Tomie Review 

I think you'll find that Uzumaki's ending is the exception, not the rule when it comes to Junji Ito. He is most well known for coming up with interesting concepts and twisting those concepts into the most terrifying things you can imagine. But once he feels like he has explored his idea enough, the story will (usually) just end. You should read one of his short story anthologies next!

In the story about the fingers, they talk about how they weren't completely burnt; they were only partly burnt, which meant they could still regenerate. This is partly why one of them took longer to regenerate than the others. One was more burnt.

' In one photo, there was no Tomie and no monster, but... ...There was a sad looking woman, standing alone. ' my fave line in the series

An interesting note about Tomie: It's actually his first work as it was meant to be a bunch of short stories that just happened to have one central theme for a Manga Magazine. The ending probably felt like it wasn't as climatic was because it was never meant to. He was just trying to find ways to do character studies with her and that's why the thread was more interesting than the end as the ending was never the point. He took what he learned for Tomie and brought it into his other works and tried to push different aspects of his skills to each one. It's interesting that you felt like Uzimaki felt more disjointed as a lot of fans of Jinj Ito usually feel like Tomie is the second weakest work due to it being his first and they start off with *everything* else before going to Tomie, so they see the beginning flaws that he fixes in other works. I think Gyo was was his second work, and that one people think is the weakest as he was first doing environmental? But I could be wrong, but I know most people rank Gyo as the weakest of the work for various reasons.

The issue with the Tomie story, is that it really is just a collection of short stories. Tomie is essentially a recurring character in Ito's numerous serialised stories (some of his best work can be found in these one off horror tales). Hence the finale is still a serialised single issue story with some call backs, and since this collection was made Ito has produced new Tomie stories. Btw my favourite Ito one shot is 'the town without streets', its like a non-apocalyptic Uzumaki with the 'curse' being a much more meta issue than an obvious one present in their world.

I once again recommend Naoki Urasawa's work if you like psychological thrillers and mysteries. Monster is probably his best But 20th Century Boys is also a strong choice !

What I really like about this story is how it explores how beautiful women are striped of humanity; seen only as commodities that inspire strong emotions in others that are then blamed on them even when unrelated.

Tomie just kept getting more beautiful throughout the manga that each chapter i was excited to reach the next chapter to see how in the world can this mangaka draw her more beautiful and i was not disappointed each time.

Her self absorbed nature and being the "prettiest" I think is what drives her to kill the other Tomies, because you can't be the prettiest when there's so many of you.

I recommend you read Monster by Naoki Urasawa, it's phenomenonal psychological thriller manga. The author has an interesting way of connecting different themes and storylines within it to create a beautiful ending. Also main villain is regarded as one of the best in any story in general.

TOMIE ENDING SPOILERS: As many have said, it's a collection of short stories that feature the character Tomie so there will probably never be a definitive 'ending', having said that, there are apparently some new chapters brought out since the release of that collection you have, and a cameo. Also, as far as I can tell with the 'certain chapter', her fingers weren't 'completely carbonized' (per the wiki) and so they were still able to regenerate. Very happy seeing you continue the Ito journey and looking forward to hearing which of his short stories are your favourite!

"There didnt feel like a climax" I mean, with a story of an immortal being forever killing her clones to be "The Highlander", i feel like there can't be a climax because she just persists. There is no climax with immortality, it just keeps going

i think i can answer some of your questions, though probably in a very unsatisfying way (loved hearing your take on this by the way, Tomie is close to my heart ❤and i never noticed that thing with the photographs!) 1. Uzumaki was a single story written for a single publisher, released as one work in three volumes i think, so it was Ito trying to fit his usual short-comic-strip form of writing into an overarching plot with development and all that, which is why he had to tie it all together at the end. However, you can see that he really doesn't wanna let go of his usual story length (standard for serialized manga), which is why it can start to feel repetitive and all over the place, before building up to a finale. 2. the Tomie book you have, on the other hand, is an anthology of comic strips ranging from the 80s to contemporary times, and NOT a single project that Ito had in mind - it's just something put together by the publisher. (i.e. it's not a "novel" with "chapters"). The first Tomie story was the one that launched his career, so it is wonderful, as you said, to see how he develops as an illustrator and story-teller using the same character and story idea over and over again. The way people originally read these stories was spaced out over many years, and I think it's unlikely Ito had an idea that he was creating a Tomie-verse that would have an overarching narrative. probably sometimes his publishers told him, "hey, sales are flagging, let's have another Tomie story," and he'd say "ok", and other times he'd have a stroke of inspiration to return to her. I think that explains why there are inconsistencies in the "Tomie lore" and why there's no climax or conclusion, and i totally see why you would be expecting one after reading Uzumaki first. the good side to this is that, while Uzumaki is a finished work, the Tomie series is unended, and who's to say she won't keep reappearing and regenerating now and again in new stories to lure in fans like us as long as Ito Sensei keeps drawing and writing! hope that helps! i think Ito is much better at writing short stories than novel-length ones, but if you want that kind of long-form narrative development then i think he achieves it best in Gyo! it's also just great, plz read it! 🐟❤

