Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre

After the disappointment of watching the Junji Ito collection series of 2018 I was hoping that Netflix would come to the rescue and create a series that made justice to Junji Ito's extraordinary works. Turns out I was completely wrong. The animation style is very underwhelming, the lack of detail made all the episodes very boring and the entire season looked very dull, which is something that shouldnt in any case be associated with Junji ito's original works who leave you traumatized and begging for more. Overall very disappointed and can't see why netflix decided to take on the project if it was going to turn out so bad.

This is a collection of anime horror shorts. Unfortunately, it's as goofy and poorly animated as an episode of the original 1970s Scooby Doo cartoons. I couldn't even make it past the fourth episode, which was mind-numblingly boring. Basically, it was a teenager who was trying to study, but his brother kept interrupting him by making stupid noises. Oooh, the horror. The only short that I liked was The Hanging Balloons, which was both creepy and surreal. That short deserves an 8/10, but almost every other short I saw in the first four episodes was a 1/10 from me.

The animation is Hanna-Barbera quality. While eating dinner, the aforementioned teen complains to his parents about his brother's behavior. While each is speaking, the others are completely frozen in time. I don't remember even seeing them blink. The person who's talking is barely animated and mostly just moves their lips. What's the point of even paying for a Netflix subscription if this is the best that Netflix can find?

The English language dub sounded like they were going for some kind of goofy horror-comedy tone, which ruined a lot of the atmosphere. Switching to the Japanese audio helps. The art itself, though, sometimes had the same problem. If I had known this was going to be a goofy comedy-horror series, I probably wouldn't have bothered. Based on Netflix's description, I was hoping this would be surreal and creepy stories for adults. Instead, you get the Addams Family bickering with each other while holding a seance and a teenager who has an annoying brother.

After so much failed attempts, I've come to accept Junji Ito's work should only exist in manga form. This adaptation doesn't give me hope for the Uzumaki adaptation, even if it's a different studio and director. The dubbed version of this is horrendous so don't waste your time. Each episode is more uninspired than the last with bland animation and lackluster stories. There are some flashes of brilliance, the intro for example is a banger but most all else isn't worth the watch. Do yourself a favor and read the manga stories again, this adaptation isn't worth your time. If I could, I'd unwatch this soulless carcass of an anime.

All episodes seem to be pure build up to a conclusion that never comes.

It's disappointing when the episode ends and you're like "Wow, was that it?" It's like you're just seeing undeveloped concepts.

Very few episodes really feel like a closed story and others don't even feel like a story at all.

The animation is not terrible but definitely could be better, the opening intro is by far the best part of the whole series.

I think the series is entertaining despite all the flaws, but don't expect something scary or even intriguing, in the end it's just pretty dull campfire stories with some minimally interesting ones in the middle.

Also, I can't even count the number of times a character could have completely avoided their situations by having common sense, but the characters in the series seem to have an extreme tolerance to weird things happening around them, it's like they aren't reacting as they should... This is a spoiler free review but just know that there is a episode where the MC simply choose to keep in a cleary bad looking situation for no reason at all... And the conclusion is as underwhelming as expected.

It's hard to rate it this low because i actually had some fun watching it, but overall it was this disapointing.

I have to be dead honest unfortunately I'd rate Junji Ito Maniac about the same as the Junji Ito Collection they both have positives and negatives about different thing's focusing on Maniac the writing feels a bit better the suspense build up to the gruesome moments that are supposed to make your skin crawl and gut churn Junji Ito is such a master of fall so flat in this show it feels lifeless because knowing Junji Ito he doesn't rely on cheap scares and such he likes body horror the inescapable what makes his books so amazing and skin crawling he puts such a dreadful touch to his art that's so creepily detailed that it's incredible and this show takes the build up you start to get unsettled just for the big (supposed to be) shocking reveal for it to look slightly cartoonish and dumbed down almost as if it was censored if you're a hardcore Junji Ito fan like me you will find some enjoyment in it it's not all bad not at all just like the Collection it has its shining moments but I'd probably give Maniac a granted biased rating of 6 out of 10 and that's honestly a fanboy opinion so about the same as I'd give the Junji Ito Collection!