“Ice Cream Truck,” “Tomb Town,” Library Vision,” “Headless Statue,” and more are coming in this horror collection on January 19.
Japanese master of horror Junji Ito won’t be gracing us with anything on-screen in time for Halloween, but Netflix was able to unveil a frightening new piece of key art for their upcoming adaptation of his work Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre. The streamer also revealed four more of the mangaka’s terrifying tales that will be adapted in the anthology as well as the voice cast for each of the new episodes.
Drawn with faded colors in painstaking detail with Ito’s signature style, the new image hypes up one particular story from the horror master’s catalog — Tomie. The titular antagonist’s chopped-off, ghostly head lies on the ground while her body stands and waits as the horrific amalgamation of Tomie clones complete with the body of a giant worm writhes its way down an alley. It’s fitting that the art highlights Tomie given its status as Ito’s debut work and one of his most well-known collections of stories. However, the undying temptress is merely a part of the 20-story collection.
Alongside the previously announced Tomie, Shouichi, and “The Hanging Balloons,” Netflix revealed that “Ice Cream Truck” (aka “Ice Cream Bus”), “Tomb Town” (aka “Street of Gravestones” or “Tombs”), “Library Vision” (aka “Library of Illusions”), and “Headless Statue” (aka “Headless Sculptures”) will all be adapted. “Ice Cream Truck” recounts the fates of kids that are invited aboard a seemingly friendly man’s bus to enjoy some ice cream. “Tomb Town,” meanwhile, centers on a town where everyone turns into gravestones immediately upon their death. “Library Vision” follows a man obsessed with the library passed down to him by his father. Finally, “Headless Statue” tells the horrifying story of art students haunted by the death of their teacher and the sculptures he left behind.
“Ice Cream Truck,” will feature the voice talents of Ryotaro Okiayu, Sara Matsumoto, and Takatsugu Chikamatsu, while “Tomb Town” boasts Ryohei Kimura, M・A・O, and Aya Uchida, “Library Vision” stars Yuki Kaji and Tomoe Hanba, and finally “Headless Statue” includes Fumiko Orikasa and Takashi Kondo. Early shots of the characters they play are displayed in a thread below the key art on Twitter.
Originally announced during Netflix’s Geeked Week, Junji Ito Maniac is looking to redeem the stories of the horror mangaka after the decidedly lackluster Junji Ito Collection. Ito’s influence has been felt and appreciated across the globe, inspiring the likes of Guillermo del Toro among others, and garnering multiple Eisner awards in the process. He recently picked up another pair of awards last year for Remina and Venus in the Blind Spot. Studio DEEN will get another chance to bring his work to life with this adaptation. It’s one of two Ito projects currently in the works with the much-delayed Uzumaki adaptation also still coming from Adult Swim.
Junji Ito Maniac is slated to release on Netflix on January 19, 2023. Check out the horrifying key art below.
