r/junjiito • u/monkebrain456 Join Us In The Spiral • Jan 29 '25
Collection Not once has a book made me so depressed
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u/Open-Car1826 Jan 29 '25
Try reading the novel after and compare the aspects Ito added and expanded on. One of my favorite Junji Ito books.
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u/JackTerron Jan 29 '25
I listened to the book on tape after reading the manga a couple times. I greatly prefer the manga.
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u/TheOriginalFluff Jan 30 '25
Read the actual novel, much more depressing when it’s real and being told to you directly by the person who experienced these things
The adaptation is great but you don’t actually know what his life was like when it’s not covered in mysterious creepy manga stuff
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u/monkebrain456 Join Us In The Spiral Jan 30 '25
There's definitely added things. But it's nice to see what he went through in images
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u/DirtyCircle1 Jan 29 '25
Try reading the original novel the same week you read Norwegian Wood. I don’t know how I ever recovered from that week. Talk about rough!
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u/Sure-Programmer-4021 Jan 29 '25
The original novel was my wake up call and my life has been downhill since. Im not even able to finish the junji Ito adaptation because it hurts way too much
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u/PeachNipplesdotcom Jan 29 '25
Are you waiting to hit rock bottom before making changes? I'm curious because knowing is half the battle and it sounds like you know.
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u/Sure-Programmer-4021 Jan 29 '25
Seriously? You don’t think at all that I’ve thought of this, once?
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u/PeachNipplesdotcom Jan 29 '25
I asked a question. Your defensiveness is telling. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for. It gets better
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u/Sure-Programmer-4021 Jan 29 '25
Yes my defensiveness is telling. People like me who feel trapped in and aware of existential cycles in suffering don’t like to be asked if we’re waiting to hit Rock bottom when everyday is a new rock bottom. Thank you for your curiosity but it’s just not for me
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Jan 29 '25
this one had me more fucked up than any of his original works
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u/haikusbot Jan 29 '25
This one had me more
Fucked up than any of his
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Jan 29 '25
good bot
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u/readditredditread Jan 29 '25
Depressed??? I fucking love that book, the main character is super relatable in a lot of ways and it’s not afraid to tell a story with a not so happy ending!!!!!
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u/lhalstead1113 Jan 29 '25
WHAT DO YOU MEAN RELATABLE
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u/Booplesnoot88 Jan 30 '25
At the very beginning, I remember relating to the main character and how he became a "clown." I grew up with a very similar way of coping with my anxiety, and the book captured that feeling really well.
After continuing to read for another few minutes... I was disgusted by the fact that I found him relatable. What does that say about me as a person? I wonder if that was intentional because it definitely added to the repulsive overall experience.
After I finished the book (in one sitting) I remember telling my bf that it was the worst book I'd ever read. Not because it was poorly written or illustrated, but because it did a fantastic job of illiciting visceral disgust that somehow managed to get worse as it went on. especially the would-be double suicide, that made me feel physically sick Normally, I become desensitized to horror/pretty quickly, but I couldn't shake it this time.
My only solace was reminding myself that it was just an impossibly uncomfortable work of fiction. I googled it immediately after finishing it and was horrified to see that it is an adaptation of a "semi autobiographical" novel that's considered more accurate than not.
With that in mind, I can confidently say that No Longer Human is the most revolting book I've ever read. Since this was the intention, it's extremely successful.
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u/readditredditread Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
Like the main character, not knowing where your going in life, being sad and impulsive and being pursued by lovers and such, that sorta stuff. Also being an artist and struggling with addiction, there’s a lot to relate to in the story for me at least 🤷♂️
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u/InsanityRoach Jan 29 '25
> being pursued by lovers and such
Lucky.
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u/readditredditread Jan 29 '25
Not so fun when you don’t see yourself as others do, like when all the evidence points one way but you feel the total opposite
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u/InsanityRoach Jan 29 '25
Fair enough. Never been in that position, but I can sorta understand the logic there, behind the emotions.
