History Headscratchers / JunjiIto

* Are the Hikizuri siblings entirely human? Misako, the youngest daughter, seems particularly… off with her leaping and clinging.

** Why not thought? Putting aside that you can use "supernatural" to handvawe literally anything, the only part to actually require handvawing is disappearing/reappearing. Hacking the radio (or TV for that matter) is not only possible, but actually happens IRL from time to time. There's also no reason why a pilot with a plane can't be in cahoots with a criminals and/or mind controlled. As for mass murders themselves, well, it's not like large numbers of people disappearing and later reappearing changed in some way is something that's too unrealistic for Junji Ito's manga

* Army of One. It just ends without an explanation. Who was piloting the planes? How could they "hack" the radio with that song? How did they manage to kill hundreds of people at a time? How could they make them disappear, then move them elsewhere? The handwave of "there must be supernatural forces" just doesn't cut it.

** What is "Memories of Real Poop" about, anyway? Is it some sort of NothingIsScarier trick story? Or just an account from Ito's childhood? Or maybe just a [[SubvertedTrope play with our expectations]]?

*** My interpretation is that [[spoiler:Natsuko was merely driven insane and imitating the murders]]. However, it offers absolutely no explanation of what the hell was happening the whole time.

* Ok, I have a bit of problem accepting one of the aspects of the series ''Manga/{{Gyo}}''. Don't get me wrong, it's a great manga and downright disturbing. But, there's a tiny problem with the story's logic (not counting the ones that can be explained by RuleOfCool or RuleOfScary). At one point in the story, a walker-powered whale shows up before it instantly collapses under its weight. Ok, fine, SquareCubeLaw and everything. But, later in the series [[spoiler: '''huge''' towering machines are seen walking about powered by massive piles or corpses]]. How? It's shown that the gas-inducing bacteria bloats the victims and increases their mass. If that is the case, then this would mean the infected humans are heavier than they were before becoming zombies (as evident when Kaori collapsed after trying to hang herself when she became infected). Therefore, huge piles of infected people would way hundreds, if not thousands of pounds (even if you don't take the gas into consideration, a lot of humans is quite heavy). How is it that these walkers cannot support a whale, yet can support mountains of farting zombies?

** This is what Kazuko's brother actually did, using an umbrella to gum up the noose which bought him time to run. [[spoiler:It didn't work out for him]].

** (Same troper) On a different line of thinking that is kinder to Fuchi's supposed intellect, you could take it as: she ''does'' see the irony, only from a different perspective. She's laughing because she ''knows'' she will kill everyone in the car, and having an unsuspecting person mentioning how they might be shooting a horror movie after all must sound hilarious, like an in-joke that only Fuchi herself gets. Like, "Oh, ''yes''. You guys have NO idea just how much of a horror movie this is going to turn out." Which admittedly must be pretty funny from her point of view.

* I don't get it, in "The Bronze Statue": Ms. Shirakawa just moved in the neighborhood. Why did that "old hag" Madame Sonobe target her as well. Shirakawa is the least at fault for mocking her. In fact Shirakawa didn't even laugh and mock her.

** Shirakawa was unfortunate enough to be associated with the women who mocked Sonobe, and I dont think Sonobe was all that choosy with her revenge.
* This troper would like to bring up something about the Hanging Balloons. You can't conceivably fight them without killing someone or even yourself, I get it, but... why didn't it ever occur to anyone to simply find something sharp and cut off the noose from each balloon? Wouldn't that solve the issue of not damaging the balloons yet not dying?

** What is "A Shit to Remember" about, anyway? Is it some sort of NothingIsScarier trick story? Or just an account from Ito's childhood? Or maybe just a [[SubvertedTrope play with our expectations]]?

** And finally, "Army of One". Creepy as hell, yes. Unsettling reveal of who's the culprit as well as yanking the hope of a happy ending? Sure, that' awesome! But how, exactly, did the "Stitch Killer" do it? How could over 500 people simply disappear under heavy security and then suddenly appear in another place all stitched up. Or, worse, the gruesome Christmas decoration?

*** I honestly don't get why so many people seem to be confused by what's going on in 'Army of One'; it's very simple if you remember two details: The Army in question have flying vehicles dropping flyers, and the last frame of the manga shows us that the planes deployed to fight off the Army, is now also dropping the flyers; people are being brainwashed by the Army into joining it. While we don't know who or what is causing it, or why, I don't think this is necessary for the horror aspect, and could really be anything for whatever reason. All we need to know is what they're doing to people and how; the ad on the radio basically turn people into sleeper agents that, once something is triggered (I believe it is a feeling of overwhelming fear of losing or being without the people around you), the person will sow themselves, and the people around them, together. I believe this is why the amount of cases increase; the talk about the murders cause people to fear that their loved ones will be the next, and then the quarantine makes it even worse.

* Okay, so I was a bit confused by the ending of the ''Intersection Fortune Telling'' story. So who the heck were they hinting was the Pretty Boy? Were they trying to imply that he was the son of the man who got his mistresses pregnant? Was there some motive they were hinting at that went totally over my head? Was he just doing it ForTheEvulz? The ending was so abrupt I didn't grasp much beyond the protagonist's death.

