Junji Ito Collection

Episode 8

Junji Ito "Collection"'s artistry was already unimpressive when it started. Capturing the distinctive, highly-detailed style of the titular author was going to be a difficult proposition, but the murky style they went with didn't make the best first impression. Now in the back half of the season, things are looking even rougher. This latest episode is a testament to that iffy quality, even if the stories contained within do their best to compensate for their visual shortcomings.

Our first-half story, ‘Honored Ancestors’ kicks off with a clever slow zoom-in on a single frame alongside some effective sound-mixing (the show's most consistent asset) to set the mood, but after the opening theme is over, it becomes clear that this was probably just a cost-cutting measure. More than any of the previous episodes, this one really made me feel like I was reading an inferior color version of the original manga, thanks to its slide-show animation. The initial interest-piquing image, a monstrous caterpillar, comes off looking a weird porcupine worm instead, making us curious just over what this thing is even supposed to be, not what the surreal image is supposed to represent in the amnesia-fueled imagination of Risa.

The diminished production values are a serious drawback, since the premise is a good example of Ito's imaginative outlandishness. It quickly becomes apparent to both Risa and the audience that her blacked-out memories are likely trauma-related, which feeds into so much of the story's horror. Yes, there is a good sense of that trademark WTF-ness to the revelation itself; Risa hears the caterpillar again only to have her alleged beau's father come scuttling in the door, riding a fine line between creepy and funny. It's the sort of outlandish logic that I should expect from the series at this point, but Junji Ito still manages to surprise me with the exact details every time.

But those concepts are doing all the heavy lifting here, leaving the anime portion wanting for execution. Risa's issues are relatable to anyone who has dealt with suppressed memories of trauma, and the obvious scares rooted in that uncertainty should be a gimme, but the lackluster presentation drags it down to simply average. When the actual reveal of her future father-in-law's horrific human brain-tipede finally happens, it's at best a freaky image rather than the visceral visual horror we could be seeing in a better show.

That revelation of the multi-head hatterpillar is another concept I should've been prepared for after all this time with this show and somehow wasn't. It presents a distinctly more sinister take on the family-memory-preserving angle that “Gentle Goodbye' gave us a few episodes ago, and its freakiness factor increases the more you think about how this family line has continued until now. But even though this idea was more unequivocally horrifying than the more humorous weirdness of some previous chapters, I was mostly left thinking that this concept must have been ten times crazier and creepier in manga form.

The second half of the episode presents a story called ‘The Circus Comes To Town’. Scary circuses should be playing on easy mode for a horror anthology. Thankfully, the art is just able to sell the key element of this story, successfully rendering the nervousness on the performers' faces as they undergo their doomed acts. But the rest is bogged down in shortcuts and even some clips of reused animation that undercut the visceral thrill of watching these hopelessly underqualified actors accidentally murder themselves.

Despite its attempt at spectacle falling flat, this circus story can also trade solidly on its base concept at least. The revelation of the doomed performers' origins is unraveled well enough. Unfortunately, they didn't have quite enough faith in the audience to grasp the concept, as Lady Lelia just dumps out the explanation all at once near the end. Even if the point of this story is that the helpless murder-train of thirsty boys vying for her affection can't help taking the clear risks in the circus-performing challenge, it still kills suspension of disbelief somewhat that they would hear their fates spelled out for them and complete disregard it. There's certainly entertainment to be had in watching them all get offed Final-Destination-style, but there's not enough flair or panache to carry this premise past cheap exploitation after the shock wears off early on.

In the end, the story boils down to “Boys are driven to do dumb things out of horny desperation”. It's somewhat amusing, but not enough to carry half an episode, and certainly not with this episode's lackluster visual effort. There's at least some decent story meat to chew on in these episodes, but those core concepts are all the show's got. Sitting through a half-hour of sparse animation for them still left me feeling shortchanged.

Rating: C-

Junji Ito "Collection" is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.