HORROR SPECIAL: Alley

Author: Junji Ito
Illustrator: Junji Ito
Publishers: Viz Media
Age Group: Older Teen
Genre: Horror
Type: manga; short stories

Content Warnings: disturbing imagery; partial nudity

Spoilers ahead

Plot

Every night, a young man hears children playing outside his boarding house-but the alley below his window is fenced off from the world. Then, when a young woman’s family starts acting strangely at the same time she begins having bizarre dreams, she decides to stay with her aunt, but the town she heads for has neither addresses nor roads…also, an all-you-can-eat ice cream bus that ’s more sinister than sweet. 

Character Development

With this volume of short stories, I felt more connected to the characters than I did in the last Horror Special installment. Some of the characters we have are a father who just wants to see his daughter again after she’s died, so he keeps refusing the marriage offer for her hand (Blessing). 

I really enjoyed this one because Junji Ito messed with characterization more. We have some pretty far out there secondary characters like the aunt from (Town of No Roads). Another great character is the girl who thinks she’s ugly even though she’s beautiful (Memory).

Junji Ito did an excellent job portraying different characters that you can relate to through their experience and narration. I really enjoyed the ones that seemed more like slice-of-life. 

World-building

Per usual, Junji Ito does an excellent job world-building. One of my favorite ones is from Mold where a man’s home slowly turns into a jungle of mold. The artwork is creepy and stunning as the young man slowly becomes part of the jungle. 

I also really enjoyed the world-building for The Inn. A father decides to turn their home into an inn and digs down to find a hot spring only for it to be a gateway out of hell. The character designs for that are quite interesting and creepy until they meld together. 

In Town of No Roads, we get a society that’s been created because someone built a structure around a whole area. People have to navigate through other peoples homes. The only privacy you have are by wearing masks. 

Each weaves the world around you and the narrator is who you cling to. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the protagonist. 

Themes

Everyone becomes obsessed with something. 

I feel like this is a good theme because many of the stories in this volume portray someone focusing on one thing. The girl who thinks she’s ugly (Memory). The man who keeps trying to ask for a girl’s hand from her father for thirteen years (Blessing). The young man who tries to keep his wife from floating away (Descent). 

Observations & Predictions

I really liked that Junji Ito took things we normally don’t think about and turned them into something spooky. 

Recommendations

Any of Junji Ito’s works 

My Ranking

Plot: 8
Character Development: 10
World-Building: 10
Overall: 9/10