The story's of Tomie have consistent themes of how woman are treated by people. Not just men but women, it's more evident in the first story where after getting attacked by a male student, female student defends him and justifies his actions. I like to say that Tomie is just a story but the story view on people's visceral reactions to beautiful young women is very true to life. The themes of victim blaming is just poignant. It reminds me of britney spears on how people simultaneously adored her for her pop star image and abhorred her for those same qualities.

At this point Nothing will surprise me on Murphy channel as she clearly showed range, understanding, appreciation and patience for great art as well as she can enjoy fun. If she reads Faulkner, Joyce, Shakespeare or Woolf next year I shall not utter Surprised Pikachu face!

Junji Ito serialized Tomie in Monthly Holloween (a horror manga magazine aimed at girls) from 1987-1995, released some one shots, and started a second series in 1999 to coincide with a movie adaptation. It was the work that made his name at age 24 and at age 37 it was pretty much a horror movie franchise in Japan. I imagine editors kept asking him to make Tomie stories well after he lost interest but the money was too good to walk away from. That is not to say later Tomie is bad, he just went from telling Tomie's story to telling stories with Tomie in them.

18:00 that was a very small fire and bone needs a lot of heat to burn to ash. It’s very likely especially given the language of the 4 Tomie’s that the fire didn’t burn all of it and far from it.

Yeeeeeees! I'm so happy that Merphy is embracing Manga so deeply 😊👌

I'm actually early for once. Will definitely check this this out. I need to get into more horror manga.

Merph doing consistent manga content? Yes please!

My favorite Tomie chapter, and perhaps the one that meant the most from a thematic standpoint, was the step mom chapter with left the "ugly" son trying to explain true beauty to her before realizing its a worthless effort.

When i first heard how the story of tomie goes, it reminded me of those people who kills babies or animals just because they're too obsessed with their cuteness. I think this is similar to the case of tomie. btw i recommend reading junji ito's other longer stories like gyo, remina, dissolving classroom, sensor, no longer human, frankenstein, and lovesickness.

Glad you liked it! this is probably one of the few authors we have in common lol

Idk how comment notifications work for creators, but I’m watching ur Peter Pan video rn and my body is- SO EXCITED. I’m in the beginning stages of loving it, I just finished reading it for the first time and now am doing research!!!

I'm excited for you to dive into his short stories as well

I never heard of this one, but I'm down for more Manga with Merph

I recommend Hellstar Remina by Junji Ito if you're still in the mood for his work! It involves intergalactic horror!

Reading Junji Ito's works reminds me of the feeling of reading Du Maurier's books as well as Case Closed. It's immersive and addicting despite the genre wasn't a cup of my tea.

20th Century Boys plz!!....The mystery is amazing

Loving these reviews for manga that aren't One Piece! Your taste and interests are often different from mine. As a result, the manga you choose are also so different from mine. It's introducing me to interesting new things things! Keep it up!

I really really enjoyed watching this video please stay safe and enjoy your reading 📖 love your amazing channel love your number one Australia fan John

For me some of the best works of Junji Ito’re hidden in short stories. I would especially recommend to look up “Long dream” and “The enigma of Amigara falls”.

Very good review!

I liked the Painting and the photograph chapters. I love it when Tommie monstrous true face is revealed.

Tomie really is pitiful. You really end up feeling bad for her in certain chapters because she doesn't want to be this. She can't help but expand. She can't help that men want to kill her. How many times do you have to be brutally murdered and threatened by another version of yourself before you just lose it?

It's short, but Junji Ito's "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" is probably his scariest story. You may want to give "Gyo" a pass, unless the phrase "Haunted Fish Fart Apocalypse" sounds appealing.

