The post Junji Ito Maniac Season 1 Episode 9 Recap – “Tomie – Photo” appeared first on Ready Steady Cut.
This summary of the Netflix Anime Anthology Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre Season 1 Episode 9, “Tomie? Photo”, contains spoilers.
Tomie is one of Junji Ito’s most iconic characters. She got an entire volume devoted to her in Junji Ito’s Horror World and his exploits have already been adapted several times in the past. “Tomie – Photo”, or simply Photographhas been included in several collections and here in Junji Ito Crazy it provides a nice introduction to the character while delivering that quintessential weirdness and visual body horror.
Junji Ito Maniac Season 1 Episode 9 Recap
I have to admit I wasn’t entirely a fan of the high school aesthetic or the creepy exchange student motif, both of which are overdone in horror, especially Japanese horror, but the turns that takes the episode towards the end are more than worth it. accumulate. Again, dedicating the whole episode to the story really helps it breathe and grow organically.
The general idea is that the titular Tomie is a new student who leads the school’s disciplinary committee. The male students follow her everywhere and act on her whims, but she is obviously mysterious and at least a bit dangerous. Her true nature, however, is never really established, which ensures that she retains an air of mystery, and later stories featuring her in follow-up anthologies can still be about basically anything.
Anyway, Tomie doesn’t particularly like Tsukiko, a student who takes and sells pictures of popular boys at school. Tomie constantly thwarts Tsukiko’s money-making plan, threatens her, and usually it’s her big sister, eventually causing her to be badly reprimanded for abusing photo club privileges.
However, Tomie also poses for some photos at one point, and when they are developed, they reveal another face and a head poking out of her hair. This is where the body horror stuff starts to come in, but the episode combines it with the adoration of male students, turning a scene where Tomie inside the growths being cut off him into a sadistic game. of pathetic pathetic male one-upmanship that inadvertently leaves Tomie decapitated.
The episode’s best visual, however, comes when Tomie’s headless torso moves independently, with another head already sprouting. It’s not the best episode, but it’s a neat and nasty introduction to one of Ito’s oldest and best-known characters.
You can stream the Netflix anime anthology Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre Season 1 Episode 9, “Tomie? Photo” exclusively on Netflix.
Further reading:
- Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre Season 1 Recap.
- Junji Ito Maniac Season 1 Episode 8 Recap.
- Junji Ito Maniac Season 1 Episode 10 Recap.
- Will there be a Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of Macabre Season 2?
The post Junji Ito Maniac Season 1 Episode 9 Recap – “Tomie – Photo” appeared first on Ready Steady Cut.