This is a collection of some of Ito's "best stories". They were all new to me, except one Tomie repeat, (but a good Tomie story). These were all standalone stories, and I found most of them to be creepy and entertaining.

I really enjoyed "Marionette Mansion", about a family of puppeteers; the title story "Shiver" about a cursed object that sickens its owner; and finally "Honored Ancestors" was really unsettling. I kinda hated the story "Greased" - really grossed me out ( )

I read these over a couple of months, so I don't feel like getting into every story. But I can say that nothing stood out as bad; the bonus story is kind of nothing more than a cameo of a character from the "Fashion Model" story in this same collection. Here are some that left an impression:

"Used Record": Interesting idea about obsession with a mysterious record of morbid origins. I found the story progression to be less interesting than the concept, though.

"Shiver": A creepy neighbor girl has a strange disease. I don't want to say more than that, but this one was pretty good.

"Hanging Blimp": Weird, interesting, even kind of funny. Following apparent suicides, large blimps of the dead's heads float throughout Japan.

"Marionette Mansion": This is about a family that does marionette shows. The two brothers grow up and reconnect later on. I don't want to say more, but this is one that held my interest yet in the end there didn't seem to be much under the surface.

"The Long Dream": This one is about a psychiatric patient who complains of increasingly long dreams. His doctor finds this funny at first, until he starts to see signs that the patient is experiencing years all within a night's sleep.

"Greased": Literally a horror story about oily skin. It's often said that Stephen King could make anything a horror story, but Ito went next level. ( )

This was a nice quick story collection.

I must confess . . . I skipped the Tomie one due to it being in the Tomie Omnibus. I have my favourite and least favourite short stories - the one with the oil was . . . Uhm disgusting, and that is on the bottom of the list.

The marionette short story was brilliant and my favourite one of the whole lot. Still a nice read for any Junji Ito fan out there. ( )

A selection of some of Junji Ito's best short stories! Need I say more?

Ok fine, they're all great! True to Ito's style they're full of deranged and through-provoking concepts mixed with evocative and terrifying imagery. Sure the characters are somewhat underdeveloped and thin, but that's easy enough to overlook in favor of all the nightmare-inducing imagery.

It's hard to pick favorites in a collection this good, but here are a few that are really burned into my brain:

"Hanging Blimp" - a rash of suicides that quickly escalates into a full-blown apocalypse of giant floating heads with nooses; as wild in concept as it is hard to explain.

"Marionette Mansion" - a family who have built a house allowing them to be fully controlled like marionette dolls by strings and people in the ceiling; also a creepy demon puppet that causes excruciating havoc in the end.

"The Long Dream" - a frightened hospital patient whose dreams continue to increase in length (though his sleep time remains the same) and whose body begins to transform because of it; a really interesting concept with some shocking images.

There's also one story, called "Greased," that I won't ever read again just because it was so effectively gross. And not like in a gory way or anything, I just can't handle greasy pimple stuff (you weirdo pimple-popping video watchers will love it :P). ( )

I am OBSESSED with Fuchi. Like, where did she come from? Where did she go? Where did she come from, Junji Ito? ( )