It's not a happy story- or a horror manga- but you should also consider reading Oyasumi Punpun. It's a story that follows the life of a boy from childhood to adulthood, where the protagonist is stylistically represented as a caricature (usually a bird) in a world where everyone around him is drawn normally. Apparently the story is semi-autobiographical and the author drew the protagonist that way to put some emotional distance between himself and the situations/heavy themes the story deals with since they are personal to him. The art is beautiful and employs surrealism in its visuals a lot despite telling a very grounded story. Also it's fully released which is always great. All that being said I would not recommend reading this to anyone who isn't in a place for an emotionally draining story, friendly reminder to take care of your mental health y'all ✿

Thanks for the recommendation, I'm a huge horror fan

No rush but I would definitely love to hear ur opinions on a Berserk Review and Hellsing as well🔥💯

Gyo next! It's a lot more on the weird and kinda gross end, but it has one of the best of his stand alone stories in between some chapters. And then you'll have his collections to work through

THiS IS BRILLIANT! Merphy-senpai just recommended a Manga I have never heard of....I'm so proud to be apart of the Grand Mer-Fleet ❤❤

The new Sensors book is very unique even for Ito. Remina is probably my favorites. Gyo is a little silly but has enough going on to make the ending interesting.

Another's great Junji Ito work. I'm so glad that you finally gave manga a chance after One Piece there are so many great work of fiction in the manga segment!

there is a old Tomie in one One-shot named Souichi Possesed, Souichi is another character of Ito, who is recurrent in many stories, there you can see Souichi talking with a very old lady, he says that she told him she was Tomie, in the end you see the brother of Souichi talking with a young lady about his brother and the old lady... Souichi's brother was talking with a young Tomie.

Have to check this one out, other than Uzumaki I only remember reading Itos short stories.

Honestly I always thought the theme of this story was being unsatisfied, despite tomies desire to be the most beautiful there are always other tomies, despite how madly the men would fall for her it was never fulfilled, despite how many times she was killed she could not be stopped, their is no real ending because there is no answer to the question "what do we do about tomie?" She just is, regardless of everyone else, even tomie herself.

This review is 👌

If you want more horror manga I would recommend Happiness, Flower of Evil or Blood on the tracks by the author Shuzo Oshimi. It's more psychological horror but definitely worth it.

Read Shiver or Smashed next for the short stories. Then do Remina or Sensor for scifi horror.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND MONSTER BY NAOKI URASAWA!!! Anything written by Urasawa is absolutely incredible and out of this world

I also just read Tomie! I talk about it in my Spooky Reads Wrap Up video.

Would love to see a review of Gyo. Its my go to

Also, obsession is actually a theme that you could see in all of Junji Ito's works

I just got the Tomie manga like your one for Xmas haha I actually like it it’s different from what manga I usually read which is usually the mainstream manga

Ohhh sounds spooky. I wanna read his stuff but at same time the art kinda grosses me out with how wild it is. Nice to listen to your reviews, that way I van still some of the story from the review/summary

In tomie manga is like watching his art style improvement too :D

Tomie was one of the earlier works of Junji, so maybe that's why he didn't quite manage to land the ending that well?

Tomie is really fascinating. I just finished it and it doesn't feel like a horror to me but more of a mystery. Idk if she's actually evil. The further I read, the more I feel like she doesn't have control over her impulses and instinct. At her mature stage in her life cycle, she will intoxicate people so that she'd get chopped up and multiply. She hates that process when it happens, but she can't help herself. It's a metamorphic life cycle that she simply go through as a creature. She does enjoy ruining people's lives though. But that could also be part of the programming to raise the chance of her getting chopped up. Cool story. Edit: I kinda disagree that she "lose her humanity" over time. I don't think she ever had any humanity. I don't think she became more evil either. I feel she's the same from start to finish. Edit 2: it's interesting that there seems to be a generation concept of Tomies where only the ones from different generations want to kill each other, but the ones grown from the same group of body parts don't. Like in the water fall story or the fingers, they don't hate each other. Doesn't apply to the blood injection ones though.

cant wait for u to read the manga Monster by Naoki Urasawa (i think i saw it on ur TBR) bc i feel like u would LOVE it and have such interesting thoughts on it

Check out Junji Ito's shorter works from early in the career. They're quite something.

I preferred Uzumaki over Tommie. The end of Tommie was a bit anticlimactic for me. As for the fingers chapter, what I understood from it is that burning her doesn’t kill her but makes her re-grow with a ugly face. But I might be wrong…

I can't believe we just... created another cultured person LOL

I highly recommend you read his book Hellstar Remina.

please read hellstar remina by junji ito as well. would like to hear ur thoughts on that one.

1:25 just have to leave a note here. Obsession whit Spirales just constantly reminds me of Gurren Lagann an Anime whos Powersystem is literaly Spirals. And there is no deeper Connection between these two, but I just find it hillarious.

