Junji Ito's horror catalog features a number of recurring characters; the best known might be the titular Tomie, but she's joined by the likes of nail-chewing occult brat Sōichi, man-eating supermodel Miss Fuchi, and the dimension-hopping Toru Oshikiri. The handsome ghost of Lovesickness joins Ito's gallery of terrors in a story reminiscent of both Uzumaki and Tomie. While this is the latest Ito release from Viz, I tried to keep in mind that it was originally published in Japan in 1997, and plot beats that seem well-trodden now were less so at the time of its creation.

Lovesickness proves to be familiar territory for Ito's storytelling both in characterization and twists. It stars Ito's favorite protagonist archetype: a teenager with a dour disposition, little emotional depth, and a penchant for lashing out when under stress. In this case, that teenager is Ryūsuke, a sullen yet handsome guy that returns to his foggy hometown and reunites with his old friends, including his former crush Midori. Midori is similar to many female sidekicks that appear in Ito's tales: headstrong and loyal to a fault despite Ryūsuke's coldness. She's always ready to pop into frame to help him evade supernatural trouble and tolerates his moody outbursts out of a sense of altruism and, in her mind, love.

The two embark on the seemingly impossible quest of tracking down the handsome ghost that walks through the town's intersections. Ryūsuke is convinced the ghost is responsible for a string of suicides laying waste to his female classmates. Each girl appears to be a victim of an ill fortune received from the ghost when they asked him to weigh in on their love lives. As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that the ghost's words are akin to a curse that compels the listener to do whatever he says or fall into unfathomable despair. Midori and Ryūsuke encounter multiple victims; first a close friend, then the mistress of a married man. Meanwhile the girls of the town form something akin to a serial killer fanclub for the ghost, who they believe to be Ryūsuke, and begin chasing him around town in swarms.

The town's descent into madness and the supernatural goings-on that plague it originated from one central event eight years ago that causes Ryūsuke to feel a deep sense of guilt. He spends multiple chapters attempting to thwart the Handsome Ghost or pin him down, but the story's conclusion ultimately feels unsatisfying after hundreds of pages of build-up. The ghost's origin story and his relationship with Ryūsuke is relayed in a passing fashion and does little to illuminate the ghost's cynical maleficence. The way Midori is written out of the story also feels arbitrary; as a character that was little more than the wingman for Ryūsuke's foggy excursions, I kept hoping for a little more nuance, but in the end she has little bearing on the story's outcome.

I found it equally difficult to hone in on an overall theme beyond the necessity for balance. For a story focused on fortune-telling, romance, and bad luck, there isn't much to be said beyond 'be careful what you wish for.' A more streamlined idea or an overall takeaway beyond 'ghost terrorizes town' would have left a more biting impression. Instead, what we have here is some truly great horror artwork in service of a lukewarm story. Several of the female ghosts bear a striking resemblance to Stephen Gammell's work in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and are just as chilling. Ito makes deft use of facial close-ups to show the oozing, crusting detail of his horrible ghosts.

The latter half of the book includes two new stories featuring the Hikizuri Siblings, a sort of "Addams Family" but even more macabre. Most of the family members have grotesque designs with the exception of 14-year-old Nanami, who instead appears attractive but constantly threatens to commit suicide to get what she wants from others. Their chapters are primarily played as a dark comedy. Speaking of, it's probably a good idea to keep in mind that suicide is featured prominently in this volume. The Handsome Ghost chapters focus heavily on suicide and include very graphic depictions. The possibility of suicide happens so often that it honestly loses a lot of its impact. You can only show so many boxcutters before it ceases to be a serious threat anymore. There's also a one-shot chapter towards the end that focuses on dieting and body image in an extreme way.

Having read the entirety of the English-language Junji Ito library to date, I'd like to see original releases where the creator branches out into something beyond surface-level horror and anxiety. The characters themselves need a bit more depth than merely being victims of supernatural phenomenon beyond their control.

