#greased

[spiraphobia]

Much as I appreciate VIZ for publishing a lot of Junji Ito, I didn't like some of their translations cause they didn't hit as hard. Just the panels below illustrate my point.

From VIZ (Official):

From DANIEL.AU (Fan Scanlation):

I get it, censorship and all that, and maybe VIZ’s version is technically more accurate, but seriously - a little cursing in a horror manga won’t hurt anyone, right? Considering the target audience? But hey, maybe that's just me.

Also, I am not even gonna speak about the abysmal anime version. It's not just as intense.

[my-eclectic-world-x]

Shiver

After reading the odd manga of Junji Ito's online, Shiver was the first book that I purchased and read cover to cover. I read the whole book in a few hours, taking no breaks. That's when I first sensed that my bank account was in trouble. I think some stories stood out above the rest but they we're all interesting and kept my hooked the entire time.

My favourite works from this collection are Shiver, Marionette Mansion, The Long Dream and Greased, I think these stories are considered by most to be some of his best, considering most of them have been adapted into anime or either Crunchyroll or the newest Netflix series. As I read the book, I would rate each story 1-5 and these all received a 5 from me. Although, the story 'Fashion Model' seems to be earning place in my heart, as the more Fuchi is mentioned throughout the Junji Ito Universe, the more I seem to love her character.

Starting with Shiver itself, this features some pretty horrifying artwork, especially if you have trypophobia. The build up of the story was really nice, I got a feeling that I really understood what was going on, which isn't always present in Junji's work but also that the pace was still that of his other short stories.

My next favourite being Marionette Mansion. I love this story, it's a bit slower to get into but the background story is so important to the ending. You really experience the tension throughout the story, seeing people being controlled like puppets, something was bound to go wrong. A brilliant concept that was perfectly brought to life by Junji Ito. (btw, the fear of puppets and marionettes is called Pupaphobia)

Next, is a personal overall favourite. I love The Long Dream, it's one of the mangas that I read online before getting any books and it just cemented the fact that I wanted to read as many of Junji Ito's works as I could. I loved the idea that the person troubled by these long dreams, would show such drastic changes when they wake up and the ending really put the nail in the coffin for me. This would be a pretty horrific story to read for someone with Oneirophobia.

Last of my top rated stories from this collection is Greased. Don't read this is you have Lipophobia. This is possibly Junji Ito's most disgusting story, but that shouldn't make you avoid it because it is incredibly well told and once again hits you with a twist that's unexpected and savage.

Overall, this book was brilliant and was a great starter book for getting into Junji's work.

[wingedghostprincess]

[eyjasvoice]

im on team walrus

[one-time-i-dreamt]

They’ve made a lesbian adaptation of “Grease” where the greasers are butches and the pink ladies are femmes.

[verkomy]

some more fem crowley

you can get a print here: inprnt!   

[pangur-and-grim]

happy animal in a green world

[walkonpooh]

Shiver - Junji Ito Review

Shiver is a short story collection by Japanese horror manga artist Junji Ito. I first stumbled onto Junji Ito through the viral "Th-This is my hole. It was made for me!" meme that was popular around the internet a few years back.

I was fascinated by that image and it led me to reading the story it was based on "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" which is one of my all-time favorite horror stories, long or short. Shiver is now the third complete manga I've read by Junji Ito and to date is probably my favorite. It doesn't reach the highs of Amigara Fault, but I think it's really solid. According to the notes, it seems like Ito gets a spark of an idea and builds off the initial idea, sometimes putting several ideas together over the course of a span of time. The initial hooks are always interesting and pretty original though, even if the results of the story don't always quite land. With some quick pitches; my favorite stories in this collection are Used Record - What if there was a song of the dead and someone alive heard the song? What would that do to the person who is alive? Fashion Model - No comment. Just this image.

Hanging Blimp - People all around Japan are bizarrely committing suicide, hanging themselves, fashioning things into a noose. Shortly after their deaths, bizarre blimp like floating heads with what look like balloon strings show up around the country and begin chasing people. Marionette Mansion - Haruhiko's family travels around Japan putting on puppet shows. One of the puppets frightens Haruhiko's friend Kinuko, the puppets name is "Jean-Pierre" and it seems like there may be more to Jean-Pierre. Is Haruhiko's family controlling Jean-Pierre, or is Jean-Pierre controlling them? The Long Dream - Probably my favorite story in the collection. What if when we slept, an infinite amount of time could pass in our dreams? We could live hours, days, months, years or even several lifetimes worth? What would that do to our bodies? What would it mean for us as a species?

