The Liminal Zone, Vol. 2 (2025)

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As noted in my review for the volume one of The Liminal Zone, first published in English back in 2022, fans of Junji Ito can expect two types of collections these days: freshly translated work from his seemingly bottomless well of content, and brand-new stories. It was firmly in the latter camp, created exclusively for the LINE manga app (which is way more popular than you’d think). The Liminal Zone, Volume 2 continues the vibe of the first, only this time Ito’s canvas isn’t some social media app but the AERA dot website, collecting another four stories (translation by Jocelyne Allen) that feel more inspired than usual.

Apps are nice and websites nicer still, but I like my comics and manga bigger and easier to read, which is exactly what you’ll get here. Of course, this being a book of Junji Ito tales and artwork, the usual caveats and trigger warnings apply, so proceed with appropriate caution.

“Demon King of Dust” A story birthed by his annoyance with dust, Ito applies this universal disgust to an entire city, taking full advantage of his penchant for large-scale horror. A young boy’s fascination with derelict buildings in his otherwise abandoned town leads to trouble while exploring the forbidden areas of his own home, an decrepit inn no longer in use and controlled by his crazed father, himself the son of Japanese cinematic royalty.

It doesn’t take long before Ito transforms otherwise innocuous particles into unfathomable horrors of unusually grotesque proportions (fans will understand when I say Ito goes Full Ito), more so than any other story in this collection with illustrations owing much to Stephen Gammell (the artist behind the nightmare-fueling Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books).

“Village of Ether” May be the collection’s highlight, and the source of that beautiful cover artwork. This one has everything hardcore fans have come to expect; lost teens, hikes in the wilderness, abandoned towns, creepy folk, cults, mechanically operated corpses powered by a mysterious energy source. What more could an Ito fan ask for? Plus, his incredibly precise and detailed artwork feels inspired by the great Hajime Sorayama’s sexy robots.

“The Strange Hikizuri Siblings Chapter 3: Uncle Ketanosuke” Probably the most unexpected entry is a new chapter in the saga of the wacky Hikizuri kids, Ito’s macabre comic take on the Addams Family that’s a nice departure from his typically depressing fare. Ito claims to have been inspired to revisit the series following Netflix’s Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, which animated one of the now thirty year-old manga stories (collected in 2021’s Lovesickness) to…let’s say questionable quality. While the artwork almost looks too clean (I could say the same about most of these tales), the storyline hasn’t missed a beat as another seance is on the menu.

“The Shells of Manjunuma” Can the cracked patterns on the shell of a murdered turtle predict someone’s death? Animal lovers may need a small trigger warning as this includes depictions of extreme violence against our shelled and feathered friends, though never to the point of exploitation. The result is a truly original tale of obsessive horror that’s surprisingly grounded (for Ito), and one of his best new stories in years.

I was surprised that I enjoyed Juni Ito’s The Liminal Zone, Vol. 2 more than the first, mostly because the four stories included feel more grounded than usual, which could be a sign the author is maturing or (as he explains in his hilariously self-deprecating afterward) he’s simply running out of new ideas. Perhaps the challenge of creating content for social media apps and websites was just the creative spark he needed, and this makes me curious about what’s next on his manga menu.