Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection

Product Information

The main character Ryusuke told a woman’s fortune at the crossroad when he was asked as a young boy.

I liked it and it had a few good disturbing moments, but I don't think the ending met the expectations of the slow buildup. I think the concept of "lovesickness" being a literal type of transmitted disease that drives young girls violently insane with lustful obsession is fascinating.A traumatized Teshima runs back to Ryuusuke's place and tells him everything, and begins to question Ryuusuke whether he's unconsciously materializing as the Intersection Bishounen. I really loved a lot of Ito’s art in this story too, which made great use of fog and portrayed the spirits of the boy’s victims as stupendously horrifying to look upon, especially as they linger longer and longer in the world of the living.

Lovesickness takes place in a town obsessed with fortune-telling, where citizens ask strangers at the crossroads what their fate will be. Even so, as she and Tejima both realize before the curse compels them to hurt Ryusuke, Ryusuke was a kid and it was perfectly normal for him to not know how to answer a loaded question. They suddenly see the white clothed pretty boy walking from ghost to ghost, telling them that love will be fulfilled. The entire atmosphere of the main story is what really held me; it was eerie and unsettling in a very subtle way, with brief bursts of that in-your-face horror some people love. Ryuusuke suddenly appears and the men can only watch as he runs into the crowd to confront the Bishounen but is torn to pieces by the ghosts.Junji Ito’s Lovesickness collection is really more of a graphic novel with some short stories tacked on at the end because the stories that comprise the main story take up about 250 of the 400 pages in this book. It's a lovely human way to tell a supernatural story even if you know from the beginning that, being a horror manga, the heroes are also doomed in the end.