its level of detail. Sensor has many panels featuring macabre facial expressions and gruesome body horror. It is unfortunate that the best piece is shown about a quarter of the way into the story and is even spoiled on the back cover of the book jacket (but that is probably the fault of the publisher). In a somewhat refreshing change, the main character of this story is drawn a little older than Ito's typical protagonists and even has some facial hair. He is an archetypical investigator and is evocative of a main character one would find in a Lovecraft story.

Overall, Sensor is not one of Ito's best works but it at least has some elements that manage to shine. Pick this one up if you are a diehard Ito fan but do not use it to try and entice your friends into reading his better stories.