 Murdered again and again, one girl always comes back for more. Tomie Kawakami is a femme fatale with long black hair and a beauty mark just under her left eye. She can seduce nearly any man and drive them to murder as well, even though the victim is often Tomie herself. While one lover seeks to keep her from himself, another grows terrified of the immortal succubus, but soon they realize that no matter how many times they kill her, the world will never be free of Tomie. Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode, another Junji Ito review. At this point I'm just gonna review every single Ito book that I can get my hands on, and of course, I did Gio, I did Uzumaki, I had to do the Tomie Deluxe Edition hardcover. It just had to happen. I had no idea what this book was about. I just knew that it was about Tomie, and that it was about murder. And that's about it. Really, I had no idea. I didn't even read the description when I got it, I just went at it and read the whole thing. It is super engrossing, it is super gross, and it is super creepy. That's the trifecta for me when it comes to horror comic books. I like horror as a genre, and this book exemplifies that. Ito is a master at his craft. We're not here to talk about that, because it is just a fact. He is one of the greatest, in my opinion. The art is always spectacular, it is spooky, it is creepy, it is vile, repulsive. It is a lot of things. It's not Ito's best work. To this day, I still think Uzumaki is the best thing I've read from him. And I will soon do a review on Shiver and The Solving Classroom and all that other stuff that he's done. Just hang in there, guys. But yeah, Tomie, like I mentioned, I had no idea what it was. I started reading it, and it turns out that this girl, this beautiful character is seducing men left and right. And they are driven insane to the point where they are committing murder. And it's, like I mentioned at the beginning of the video, it's usually towards her. She ends up dead, and then she rises up again. Like literally the first page that you see when you open, well not the first page, technically. The first story page, I should say, establishes that Tomie is dead. She was cut up into tiny little pieces, and then she comes back. And people are freaking out, and you get to see what really happened. And that, I think, is the main fault of this book. Because once you figure out what happened, it becomes a series of vignettes, if you will. I didn't know it was short stories set within this one big plot. And while you might be saying, hey, but that's a good thing. Yeah, but when you read the first three, they give you an explanation of her origin, if you will. And you're invested because you're following these characters from multiple pages or chapters, if you will. And then it takes a sudden shift. Now there's a cliffhanger ending, of course. That's the nature of this genre. And then it just goes off and tells you different side stories, different stories with Tomie, and all the chaos that she has caused in this world. You never really get a definitive conclusion with a particular set of characters. That was the only thing I did not like about this book, but overall it is fantastic. I love the idea that we're getting short horror stories. Unlike Gio, which focused on the whole zombie fish thing, this is much tighter, concise, and just really creepy. There are some really creepy stuff in this book. Have I said creepy enough? I'll keep saying it. There are some bone-chilling moments that will creep you out. If you're reading this alone, it's that cool. And yeah, the character is really super interesting. She is basically this succubus, and she is just in it for the thrill of wanting to be loved and wanting to be desired, but not necessarily going all the way. Just that rush, that adrenaline of wanting to be needed, being loved, being desired. The character really gets off on that. And you see that through all the victims in this story. They might be old, they might be young, they might be middle-aged, they might be whatever. Even women are driven insane and angry and confused about Tomie. Everything revolves around her. And one of the things that I found really particular, really funny about this story, is that you are so engrossed, and you're reading this from start to finish, that you yourself become involved with the story. You get a sense of craziness that you want to find out more about Tomie, this animatic beast of a character, that you're also a victim. You fall victim to the character in a breaking of the fourth wall kind of way. You become her ultimate victim. Like I mentioned in the beginning of the book, murdered again and again. This character keeps coming back. And you get to see these chapters in her mission, I guess, to torment the spirit of lonely people and men that want to find this spectacular femme fatale. And yeah, I think Junji Ito does really well when it comes to short stories. And the characters are well written. And like I mentioned, I didn't like the fact that you get attached to certain characters and then the story just drops off right there, and you move on to something completely, completely different, I should say. So that was basically the only negative with the book. Overall, a very satisfying read. I still prefer Uzumaki over this, but it's still pretty great. Tomie, the deluxe edition, which is pretty damn big. Look at this. This is the biggest of the three deluxe editions. I highly recommend it. If you like horror, if you like bone-chilling stories with gruesome artwork, really cool usage of body horror with a creepy story. So yeah, let me know down below which is your favorite out of the three deluxe editions. Gio, Tomie, or Uzumaki. I'm very interested in finding out. And let me know what was your favorite short story. Mine in this book, in the Tomie stories, was probably the little boy story because it creeped me out the most, and the one at the... I think it was like a snowstorm avalanche thing with the hiker that was lost. I think those two were the creepiest for me. So yeah, guys, thank you once again for liking, commenting, and subscribing to A Week in Geekdom. You just do the best. It's that simple. Like I say at the end of every video, you can follow me on your favorite social media platform. Just type A Week in Geekdom, and I'm probably there for you. Alright, I have got to go. I've got more stuff to read and review, like I always say. So I'll catch you on our next video. And this book is exemplary. Oh, that's not the word I'm looking for.