* "I Dont't Want to Be a Ghost" ends with the main character's mistress waiting by his deathbed in the hospital, eagerly awaiting his death so she can devour his ghost. So...why can't the guy just ask the hospital staff to remove his crazy ex-girlfriend from his room? And if she resists, that's what security is for.

* In "Fashion Model", why does Fuchi start laughing with the group when one remarks that the remote location, plus the implication of her presence, will make their project a horror movie? Fuchi thinks she is the most beautiful woman in the world, so she wouldn't recognize the veiled insult in the joke, and she's in the film earnestly because she thinks it's going to glorify her "beauty", and thus isn't planning to kill them and laughing about that. Sure, Ito wanted a good fangy reveal, but why, according to her vain, impuslive character, would she be laughing uproariously at a joke she doesn't understand and sees no irony in?

* Right, so, "Smashed" is a very good plant-based horror story. Not going to deny that. However, there is one aspect about the tree that confounds me (LovecraftianSuperpower teleportation skills aside). We know the "honey" is actually the tree's sap. We know it cannot stand humans attempting to eat said sap, and will smush anything that it catches doing so. That being said, other animals feed on sap. There's birds, insects, other mammals, etc. Yet, this tree seems focused on crushing only humans who attempt to steal its sap and feed on it. Does it not notice other animals? Or, do other animals just not like the taste of the sap?

** (Same troper) On a different line of thinking that is kinder to Fuchi's supposed intellect, you could take it as: she ''does'' see the irony, only from a different perspective. She's laughing because she ''knows'' she will kill everyone in the car, and having an unsuspecting person mentioning how they might be shooting a horror movie after all must sound hilarious, like an in-joke that only Fuchi herself gets. Like, "Oh, ''yes''. You guys have NO idea just how much of a horror movie this is going to turn out." Which admittedly must be pretty funny from her point of view.
* So suppose you're really fat. So your hole is also going to be wider. If you lost a bunch of weight, wouldn't you no longer have the urge to go inside, since it doesn't resemble you anymore?

** (Same troper) On a different line of thinking that is kinder to Fuchi's supposed intellect, you could take it as: she ''does'' see the irony, only from a different perspective. She's laughing because she ''knows'' she will kill everyone in the car, and having an unsuspecting person mentioning how they might be shooting a horror movie after all must sound hilarious, like an in-joke that only Fuchi herself gets. Like, "Oh, ''yes''. You guys have NO idea just how much of a horror movie this is going to turn out." Which admittedly must be pretty funny from her point of view.

*** OK, now I'm curious what would the kids turn into if the parents allow them to "grow" for whatever reason, is there a limit of that "growth" (i.e it stops at some point) or will it go indefinitely.

*** OK, now I'm curious what would the kids turn into if the parents allow them to "grow" for whatever reason.

* "Anything But a Ghost" ends with the main character's mistress waiting by his deathbed in the hospital, eagerly awaiting his death so she can devour his ghost. So...why can't the guy just ask the hospital staff to remove his crazy ex-girlfriend from his room? And if she resists, that's what security is for.

* Right, so, "Splatter Film" is a very good plant-based horror story. Not going to deny that. However, there is one aspect about the tree that confounds me (LovecraftianSuperpower teleportation skills aside). We know the "honey" is actually the tree's sap. We know it cannot stand humans attempting to eat said sap, and will smush anything that it catches doing so. That being said, other animals feed on sap. There's birds, insects, other mammals, etc. Yet, this tree seems focused on crushing only humans who attempt to steal its sap and feed on it. Does it not notice other animals? Or, do other animals just not like the taste of the sap?

** (Same troper) On a different line of thinking that is kinder to Fuchi's supposed intellect, you could take it as: she ''does'' see the irony, only from a different perspective. She's laughing because she ''knows'' she will kill everyone in the car, and having an unsuspecting person mentioning how they might be shooting a horror movie after all must sound hilarious, like an in-joke that only Fuchi herself gets. Like, "Oh, ''yes''. You guys gave NO idea just how much of a horror movie this is going to turn out." Which admittedly must be pretty funny from her point of view.

* In "Fashion Model", why does Fuchi start laughing with the group when one remarks that the remote location, plus the implication of her presence, will make their project a horror movie? Fuchi thinks she is the most beautiful woman in the world, so she wouldn't recognize the veiled insult in the joke, and she's in the film earnestly because she thinks it's going to glorify her "beauty", and thus isn't planning to kill them and laughing about that. Sure, Ito wanted a good fangy reveal, but why, according to her vain, impuslive character, would she be laughing uproariously at a joke she doesn't understand and sees no irony in?

* Why, in the official translation of ''Fragments of Horror'', is novelist Nanakuse's name given as "Magami" when the fan translation has it as "Kyokumi" (which the Japanese seems to say)? Are both valid translations? Why would they be different?