an analysis of death and immortality in junji ito's work - a thread

for those who dont know him, junji ito is a legendary japanese horror manga artist who has been publishing manga for over 30 years.

in his work's universe, his characters often find themselves victims of malevolent unnatural circumstances for no apparent reason.

some of the recurring themes of his work include body horror, the breakdown of society, and the inevitability of one's demise.

now, however, i will only be covering the themes of death and immortality.

starting with one of his most popular series: "tomie"

a story about a beautiful girl with a strange magnetic charisma that drives most people she meets insane, especially men, to the point of them murdering or disfiguring tomie in various ways.

yet she can’t be killed, as her flesh regenerates and clones itself.

throughout the story, there is a clear deterioration of tomie's state of mind and reaction to this "power" of hers to regenerate.

even though she once tried to understand, cure or preserve herself, by the end of the book she has absolutely no concept of humanity.

the feelings of ambition and determination of the first tomies that eventually gave purpose to her life have now been fully reduced to raw emotions such as narcissism, materialism and, lastly, nihilism.

her ability to destroy the minds of men around her not only affect them but also tomie herself. the difference is that in her case that deteoration occurs during this very long cycle of death and rebirth until her sense of self has been reduced to nothing.

our humanity only exists because we know that our lives are limited. death is what gives purpose to life, it's what gives us the ability to feel and have a sense of morality. when the idea that we will stop existing one day is taken away from us, the concept of existence

just becomes numb or empty. like tomie, we become nothing but a faded echo of our human identity long gone.

i'm gonna leave this annonymous point of view that explains it perfectly:

onto the next story, one of my favourites ever and the one that hits the hardest: "long dream"

it follows a man who goes to the hospital after he realizes his dreams are slowly increasing in length, from days, to years, to decades and so on, despite only lasting a mere instant in real time. it begins to have an impact on his physical appearance as he starts rapidly ageing.

the doctor is unable to treat his patient’s condition and after a few months, he finally dies as he disintegrates into dust and experiences one final, everlasting dream.

while in the hospital, the patient asked desperately for a cure, as he feared the eternal dream (immortality) tremendously. he was stuck in a cycle of living a new life every night with no escape, so the thought of it lasting forever was unbearable.

by contrast, in the beginning of the story we are shown another patient, a woman, who shows extreme fear of dying and "becoming nothing".

after the man's death, the doctor administers his remains in the woman's body, believing he has cured her fear of death by helping her live forever and that all of humanity can be saved of this fear just like her, when in reality the real nightmare is the eternity they seek.

junji ito subverts the impending fear of death with the threat of never ending life, or at least the illusion of it.

more scary than the concept of non existence is the concept of immortality, a never ending moment, being trapped, never able to leave.

moral of the story, the idea that ito showcases through his work is that contrary to what we tend to believe, death is a blessing while immortality is a curse.

one should not fear death but fear immortality instead.

and that's all i have, i thought of still talking about the end of uzumaki or other short stories but then the thread would be too long. so thanks if u read it til the end