What can fans expect in the future? The ongoing series that grew out of that story, Tomie, ran in the magazine for 13 years, launching Ito’s career … Ito first began writing and drawing manga as a hobby while working as a dental technician in the early 1990s. He was inspired from a young age by both his older sister's drawings and the work of Kazuo Umezu. Although instead of a bounty of cute anime girls who are mystified by your cell-phone, the only thing you’ll find in this world is death and despair. I want to stress that the series doesn’t take glee in its violence though, it’s not a gore porn manga. Since making that fateful decision, Ito created the ultra-popular manga series, �Uzumaki.� Ito is most well known for his critically acclaimed horror manga, �Tomie,� for which he received the �Umezu Kazuo� prize for excellence. The Drifting Classroom really does do it all. All that surrounds their elementary school campus now is endless sand and blackness. Junji Ito was born in 1963. However recently we have expanded and taken on a variety of other horror manga, including works by Nakayama Masaaki, Kazuo Umezz, Kanako Inuki and more. The heavy contrast between black ink and white space. It’s a whole mess and one that means life or death for the kids who got caught up in it. Junji Ito enfant. Ito eventually dropped dentistry, opting to focus all his attention on comics. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Married to ISHIGURO Ayako (石黒亜矢子). Skip to main content.sg. 78: Many of your stories such as �Uzumaki� and �Tomie� have become successful films. People aren’t dying because they get morphed into snails or eventually elongate their bodies into giant spirals; Even when weird creatures and other stuff of that ilk start to make their appearance in the comic, people still get hurt and react much like they would in real life. While Junji Ito is still relatively popular, the most familiar name among Japanese natives who do not even particularly enjoy horror very much is Kazuo Umezu. In 1987, Junji Ito submitted a story to a contest run by the manga magazine Gekkan Halloween. Jun 13, 2019 - Explore Yma's board "Kazuo Umezu", followed by 152 people on Pinterest. Ito: Kazuo Umezu has been my favorite comic artist for as long as I can remember. The comic starts out with an entire school getting transported to god knows where in the middle of the day. However, his style, while by no means an imitation, also would not exist without Kazuo Umezu and this comic. Some kids band together, some try to make it on their own. Ito: I don�t know a whole lot about American comics, but I really love American filmmakers. I don�t think any horror artist can surpass him in Japan. However, creating comics is so much more exciting than dentistry, and I don�t regret anything now. I see things from different angles, and I often get interesting ideas that way. The Drifting Classroom: Volume 1: Umezu, Kazuo, Umezu, Kazuo: Amazon.sg: Books. Many people really seemed to like it, and I think they enjoyed how we captured Mr. Ito�s bizarrely humorous world. One key reason Junji Ito’s become so popular aren’t just his crazy ideas and stories, he’s got the pen game to back it up. No small feat in a country where nearly everyone reads comics. Lovecraft. Ito: Since childhood I�ve always really enjoyed American films, so I was pleasantly surprised when my comics traveled across the Pacific Ocean to reach American audiences. I think it�s hard to reproduce the overall atmosphere of a comic into a movie, because a film must use real actors and actresses that are not perfectly matched with my original work. Since then Ito has become one of Japan�s most well known and influential manga artists. His comics leave a lasting impression due to high quality art and compelling storytelling. Much like the modern master  Gantz creator Hiroya Oku, Umezu wields this harshness carefully to first and foremost tell a memorable story. A film version of �Uzumaki� quickly followed, as well as the first of many �Tomie� sequels. More than your I Am A Heros, more than your Blame!s, and even more than your Uzumakis, The Drifting Classroom is the cream of the crop. 78: What American comics, films, or filmmakers do you enjoy? But turning westward and wandering astray from manga, Ito has a couple of other obvious cultural influences which westerners are quick to pounce on. Kids and adults vie for power and control of resources like food and water. Considering the talent showcased, I think it was amazing that our low budget independent production played on the same screens. No one has any idea what’s going on and each little clue they do eventually find only asks more questions. Les mangas d’horreur font partie du décor chez les Ito, grâce à ces deux sœurs aînées, fans de Shinichi Kago (Eko Eko Azarak) et surtout de Kazuo Umezu (L’école emportée, Orochi, La Femme-Serpent). Hideshi Hino is another mangaka as well as a film director. 78: What led you to get involved with the independent horror film, �Marronnier?�. Throughout the 1990�s Ito published numerous stories in �Nemuki�s� and �Bizarre Tales of Sleepless Nights.� In 1997 he published a four-part comic entitled, �The Tragic Story of the Giant Black Pillar� in �Shougakukan's Big Comic Spirits Weekly.�, By 1998 he became a regular contributor in �Big Comic Spirits Weekly,� publishing his infamous �Uzumaki� series. Ito decided to take up comics as a hobby, inspired by this unique form of storytelling and his older sister�s drawings. �Uzumaki� and �Tomie� captured themes of fear, but �Marronnier�s� themes are otherworldly and comical, which are also recurring traits captured within Mr. Ito�s worlds. In 2001, Ito began running another horror series in �Spirits� magazine with the printing of �Gyo.