Danica Davidson
January 14, 2023 
It won’t be too much longer before Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre premieres on Netflix to spook audiences. Ahead of the series’ January 19 start, a trailer has been released that shows clips of all the twenty stories being adapted from Ito’s works. The clips move pretty fast, so pay attention! In the trailer you can also hear the ending theme song “Iu Toori” (translated as “As Was Said”) being performed by JYOCHO.
You don’t hear it in the trailer, but the opening theme song is called “Paranoid” and performed by MADKID.
Director Shinobu Tagashira and scriptwriter Kaoru Sawada previously worked together on Junji Ito “Collection.”
The anime is being made at Studio DEEN, with the music being composed by Yuki Hayashi. Credit for sound direction goes to Hozumi Gōda.
Quite a few known anime actors have been hired to play characters in the multitude of stories. This includes Hisako Kanemoto playing Sayoko in “Unendurable Labyrinth,” Yōko Hikasa playing Chiemi in “The Long Hair in the Attic,” Natsumi Takamori playing Kuriko in “Bullied,”
Takahiro Sakurai playing Kazuya Hikizuri in “The Strange Hikizuri Siblings,” Romi Park playing Kiko in “The Strange Hikizuri Siblings,” Riho Sugiyama playing Kazuko Morinaka in “The Hanging Balloons,” Rie Suegara playing Tomie in “Tomie: Photo,” Yoshimasa Hosoya playing Kōichi in “Four x Four Walls,” Hiro Shimono playing Oshikiri in “Intruder,” Ryotaro Okiayu playing Sonohara in “Ice Cream Truck,” M.A.O playing Kaoru Yoshikawa in “Tomb Town,” Yuuki Kaji playing Goro Shinozaki in “Library Vision,” Shun Horie playing Goro in “The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel,” and Shoko Nakagawa playing Mayumi Santo in “Whispering Woman.”
Netflix gave this description for the series:
“From the mind of horror manga maestro Junji Ito comes a spine-tingling selection of some of his most bizarre, disturbing and terrifying tales.”
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
