Stitches is a collection of
horror short stories by Hirokatsu Kihara, with illustrations by
Junji Ito. It consists of 9 tales, each called a "stitch", along with a
manga by Ito adapting another of Kihara's stories, in the same manner as their previous collaboration,
Mimi's Tales of Terror.
Provides examples of:
- Ghost Story: Many of the "stitches" revolve around ghosts appearing to people in various locations.
- In "Library", the main character and several of her classmates see the apparition of a young girl running around inside the school library.
- In "Festival of the Dead", the ghosts of the elderly relatives of the family living next door to the main character are seen multiple times, and appear to usher a procession of spirits away at the end.
- In "The Kimono", the main character and her daughter encounter the ghost of her long-dead sister, who wants to have her Shichi-Go-San ceremony
just as the daughter is about to. - In "Snow Day", the main character sees the spirit of a woman blocking her path on the way home from school, and then sees her again that evening, only this time she's hanged.
- Hot Springs Episode: In "Summer Graduation Trip", Naomi and Kazuko go to a hotel as part of their trip and decide to soak in the onsen before dinner. However, the experience turns terrifying for them both and they appear to narrowly escape becoming trapped in the onsen forever.
- Human Notepad: In "Face", the priest has the main character remove his wife's clothes, then writes the Buddhist prayer "Namu Amida Butsu" across her entire body from head to toe in order to contain the spirit that is possessing her.
- Let's Get Out of Here: In "Summer Graduation Trip", Naomi has only barely gotten settled into the onsen when Kazuko demands that she get out so they can leave. When Naomi confronts her about this, Kazuko says that she became scared when she saw that, although the onsen had dozens of people in it, they were all facing away from them, none of them turned around to greet them or spoke, and no one left while they were there. Additionally, in the illustration all of the people are submerged up to their necks.
- Oh, Crap!: At the conclusion of "Summer Graduation Trip", the woman who brings Naomi and Kazuko their dinner becomes terrified when they ask about the woman they met on the staircase to the onsen, and Kazuko hurriedly dismisses her as it appears that she knew exactly what they'd encountered.
- Short Story: Each of the "stitches" are only 8-9 pages, with the manga "Summer Graduation Trip" more than doubling that length.
- Spooky Photographs:
- The strangely quiet woman who dances with several of the men in "Folk Dance" doesn't show up in any of the photographs taken by the main character, with the men appearing to be dancing with nobody.
- At the end of "The Kimono", the ghost of the main character's sister appears in the photograph of her and her daughter taken at the daughter's Shichi-Go-San ceremony, wearing the same kimono as her daughter.
