ARC From Netgalley.
2.5 Stars.
I'm actually surprised. I normally love Junji Ito's work and rave about it for days. This one came off kind of lukewarm.
A young woman, Kyoko Byakuya, stumbles upon a village at the foot of a volcano. After meeting the villagers and learning of both their communion with an astral goddess, and their almost worship of "golden volcanic hair" that covers the village, she becomes the only survivor of a volcanic eruption. The experience has given her the golden hair that radiates.
Next, we meet Wataru Tsuchiyado, a reporter who comes across Kyoko out in the woods. She is trying to escape from a cult called Indigo Shadow, who seem to be trying to summon the same dark deity from the beginning of the book. This is where things begin to breakdown...
The rest of the book feels very disjointed, almost like his ideas were not complete. If you read the author's note at the end, even he acknowledges that he "couldn't make the characters tell their story". Junji Ito is a master of manga horror storytelling, but this one could be skipped.
Recommend with reservations.

Junji Ito is well and truly a genius in this style. This collection I would have to say is one of my favourites and it is going to sit perfectly with his other work.

I totally see the appeal. I really do. This is just not the book for me. It's not the type of art style I enjoy and the story is just too strange for my tastes. There is nothing bad about this by any means, but it just felt like a random hodge-podge of content.

Junji Ito books are often hit or miss for me but this one really hit. Some may not appreciate how there are less of the horrific and bone-chilling illustrations that Ito has become known for but I like the shift away from his usual shocking images. The illustrations are still beautifully done and mystery and suspense seems to radiate from the images. This story has more of a cosmic horror/science fiction vibe that I'm happy to see from Ito and I think it was pulled it off well. I would recommend this to readers who are looking for a modern Lovecraft vibe.

Junji Ito continues his exploration of the unsettling on a religious-themed story involving the mystery of the golden hair - wisps that grant connection to the greater universe. As per usual it all involves in the obsession of greater, in this case attaining all knowledge to become the god. Ito always finds unique ways to portray the fantastic in all its grotesque displays. from the grim outlook into the dark abyss of the universe or even the ominous spider-like creatures yearning for death - featuring the shrieking faces of suicide victims. It is a refreshing read given previous installments, hope in the light amidst persecution.

My issue lies solely in the stories as some of these tend to feel relatively loosely connected amongst one another. They tie together just enough to be connected, and I still feel as if they are stories that Ito put in to extend the story as opposed to creating a greater focus on its themes.

Regardless, for those who enjoy Ito's work will find this one worth reading. Horror fans, especially those intrigued into supernatural mystery with a religious angle, are going to find this enjoyable.

I think because I just finished reading <i>Remina</i>, <i>Sensor</i> felt a little to similar. Both works feature a female protagonist who finds herself in a situation beyond her control and being hunted by hoards of people. Some of the scenes in particular (the crucifixion/woman on a cross especially) seemed really similar. The art in <i>Sensor</i> is beautiful and Ito's ability to capture body horror is really second to none.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

This was my first Junji Ito, and unfortunately it disappointed me. The story line didn't grip me, and I found the art style difficult to keep up with. I'm sure this story will be perfect for some readers, but it wasn't for me.

An advanced reader’s copy of this book was provided by Netgalley and Viz Media in exchange for an honest review.

Like many of Junji Ito’s works (Tomie and Remina in particular), Sensor is primarily about a character who is fascinated with a young woman who is herself surrounded by supernatural events that she seems to be connected to in some way. In Tomie, this takes the form of harm befalling those who the titular character encounters and harm befalling Tomie at the hands of the men who she charms. Remina meanwhile follows a girl who becomes the object of obsession with everything after having a planet named after her by her father, something which eventually leads to said planet destroying the earth in an effort to be closer to her.

Sensor, meanwhile, has Kyoko Byakuya, a young woman who feels drawn to Mount Sengoku, a dormant volcano. While there she meets a man who somehow knows everything about her. The man tells her that, thanks to the angelic hair that coats his entire village of Kiyokami, he and the other residents are granted telepathic abilities. The villagers believe that the hair (which they call “amigami”) is the hair of a Christian missionary named Miguel who long ago was put to death along with the villagers who harboured him for refusing to renounce their faith. Each night, the villagers stare up at the sky and use their powers to gaze into the cosmos in order to see Miguel.

