Background and General Book Quality

I love Junji Ito, but I don’t think Venus in the Blind Spot is great. This strange collection gathers stories from throughout his history into one incohesive package, as is often the case with Ito. Maybe in 2040, we’ll finally get English publications of his work in chronological order instead of this headache-inducing, scavenger hunt crap.

So, I wanted to read the stories I had never come across before in English. To my knowledge, these were:

Venus in the Blind Spot
Master Umezz and Me
How Love Came to Professor Kirida
Keepsake
An Unearthly Love

Two classics are reprinted here: The Enigma of Amigara Fault and Billions Alone. I won’t argue against the status of these two, but because they have been around for so long, I didn’t factor them into my overall rating of this collection.

Still, this compilation has a professional English translation, which is always appreciated, even if it keeps the infamously stupid “drrr drrr drrr” sound effects in Amigara Fault. I assume this was done for legacy meme value rather than accuracy, which is always a detraction in my scorebook. By and large, the official scripts read fluidly, and the high-quality digital scans are a delight to see.

Additionally, there’s quite a generous amount of color pages spread throughout the book. They’re quite good, too, for what they are. These typically cover the first six or so pages, but will occasionally, suddenly appear to color iconic panels. I’ve personally never found partial coloring jobs to be much of a selling point, but at least they did a good job.

Where this shines, however, is a series of full-page artworks at the end of the collection. These were meant to be viewed in full-color and typically aren’t encountered by western readers, so it’s nice to see them made accessible. These artworks range from standalone pieces to promotional artwork for unfeatured works such as Uzumaki and No Longer Human. Kind of cool.

The “new” stories, though? Eh. Ehhhhhh. If these actually aren’t recent, or have been in English before, then it’s no wonder I either don’t remember them. Hell, I barely even feel like talking about them. But I will, because I’m a true professional.

Venus in the Blind Spot

Despite being the titular story, this is probably the worst. I took away nothing from the concept or plot, and this failed to capture any of my anxieties. It has novelty value for being one of the surprisingly few Ito stories to involve aliens, but even that subject isn’t explored. The “horror” is too rationalized, and the consequences of it feel mild and without meaning.

Master Umezz and Me

Autobiographical Ito stories are always fun, as the author has quite an amusing, self-deprecating sense of humor that contrasts with his fiction’s severity. This is no exception. Beyond these humorous depictions of himself, this story is mostly Ito fellating a fellow, inspirational manga author. It did make me want to check out his work, so Ito likely accomplished one of his goals with writing this. However, this is neither a serious biography of their work nor a super interesting life story, so it ends up compromised and of middling interest.

How Love Came to Professor Kirida

This is another one of Ito’s literature adaptations. His artwork’s attention to realistic detail, where the macabre and graceful are depicted with equal power, always comes to its greatest fruition when Ito is adapting heavily contemplative, literary material. This story is elevated by those qualities, but I feel the source material is not up to the quality of Frankenstein or No Longer Human. The drama is captivating, but I feel the story is too brief to capture any thematic depth. There’s not really any moral ambiguity here; just ironic twists of fate.

Keepsake

Probably the most traditionally “scary” of these stories, due to it having the best examples of Ito’s one-page stingers; the uncomfortable imagery that readers associate with him. Broadly, the tale is a standard revenge story where a character is punished for their transgressions. I consider it to the best of the “new” stories in Venus in the Blind Spot, but still only decent by Ito’s standards.

An Unearthly Love

I felt the mystery of this one was engaging enough, but the reveal was weak, and it had no psychological implications about the paper-thin character associated with it. This is about as milquetoast as an Ito story can get without being outright “bad.”

Well, there you go. Of those stories, I don’t particularly recommend any of them. You’ve probably already read the best stories in here, which were ones I didn’t cover. Have a nice day.