Do you smell that? That lovely scent wafting about in the air? ... Thats the smell of rotting garbage and dead fish. 440https://i.ur.com/iB9IezE.png SPOILER WARNING: I dont go too heavily into specifics but I definitely do think Gyos a lot better to experience the less you know about it. Introduction Oh man. Gyo This was the first Junji Itohttps://anilist.co/staff/97410/JunjiItou manga I ever read. Rather I watched the OVA adaptationhttps://anilist.co/anime/10417/GYOTokyoFishAttack/ of it first and um... 440https://i.ur.com/Es3yqjI.gif Im not gonna go into it again too heavily since I reviewed it like four years agohttps://anilist.co/review/2296 but it is almost by default the worst Junji Ito adaptation. Shit talk the Junji Ito Collectionhttps://anilist.co/anime/99940/JunjiItoCollection/ all you want but at least that didnt make any of the short stories it adapted into an absolute farce. Really the absolute worst things you could say about the Collection is it just doesnt live up to Junji Itos art and honestly some of the short stories really needed a bit more time than they were allotted. Gyo though... ugh. Even the manga version I would probably say is one of the weakest Junji Ito series. As unlike Tomiehttps://anilist.co/manga/30912/Tomie/ and even Uzumakihttps://anilist.co/manga/30436/UzumakiSpiralintoHorror/ with Gyo you cant just take a bunch of the chapters and just be able to read them on their own and it actually still function. Because Gyo isnt just a bunch of connected short stories about a singular character or about a really fucking strange town. It actually is one long series. Which almost makes it this interesting oddity among all of Junji Itos works. Because you can pinpoint exact moments where Junji Ito was probably getting bored because he mostly does short stories and decided to throw a fucking curveball. 440https://i.ur.com/OcJqkeU.png The circus part is so good that its pretty much the only section of the OVA thats worth watching. And still to this day I dont know why its a part of the manga other than Junji Ito saying fuck it. When one of the human spiders like has a bunch of stuff come out of their exhaust ports onto the performers theyre all like oh no were gonna get fucking infected now and Im just... 440https://i.ur.com/ZVWIBMp.png Why are you even doing this then??? Its hell on earth outside lets go form a circus centered around these abominations even though they could infect us and make us one of them and also its hell on earth outside WHO THE FUCK IS AROUND TO VISIT A CIRCUS But the circus master is like yo check this shit out and then has his performers ignite the fart gas death stench with gasoline and it just turns into the spirits of the dead. https://i.ur.com/nmo60t7.png ...I just realized I still havent set up the mangas plot at all. I just immediately jumped straight to the circus like always. Which isnt fair to Junji Ito as the manga does start off relatively grounded and then the insanity is gradually increased unlike the OVA where they just slapped a bunch of shit from the manga around with absolutely no care. Tadashi and Kaori just want to have a nice vacation. But Kaori has a super sensitive nose so she doesnt like unpleasant smells at all. After having an argument because Kaori wants Tadashi to brush his teeth every single time before he kisses her she leaves the house in a huff and comes across a strange flying fish monster that possesses an overpowering rotten stench. Tadashi uses a dresser to smash it against a wall and believes its dead so he bags it up and puts it outside but... 440https://i.ur.com/93lbVST.png The scene of Kaori being chased by a fish in a garbage bag is inherently comical and I remember laughing at it when I first read Gyo. But as a moment that has stuck in my head its persisted all these years. Because it does genuinely work as a horror moment. Kaoris weakness to bad smells has already been thoroughly established in these first two chapters so her absolute terror at this fucking weird fish monster flying at her in a garbage bag makes perfect sense because it fucking reeks. Even its mere presence in the house was already driving her up the goddamned wall and now its flying at her face. 440https://i.ur.com/sFsPnDB.png Also imagine being in the position to adapt this manga 500https://i.ur.com/oJAKVYN.png and going yeah okay sure the manga itself provides the perfect introduction to the shark. Like you get the scene of a bunch of people on the beach and in the water and oh no the lifeguard sees a shark fin Everybody get out of the water