Lovesickness by Junji Ito was amazing. It sucked me into the story right from the beginning. It tells the story of a young man who moved back to his childhood home eight years after leaving. He has a dark secret about what happened the day he found out he was moving all those years ago. Everyone in school is obsessed with the idea of Crossroad Fortunes (you stand in an intersection and the first person who comes across you tells your fortune), but people start dying after hearing bad fortunes. This freaks the young man out.
This graphic novel tells a great horror story and I know that my students will love to read it.

There is a full length review forthcoming on my site, MangaLibrarian.com and on my YouTube Channel! I go in depth on my analysis there.

This title is typical of Junji Ito. It isn't as bad as some other titles. There is no nudity but there is gore and some straight up creepy images. The sketchy art style doesn't help the creep factor. I think I would be comfortable having this in my young adult library collection though. I didn't read it for context but based on the images it seems fine.

This collection has ten stories overall and is divided into three parts: Lovesickness, The Strange Hikizuri Siblings, and some unconnected short stories.

Lovesickness includes five stories all connected around the beautiful boy at the crossroad.
Crossroad fortune telling is where you stand at an intersection and the first person to walk by has to tell you your fortune. Your fortune can be good or bad, but It’s best to do when the fog is thick. This town is foggy a lot of the time and it really adds to the tension and suspense in the artwork. Ryusuke Fukada has moved back to this town where he gets to reconnect with his childhood crush, but there is something really strange happening to the girls there. I think these first five stories are the strongest in the collection and the most compelling to read. The narrative is strong with a touch of hope.

The Strange Hikizuri Siblings section includes two stories centered around these siblings and how they interact with the world. These were not the strongest in the collection.

The last three additions did not include characters from any of the other stories. “The Mansion of Phantom Pain” is about a boy having pains that extend to the whole house, and the workers who live there who try to stop it. “The Rib Woman” involves a girl unhappy with her image that she decides to take drastic measures. “Memories of Real Poop” was just a bizarre way to end this collection.

I think for someone who is not familiar with Junji Ito’s work this was a pretty good introduction to his style and what he is all about. This collection is unsettling and creative. The art style is eerie and beautiful.

If you are a fan of horror and mystery then you will enjoy this.

Special thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Ito is a master of unsettling storytelling, and his newest work is another gory gem.

Ito’s newest collection of stories starts with the titular “Lovesickness”: Ryusuke and his family move back to their old hometown, where he returns to school and reconnects with old classmates. Soon after, word spreads about a mysterious boy who gives cruel crossroads fortunes that leads the girls who encounter him to commit suicide. Suddenly the town is on alert, with people flocking to the streets to receive crossroad fortunes in the fog, wanting to catch a glimpse of the boy at the crossroads only to meet their demise. Ryusuke’s past is tied to these sudden suicides, and he goes in search of the boy to try and stop him…

This story is the longest, and had some of the most terrifying artwork I’ve ever seen. This one definitely left a mark on me.

The other stories are also well done, but not as horrific as “Lovesickness”. “The Strange Hikizuri Siblings” reminded me of a more sadistic, creepy, and less endearing version of the Addams Family - but still funny! My favorite story was “The Rib Woman”, about a young girl who struggles with her body image and so she sees a surgeon. After seeing him, she and her friends hear a strange, eerie song playing through the city that leads them to the Rib Woman.

The art is classic Junji Ito, creepy and perfectly detailed. I highly recommend this collection to all fans of horror that can stomach graphic gore (but also oddly beautiful?), and of course to previous Junji Ito fans.

As someone who’s recently started getting more and more into horror, I knew I needed to pick up something by Junji Ito. So many fans of the genre praise Ito and laud him as a master of the craft, to the point where I felt compelled to dive in and figure out what all the fuss was about. Did he live up to the hype? Kind of.

Lovesickness is divided into two parts.

The first section is set in a Japanese town where teenagers wait on foggy street corners for strangers to tell their fortunes. But when sightings of a beautiful, mysterious boy are shortly followed by a smattering of teen suicides, it becomes clear that something sinister is afoot.

