YMMV / Fragments of Horror

• Alternate Character Interpretation: How much sympathy should the reader feel for Makoto in "Gentle Goodbye"? Was he a grieving man that did what he could to bring his wife back to life and didn't think through the consequences, or a Secretly Selfish husband that treated the Riko construct as an object and not as a person, given he was cheating on her and thought that since she wasn't real, that he could be married to two women at once? There is evidence for both, namely when Makoto confesses to the construct that when the original Riko died, he begged everyone in his family to bring her back and in a rare moment of goodwill, they did, his parents being the exception. Riko's father didn't even know his daughter died, as the construct returns to his house and he's asking if she's okay, given her transparency. That little detail shows that Makoto's actions had badly affected others as well and he never considered how her father would feel about his only child having died years ago.
• Anvilicious: "Gentle Goodbye" is very emphatic on the fact that death is a natural part of life, and we never know when we have to let go of the ones we love. Rather than do all we can to extend that time unfairly, we should spend the time that we have now with a loved one and not take them for granted.
• Awesome Moments: In "Gentle Goodbye," Riko realizes that none of her in-laws respect her or care about her, with Tamoka being the exception and her husband was treating her as a replacement for the wife he lost because she literally was made to be that. What is her response? The Riko construct leaves quietly, bidding her sister-in-law Tamoka a sincere farewell, and goes home to spend the last ten years of her temporary life with her father. She doesn't know if she'll outlive her father or vice-versa, but she is finally ready to face it, and make the most of that time.
• Complete Monster: In "Red Turtleneck", the nameless fortune teller proves to be among Junji Ito's most terrifying antagonists yet. Introduced as a sinister beauty who has an affair with the unfaithful Tomio, the fortune teller is revealed to be an evil witch obsessed with decapitating people and collecting their severed heads. She has twenty-five rotting heads on display in her mansion, and she puts a curse on Tomio after setting her sights on obtaining his head for her collection. What results is Tomio being decapitated through dark magic with only the force of him rooting his head in place keeping him alive, with the witch taunting him with the knowledge that the slightest bit of relaxation will kill him. In a physically and mentally torturous ordeal, a terrified Tomio desperately tries to keep his head connected to his body while he and his girlfriend Sonoka wait for an ambulance to arrive at her apartment. But instead of an ambulance, the fortune teller shows up at Sonoka's door with the intent to collect Tomio's head, but not before having a sadistic bit of fun with him. The fortune teller then proceeds to torture Tomio by probing around under his neck with a tarot card before letting a cockroach burrow its way inside his body, and then maniacally laughs at the resulting agony Tomio is put through. When Sonoka stabs her from behind, the fortune teller's last act is to try to kill her as well before dying from her wounds. Despite the curse on Tomio being lifted after her death, the fortune teller's twisted, sadistic torture is shown to have mentally traumatized the man at the story's end.
• Harsher in Hindsight: At the end, Ito self-deprecatingly wonders if he has lost his touch. Upon release, several reviewers would say that he has.
• Narm: In "Dissection-chan", Ruriko Tamiya is shown in three stages of her life, and is recognizable, but the reader may do a double take when they realize this is only because she has worn her hair the same way her entire life of at least sixty years, which just makes the visual device look ridiculous.
• Nausea Fuel: "Blackbird", especially when it's revealed what the titular monster has been feeding the hiker.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: While she's still not a good person by any means, Magami Nanakuse's crossdressing or trans identity doesn't carry over so well to Western audiences as a revolting unsympathetic trait, and Kaoru looks like a jerk for berating her about it.