Theres a shark And everybody panics and gets the fuck out of the water because theyve seen the classic 1975 horror movie Jaws and they know that the sharks weakness is land. So theres that perfect moment where theyre all like okay were safe now that were on the beach but wait a moment the sharks still coming OH FUCK IT HAS SPIDER LEGS 440https://i.ur.com/iYIBilq.png Youre finally skimming through this manga because its the day youre going to start working on the OVA adaptation and you just have not been able to bother looking at it until today. Because its just absolute shit. Junji Ito is just some fucking hack who gets paid to draw spooky images wow big deal yeah sure this could be a cool thing to see animated but fuck that 440https://i.ur.com/Msj3GAy.png JUST HAVE THE SHARK SHOW UP RANDOMLY IN THE HOUSE CABIN. NO THATS FINE. WHO NEEDS BUILD UP OR ANYTHING. NOBODYS EVEN GOING TO BE WATCHING THIS IT DOESNT EVEN MATTER 1000https://i.ur.com/oJAKVYN.png 440https://i.ur.com/2Dmycaa.png ...Anyways the plot of the manga is rotten fish monsters and fart gas the death stench just fucking shit up everywhere and Tadashis basically just along with it for the ride. Also even though shes more annoying in the manga I prefer manga Kaoris character a billion times more. Because you know shes actually a character. 75https://i.ur.com/oJAKVYN.png 440https://i.ur.com/YLKMpVP.png Shes being pretty unfair towards Tadashi and she keeps getting completely debilitated by the rotten stench of all of the fish monsters crawling around in Gyo. Which is better than oh well youre the protagonist now I guess and your like one character trait doesnt even matter because then how could you bare to walk around and look at the fish apocalypse if the smell is just constantly blasting you in the face. 440https://i.ur.com/r5hbvPx.png ... Oh Before we conclude here there actually are some bonus stories included in Gyo. As is the tradition Im going to be reviewing those as well Bonus Stories: The Sad Tale of the Principal Post This one is pretty short its like four pages long but quick to the Junji Ito horror punchline. A family has just had their brand new house finished and are celebrating. However they hear the father yelling for help down from below the house. 440https://i.ur.com/4L5uiRo.png And there he is crushed by the primary house propping the entire house up. He refuses help because he thinks if they move him from underneath the post it will actually cause the entire houses support to collapse. So they leave him there and he dies that day. Ill die to support this house Because hes the father and the head of the household... yeah okay. Thats so stupidly blunt I actually like it. Also while the image of the fathers skeleton still crushed under the post is pretty fun the creepiness moreso stems from the fact that they were just like oh okay well that sucks but were gonna keep living here. Dont move the skeleton it might still be supporting the post. 440https://i.ur.com/9tH3G22.png Bonus Stories: The Enigma of Amagara Fault Ah. That one. I guess I cant evade it any longer huh... I actually very briefly touched upon this story in my first ever Junji Ito review. Which I honestly thought was the Gyo OVA but it was one of his specific oneshots Human Chairhttps://anilist.co/manga/68635/HumanChair/. Not to just copy and paste that entire part from that reviewhttps://anilist.co/review/2271 into this one but before I even knew Junji Itos name before I even delved into manga at all I had seen this fucking image. I dont know where or how I saw it but I did... 440https://i.ur.com/mGYjnoC.jpeg So after I read Gyo and got to the bonus stories I had this beautiful epiphanic moment of holy fucking christ THIS IS THE HOLES GUY. I FUCKING FOUND THE HOLES STORY. I feel like whenever I say yeah Hanging Balloons is my favorite Junji Ito short story theres a tinge of doubt within myself. You just dont want to say its Amagara Fault dont you? Junji Ito has done a lot of short stories. Theres quite a few misses but this is one of the perfect critical hits. Its so perfectly goddamned creepy from beginning to end and not only that but its a really fucking simple idea which makes it all the more better. Theres a mountain with human shaped holes in the side of it and already thats inherently a pretty fucking creepy visual because that obviously doesnt just happen in nature. 440https://i.ur.com/GR2fXy7.png Then people find this weird ass mountain and one of them sees a hole shaped like them. Which causes everybody to start looking and finding their own holes. The reason this works at least for me is that I can absolutely believe that there would at least be one person foolish or curious enough to actually go yeah Im gonna fucking go see whats in there. 