Black Paradox by Junji Ito

Trigger warning: suicide

OVERVIEW:

Set in the fantastical world of Junji Ito, the grand-master of the horror manga genre, his latest offering Black Paradox, departs from his usual short-story format. Four strangers are brought together on social media with one goal: to end their lives. However, on the appointed meeting day, they are flummoxed by a supernatural event that reveals a gateway to the other side and, possibly, the solution to postpone their self-destruction. Through the twists and turns of Ito’s revelatory fashion, the four’s individual desperations are revealed… and eventually exploited.

REVIEW:

Compared to Ito’s other fare, this longer work is a worthy offering for his ghastly bibliography. Unlike his more notable works, Tomie or Uzumaki, it is a quick read, which makes it feel a little rushed at times, with plot-holes that left this reader scratching her head and stepping carefully around the suspended disbelief and trying not to fall into her own “black paradox.” The story, while creative and engaging and just as horrible as his readership has come to expect, felt a little abrupt in places, with a Kerouac tone, the attempts to give the readers a rounded polish fell flat periodically, but the artwork and imaginative concepts more than makeup for it. Three and a half stars make this Ito’s lowest-scoring book so far for this reviewer…But still with an open wallet, ready to pre-order his next yarn of terror.