Greased - Haha this one got me to groan in disgust audibly, so I have to give it a nod. Yui and her family run a barbeque shop and live in an apartment above the shop. From poor ventilation in both the shop and apartment, there is a thick, heavy, filmy layer of grease covering everything. The grease gets heavier as time goes on and begins to effect Yui's family, specifically her brother Goro and ugh at what happens lol. Overall, a really solid collection of stories. Really enjoyed it!

4/5

[laurens-german]

GREASE — 1978, dir. Randal Kleiser

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

[sukunasteeth]

Picking You Up From Work

Sukuna leans on the bumper of his Camaro, hoping a drop of rain doesn’t land perfectly on the tip of his cigarette and snuff it out. He’s pretending not to watch the front door of your workplace, like an anxious dog waiting for his owner to come home, but it’s ten minutes past the time you said you’d be out, and he was ready to take you to his apartment and settle down for the night. It had been a long day- he wanted to forget it in the taste of your whimpering on his tongue.

Customers pass him on their way into your workplace. Sukuna wonders briefly what has them whispering to each other and sneaking glances over at him: the nearly sixty year old car or the man covered in tattoos leaning against it?

Fifteen minutes pass before he checks his phone again. It was unlike you to be late, you knew Sukuna had a pet peeve of not being on time and, despite how hairbrained you were, he knew you tried to meet him halfway. Looking over his shoulder, he peeks at the flowers sitting on the passenger seat waiting for you. If he had known you'd be a minute, he would have put a splash of water in the bottom of the flower wrap holding the bouquet together. He clicks his tongue in disappointment, hoping they don’t wilt by the time you get to them.

“I’m sorry, I have to get going-” Your voice chimes through the sound of the rainfall like a cleansing bell, bringing Sukuna’s attention snapping back towards the exit of your work.

You're standing halfway between his car and the building, directly in the middle of the parking lot. A man dressed in a similar uniform to yours is standing a little too close to you for Sukuna’s comfort.

He flicks the ash off of the end of his cigarette and takes a drag.

~

“Are you sure?”

It’s been a long day.

“We could go get some coffee and just hangout for a bit-”

A really long day.

Granted: working customer service you expected long days. Grating days. Days in which you questioned your faith in humanity. But, that all usually ended when you clocked out for the night and headed home. You could easily forget all of it at the door. Tonight, however, the annoyance of having to save face continues.

You had been trying to give this guy a hint all day as he followed you around, desperate to catch your attention and doing anything to gain a brownie point. It was really starting to tick you off.

Not only that, you knew Sukuna was waiting for you somewhere in the parking lot and it was only a matter of time before this man was decapitated before your very eyes.

Dammit, you just wanted to go home.

“I’m sorry, Sam. I’ve got someone waiting for me. Have a good night!” You try to wave him off, offering a polite smile before you turn your back to him.

"Who's waiting for you?" Sam calls out, still not catching the hint.

Before you can reply, a hand reaches around your waist, securing you to a familiar side- but you've been on edge all day, just waiting for your coworker to make one bold wrong move. On instinct, you snatch the wrist at your hip with a deathgrip before realization is able to save you.

Your eyes whip up to meet Sukuna's smirking gaze, his smile flashing into that serpentine grin that makes your fight or flight mode go off.

"Ohoho-" He chuckles, and there’s a mischievous darkness lurking beneath it. 

"'Kuna!" You ease your grip immediately, cradling his hand in sympathy. Part of you is instantly relieved he’s here to sweep you away, and the other part is sweating over how he’s going to handle this situation.  

Sukuna could be a bit possessive. 

"Good grip." He purrs, snatching up your own hand instead and continuing his original plan of tucking you securely into his side. "You turned your back to the scum bag, though." He tsks quietly. "My brat should know better."

