This week’s Junji Ito Collection included one of his most disturbing stories; if you’re triggered by filth, I can guarantee you will not be enjoying this at all.
Japanese Original Episode Title: グリセリド / 橋
Poor Yui lives in a house right on top of her father’s greasy-food restaurant and has to put up with literally everything being covered in grease. She spent her day being bullied by her disgusting oil-drinking brother and speculating over the amount of oil in the air. When her brother becomes a teenager and gets bullied for being covered in pimples and acne, he takes it out on her and locks himself up in the house. One day, he tries to squeeze all his facial pimples on Yui –what the fuck, Junji- and his father decides to kill him for it (???). It is implied that he later served his dead body as food to the customers – and they loved it! Having ran out of delicious human meat, the loving father starts feeding Yui oil in her sleep, which causes her to have nightmares of Mt. Fuji erupting with oil. To stop her father from doing this, she stops sleeping, and her father starts drinking oil himself, aspiring to turn himself into food for his customers. I almost puked.
In her dream, Kanako is visiting her grandmother, Osode, who lives alone in the woods next to the river. On her way there, when crossing the bridge, she meets a ghost. Osode explains that the ghosts of the people who died in this village used to be left floating on a mat in the river, for some weird reason, including the body of her first love, Shochiki. On his way to the bottom, Shochiki was so tall (and stiff) that his body got stuck on the bridge, and Osode remembers him staring at her before sinking. Now the ghosts of all the sunken people are waiting for Osode to join them, and she begs her granddaughter to bury her in the earth. Kanako wakes up and arrives at her grandmother’s house, finding out she’s already been thrown into the river. When trying to save her, she can see her staring back at her.
Fujisan: Mountain Fuji is the most important landmark in Japanese tradition. From Hokusai’s innumerable prints to local folklore and Shinto mythology, if you haven’t heard of Mt Fuji, you probably don’t know much about Japan.
Yakiniku: A broad Japanese term that refers to grilled meat cuisine. In contemporary Japanese cuisine, it mostly describes bite-sized Japanese barbecue.
Dream theory: Being somewhat of a dream freak, I found it an interesting choice that Yui’s dream was illustrated in sepia. Did you know that most people don’t dream in monochrome, but rather in pale pastel colors?
Thankfully, Junji Ito’s horror stories are really great in content, so no matter how poor the illustration, the show is still good enough to watch. I’m hoping the last couple of episodes won’t be challenging my stomach, though…
What did you think of the Junji Ito Collection’s tenth episode? Let us know in the comment section below! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Winter 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!
The first season of the new year is just one month away from its finale. It was a great start with many amazing titles that made these past months worth the extra hours we put in front of our sets. Now, it is time for the cold wind to give way to the pink hues of the sakura tree and for the Winter 2018 season to give the anime baton to Spring 2018.
