Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection

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It’s hard to avoid the feeling that the guiding principle was, ‘hmmm, ‘Lovesickness’ is a bit short to publish by itself, what else can we cobble together to make this a full book?

I might say that the ten stories here are not appreciably better or worse than other collections (so, 3 stars?One day, Ryuusuke, growing increasingly worried about Midori's deteriorating mental and physical health, tells Midori that he will turn himself in to the police to save her. He flees to the police station after getting chased by an angry lovestruck mob, but the police is just as suspicious about him so keep a watch on him. Midori becomes worried about Ryuusuke and attempts to follow him when he goes to help people, but she gets lost in the fog.

The outsider finishes his questions and notes that all though it's still foggy the town has gotten a lot more quiet. But, the next day, the woman came back to Midori's house looking for more advice about her situation. After finding out more details about the Intersection Bishounen and the woman's death, Ryuusuke goes to kill him. In typical Junji Ito fashion, shit gets weird on more than one occasion and there is some violence and gore that might not be for everyone.By the time he gets there he realizes that the mad lovestruck fans have killed themselves in a mass suicide. He doesn’t appear in ‘The Boy in White’, which is instead narrated by a man who comes to the city having heard rumours of its multiple suicides. They suddenly see the white clothed pretty boy walking from ghost to ghost, telling them that love will be fulfilled.

I liked it and it had a few good disturbing moments, but I don't think the ending met the expectations of the slow buildup. Lovesickness’ is especially galling in this respect, as it spends a whole multi-story arc creating a detailed and intriguing world, only for much of that to be waved away with what’s effectively a deus ex machina. No review would be complete without mentioning the art--so effective and evocative here, as always, with Ito's style, where panels of inchoate lines representing fog and shadow add beats and suspense between the action and dialogue, in such a perfectly paced way.

Everyone is bombarded with these questions and they try to answer thoughtfully, but this guy creates mayhem with his answers. The best horror bypasses your critical and/or intellectual faculties, pushing psychological buttons, some you may not even know you have.

Ryuusuke suddenly appears and the men can only watch as he runs into the crowd to confront the Bishounen but is torn to pieces by the ghosts. The next two tales are about "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings," a weird and off-putting family of nasty and spiteful orphans.I enjoyed it, but I stand by my previous recommendations of Shiver and the complete Tomie as better places to start for Ito newbies. As with Frankenstein and its titular story, Lovesickness has a featured story of the same name that takes up the bulk of the book. Eventually, Ryuusuke gets tired of her being annoying and screams at her to go away, since he likes Midori.