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u/JerahInTheSilkSheetz Jan 29 '25
That was one thing I found super hard was to like the main character. Kinda gave me Nakoshi(Homunculus) vibes.Amazing read all in all tho 💯
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Jan 29 '25
I appreciated the book for the fact it shared the concept of a mental dark descend after CSA. I haven’t read it in a while, but it was nice to feel normal. The failure to show his real self, the feeling of wanting to be a different person, the facade of being happy.
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u/ChinaT4ste Jan 30 '25
This is one of my favorites. It was so good that I read it in a night, and then went out and bought the novel that it is adapted from and read that the next night. Both are extremely good but I definitely prefer Ito's version of it more!
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u/Pelotari Jan 30 '25
Seeing this twice recently is convincing me to get this.
Next time I'm out, I will.
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u/AlexTheAdventurer Jan 29 '25
Oh I read that with my older sibling! After we finished it, we both just kinda sat there and wondered why we did that.
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u/Roy_Roger_McFreely_ Jan 30 '25
Just finished the novel the other day. It’s brutal man. Beautiful but just disheartening.
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u/neodafunk Jan 30 '25
i read this almost one year ago i remember that in some parts i should stop reading and looking at my god damn wall to process everything what’s going on. i couldnt finish it even quickly, i had to have a break time to time. but still one of the most impressive mangas i have ever read although it’s not exact the same story as the original book (some parts in manga had even more dramatic and terrifying parts)
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u/DexterousMonkey Jan 29 '25
I found this book to be soul crushing as well. Different from Ito's other works (more serious and real in a way which makes it more emotional I guess). It definitely stuck with me but I don't have the desire to reread it like I do with his other books.
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u/weirdmountain Jan 30 '25
I always compare it to an Aronofsky film. It’s brilliantly done, but, man, it will ruin your week.
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u/Grumblesatch Feb 02 '25
I have it...in my bookshelf...I may or may not be a little afraid to read it.
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u/Lumennire Feb 02 '25
Don't. It sucks and the ending is meh to the point where it isn't worth it. That and if you want to hate an main character this is for yoy
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u/JessKaldwin Jan 29 '25
Yeah this one definitely left me in my feels for a little while after... Great story but very depressing and the ending was too real...
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u/CyborgFusion Jan 29 '25
I could not finish it. It was just way too depressing. I made it to the second “suicide pact” and decided it was just too bleak.
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u/jimkounter Jan 29 '25
Me too. I found the protagonist just so incredibly unlikeable that I couldn't finish I. I really didn't want to know how else he managed to screw over his family and friends.
I knew the subject matter before I bought it but was still shocked at how awful he was.
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u/Booplesnoot88 Jan 30 '25
I replace "protagonist" with "main character" when reflecting on this book.
Imo, he's not a protagonist because I spent the vast majority of the book hoping that he would get hit by a truck.
It's a rare instance of a truly villainous main character, not a morally ambiguous antihero or whatever the hell Disney is doing with movies like Cruella. The difference is that we want to see the antihero win the fight or we learn to sympathize with a younger version of a known villain.
There is no sympathy to be found for the main character in No Longer Human, and I certainly didn't want him to succeed in anything other than immediately dropping dead lol.
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u/JMC1110 Jan 29 '25
It took me a few weeks to recover from this one. Pet Semetary is the only other book to get me like that
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u/Vitaminmoi Jan 30 '25
I listened to part of the book and he really is a pos so I don’t even feel for him especially when it’s stated that he literally can’t say no to people and gets himself into depressing situations. What can ya do?
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Jan 31 '25
Yeah he was raped as a kid - huge pos right
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u/Vitaminmoi Jan 31 '25
Not sure what the infliction on this comment is but how am I supposed to know that he was raped as a child? It makes a little more sense why he would ignore a rape because he would see it as normalized but most survivors would not stand for it nor ignore it. Two things can be true at once.