Sukuna easily turns the both of you around, lifting you slightly to move without tripping you. You’re forced to face your coworker once again, although you notice that your unease has dissipated with Sukuna next to you now. 

“Is this...? A-Are you guys…” Sam sneers at Sukuna's sudden appearance, his poorly shaven lip curling up in disgust. 

Sukuna merely hums in response, “Every night while you’re wet dreamin’ about it.”

“S-Sukuna!” You interrupt, squeezing his fingers. Heat burns in your ears and you can feel them going pink under Sam’s now incredulous stare. “Is… my… yes.” You finish quietly, trying to avoid either one of the men watching you. Letting people into your personal life was not something you liked to do, even though you're sure your fiance would love it if you screamed it from the rooftops.

“Aw,” Sukuna makes a fond, sentimental noise and you press your elbow into his rib cage when you hear a mischievous lilt to his tone. 

“You and this guy?” Sam gives Sukuna an obvious once over, crossing his gangly arms over his chest in disapproval. “He’s not even your type!”

Oh.

Maybe this guy deserved a good beating.

Even you were too afraid to look at your fiance at that moment, you could tell by the look on Sam’s face that Sukuna wasn’t happy. 

The scariest part about Sukuna getting angry, was the lack of reaction. There was no glaring. No muscles going rigid. No shouting. There was only this overwhelming sense of danger, like a prey animal realizing it was about to meet its predator. 

Sam tries to fix it, sensing the murderous intent hanging in the air, but his ego still tries to bite: “Look, dude, I don’t mean any harm. I just think she needs a gentleman.”

…

Now that piques your interest.

You need a gentleman?

You almost completely forget about Sukuna for a moment, your head snapping in your coworker's direction with breakneck speed. 

“Gentleman?” You repeat, scoffing. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’ve been breathing down my neck like a fucking animal in heat all day. Practically begging for half a second of female attention in any form you can get it and you’re standing here-after trying to follow me to my car like some fucking pervert- and you’re trying to tell me you’re a gentleman?”

When you try to take a step forward, you're reminded of Sukuna's unrelenting grip on your hip bone, holding you in place.

“Calm down- all I wanted to do was walk you to your car.” Your ill-favored coworker rolls his eyes, although you can sense his discomfort in the way he takes a few steps away from you. His ego speaks again, and you see red. “You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.” 

What.

“Alright, alright” Sukuna is shoving something cold and jagged into your hands, distracting the sudden confused rage that washes over you. Before you can expel it, he unfastens his hand from around your waist and nudges you in the direction behind him. “Go start the car.”

You blink up at him, taken back by the entire situation. His keys dangle in your frozen fingers, clinking together. 

Sukuna knows you're mad. Knows the only thing on your mind is curb stomping the man in front of you. And you know he won't let you get anywhere near that.

“Come on, Duckie.” He purses his lower lip in a mock pout when you don't turn to leave immediately. There’s something dark glittering behind the faux playfulness in his eyes, reassuring you that nobody was going to get off easy, asking you politely to turn your gaze from what he was about to do.

His calloused thumb sweeps over your fingertips, gliding over the deep red nail polish there. The kiss he presses against your knuckles is one meant for royalty. Soft and sweet. And incredibly persuasive. “I just got these nails done. Lemme keep ‘em pretty for ya.” 

~

When Sukuna opens the driver side door and slides in, fifteen minutes have passed. There’s a smear of blood on his cheek that matches the one on his knuckles, the red catches his eye in the review mirror. He licks his finger, using his spit to try and wipe it off before he turns to meet you, smiling sweetly. 

“What should we get for dinner?"

[kvtnisseverdeen]

Matthew Macfadyen wins Golden Globe for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television for his role as Tom Wambsgans in "Succession" | 81st Golden Globe Awards Jan 07, 2024

[wingedghostprincess]

[thestuffedalligator]

It's been said before, but goddammit I love the material components for spells in D&D. They're so stupid.

Detect Thoughts requires a copper to cast. Gust of Wind needs beans. Sunbeam requires a magnifying glass. Passwall uses sesame seeds.

Darkvision needs fucking. Carrots.

[amethystsoda]

Chocolate Syrup Cake (1987)

[angstydiaz]

me when YET ANOTHER SHOW I LIKE GETS CANcELLED