Book Club - "Sensor," by Junji Ito

 

Sensor! The newest Junji Ito hardcover from Viz. I saw it, and had to grab it. 

This is the eighth collected work I've read from Ito, the others being Tomie, Gyo, Uzumaki, Hellstar Remina, Shiver, Venus in the Blind Spot, The Dissolving Classroom, and my personal favorite, Junji Ito's Cat Diary. I'm keeping up a sizeable collection of the mangaka's amazing cosmic horror, and I'm happy to say that Sensor was a great addition to my collection.

However, I have a confession. When I first read Ito's work with Viz's release of Shiver, I honestly wasn't super impressed. The art was obviously beautiful, and Ito is great at high concept ideas, but none of it even so much as grossed me out. I was not weary of turning the page, the horrifying reveal of each story didn't give me the heebie jeebies, and overall I closed the book somewhat unimpressed. And to this day, I'm still not bothered by Ito's work... or any horror, for that matter. There's a post on this blog about fear, which I wrote a few years back. In it, I talked about being a huge weenie as a child, scared of his own shadow type. Scared of watching Anakin turn to the dark side, close my eyes when the werewolf from Harry Potter is on-screen type. But for whatever reason... literally nothing gets under my skin anymore. Nothing. Not even gruesome accounts of true crime, or the horrors of war. I blame the internet for desensitizing me. Either way, it has made me literally impervious to most horror (except for Five Nights at Freddy's VR) and Ito's work is still no exception.

However, I have come to really, really appreciate his stuff. It might not scare me, but his art is absolutely mesmerizing, his reveals and frights are perfectly timed, and most of his work dabbles in thematic nuance that horror often lacks. (I would know, I am currently writing a short horror story collection that is fucking atrocious). Sensor, in this sense (ay see what I did there?) is quite the ample proof that he still has it. 

The story is short, with only seven chapters, and deals with themes involving the infinite knowledge of the cosmos, religious fanaticism, suicide, and faith -- most of which reminded me heavily of Ito's other work, Hellstar Remina. Though I prefer Remina because of its insanity, Sensor is more grounded, especially with historical references to Christianity's ban in Japan during the Edo period, and its scale being much more dialed back than that of literal planet-eating. We see a tiny glimpse of that kinda stuff in Sensor, but most of it has to do with horror brought about by crazy people with access to powers they really shouldn't.

Beside the themes, this manga is not much different from Ito's other works. There's not exactly any character depth, but it's also not about the characters, really. It's about the intertwining of the themes with the shock value of his artwork. And let me tell you, there is no shortage of that -- 

Hidden knowledge driving someone insane is a favorite trope of mine, and Sensor portrays cataclysmic, cosmic horror with such themes very well. I also love stories where everything comes together at the end, and while Ito dabbles in this on occasion, it's rare to see it all be as clean as it is here. He also brought in a unique concept in theosophical philosophy, and that is The "Akashic Records." A friend of mine is writing a story that also uses this topic, if you wanted to check it out. In short, the "Akashic Records" are a supposed database -- a library, if you will -- of all knowledge in the universe. As the Wikipedia page states, the Akashic Records contain "all universal events, thoughts, emotions, and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, and future." That is to say, all the universe's histories, every person's thoughts and actions, everything. And people, in Sensor, want to have this knowledge for themselves. 

 

 

It's no small wonder Ito's iteration of the Akashic Records looks like a brain -- I won't spoil the reveal here, but remember that part about how I said everything comes together? Just remember what the Akashic Records is, and who maybe wants it. That being said, this is a genius little motif that I latched onto right when I saw it. I've never pictured the Akashic Records as a brain, or at least something with an obviously brain-like shape, but that just means Ito is many steps ahead of me. If you think it makes sense now, it being "knowledge" and all, just wait until you see what he does with it.

There are other themes here, though. Suicide, cults, religious fanaticism and faith going too far -- does Sensor say anything significant about them? Well, not exactly, but it certainly portrays things like the extended devotion cultists show to their beliefs, and revenge death leading to implied guilt, in a way that melds it with the horror of the story. The imagery here is top notch, man. Although I do think Ito may have used electronic art in these panels more than he usually does, that's certainly not a bad thing. His style is evolving, little by little.

In the unknowable expanse of the universe, forbidden knowledge of what's out there and, maybe, what isn't, is a terrifying thing to me. Similar to the endless depths of the ocean, and the crushing blackness it shares with the heavens. We're all just small little people on a tiny rock in space, but the unknown is so much greater and more vast than we can possibly understand. And we see, in Sensor, the cost of understanding the happenings in that unknown. I'm sorry to say it still did not scare me, but it is certainly a great visual story that's worth the read, as ideas like that are great fun to see in a visual medium like manga. H.P. Lovecraft, an obvious influence to Ito, has his share of stories in prose, and that often serves the genre well when we're forced to use our imaginations. But Ito has a gift at portraying horror with his artwork, and to that I can only beg fans of scary things to give his stories a try. Sensor is an excellent place to start.

Thanks for reading! Happy to be getting back on the proverbial horse, so to speak. I'm looking forward to talking more about other manga and books!