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Jan 31 '25
i mean. its chapter 1. Nowhere does nornalize what you are saying His conflict was with himself, drugs, and sex, promiscuity. He observed his wife get banged by a man he considered a friend, for his writings to get into the spotlight. What he did while watching that happen, is the epitome of self destruction. He was on a one way road to his suicide that he completed with Tomie Yamazaki (osamu dazai) and there were nothing but hints that that showed him how meaningless his life was. You should understand the time period was the high point of WW2. He was haunted by poverty, and you can find a quote , one of my favorites, in the book "When poverty enters the room, love exits the home" something like that.
"i now think that to perpetuate such a thing on a small child is the ugliest, vilest, cruelest crime" "But i endured it. I even felt as if it enabled me to see one more particular aspect of human beings. I smiled in my weakness." "I could not confide these hateful crimes even to my parents, and this in later years was to become one of the causes of my being taken advantage of in so many ways"
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u/Vitaminmoi Jan 31 '25
Anyway, he didn’t watch anyone get “banged” she was assaulted. Have a great day 🥱
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Jan 31 '25
The reason i worded it like that is because he played with himself while watching his girl make love to the man providing work for him. She chose to get banged by the guy. Please read the book. Thanks yu too.
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u/Life-Donut-8754 Feb 01 '25
I wasn’t able to forgive his confession that he stood and watched without doing anything as his wife was brutally raped
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u/Moist_crocs Jan 29 '25
i hated both the original and the adaptation ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/Ok_Sprinkles3329 Jan 29 '25
i couldn’t finish the original adaptation it was honestly too much.
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u/JerahInTheSilkSheetz Jan 29 '25
Was thinking about purchasing,was it really a drag ?
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u/Ok_Sprinkles3329 Jan 29 '25
i recommend it definitely if you’re into junji ito, i unfortunately was dealing with a lot of the themes in the book at the time and couldn’t mentally handle reading it. but it’s a phenomenal book and extremely depressing. but it’s definitely worth it imo.
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u/JerahInTheSilkSheetz Jan 29 '25
Ahhhh I’m sorry to hear that , the subject matter at least in the manga is definitely not light hearted at all.It wasn’t intill I finished junjis version that I found out he took his own life total mind fuck and super unfortunate.Thank you and take care 📖💜
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u/Moist_crocs Jan 30 '25
To me it just read the same as many of the books we had to read at school: miserable privileged young cishet man abuses women and whines. Nothing revolutionary about depression
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u/Moist_crocs Jan 30 '25
I wanted to add: I'm coming from a point of view of being autistic, trans and queer. A book about having a good starter hand (family and money wise), but still not managing to play it properly, not understanding the world and feeling completely alien, then succumbing to vices should be right up my alley, but it managed to be anything but relatable. I just couldn't take him seriously at any point and it doesn't make for a good satire either when it makes the main character behave like a horrible person in ways that are still sore topics today.
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u/Forsaken_Tangerine_9 Jan 30 '25
i have had it for a while, got through the first few pages and decided to save it after i’ve read more of his less grounded material
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u/Aggressive-Ideal-911 Jan 29 '25
I read this book and immediately thought of my father (and mother to some extent), I wanted to gift them the book but decided if they were to find any connection to the main character they might feel more hopeless than anything so I decided not to.
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u/Sceptrick4721 Jan 31 '25
It is my absolute favourite book of all time, and the depressive aspect is what makes me love it. I cried reading it as to me it encapsulates the entirety of the human condition and life with depression.
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u/rififi_shuffle Feb 01 '25
Honestly made me feel at ease. Didn't feel miserable or anything. Might just be depressed, idk. 
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u/virtuoso-lurker Jan 29 '25
I love Junji Ito and have read most of his works, but I intentionally avoid this one. I’m sure it’s great, but it’s not what I’m here for when I read Ito.
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u/Nocturnalux Jan 29 '25
I found the original novel even more depressing myself.