Word: ito
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...want to read horror comics this week, you'd do better turning to Japan. The wealth of material being imported far outpaces the amount and quality produced domestically in the horror genre. Three outstanding recent releases range in style from a twist on the teenagers-in-peril subgenre (Junji Ito's Museum of Terror) to extreme gross-out humor (Toru Yamazaki's Octopus Girl) to a disturbing medical thriller by Japan's most revered comix creator (Osamu Tezuka's Ode to Kirihito...
...various publishers of translated manga, Dark Horse comics has distinguished itself in publishing superior horror titles, releasing five different multi-volume horror titles this year alone. Among them were two that should not be missed: Junji Ito's Museum of Terror and Toru Yamazaki's Octopus Girl. Arguably Japan's premier horror manga-ka, Ito has a fevered imagination that has given us Uzumaki, about a town beset by spirals, and Gyo, about dead fish that sprout legs and wreak havoc upon the land. Museum of Terror (two volumes so far, $14 each) collects the so-called Tomie tales...
...including being mashed into pulp and turned into sake, but always regenerates to induce her slaves into perverse acts of murder and torture. Instead, pity the poor wretches whose eyes turn dark and cheeks become sallow as their will power seeps away. Rendered with a high degree of realism, Ito's drawings and storytelling more closely resemble Western comics than other Japanese imports. This makes them easier to read, in spite of being printed right to left like the other Dark Horse manga books. Full of satisfyingly graphic violence and ectoplasmic f/x, Ito delivers not just the required amount...
Where Junji Ito represents the classic horror style, Toru Yamazaki's Octopus Girl takes the genre to its comical extremes. Conflating the ultra-cutesy style of girl's shojo manga with outrageously repulsive gross-out humor, the three volumes so far ($13 each) may be the funniest books of the year, as well as the most disgusting. The first story of the first volume starts like a typical shojo book might, with a bunch of school girls tormenting their cute classmate Takako. But in this version, they jump on top her and make her lunch vegetables squirt out her nose...
...natural, unsweetened teas are fast gaining favor, as are chilled organic brews, such as Honest Tea. The new Cha Dao brand, left, uses actual tea leaves, not concentrates or powders common in other brands. (But because it has no preservatives, it must stay refrigerated.) Ito En's newest drink, Sencha Shot, right, is a potent green tea. The mini can is full of antioxidants and has zero calories...