This was absolutely incredible and probably my favorite Junji Ito book thus far. The Liminal Zone is a collection of a few different stories, as many of Junji's works are, and these stories share in the bizarre, messed up, outlandish nature that his stories typically do, but something about these really shone for me.

'Weeping Woman Way' features a couple who come across a town that seems to still utilize the old, mostly forgotten tradition of "weeping women" (professional mourners) at funerals, but after coming in contact with one of the weeping women, Mako finds herself inconsolably sad. The depictions of the weeping women were so chilling and fascinating, and I really loved the idea of this corpse that continues to weep long past her death.

'Madonna' is a religious horror story featuring some incredibly messed up zealots who believe they are on a personal mission to find the reincarnation of the virgin Mary, and I loved the way the ending played out and the twists in this one. Junji Ito has toyed with religious themes in some of his previous works, but this was definitely my favorite example of that theme in his writing so far.

'The Spirit Flow of Aokigahara' follows a couple's trip to Aokigahara's infamous "Suicide Forest" after one member of the couple has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Once arriving in the forest, the two find an unexplainable source of spiritual activity that draws Norio in and begins to create bizarre changes in him. This felt like the most classically familiar style of story from the collection, as it deals with some really bizarre elements and artwork later in the story that were highly unnerving!

'Slumber' is about a young man who has memories of murder every morning when he wakes, but otherwise has no recollection of planning the murders, nor does he have a motive. This was my least favorite in the collection, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it — I only wish there had been a little more explanation regarding the twist, but I've long since learned that sometimes, with Junji's work, you just have to go with the flow!

I highly recommend The Liminal Zone to any horror manga lovers, whether you're brand new to Junji Ito books or have read all of his previous works. Again, I'd say this was my favorite of his books yet, and it made me extremely excited to see what he writes next!

Wow! What another amazing collection from Ito!

Weeping Woman Way-Upon meeting a professional mourner, Mako is deeply affected. Her fiancé tries to figure out the mystery of the weeping women, and finds more than he expected. This was such an usual story but I really liked it. It still had a supernatural element to it, while being lighter on the horror.

Madonna- Maria is a new transfer student to her religious boarding school. She can't escape the eye of the principal, which also brings the attention of his wife, who is allegedly the second coming of Mary. Catholic schools are wild (I went for 13 years, k-12), and Ito amped it up even higher with a religious horror story about a man obsessed with finding the second coming of Mary and fathering the next Jesus. There is so much background in this short story, but it flowed so well and felt like a longer story. This was my favorite of this book.

The Spirit Flow of Aokigahara- Sick Norio travels to Aokigahara with his girlfriend, Mika, to end his life on his own terms. While searching for a spot, Norio is caught up in a spirit flow. Soon, he becomes obsessed with flow, but what exactly is it? Taking place in the infamous Suicide Forest, this story is strangely more about life and obsession. It's short and creepy, but that's about it.

Slumber- Takuya has been having some strange dreams lately. Dreams of murder. But when victims start piling up, how can he stop the dreams before he gets caught? This was an odd one! The whole "is it a dream or a memory" thing was well executed here and Takuya's slow descent into madness is perfectly Ito.

Junji Ito is truly the expert of all things creepy and originally supernatural. Every comic idea he has always feels so refreshing, even if the story is short. I loved this volume too!