�. Back in 1987, Ito published a short-story piece to Gekkan Halloween. Tomie was Ito's first published work he originally submitted to Monthly Halloween, a shōjo magazine in 1987, which led to him winning the Kazuo Umezu award. Ito: Dentistry demands a craftsman�s skill, and I�m very proud that I worked as a dental technician. Junji Ito was born on July 31st, 1963 in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Comics utilize images, angles, and feelings that are hard to create in the real world. In fact, if you wanted to exaggerate a little bit, you could even call this manga a proto-isekai. //-->, Home | What is it about his work you enjoy? "Tomie" is a story where people fascinated with the girl end up killing her, accelerating her rebirth. However, I thought it could be used in horror if I drew it a different way. The scene above is from Ito’s manga “Long Dream” (published in 1997 and later adapted into a TV movie). Many Japanese movies at these festivals were made by famous directors and were considered blockbuster hits. Junji Ito was born in the Gifu prefecture of Japan in Inspired by Kazuo Umezu's comics and always watching his older sister's doodl. Almost half a century later, we’re getting a better than ever addition of the out of print (in English) series partly because of the Junji Ito boosted reignited interest in horror manga English speaking audiences have express and because this manga is an absolute essential. Ito: I was asked to design an original character from �Koganemushi Theatrical Company�s,� Hideyuki Kobayashi, who is a puppeteer playwright, as well as the president of my own fan club. The adults immediately show their true colors, abandoning the children for their own safety. The Thing That Drifted AshoreAn ominous title like this can only lead to one of … Junji Ito va començar a escriure i dibuixar manga com a hobby, mentre treballava de tècnic dental a la dècada dels 1990. The manga can be broken down into roughly two halves; The first chunk more or less takes place within the school and its immediate surroundings. See more ideas about japanese horror, horror, ero guro. Ito has cited his largest influences as Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino, as well as legendary American writer and creator of the cosmic horror genre, H.P. However, despite this horror manga sub-cultural boom, one important creator hasn’t been rediscovered by international audiences that should; I’m talking about the one and only Kazuo Umezu, the godfather of horror manga. We used puppets to capture his style because we wanted to make solid 3-D images from his artwork. Junji Ito was born in the Gifu prefecture of Japan in 1963. Junji Ito Junji İto ... October 2nd, 5:05pm PST Comments. There are all sorts of visual insanity to satiate your darker cravings and yet there’s a narrative here that keeps you coming back beyond that. One key reason Junji Ito’s become so popular aren’t just his crazy ideas and stories, he’s got the pen game to back it up. Even though it isn�t my usual style, I�ll try to make it as appetizing as possible for all my fans. However, even after winning the “Umezu Kazuo,” Ito still continued filling cavities and straightening teeth. Ito made his debut in 1987 when he submitted one of his stories to �Nemuki�s Halloween Monthly� magazine. Maybe these acts of violence wouldn’t be carried out by wasteland creatures or by gangs of roaming kids in the really old, but you can’t help think that if a terrible situation like this were to occur, it would unfold exactly as it does in these pages. The character of �Marronnier� was created exclusively for the fan club. I�ve recently gotten many letters from international fans. Kazuo Umezu is seen as one of the great manga horror masters, and maybe THE manga horror master, and this is supposed to be one of his three most apocalyptic works, and probably his best known work in the west. Welcome to the world of Junji Ito. Kazuo Umezu, occasionally stylized as Kazuo Umezz like with the new collection of The Drifting Classroom, originally released this eleven-volume manga in 1972. Ito eventually dropped dentistry, opting to focus all his attention on comics. // eMail Obfuscator Script 1.31 by Tim Williams - freeware As one could expect, Ito mentions various mangaka who had inspired his art and writing, including Kazuo Umezu, who wrote The Drifting Classroom, a piece that Junji Ito … In San Francisco there were day and night showings, and it was interesting to observe the different reactions depending on the time of day. Junji Ito’s influences include classic horror manga artists Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino, as well as authors Yasutaka Tsutsui and H.P. Truly, a terrifying situation but let me add that the cast is basically all children. I had read work by Junji Ito (Uzumaki) which I thought was great, and it's a horror comic about a school. I�m also very interested in the work of puppeteers. Uzumaki – Junji Ito Kazuo Umezu however is another acclaimed horror manga author (from whom Junji Ito got a lot of inspiration from when starting off) and is probably one of the most well known in Japan. * So, a prose collection, no matter how thorough, simply can’t cover the major names that I associate with Japanese horror, like Kazuo Umezu, Junji Ito, and Hideshi Hino. 78: You�ve stated that the artistry of Kazuo Umezu is a big influence on your work. As everyone is preparing for the… VIZ Media is set to publish Ito’s FRAGMENTS OF HORROR in the Summer of 2015. { document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,97,32,104,114,101,102,61,34,109,97,105,108,116,111,58,109,119,105,110,115,98,121,64,55,56,109,97,103,97,122,105,110,101,46,99,111,109,34,62,109,119,105,110,115,98,121,64,55,56,109,97,103,97,122,105,110,101,46,99,111,109,60,47,97,62)) I think spirals might be symbolic of infinity. It makes me realize that there are so many fans outside of Japan who love my work. I thought it would be even greater to capture that fear in a man-eating shark that goes on land as well as sea. Worked as a dental technician before becoming a full-time mangaka. My favorite Umezu comics are "Drifting Classroom," "Fear," and "The Grave of Butterfly.�, 78: What inspired the strange and frightening tale of �Tomie?�. 9 The Drifting Classroom By Kazuo Umezu (7.52) Without a doubt, Junji Ito has made himself one of the most recognizable figures in the horror genre with a slew of great stories to help keep readers up at night. A reclusive young man named Michio is finally convinced to attend his class reunion.