Horror mangaka Junji Ito is considered a master of his genre, with both Tomie and Uzumaki standard bearers for scare-seeking readers. In Smashed, the 2019 collection released in English by Viz Media, Ito's short stories range in tone from the slightly silly to the beyond bizarre, but all offer unique horror experiences. Here they are ranked in order from cake walk to nightmare inducing.

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12. Ghosts of Prime Time

What's the harm in going to a comedy show? That's the question when Keisuke joins pal Tsuguo for amateur night at the local club. As it happens, a pair of newbies to the stage really make a killing when their audience begins to laugh themselves to death. It doesn't end there as the comedy duo have dreams of hitting the airwaves. Ito must have heard the phrase “kill them with laughter” and took it literally when developing this story where silliness abounds.

11. Bloodsucking Darkness

Nami is a troubled teen with an eating disorder. As she becomes malnourished due to her condition, she begins having weird nightmares wherein blood rains from the sky. Things get a bit weird when she meets her fellow schoolmate Tani, who takes a liking to her and expresses a desire to help. Only his style of 'help' involves vampire bats feeding her his own blood! While the premise is classic Ito, the bats themselves are cuter than they're meant to be as they “boing boing” after Nami. A creative idea worth reading moreso for the artwork than the spook factor.

10. Splendid Shadow Song

Ever get a song stuck in your head? "Splendid Shadow Song" makes the annoyance of an earworm into a deadly, transmittable disease. A hate-filled song sung by a street performer becomes a living nightmare for one woman, and when the singer grows to national attention, her song becomes a problem for the rest of the country as well. Yes, having a song stuck in your head can be a pain, but this tune is a bit too dull to induce a real scare.

9. The Mystery of the Haunted House/Soichi's Version (tie)

There are no strings and levers in the haunted house that just opened up in Koichi's hometown, just horrors beyond imagination. For a steep price per ticket, folks can enter and lose their minds. Familiar faces pop up in these two stories -- specifically, Soichi, Ito's infamously deranged nail-spitting, family-torturing antagonist, only this time as an adult. Again, Ito's gruesome art shines in the various rooms within the haunted house and longtime fans of Ito's Soichi shenanigans will enjoy seeing what becomes of the troubled child, but without context, the story isn't much of a spook for casual readers.

8. Smashed

The titular story of forbidden fruit received the Junji Ito Collection treatment in anime form where it shines, the violence of the act of physically being smashed jarring on the screen. In print, Ito's art manages to capture the visceral punishment of those who just can't resist a taste of a rare jungle plant. The story has a similar vibe to old horror adventure comics, a true story to tell while roasting marshmallows to listeners with strong stomachs.

7. Soichi's Beloved Pet

The cat yokai from Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu holding a creature in its mouth.

Perhaps this short should have come before the "Haunted House" two-parter, but nonetheless, Soichi's twisted mind is on full display here. As the family adopts a cat, Soichi goes to work corrupting it until it becomes a rather evil little demon on its own right. Soichi is a weird kid who Ito has often featured as having an uncanny ability to freak people out, and in this case, his influence breaks down the barrier between animal and man.

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6. Library Vision

A student's worst nightmare: studying to death. A magnificent library of hundreds of thousands of books becomes one man's curse inherited from his parents. His wife, initially attracted to his intelligence, begins to realize his mania when a book goes missing. This tale acts as a reminder to take a break once in a while or risk losing more than sleep.

5. In Mirror Valley

Junji Ito's "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" introduced many to his weird horror flavor, and "In Mirror Valley" captures the same level of oddity. A trio of hikers happen upon a valley covered in broken mirrors where they discover an intense hatred shared between rival villages. Ultimately, hate consumes them too, and the reader learns how and why the valley got its name. Considering that Ito's original appeal came from his knack for Lovecraftian cosmic horror, "In Mirror Valley" is a welcome return to form.

4. Death Row Doorbell

Reminiscent of a ghost story told to children on the consequences of being naughty, Ito's ghastly version of ding dong ditch is rather somber. Following the death of her family at the hands of a somewhat silly biker gang, she and her surviving brother are haunted by what appears to be the ghost of a their attacker currently sitting on death row, begging for forgiveness. In the end, sadness permeates these pages more so than does fright, but it lingers nonetheless.

3. I Don't Want to Be a Ghost

A traditional ghost story takes a startling twist when a roadside hitchhiker is given a ride. Though not a ghost herself, her desire to see ghosts really turns up the notch on bizarre when she attaches herself to her would-be savior, Shigeru. Mysteriously appearing blood, odd women with strange eyes -- this story is reminiscent of Ito's seminal work Tomie, and packs a punch a similar punch.

2. Roar

Losing a loved one is often at the heart of horror, as many people cannot imagine a world without, say, their parents. In “Roar,” a young man whose parents were swept away by a flood uncovers a macabre residual spirit of the very flood itself as it carries screaming souls down a phantom river. When he discovers that his father is, in fact, alive but dedicated to saving the ghostly visage of his late wife from the raging waters, a rather melancholy and tragic story unfolds. This may be one of Ito's most heartfelt stories -- and most dreadful to conceive.

1. Earthbound

Quite possibly one of the darkest of Ito's shorts, “Earthbound” tells the tale of individuals who, while striking a pose as if they had been crucified upon an invisible cross, gradually begin to solidify. Case worker Asano is tasked with helping these individuals, one of which seems to haunt her as well. The subject matter makes a disturbing turn and the imagery is truly macabre -- this one isn't for the faint of heart. “Earthbound” ranks high not only in Smashed, but in Ito's entire morbid library.

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