I found the story to be incredibly atmospheric, with this deeply unsettling feeling of dread gradually building throughout. I don’t know how else to describe it, other than by saying it was “uncomfortable.” But in a way I find myself enjoying when it comes to horror. I didn’t mind that the ending felt vague and abrupt, because it felt like the most apt way to bring the story to a close while maintaining the eerie, disquieting feeling of the story. So, overall, I really quite enjoyed this section of Lovesickness.

Things fell apart for me in the latter half of the book. It’s made up of a collection of short stories, two of which follow a very dysfunctional family and feels like dark slapstick comedy, one that is about plastic surgery gone very wrong, and one that deals with rapidly expanding phantom pain. The latter two were pretty good, though they didn’t really stand out to me in any way. Oh, and there’s a weird little story about fake poop to cap everything off that was a... choice, to say the least.

It’s the two stories that follow the Hikizuri siblings that, in my eyes, really brought this collection down. It’s 2021 and we’re still depicted characters as being ugly and over-weight to indicate they’re evil or no-good? Come on, now. It seems like such a cop-out and a very lazy choice. I also don’t really vibe with most humor - dark or otherwise - so these two tales were absolutely not my cup of tea.

Will I pick up more by Junji Ito? Probably. But my expectations have been tempered.

Content warnings: grief, trauma, mental illness, bullying, violence, suicide, self-harm, murder, child murder, miscarriage, kidnapping, gore.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster, for sending me this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I've been missing Junji Ito's work lately, and damn, this did NOT disappoint! Lovesickness is easily one of my favorites of his works that I've read so far.

The primary portion of the manga follows a multi-chapter story of a boy who moves back to his childhood town, only to find his past is haunting him through the spirit of a beautiful boy, targeting young girls at crossroads and leading them to drastic ends. This story was unsettling, disturbing, and altogether really enjoyable, with an ending I didn't quite see coming. In typical Junji Ito fashion, shit gets weird on more than one occasion and there is some violence and gore that might not be for everyone.

The latter portion of the manga follows a separate storyline of a very bizarre set of orphaned siblings who like to play pranks and mentally torture the people in their lives, and while I didn't enjoy this story as much as I did the Lovesickness plot, it was still fun, weird, and highly entertaining.

If you're a Junji Ito fan, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of Lovesickness as soon as you can, because you're not going to want to miss this one! If you're new to the author's works or horror manga, this would be a solid introduction to his bibliography or the genre as a whole.

As a fan of Junji Ito, I was looking forward to reading this upcoming collection of his. Unfortunately some of the stories were a bit of a let down, as I wasn't left feeling satisfied. I did enjoy the main story in this collection, "Lovesickness", though it wasn't my favourite. The story "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings" was a riot, and gave me Addams Family vibes (which is a win for me). Shoutout to the absolutely fantastic story "Memories of Real Poop", which I didn't know I needed in my life.

Overall some stories were great, while others unfortunately fell flat for me. However, as this is Junji Ito I will enjoy anything he puts out regardless!

Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection is a horror manga anthology by Junji Ito that includes five stories.

Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection
Written by: Junji Ito
Publisher: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: April 20, 2021

When I started reading this manga, I was surprised to discover that a little over half of it focuses on one story. Even though I had seen the table of contents, it hadn’t hit me just how few stories were ultimately going to be include in this collection.

The first story is “Lovesickness,” the title story for the anthology, which is told over the first five chapters of this manga. It’s set in a foggy town, where there’s almost an obsession of people asking for crossroad fortunes. The idea is that you wait at a crossroads in the fog for the first person to come by. When they do, you ask them to give you a fortune about a topic of your choice. In this story, the main theme seems to be love, since it’s primarily middle schoolers who seem to be into the tradition at the point the story takes place at.

A boy named Ryusuke is moving back to this town after being gone for several years. He harbors a secret: when he was six years old, around the time his family moved, he had gotten upset and stormed out of the house. A pregnant woman stops him and asks for a crossroads fortune about her love life because she was pregnant with her lover’s baby (and her lover was a married man). Because he was angry, he said something mean… and the woman ended up committing suicide at that crossroads. This event haunts Ryusuke to this day, so he’s not eager about the crossroads fortunes even though many of his classmates are. This especially becomes problematic when stories of a beautiful, tall boy dressed in black and has piercings tells negative fortunes about girls’ love lives and they end up committing suicide.

