If you don’t know: https://comick.app/comic/the-enigma-of-amigara-fault
Ha-ha! Classic Jordan!
Sjeez is all I can say.
We… are the crystal gems…
Yeah this is what I thought as well. Never heard of “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” GUESS I SHOULD START READING.
Horror is subjective.
I couldn’t get into this one personally, because there are all sorts of inventions and ways we could do that would explore the holes without ya know… jumping into them?
Like, I dunno, throw a cell phone camera in there and see where it goes?
I guess the “horror” was the mass hysteria that caused people to mentally link themselves to a hole and think they had to jump in. But psychology doesn’t work like that, as far as I’m aware (and there’s some psychological horrors in the real world, like schizophrenia, that do scare the bejezus out of me).
But yeah, I realize everyone else thinks its a masterpiece. But… I just couldn’t take it seriously. But give it a try, maybe it works for ya!
But the scariest part of this story isn’t the holes, it’s the irresistible urge to go in…
Yea, it’s the fact that it seems impossible to resist. Yes, there are better ways than described to check out the holes, but it doesn’t ruin the story for me. I get those impulsive thoughts to jump off of cliffs or drive off roads so this story is the fear of following those thoughts.
It’s a very sad story actually, which I don’t think gets discussed much. All the characters who go in seem accutely isolated and lonely. That feeling of isolation from the world, if you’ve ever felt it, well, the story resonates. The characters literally only fit in to their own little place, completely separated from the rest of the world. There’s literally no room for anyone or anything else. But what comes out of living like that in the end? Well, it’s not pretty.
It’s an examination of modern life and hyper-individualism.
The surreal aspects beg you to drop your hyper-criticism and to look for deeper imagery. I love it. And he can do it in such a short form, while also managing to singularly capture the psychological horror as well as anyone.
Imagine present day Stephen King telling stories through a one-shot manga. The action wouldn’t even be started before he ran out of paper! Of course, King has his own masterful way of conveying horror and it works very well, too.
Those impulses are so common the French have a lyrical term for it:
Yeah, that’s the first thing I thought of, too. It’s called l’appel du vide (“call of the void” in French).
I love that Junji Ito has a bunch of stories that are metaphors for stuff like this. This one. Snail Girl being the same allegory as Metamorphosis. The tall actress being about the anxiety you feel when you know a coworker might ruin the business but everyone else seems to not care. The woman in the window and the window creeping closer is one of the ones most on the nose.
But then he also has the hot spring to hell which is literally “stupid man experiences stupid horror”. He just felt like making cheap horror that month, lol.
They… they don’t jump in though. They press themselves into their hole slowly, and continue to press themselves deeper in, so slowly that they are physically pressed and molded into something monstrous.
Like… yeah, mass hysteria doesn’t work exactly like that, but it’s fiction? It in no way resembles something that could take place in real life. The fear comes from putting yourself into the headspace of everyone around you seeming to lose control of themselves, and then the same thing happening to you, but you don’t seem to care, you just slowly begin to yearn desperately for the tight pressure of the hole that fits you perfectly.
We’ll always DRR DRR !
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought of Steven Universe first.
I’m out of the loop. Why Steven Universe and not Junji Ito?
The Kindergarten in Steven Universe is a reference to Junji Ito.
Steven Universe is just what is more fresh in my mind.
Thaaaats what it was. I was scratching my head to figure out from what source I knew of this concept.
Beautiful reference, bonus comic made me snort my soda.
Ok, I definitely softly snorted aloud for that one. Bonus was chef’s-kiss as well.
I wish I didn’t
You think this is more disturbing than The Bikini Bottom Horror?
No but I wish I didn’t know that too. Honestly The Bikini Bottom Horror Story has better writing.
TIHI
Thanks, this was a great way to use an hour of my life :)
That was a very good read
I love Junji Ito
I haven’t actually read anything he’s produced but I got very interested after playing World of Horror which is heavily inspired by his work. I feel like I’ve already seen some of the creepy stuff from The Enigma of Amigara Fault and Uzumaki so I feel less interested in starting them(Or at least starting WITH them). Do you have a favorite that isn’t one of the popular memes that you recommend?
Tomie isn’t as meme-ified as Amigara fault, or as widely adapted as Uzumaki, but is another of his bigger works, would recommend!
Also, you may have seen a few images from Uzumaki (the hair, the face) but the story is quite long and really unsettling! Would still recommend giving it a read.
Can someone explain the joke? I get the Micheal Jordan and the Jordan logo but don’t understand the other parts. Thanks!
It’s based on a short story called The Enigma of Amigara Fault, where
spoiler
people find people-shaped holes in the mountains and feel compelled to go inside them.
Here’s a short summary. You can read it in full here.
Holy crap, this is cool
If you like it, I highly recommend all his manga. They’re all just as creepy/terrifying as this one.
It’s quite a spooky story. You may or may not be interested in reading it.
See OPs comment below with a link to the reference comic. Fair warning though, it’s some unsettling shit.
duuuurrrrrrrrr
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=Prm-lLTdjfA&
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Wow that’s cool
I honestly thought I was going to have a panic attack watching this episode for the first time like a week after I read the original comic
Ugh this gives me the creeps just thinking about it. That bonus panel is too much
Oh, the second post I see abou that manga, I’m an expert now!
