Mimi's Tales of Terror

(Check my profile for a link to my personal site containing more up-to-date reviews and bonus media!) Written July 10, 2018 12:00 am EST --- NOTE: This collection has been officially translated since I originally read and reviewed it. I may very well revisit it and read the official translation to see if it enhances my experience. Mimi's Tales of Terror sucks. There's somewhat of a reason for that, because Junji Ito adapted these stories from a book with different authors. Ito claims he took creative liberties with the stories, but the extent to which he did is never made clear. Whatever the case, he should've gone further, becausethis is the worst horror collection he's made. Somewhere, I read a review that claimed these stories were "grittier" than the usual Ito fare, but I would describe them as the polar opposite. There are almost no serious consequences or threats in any of these stories; a complete foil to Ito's usual cruelty towards his characters. The shock panels are frequently weak, often just being rotted corpses or spooky wisps with faces. The stories do feature recurring characters such as the titular Mimi, but they're completely generic, and the lack of interconnection between the plots makes this basically irrelevant. Skip this one completely.

Mimi's Ghost stories was, in effect, my first Junji Itou... which I read 15 - 18 years back! I obviously didn't know who he was at the time. Now almost 2 decades later, and I still remember some of these panels! That's the mark of greatness right there. This collection is a bit different compared to the author's usual works. They are in fact much, much, MUCH tamer! That's because they weren't written by Junji, they were popular urban legends from that time period. Mimi, the protagonist, is a young lady that ends up living through them as the main framing device. 6 main chapters with afew "bonus" tale summaries at the end. The one that stuck in my head for over a decade was oddly Graveman, the most harmless of the bunch but for some reason the most disturbing. Overall I do have mixed feelings about this one. Yes it was creepy... in the early 2000s. Not so much now though. I would recommend it for a lightweight of the genre or someone looking into the author's lesser known work, but that's about it.

Spooky!!⚰️ This year I started to read Junji Ito's Mangas, but Mimi caught me. I think this is the best manga ahead Uzumaki or Soichi *my favorites before Mimi* I really really recommend this manga. I will be very transparent with you, I did not knew the original work "Shin Mimibukuro" I will probably see the work someday. Mimi's character remembers me "Kirie" from Uzumaki, but with other context because here we have short histories, not a long history like Uzumaki. I think the art is good, I like womens next door's draw. We can see the stranger things in Mimi's life with her boyfriend. So... that's all. Enjoythis magnific adventure about "Mimi and her stories from beyond the grave" called in Argentina. 💌