Have you read any of the Forgotten Realms novels I heard you recently got into D&D and thought you might enjoy some of them. I highly recommend the Erevis Cale trilogy if you ever decide to read them.

Hellstar Remina is good as well. I didn't even know for the longest tomie was a manga. I watched a live series movie of it like 17 years ago

Miss Merphy may I suggest the graphic novel *BLACK HOLE* by Charles Burn you might like it if you are still gonna give *body horror a try*

I think for the one part that she regenerate herself on the ugly brother is still logical. She want to be loved like you say but she hate herself, so when she want to die the fire will consume her but in this instance she's so obsessive over him that it surpass the hatred she has for herself and live for the obsession that overcome her dying wish. At least that's what i understand form it. Love your video murphy ❤️

Can you review No Longer Human illustrated by Junji Ito and original novel written by Osamu Dazai?

A vinland saga review please And berserk and kozure okami ;)

I kinda wish someone would get her to read "Holyland" by Mouri Kouji. I consider it a masterpiece, but I can never describe why. It's about street fighting, but it's so much more than that. It's about a lost kid that wants to feel at home somewhere, but it's still so much more than that. I consider it a masterpiece, and I know I'm not alone in that, I've seen a lot of people share my opinion, but In a way I don't even know why. It's just sort of magical. Idk. I'd love Merphy's opinion on it.

You should read Junji Ito's Cat Diary next. Totally different than his other works and great for a laugh.

I cannot read or watch horror But I love listening to reviews the ones spoiler Especially🥰

To be honest, I did enjoy the "episodic" aspect of the story. I'm usually happy with individual short stories that are self-contained, and I don't need a bigger narrative to enjoy a book. However it seems that this one falls in between Ito's usual short stories and his rarer "longer" narrative, so you could either see it as a strength or a weakness...

I think with the fingers burning, is that the fleshed burned, but not the bones and that they were in the ashes. I think that the fire has to be to destroy the bones too, but I could be absolutely, totally wrong, but that's what I think about that bit in the short stories.

Venus in the blind spot is so good read it

I recommend you to read Naoki Urasawa's works. You can start with the most famous one - Monster.

Thanks.

I stumbled onto your channel by random chance I love to read, but admit I haven't made it a true priority, thus I haven't read any material in several months The video I saw was "what reading does to your brain" and it got me thinking that I am missing out on a marvelous activity! I am going to start reading again! Let me recommend some material and relay a comment I would like to recommend The Walk by Richard Paul Evans! It is a 5 book series and is supposedly based on a true story When I think about reading, I imagine being able to somehow absorb all the literature that was ever written and how that would feel! All those perspectives, opinions, attitudes and so on! Imagine all the contradictions and paradoxes! Something to think about! Ciao!

Letsgooo!!!!

I've read 3 of Ito's works so far. Uzumaki, Tomie and Gyo (with Ito's retelling of Frankenstein being next on my list). And I would rank them in that order with Uzimaki being the best due to how Ito managed to tied everything together in the end. And Gyo being the worst since it felt more like a horror comedy which ain't my cup of tea. I love Tomie because of that's were Ito's character work got to shine.

If there is any of junji ito's stories that I can recommend that you have not gotten into yet i would recommend remina. I think it has one of the strongest stsrts of all of itos work Also if you ever want just a psychologically horrific but amazing short story check of long dream

is it safe to recomend berserk? of that is too much?

You should read Cat Diary by the same Junji Ito, it's adorable and awesome

Both Uzumaki and Tomie are great picks. You should review Gyo next.

Definitively prefer your ending than the actual one XD

I've not read this story, but I wonder if the burning only works if its by her command? maybe the ugly brothers fire didn't work because she wasn't willing it to.

So Gyo is next in line, right?

please read remina it's my favourite one from Junji Ito

Ito Junji, most of his works are just short stories put together, when they come to the west they put them together in one book, it was a different time back then in the 1970s and 80s. Whenever these type of stories could do good and get Big. Also his first Original work was Tomie.

I bet you would love his other work cats that's literally all about the authors cats and how they cute but drawin in a horror style .

Tomie is probably my favorite of Ito’s works.

Read GYO!! It's really good!!

Tomie got Highlander rules

You should read cat diaries by Junji Ito, very short but great

You really need to read monster by urasawa naoki :)

Can you read oyasaumu punpun

You should check out Vagabond, a really good manga

23:00 I think, as it was established before that all Tomies share their memories (not only passing them from Tomie to Tomie via her prolification), that the experience of aging and losing her youth would transfer over to all Tomies, breaking the curse. Of course thats quite too technical to suit a storytelling thats so thematic, but i guess it works well both ways, in all Tomies being one.