Junji Ito’s hottest works are inclined to give attention to the sort of darkness that lives in fixation and obsession. In Uzumaki it’s represented by means of spirals and the way individuals twist and contort themselves to turn into them. In Tomie it takes the type of the titular lady, a mysterious determine that males fall head over heels for less than to seek out physique horror on the tail finish of attraction. In Gyo, a person offers himself fully to caring for his accomplice past the purpose of no return after useless fish on mechanical legs begin terrorizing individuals. In these tales, obsession results in both self-destruction or societal collapse. What’s much less commented about these tales is how aggressively satirical they’re.
Once you’re getting scared by a grasp storyteller, it may be onerous to take a look at the issues working behind scenes. I do know I used to be too busy being scared to get it the primary time I learn these books. Ito’s 2005 sci-fi horror story Remina, although, is maybe probably the most clearly satirical one within the creator’s oeuvre, making it fairly straightforward to see what the intention behind the hellish imagery was. And it’s really hellish imagery.
Remina facilities on a demon planet that’s heading in the direction of Earth, swallowing up stars and planets alongside the way in which. A Japanese scientist discovers the planet, naming it Remina after his daughter. Human Remina turns into a star in a single day, sparking the rise of fan golf equipment and expertise businesses that chase after her. Because the demonic celestial physique closes in on Earth, humanity realizes that this factor is pushed by an insidious starvation that gained’t simply resolve to fly over us. Right here’s the place the satirical factor begins creeping in. The general public arbitrarily reaches the conclusion that the planet is being managed by the scientist’s daughter as a result of they share the identical title. From there, fame reveals simply how unhealthy it will probably activate these beneath its gentle.
Issues go off the rails fairly quick, worryingly so for the characters concerned. Ito makes use of the title affiliation argument the populace settles on to elucidate planet Remina’s apocalyptic starvation to level at how ridiculous the roots of concern can typically be. Mob rule turns into the usual nearly instantly, and the primary order of the day is elevating crosses to crucify the scientist and the daughter to see if that appeases the demon planet. It’s as if the crosses had been made upfront and saved close by in case of a world disaster, introduced out simply as the necessity offered itself.
It’s all absurd and darkly comedian but additionally terrifying because it factors to how briskly individuals can rally behind the bones of a proof, going from concern to mob violence within the blink of a watch. And but, Ito builds his satire on human Remina’s swift rise to pop icon standing, which frames the mob as a rabid mass of followers which are obsessive about not solely possessing the item of their needs but additionally discovering in it the trigger for all their issues.
It’s a wise strategy that basically factors the finger at fandom as a giant downside with actual life horror potential. Issues develop from that core concept, tethering themselves to that fandom downside in a number of methods. Planet Remina, for example, possesses an enormous eye that opens simply because it reaches Earth to get a greater have a look at the ridiculousness happening beneath it and the way it’ll fail to cease the inevitable. In a way, it turns into a spectator, a Large Brother presence that’s momentarily joined in on the fandom earlier than it lastly will get bored with it and eats it. Remina doesn’t decide humanity. It’s fascinated by its absurdity (a sentiment these on the other facet of fandom are effectively acquainted with).
The concept extends to human Remina’s pathetic band of protectors, amongst them her company consultant, the president of her fan membership, and a man who needs to marry her. And that is all simply the tip of the iceberg. Ito finds much more methods to complicate and increase on the idea, most notably with a homeless man that isn’t as updated on who’s who on this situation due to his life circumstances. We additionally see a bunch of hooded figures that declare to have Earth’s greatest pursuits at coronary heart by driving the purpose in regards to the crucifixions even tougher. It will get extra absurd because it progresses (to a level that solely the ebook Gyo may come near).
Remina is Ito at his most satirical. There’s a frustration with fan tradition and mob thought that’s palpable right here. The demon planet on the middle of the story is a mirrored image of the those who lose themselves in that setting, a sick and all the time hungry being that decides to interrupt its feeding to fixate on the human drama. Ultimately, Remina is us, and we’re Remina. We are going to cease what we’re doing to indulge our obsessions, and solely after we’ve grown bored with them can we flip our backs and forged them into oblivion.