That night, Kyoko joins them and a large amount of amigami reigns down and enhances the villagers’ powers, causing them to sense a mysterious black entity instead of Miguel.

60 years later, Mount Sengoku has erupted for the first time in ages and a team of scientists are investigating the area where Kiyokami was prior to being destroyed in a previous eruption. There they find Kyoko wrapped in a cocoon of golden hair. This discovery sets the rest of the story in motion and introduces the framing device of a reporter chasing after Kyoko, drawn to her much in the same way that she was originally drawn to Kiyokami.

Sensor is not my favourite of Ito’s stories, I find it hard to believe that anything will ever outdo Uzumaki though I absolutely welcome the idea that something one day could. That being said, I appreciate the big ideas Ito is bringing into this, the fact that he’s bringing in esoteric concepts like the Akashic Records (a compendium of everything ever) is awesome and I would love to see more stuff like that in a lot of media, I love esoteric stuff. In general, this book feels more in line with what I like from Ito’s work than the last story of his to be translated into English, Remina, does. Everything just clicks together for me and the imagery just works in a way that Remina didn’t for me.

I love Ito’s books, I always have and probably always will. I’ve been told on a few occasions that I have more of his books than anyone some of my friends know. It was basically going to be a given that I had some nice things to say about Sensor. That being said, this book is a solid horror story with some great moments and some moments that just don’t work as well as others but all in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading more horror manga or would like to get into reading Junji Ito but is intimidated by his longer books like Uzumaki or Tomie.

Not Junji's best but still a well written enjoyable story. Art style is always great to see with some creepy visuals.

One of Ito's mostly overtly Lovecraftian works. Not nearly on the level of UZUMAKI, but what is? SENSOR offers the incredible artwork you expect from Ito and some.of his most surprising visual gross-outs, though it lacks a truly interesting central character to ground it.

This is the second book by Junji Ito and it did not disappoint. The strangeness of the story only made it even better.

Let's get it out of the way first. It's Junji Ito. The art is of course superb and incredible. However, this is a fairly lackluster entry into Ito's cavalcade of Horrors. Too bogged down in the Christian religion crap to really grip you the way that good cosmic horror does. I'll recommend it because of the art, but it just didn't pop like his usual work does.

This was the first manga I've read and once getting past having to read right to left, I enjoyed it. My only critiques are my own personal taste for art, but the story itself was engaging and unique.

I am a fan of Ito's works. This one read like a biblical story. Somewhat different from his other works. Not so horrific and bloody as Uzumaki. I liked Sensor and it actually had more of a happy ending than his other works.

I enjoyed this graphic novel, I have read some of Mr. Ito's work before and enjoy his psychological horror. I look forward to seeing more of his translated work here in America. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a very interesting horror story. The black and white detailed illustrations were beautiful and creepy, just like the story. It seemed like several stories with merging timeliness, which made it slightly confusing. Overall it was a well-crafted and spooky story that lived up to the reputation of Junji Ito.

I've read other Junji and I was pretty disappointed in this... I only enjoyed the chapter with the suicide bugs. The story was very surface level and not all that horrifying or interesting. I loved the illustrations but the story fell flat! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this!

So glad to see this in English. Our library is trying to expand our adult level graphic novel and comic selection, and we will definitely be getting this. Junji Ito's work is, as always, supremely creepy, beautifully horrifying, and gives a glimpse into the worst parts of the human psyche.

Another great book by Junji Ito. His unsettling art style lends itself to horror manga so well. I'm always excited to see what stories he tells us next!

While this wasn't my favourite of Ito's works I thought there was an interesting mix of religious overtones and cosmic horror.
I also like that the reader was kept in the dark about the cosmic horror, I think the story worked better with it remaining as some kind of unfathomable mystery.
As usual there are some great disturbing ideas and imagery in this work of short, inter-connecting stories but as a common theme in Junji Ito's work, I found the humans of the story the most creepy.