| Native name 伊藤 潤二 Role Manga artist Name Junji Ito | Notable work TomieUzumakiGyo Nationality Japanese | |
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| Born July 31, 1963 (age 52) (1963-07-31) Gifu Prefecture, Japan Occupation Writer, penciller, inker, manga artist Movies Tomie: Unlimited, Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack, Tomie: Another Face, Kakashi, Marronnier Books Fragments of Horror, Uzumaki (3‑in‑1 - Deluxe E, Gyo 2‑in‑1 Deluxe Edition, Black Paradox, Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu Similar People Kazuo Umezu, Ataru Oikawa, Takayuki Hirao, Suehiro Maruo, Noboru Iguchi | ||
Junji ito interview
Junji Ito (伊藤 潤二, Itō Junji, born July 31, 1963) is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include Tomie, a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness, Uzumaki, a three-volume series about a town obsessed with spirals, and Gyo, a two-volume story where fish are controlled by a strain of sentient bacteria called "the death stench." His other works are Itou Junji Kyoufu Manga Collection, a collection of different short stories including a series of stories named Souchi's Journal of Delights, and Itou Junji No Neko Nikki: Yon and Mu, a light-hearted, but still terrifying, story about moving in a new house with his cats.
Contents
The Mole - Meeting Junji Ito
Biography
Junji Ito was born in the Gifu prefecture of Japan in 1963. He was inspired from a young age by both his older sister's drawings and the work of Kazuo Umezu. Ito first began writing and drawing manga as a hobby while working as a dental technician in the early 90's. In 1987, he submitted a short story to Gekkan Halloween that won an honorable mention in the Kazuo Umezu Prize (with Umezu himself as one of the judges).
In addition to Kazuo Umezu, Ito has cited Hideshi Hino, Koga Shinsaku, Yasutaka Tsutsui, and H.P. Lovecraft as being major influences on his work.
Some of the recurring themes of Ito's work include body horror, seemingly ordinary characters who begin to act out of irrational compulsion, the breakdown of society, deep sea organisms, and the inevitability of one's demise.
Ito's universe is also very cruel and capricious; his characters often find themselves victims of malevolent unnatural circumstances for no discernible reason or punished out of proportion for minor infractions against an unknown and incomprehensible natural order.
Film director Guillermo del Toro cited on his official Twitter account that Ito was originally a collaborator for the video game Silent Hills (of which both Del Toro and game designer Hideo Kojima were the main directors), however a year after its announcement the project was cancelled by Konami, the IP's owner.
Manga
Film
Adaptations
Tomie was adapted into a series of films, beginning in 1999. Several other works of Ito's have subsequently been adapted for film and television: