Manga Review: Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito (Must Buy for Horror Manga Lovers)

I'm sure a lot of horror manga enthusiasts that love Junji Ito's works would always desire more of his works. I personally enjoy Junji Ito's artstyle, and it doesn't create horror or dread, but still develops an unsettling atmosphere. For me, it's the right balance between horror value and readability. Some mangas are just too focused on horror and it sometimes results in a weak story; Junji Ito however is the contrary. I actually purchased this book around October last year for about $15 AUD, and I didn't get around reading it until recently in physical form (I have read the online scanlated version multiple times too). Now I look at the BookDepository store, it's selling at $20 AUD. Talk about a huge markup, but what do you expect, that's Australia's products in a nutshell - heavy inflated prices and sometimes it's still cheaper to purchase from overseas than purchasing in a physical store (can you believe that?). Anyway enough of my waffling, and let's go back to Fragments of Horror manga itself.

Fragments of Horror is a hardcover book and it's a really good size to hold and read, not too big and not too small. The book itself comes with two covers - one is the removable front cover that you will see when purchasing the book and the other cover is the one that is imprinted into the book itself and it looks so creepy and amazing. Both covers are good, but the front one is definitely needed to attract customers since the front one has color whereas the other does not. For $15-20 AUD ($10-15 USD), that's a good bargain. 

The story consists of 8 chapters (7 stories featured in Nemuki+ & another story, Whispering Woman from Shikan). There's a wide range of stories, and not all are meant to scare you or be grotesque. Some of them were emotional stories that involves supernatural elements, whilst some were very spooky or unsettling to read. My personal favourite story is probably Wooden Spirit or Dissection-chan, since they are downright creepy. I just can't imagine someone sexually molesting a building and also a sadistic individual who wants to be cut up. If you have a big brain (I don't have one), some stories have interesting themes to analyse, but the stories in this collection generally doesn't have any deep meaning behind it since they are simple stories. 

Perhaps the Dissection-chan story could have something to be analysed. At the end of the chapter, where we see the body of Dissection-chan being opened up, we see various animals instead of her organs. I'm probably reading too deep into it, but maybe it symbolises how some doctors view/treat dissection of humans like any other animals being dissected. It's probably too far-fetched, but that's my take on it. 

Overall, Fragments of Horror is a wonderful addition to one's collection of horror manga, especially if you like Junji Ito's works. The hardcover manga is high-quality, which reduces the possibility of the spine bending, but that wouldn't be a problem since the manga itself isn't too large. For about $10-15 USD, getting a 220-ish paged horror hardcover manga is a very good bargain since hardcover mangas are usually very expensive, and even more so for a well-known horror manga artist like Junji Ito. I'm surprised they haven't inflated the price like Inio Asano's works. Anyway, a would-recommend for normal readers, but a must-buy for horror manga lovers.