Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection

Pretty sure Ito changed the story when the monster asks Viktor to create a female. In the original Viktor destroys the female out of fear that the couple will reproduce--apparently being too stupid to leave out the necessary parts--in this version the monster brings the head of the innocent nursemaid who was executed for the murder of a child and that head makes the female monster hate and reject him. Interesting to see a different cultural and generational take on the story. Other tales in the collection a variety of horror and ghost tales.

Junji Ito's work is always worth a look, even if the first half of this collection is yet another adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The monster is gruesome, even if he looks a bit like an extra from Attack on Titan, but the rest of the adaptation is rather pedestrian.

The connected short stories in the back half of the book are more typical of Ito's creepiness, as an evil boy discovers his home is a gateway to alternate dimensions. Unfortunately, they are dark dimensions and his evil doppelgangers start using his house to dump bodies of people they have murdered and perpetrate other schemes. Ito dishes up plenty of the body horror for which he is notorious.

This is a manga adaptation of [[Mary Shelly]]'s classic [Frankenstein], with a few short, original pieces about a boy named Oshikiri who lives in a house that has a portal to other dimensions (and I'm not sure that all the stories feature the same Oshikiri as many seem to take place in different realities) and a couple of stories about his (Junji ito's) mother's dog. I didn't particularly care for the adaptation. I didn't think it was as much fun as his original works, and he made a few changes (with the death of William Frankenstein and the creation of the female creature) to make the creature more monstrous and Frankenstein less so. Those changes made the story far less interesting than the original.

This was my first Junji Ito, and I think this will be my last. Junji Ito is a great story teller and artist, but I have a weak stomach for gore so as to preserve myself I think I'm done with Junji Ito's work. If you like gore and horror then recommend more of his work, but if you are like me and can barely get a paper cut without feeling faint and nauseous then I don't suggest Junji Ito.

Typically eerie and unsettling work by Ito. His Frankenstein interpretation is only half of this collection and it is excellent as expected. The rest is a mix of short works, and most are really good, some not so much, but they're short, so it's not a big deal. His artwork is very creepy, detailed and uncanny. I loved every page!

Excellent adaptation of the classic tale! Junji Ito puts his own minor spin on it that I know fans of the older story will appreciate. It comes equipped with a few other stories too after Frankenstein. The Oshikiri Tales are fairly alright, but maybe a bit much to keep up with if you find stories about parallel dimensions overwhelming. The story "Pen Pal" was particularly memorable, even if it did have strange 'closure'.

Pierwsze one-shoty fajne, Frankenstein mnie wymęczył odrobinę (pomijając fajne zakończenie), a ostatnie krótkie historyjki mnie zachwyciły.