Junji Ito’s rise to fame can be attributed to his meticulous attention to detail, striking black inkwork, and mastery of illustrative horror. His works feature a variety of absurd concepts and settings, whether it be preying on his readers’ fear of ominous, human-shaped holes in a mountain in The Enigma of Amigara Fault, or the bizarre and arcane supernatural spirals terrorizing a rural town, as in Uzumaki. Ito has not only inspired lasting trends in the next generation of horror manga artists but has been praised for his sincere love of horror and art, which many fans like to contrast with his easy-going and charismatic personality.

“Junji Ito is [a] horror manga artist,” said Amritha Kumaran, a junior at Arcadia High. She added that his debut piece, Tomie, “is somewhat of a social commentary of how young women [are] treated by the[ir] society through a fun horror story.”

Ito credits Kazamo Umezz and H. P. Lovecraft as two of the many inspirations behind his work, as well as childhood experiences such as the bathroom in his house being located at the end of an underground corridor frequented by Camel crickets (or spider-crickets, as he refers to them). He says that films and stories such as The Exorcist (1973), Suspiria, and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Color Out of Space” were a few of the scariest of his childhood.

Perhaps what he is best known for is his masterful usage of the page turn, a surprise technique used in the manga and comic book industry that builds suspense, then catches the reader off-guard with an intentionally impactful spread on the next page—the book equivalent of a jumpscare, if you will. Ito’s page turns are particularly effective thanks to the sheer detail and quality he imbues into each panel, which at once terrifies and fascinates the eye.

Ito’s manga adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein also won an Eisner award (of which he had previously won two) in 2022, beating out international sensations such as the popular Spy x Family and Chainsaw Man series, who have taken social media by storm in the past few months with over 651,000 and 870,000 posts under each Instagram hashtag, respectively.

“Spy x Family is very cute,” said Jaylin Huang, a junior at Arcadia High who has watched the series. “Anya [especially] is very cute.”

Ito’s influence on American culture can be seen from references to his work in popular shows such as Steven Universe and his artwork being featured in streetwear and counterculture fashion stores such as Hot Topic.

In response to a question on how he felt about his popularity in America, Ito said, “It’s great that the English speakers are reading my works…I was influenced by American movies growing up, and it’s a dream that [American] people enjoy my manga.”

Photo Courtesy of UNSPLASH