Remina (Junji Ito)

Possibly one of my favorite mangas of all time.

I am a Junji Ito fan and in the process of collecting all of his works. That being said I already had high hopes for this. The artwork is fantastic as always and as for the story it progresses fast. This story doesn't focus much on character development but jumps right into the action as his stories generally tend to do. I enjoyed it but it is one of the more violent stories I've read of his and it continues to escalate throughout reading, focusing mainly on the way the humans are reacting to their impending doom more than the disturbing planet itself. Definitely a "humans are the real monsters" type of telling. I definitely recommend this for any Junji Ito or general horror fan.

Junji Ito is just the best manga artist of all time. There is no one else who can do what he can do.

I love the art of Junji Ito. I love his story-telling ability. The tale he undertakes here is compelling. It is also exhausting to me. I decided to let it wash over me without expectation or prejudice. I simply wanted to experience it; and, once I had, I felt drained. Maybe it's a little too accurate.The story is the improbable tale of a planet-eating planet named Remina named after the daughter of its discoverer, Dr. Ogura. The revelation to the public is met with awe and the doctor and his daughter, especially his daughter, are raised to the level of celebrity.Demure, Remina really doesn't want the limelight or all the perks that come with it. In short order, men are fighting over her. She definitely doesn't want that. She is quickly reduced from celebrity to a source of angst, a condition that only worsens when it is realized that the planet, Remina, is loose and eating other planets in our solar system.Mob mentality is central to the story and it is handled with grave acuity. Just as her celebrity had been thrust upon her, Remina and her father are irrationally blamed for "calling" the planet into our solar system. When it's obvious that it's heading toward the Earth, society collapses into homicidal chaos.Far from being the fought over focus of competing men, Remina quickly finds herself on the run from the insane mob. Separated by her father and dependent upon one reliable friend, she watches as her world disappears around her; and, as the planet named after her closes in on Earth, it seems most likely that the end is near.I will not spoil the story, but I will affirm that nothing particularly uplifting occurs and Remina's future, and the future of humanity, is left very much in doubt.Maybe, just maybe, this can be viewed as a commentary about public opinion and how easily swayed it can be in our time, but it simply left me in the deepest imaginable of depressions. It's a worthy tale, a masterpiece I suppose, but it's one you must approach with caution.

Remina isn’t a bad manga. It’s also not particularly good. It’s a type of literature that transcends those boundaries. It’s nonsensical and truly eldritch, with half the time my mind unable to process what I read. The pace was a bit rushed - most manga make careful use of their limited pages. This one is more like a fever dream. A very violent one. I think everyone should read it, because it is unique. This was my first Junji Ito book, and I’m not sure if I’ll read more of his works, but I can’t deny this was an interesting read.

Spoiler-free review:Remina is a true cosmic horror in terms of tone and scale. It achieves a sense of impending dread while holding up a mirror to humanity and showing just how cruel we can be as a species when pushed to the brink. In this respect, Remina features two kinds of 'monsters' equally terrifying in their motivations and actions.The pacing of the narrative is perfect and escalates in a logarithmic fashion that keeps you hooked and unable to put the book down. Readers should be warned that they may experience existential dread and a few sleepless nights.It is difficult to find many faults with Remina but if I am pressed to find any, it would be in the way that some science fiction elements are presented. The story, out of necessity, takes place in the future and requires the use of particular tropes that Ito does not have much experience in portraying. The manner in which particular pieces of technology are illustrated or explained, indicates that Ito could have done a bit more research before starting this book. This is just a minor gripe and it does not detract from the overall narrative.Ito's style of art is well-suited to the subjects portrayed in Remina. He has perfectly captured horrific imagery at both the micro and macro scale in this book. There are numerous splash pages with illustrations that are utterly haunting but impossible to look away from.Determining where this book ranks among his previous works is difficult. Gyo will always be his best but I find Remina to compete very closely with Uzumaki for second place.An absolute recommendation for this book if you are an Ito fan. Because of its grand scale, I would say that this should be the 4th or 5th book you loan to a friend to get them into the works of Junji Ito.