At school, Ryusuke is reunited with Midori, a girl he knew in kindergarten who was his first love. He’s still in love with her, but he learns something awful: that the woman he had given the crossroad fortune to before he left was Midori’s aunt. He makes it his goal for her to not find out about this connection. Things are complicated when Midori’s best friend, Suzue, falls for Ryusuke while Midori and Ryusuke are having a rough patch because of Ryusuke trying to hide his secret from Midori. Suzue she asks for a crossroads fortune about this situation, and she gets an answer from the “beautiful boy”: “Worry about your own heart first.” She takes this to mean that she should go after Ryusuke, and she becomes obsessed. It gets to the point that she annoys Ryusuke and he tells her to back off… which leads her to committing suicide.

“Lovesickness” continues on from here, and it’s both a psychological and a gory thriller. As I saw with Remina, this story builds and gets more and more outlandish. Ryusuke becomes obsessed with finding the “beautiful boy,” and he eventually admits the truth to Midori. His only ally turns on him, just as things get worse. People start believing that Ryusuke is the “beautiful boy,” which causes him nothing but trouble. It culminates with the real “beautiful boy” telling all of these girls to commit suicide, and their ghosts haunt the crossroads. Ryusuke seems to become a “beacon of hope” by going around and giving good fortunes to anyone who asks him for one. At the end of the story, we see three other people following his example. While this city is still a mess, especially with the ghosts haunting the crossroads, this ending at least gives the reader a slight glimmer of hope that maybe someday, things can change. But the overall story gets weirder and weirder, with the “over the top” moment of the mass suicide and the despair it brings about the town. But from what I’ve read from Junji Ito at this point, this seems to be something he does for his stories that are a longer length.

This is followed by two stories that I lump together into one, since they follow the same characters: the strange Hikizuri siblings. One of the siblings, a middle schooler named Narumi, looks normal. The rest of her siblings, however, look like they could have stepped right out of the Addams Family. The first story sees her calling a classmate named Kotani and threatening to kill herself. He rescues her, but she doesn’t want to go back home. Narumi is a pain, but Kotani can’t kick her out because she threatens to kill herself if she does. One of Narumi’s siblings finds her and drags her back home. At first, she fights it, but then she participates in a prank to make Kotani think that she died. It ultimately ends with Kotani dying. The way this was done, even the reader was led to believe that Narumi was really dead… and the truth isn’t revealed until after Kotani dies.

The other story about the siblings sees the oldest, Kazuya, encountering a beautiful woman named Sachiyo who is a spirit photographer. Kazuya becomes interested in her and invites her to his house because there should be spirits for her to photograph there. While she’s at the house, it’s obvious that Shigoro, another one of the brothers, becomes interested in her, and Kazuya becomes jealous and takes it out on Shigoro. But when one of the younger sisters throws a fit about wanting to see their dead parents, Kazuya comes up with an idea of having a séance in order for the sister to see their parents. He invites Sachiyo, who brings her boyfriend along. It appears that the séance is successful when Shigoro spits out ectoplasm and seems to channel the spirit of their father. But after some investigation, Sachiyo and her boyfriend discover the ectoplasm is fake.

To be honest, I really didn’t care for the stories about the Hikizuri siblings. These siblings were downright spooky, and I found nothing redeemable about any of them. Their behavior was just so bizarre and off-putting to me as a reader. On the bright side, at least there were only two chapters focusing on these characters.

This is followed by “The Mansion of Phantom Pain,” which sees a young man named Kozeki taking on a live-in job with a wealthy family. It turns out that the young son of the house has “phantom pain,” which has expanded to the point of him feeling it throughout the whole house. The windows have been bricked up to keep the pain from escaping out of the house. Kozeki is part of a team that responds to wherever the boy says the pain is and they rub the area until the boy says the pain is gone. Over time, the employees get hurt but do nothing to treat their wounds, not even seeing a doctor. The head of the house dies of sepsis, and others start dying from their untreated wounds. But when the wife says if something happens and the family falls into arrears, she will leave the entire estate to the person who will stay forever. As you can guess, some of the crew become greedy and attack the wife and the boy, especially after it’s discovered that the doors to the outside have been locked and the phone lines have been cut. The ending is rather tragic, especially for Kozeki. While there is some of the physical horror with the untreated wounds, this one falls more in the psychological thriller designation. This was better than the stories about the Hikizuri siblings, but it wasn’t quite as strong as the main “Lovesickness” story.