440https://i.ur.com/QSPpq3D.png And like goddamned lemmings a bunch of other follow in suit. Because while the smart thing is to go yeah fuck no and immediately leave this mountain... I mean curiosity is a powerful thing. You would never be able to just shirk it off. Your mind wouldnt allow you to. Remember that day when a bunch of people inserted themselves into weird holes in a mountain and just disappeared inside and we were the only ones who didnt? What was the fuck up with that huh? While we never get any concrete answers as per usual for a Junji Ito story as to what the fuck was inside of the mountain thankfully Junji Ito isnt a hack. Meaning he absolutely does not shy away from showing us that sweet eldritch abomination body horror thats coming out on the other side of the mountain. 440https://i.ur.com/XMh4z3o.png Its beautiful its wonderful its fantastic. 10 out of 10. Thats... thats for Amagara Fault. Not Gyo. Were circling back to that now. Conclusion So yeah that was Gyo. Plus a bonus story and Amagara Fault. The fishiest and stinkiest apocalypse manga you could probably ever read. 440https://i.ur.com/wlRrg5s.png And it was the catalyst of me reading every single goddamned thing Junji Ito has ever made. I think Ive made it quite clear that its not exactly Junji Itos best manga. As you may or may not have noticed but I wholeheartedly focused on the fish bits of the manga for this review. And... not the whole section of people turning into large inflating fartbags with the spider leg machines inserting large tubing into their mouths and asses. Because obviously when it stops being about fish and instead about the fart gas death stench thats where it really goes downhill. 440https://i.ur.com/J4nYPus.png When the circus shows up thats its second wind IT WASNT INTENDED AS A FLATULENCE JOKE but at that point the mangas almost pretty much over anyways. I feel like if youre on the path of being a Junji Ito completionist you should probably read Gyo at least once. Definitely though if youve read pretty much anything else by him before you get to Gyo... I wont say youll probably dislike it but... I would say Gyos honestly the perfect Junji Ito starter series. If you read it after Uzumaki youll probably go well I would have rather just read Uzumaki again. Or if you read like Hellstar Reminahttps://anilist.co/manga/33992/Remina/ beforehand youll go oh wow he actually stayed pretty on the rails for Gyo 440https://i.ur.com/H6v4MM9.png Id give Gyo the manga... a 6 out of 10. I should note that years ago when I wrote the review for the OVA I actually gave that a 6 out of 10. I did so mostly because as bad as it was I still found it pretty funny I guess and despite everything it was my introduction to Junji Ito. However both thanks to the passage of a few years and also having just reread the manga now for this review... my hatred for that absolute piece of garbage has grown substantially. Oh by the way In the OVA review I stated I didnt remember an octopus ever showing up in the manga version and thought it was unique to the anime. Turns out that it wasnt and that it did in fact show up in the manga 440https://i.ur.com/HSNMmDv.png It actually took part in a serious horror scene as goofy as an octopus showing up was where it dragged Tadashi off somewhere else with its tentacles. Whereas in the OVA where Tadashi is not the main character and instead it is Kaori... 440https://i.ur.com/dNiskEV.png ...So on that note for the very first time in one of my reviews Im going to change the score of a past review. 1000https://i.ur.com/oJAKVYN.png Gyo the OVA is now a 2 out of 10. As I even said in that review I dont recommend watching it. Although I could have sworn I did. Just read the manga instead. Not only is it genuinely better but it also is still entertainingly dumb. Whereas the OVA is just a different and more annoying type of dumb. Like its not even the genuine type of bad anymore. Its bad on purpose. The worst type of bad. TGG its too late. I watched Gyo four years ago and its your fault. While you actively recommended not watching the OVA you still gave it a much higher score than it deserved. So I watched it and it was fucking garbage. Well... that sucks. Sorry That doesnt come off as very genuine but seriously if anybody actually watched Gyo because of my review I seriously apologize. 500https://i.ur.com/dsW95Zl.png