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reviewed Tomie by Junji Ito

Junji Ito: Tomie (2016)

Tomie (Japanese: 富江) is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito. …

No escaping Tomie

Tomie shows a lot of the ideas refined in Uzumaki, and takes a relatively mundane idea like a succubus and twists it as only Ito seems able to.

Tomie is both sympathetic and revolting, and I can't help but wonder what her early life was like, if she ever was human instead of a force of nature. Ito seems to hint at suffering or abuse that informs her motives, but perhaps that's just Tomie playing me?

In reading other reviews, I see how male gaze and misogyny is centered, but I feel like Tomie subverts and foils them to her own end, much like Jennifer in Jennifer's Body.