Next is a one-chapter story titled, “The Rib Woman.” A woman named Yuki hates how she looks because of the shape of her ribs. Her brother’s girlfriend starts hearing strange music and it freaks her out. The three of them find a strange woman playing a harp made from a rib, which freaks the girlfriend out. After that, the girlfriend goes missing and is later found dead. When Yuki goes in for an operation to remove one of her ribs, she learns a previous patient was her brother’s girlfriend, who also had a rib removed. She also learns that the strange woman they discovered was another patient who was unhappy with her surgery and wanted more removed. This story culminates with Yuki having her own run-in with the strange woman and her accomplice. This story does a good job in depicting its horror theme in this single chapter. This is a story that just wouldn’t have been as strong if it had been split over multiple chapters.

The final story is “Memories of Real Poop,” which is a four-page story about a kid buying a realistic-looking rubber poop from a vendor at a fall festival. To be honest, I didn’t understand why this was even included. It wasn’t really a horror story, and it felt rather anti-climactic and pointless after the previous stories that were included in this anthology. This was my least favorite of the stories. While the Hikizuri siblings were annoying, at least the inclusion of their chapters felt like they fit with the overall feel of the anthology.

Of the three Junji Ito releases I’ve read from VIZ Media, I have to say that Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection is the weakest one. I much preferred the Venus in the Blind Spot anthology over this one. The “Lovesickness” story in this volume was riveting and interesting, but the other stories here were either OK or not that enjoyable. While I may not have enjoyed Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection as much as I hoped I would, fans of Junji Ito and of horror manga might have a greater appreciation for this release than me.

There's a tradition in Ryusuke's hometown: if you are agonizing over a decision, you can stand at the corner and ask the first person you see to tell your fortune. However, if the beautiful man that rolls in with the dense mist gives you an answer, the outcome isn't going to be one that you like.

When Ryusuke returns town to confront a guilt-ridden past connected to the crossroads tradition, he is engulfed by the mystery of man in the mist and a rash of suicides plaguing the town.

In true form for the master mangaka of horror, Junji Ito's Lovesickness is an engrossing, atmospheric, and well-paced collection that is guaranteed to delight newcomers and avid readers of horror alike. The depth of characterization is a particular highlight as the audience sees Ryusuke, perilously close to overcoming his emotional turmoil, thwarted by a world in which his own monstrous actions are mirrored by the grotesque and horrifying characters he encounters. The linework illustrations are intricate, compelling, and integral to the profound feelings of disquiet throughout the book.

An easy recommendation for adults that don't mind visceral gore and intense subject matter.

An collection of horror stories where innocent love becomes a bloody hell. At first I thought the stories were connected and that they were all about a crossroads fortune. But that was just a longer story. I was expecting several stories that were only 20 or 30 pages long, but the first story was over 100 pages. It was so creepy. I loved it! It was impossible to put down. The crossroads story was my favorite, but each one was creepy and the art was perfect for a horror story. Even when things were scary it was beautiful.

4 stars.

This book is my first outing with Ito, and it was as creepy and unsettling as I was led to believe his work would be. The first half is the titular story, Lovesickness, and is definitely the strongest of the manga overall, creating its own kind of arc about fate and the potentials of redemption, etc. It's really interesting as well as being, y'know, suitably horrifying.

The back end of the book is unrelated to the first half, but this is a story collection; it strikes me as fairly standard among short stories at least to be split up in this manner. Most of the shorter works are solid, except the final poop-themed one that closes out the collection, though I appreciate it as a kind of narrative palette cleanser, a chance to return to the normal world where no one is trying to tear your bones out from your skin or fall in love with you until they die.

