Deserter

I am in the middle of too many books.   There are so many that I am reading for my profession, but then there are so many that I am reading for entertainment. And soon it will be October and I rather enjoyed the past years wherein I would read a few horror-genre items.  So, of course, at the library last week I saw they had a copy of Deserter by Junji Ito and borrowed it. The obvious thing to do when the book stacks are avalanching – very much like a horror scene.

Deserter ( 脱走兵のいる家) is a collection of twelve short stories by Japanese creator Junji Ito. This edition is the English edition published by Viz Media in 2021.  I had been considering buying this so it is not exactly ridiculous that when I saw it at the library I left with it.  I still might purchase it – because I have really grown in appreciation for Junji Ito’s works.  I still have Remina that I own and that I need to read, but I will keep an eye out for Deserter on sale.

I do not love horror – a thing that I keep stating. It bothers me and I do not really enjoy it.  However, I do like challenging myself to read other genres and I really do like this artist’s art and storytelling.  If Junji Ito were to ever write a science fiction story, I can promise you that I would be all over that book!  I do know other readers who do not enjoy horror – and I think this is a good collection for readers who might be courageous enough to read some horror.  The contents being short stories help mitigate the overwhelming feel that might happen with reading a larger work in the horror genre. Smaller bites can help digestion.

I struggle with having an effective way to review manga.  So, I felt that for this collection, I would rate each story in four categories. But the ratings are purely what I would call “like/dislike,” in some cases this could be a rating of degree. So, I decided to rate the stories for:  interesting/entertaining story, gore-level, artwork-engagement, and horror-level.  Obviously, this is entirely subjective and relative and just embarrassingly without any uniform measuring stick besides my silly opinion.

Bio House – story 2, gore 5, art 4, horror 4
Face Thief – story 3, gore 3, art 3, horror 2
Where the Sandman Lives – story 4, gore 4, art 5, horror 3
The Devil’s Logic – story 1, gore 3, art 3, horror 2
The Long Hair in the Attic – story 3, gore 3, art 4, horror 3
Scripted Love – story 5, gore 3, art 5, horror 3
The Reanimator’s Sword – story 2, gore 4, art 3, horror 2
A Father’s Love – story 3, gore 3, art 3, horror 3
Unendurable Labyrinth – story 4, gore 3, art 4, horror 4
Village of the Siren – story 4, gore 5, art 3, horror 4
Bullied – story 2, gore 2, art 3, horror —
Deserter – story 4, gore 2, art 4, horror 4

I am not going to go in-depth with each story. I would prefer to point out the highlights or the key items that seem to be most important.  I will start with what I think are the lowest tier:  Bullied and The Devil’s Logic are the worst of the collection.  The former is too horrible (not necessarily horrific) for me to talk about; it was actually difficult for me to read through. I do not like it. The Devil’s Logic gets a low rating from me because I feel like it does not develop at all and while short stories in the horror genre can leave some work to the reader, this one just felt weak and rather flat. It was unconvincing and maybe felt unpolished.

The second tier stories would be Face Thief, Where the Sandman Lives, The Long Hair in the Attic, and The Reanimator’s Sword.  All four of these stories have a sort of classic horror story trope behind them.  I felt they all were takes on what would be familiar to most horror fans.  Though they may have hints of known story elements, that does not mean they were bad.  Face Thief is titled appropriately, let us say.  My favorite of the bunch was probably Where the Sandman Lives.  Where the Sandman Lives causes me a bit of grief because I cannot match the story with the title no matter what. I keep reading the title and have to sit for a minute and recall which story this was. I have to type quickly; chances are I will forget again. The story does not wow me, but I think the artwork in this story was amazing. I like when the stories allow Junji Ito to showcase the frames of hands, eyes, simple drawings that contain movement and panic or, what is best, the sudden realization a character might have.  The other stories are vaguely entertaining in their own way. I think the story itself in The Reanimator’s Sword kind of slips away from Junji Ito a bit and gets a bit messy.

A Father’s Love is a longer story than the rest.  It has a lot of emotion from all of the characters.  I do not know that I liked it, really, but I think it is well-done, regardless. It is an entirely average story across the board – meaning, I feel it hits all the checkpoints to be included in any consideration of horror. It is too emotion-driven/character-driven for my tastes, but it includes a lot of the more common horror elements. Headaches, suicides, sudden violence, chases at night…. The ending is unhappy, but expected. Maybe the story would have rated higher if it was shorter and trimmed a bit.  There is a hero, at the end, and it seems like the author tried to drum up a little reader sympathy. I am not sure any of this worked to a huge extent, but it did feel a little different than the other stories for it.

Bio House is hands down the goriest of the group. It is nasty and the artwork is utterly depictive of exactly how horrific things are.  There is not a lot by way of backstory, maybe a few extra frames would have helped this aspect.  I would have liked a little more introduction to the main character and her role in the backstory. I mean, readers can figure something out via context, but its maybe not enough when the gore and the pandemonium start escalating.  Its a bit outrageous to say, but the art is so good:  for example the slaves on their knees lapping up blood were drawn perfectly. The final frame of the story is structured perfectly as well – the main character exits, seemingly with all the poise in the world while one of the slaves looks off-screen.   The fact that this is the opening story in this collection is quite a guidepost for the reader – if they make it through this one, they should be forewarned that anything could be possible and Junji Ito is not pulling punches. And, honestly, since it is the most gory, it probably sets the bar a little high for the readers in that respect. The rest of the stories do not really come close to this one, I think.

Scripted Love, Unendurable Labyrinth, Village of the Siren, and Deserter are all top-tier stories and my favorites of the entire collection. I would say they are not to be missed.  These are the higher rated stories in the collection, I gave them four stars each. I liked how they seemed to have just the right amount of world-building and background.  Again, they do have some of the classical elements of horror. One story has mummies, one has flying demons, one has revenge and suicide.  My favorite, if pressed, is probably Unendurable Labyrinth, but if you know me it is not a surprise that that is the one I find most interesting and engaging.  Deserter is good, after all, it is the flagship of the collection.  However, the motivations of the characters seem pushed too far; if any of these are psychological horror, I would say this one is solidly in that category.  I say this, but people can be extreme and wild and unpredictable, so maybe that is just my own perspective on this.    I like that Deserter has a lot to consider and question and wonder about after the story (and the book) ends.  There is something to chew on here even after the story is over.

I got a big kick out of Scripted Love because I feel it is the only story in this collection that has a storyline with a real plot twist surprise.  Its clever and weird and satisfyingly creepy, if that is a thing.  Readers who like a little snark will enjoy this, I think. My favorite section is the last page – the violence is off-stage and you cannot see who is talking, but you know. Very nicely written story.

Overall, based on story rating alone, I think this collection averages out to a three star rating. However, I know that that is low. Simply put, I think the four top-tier stories alone make this collection worth reading and I rated all of those four+ stars.  At this point, I am very comfortable with Junji Ito’s art, meaning I can recognize it and I am noticing subtleties in it.  I am glad that I read this collection and I can recommend it to horror fans and readers who might like to read some horror, but maybe need an alternate delivery method. This manga works really well for the genre.