So this was my first time reading Manga and I have decided that it isn't for me. It's not that it was bad, just really bizarre. However, my son told me that this is what Manga is like. Knowing that, I think that someone who likes Manga would like this book so I am going to give it three stars. I liked the idea behind the story, so if you like Manga you should give this one a try.

A traditional sampling of Ito, I was a fan of this collections choice of compilation. It is always nice to revisit the slice of horror that only really comes well with a visual medium. The overall tone of this selection is indicated in the title, tied together through the kind of terrible fated love that Junji Ito could offer.

The stories in Lovesickness all take place in a town where people ask for fortunes at crossroads. The first part of the story is focused on Ryusuke, who has moved back with his parents. The crossroads custom is escalating and recently there has been a suicide. A “beautiful” boy has been telling fortunes and those who have received them are consumed. Each new chapter has a story but then link together and these stories build and build. The first part of the books ends dramatically but that is not the conclusion of the hauntings of the town.

In part two the stories focus on residents instead of having Ryusuke at the centre. Having now had the time to think about my review I prefer the individual stories in Lovesickness. Some were more effective than others, but all had a way of getting under the readers skin in their own way.

Most people who read my reviews aren't aficionados of horror manga and I'm hoping to convert some of you to the unique and compulsively creepy world of Junji Ito, and to convince you to give his work a try.

Ito's stories always center on a strange compulsion that takes over one person, and then a whole lot of people at once: be it an obsession with spiral shapes ("Uzumaki"), or an obsession with the cracks in the side of a mountain ("The Enigma of Amigara Fault") or, in this latest collection "Lovesickness," an obsession with following a stranger's cryptic love advice to the most horrific and self-destructive outcomes possible.

There is always a feeling of eerie dread in Ito's stories. Sometimes the feeling builds to some shocking revelation when you turn a page, but soon the shock will be followed by a panel or scene that's almost-hopeful. In the way of the best eerie stories the moods shift under your feet and you never know what to expect next.

Like Ito's story "Uzumaki"--which I'm guessing is the most widely known in the English-speaking world of Ito's works--"Lovesickness" anchors its many-faceted story by returning frequently to the story of a young couple who seem braver and better than the other characters, and who give hope, to the reader, that maybe not all is lost. It's a lovely human way to tell a supernatural story even if you know from the beginning that, being a horror manga, the heroes are also doomed in the end.

No review would be complete without mentioning the art--so effective and evocative here, as always, with Ito's style, where panels of inchoate lines representing fog and shadow add beats and suspense between the action and dialogue, in such a perfectly paced way. I also love the artfully big letters of sound-words, sprawled across a given panel, for the way they add an onomatopoeic representation of very creepy noises in your mind's ear, as you read along. It's a wonderful and unique reading experience. Many thanks to VIZ media for giving me an early look of this latest Ito collection.

The collection is split into two parts. The main story Lovesickness is fully fleshed out and ramps up quickly into a visually impressive and eerie story about a crossroads where you may ask your fortune and the cosmic horror that follows after receiving an answer from an unknown boy in black. Entrancing and uncanny work.

The latter parts which are made up of shorter form stories are while not as compelling as the titular story, have some fun moments and really creepy bits as well.

Extremely beautiful panelling and haunting imagery from the master of horror Junji Ito, well worth adding to your collection.

Junji Ito, once again, has created a horror manga masterpiece. The first half of this book focuses on our main character, Ryusuke, as he moves back into his hometown where his past comes to haunt him. The second half of the book is made up of short stories that terrify the reader just the same. I recommend this to any horror or manga fan in need of a good fright.

Classic Junji Ito spookiness, with plenty of body horror, supernatural elements, and other eerie aspects to make your skin crawl. The first part of the book centers around the first story (Lovesickness, in which teenagers get their fortunes told at a deadly crosswalk), and for me that was the most enjoyable. The few standalones at the end were mostly enjoyable as well, though the very last story about poop was out of place and seemed pointless.

If, like me, you've been on hold for Uzumaki at your library for about six months with no sign of getting a copy, give this a try.