JUNJI ITO EXPLAINED | When Horror Moves Closer

[00:00:05]What happens when the things that frighten you stop keeping their distance?

[00:00:09]When a stranger moves closer and closer until there's nowhere left to run?

[00:00:14]Welcome back to my journey reading every Junji Ito manga. Today we're going to explore The Woman Next Door and The Scarlet Circle, both of which are available in the short story collection Mimi's Tales of Terror if you're interested. I'll put a link to the collection below if you want to check it out. They're a great collector's piece.

[00:00:33]The Woman Next Door begins with Mimi telling us about her current living situation that is far from ideal.

[00:00:40]It's an old apartment, paper-thin walls, and worst of all, her upstairs neighbor has a habit of constantly blasting his music loudly, making it impossible for Mimi to study.

[00:00:51]The noise is constant, and finally Mimi has reached her wit's end. She storms up to the neighbor and knocks on his door demanding that he turn down the music.

[00:01:01]The neighbor is a young man, and he does not take Mimi very seriously.

[00:01:05]He brings up a pretty good point to her.

[00:01:07]His next door neighbor has not said a word about the noise, so maybe Mimi is just being sensitive.

[00:01:13]He tells Mimi he will quiet down when the neighbor starts to complain.

[00:01:18]Mimi is frustrated by this. Clearly this guy is just trying to get her to leave.

[00:01:22]But as they are arguing with each other, they're distracted by a long, high-pitched screeching sound, the door of this man's neighbor opening up.

[00:01:32]Out of the door steps a woman who looks anything but normal.

[00:01:36]She's covered head to toe. Not one square inch of her body is visible.

[00:01:41]Long sleeves, gloves, a hat, large sunglasses, and a scarf, all jet black in color, cover her.

[00:01:49]She walked past the two without saying a word.

[00:01:52]The woman's appearance is unsettling, and when Mimi gets the chance, she asks around if anyone knows anything about her.

[00:01:59]Not surprisingly, information is scarce.

[00:02:02]The only thing she learns is that there must be several women living in that room. A neighbor has seen various women leaving, all different heights, but all covered in the same dark clothing.

[00:02:13]Some time passes and to Mimi's relief, the music upstairs stops.

[00:02:18]One day, while returning home, Mimi notices the neighbor sitting outside of the building looking disheveled and skittish. She asks him what is wrong.

[00:02:28]The neighbor does not give Mimi a straight answer, but it's clear that all of his paranoia is centered around the strange woman next door.

[00:02:36]Why are they so quiet? How many are in that room?

[00:02:39]These are the questions that are tormenting him.

[00:02:42]Before he can continue further, a shadow covers him.

[00:02:46]It is one of the women towering over Mimi and the neighbor, easily over 8 ft tall.

[00:02:52]The woman pays them no mind and walks up the stairs to her room.

[00:02:56]The neighbor's paranoia continues to spiral downward and before long, he leaves the apartment.

[00:03:02]Mimi takes the opportunity to move into his room.

[00:03:06]Of course, it's a bit off-putting being closer to the strange women, but the room is quiet, which is something that she needs in order to study.

[00:03:14]On the day of the move, Mimi happens to cross paths with one of the women.

[00:03:19]Mimi accidentally runs into her while moving furniture.

[00:03:22]Although Mimi is extremely apologetic, the woman says nothing.

[00:03:27]Mimi reaches out instinctually to tap the woman's arm to make sure that she heard her apologize, but nothing could have prepared Mimi for what happened next.

[00:03:36]What should have felt like an arm was cold, hard, and lifeless.

[00:03:40]In the motion, the sleeve of the woman is pulled back and revealed a steel rod lined with screws.

[00:03:47]The woman pushes Mimi away and slams the door to her room still without saying a word.

[00:03:54]The natural explanation for this would be that the woman had a prosthetic arm, but that can't be what is going on here.

[00:04:00]The metal in the sleeve is solid, besides the screws. No pulleys or wires, no mechanical complexity.

[00:04:07]And Mimi is certain that the woman had a firm grip on the door with her hand.

[00:04:12]That night, alone, Mimi notices that the wall between her room and the woman's has a small hole in it, perhaps made by the man who once lived here.

[00:04:22]She is deeply disturbed by the woman, and soon she cannot resist. She leans into the hole to spy on the woman next door.

[00:04:31]What she sees defies all logic.

[00:04:34]Both of the woman's sleeves are rolled up, revealing that both arms appear to be made of the same metal rod.

[00:04:41]Despite this, her hands move with complete dexterity, adjusting the screws with ease.

[00:04:47]The nightmare continues to unravel. Both arms mechanically extend back and forth at random, becoming freakishly long before returning to human length.

[00:04:57]When the woman pulls up her cloak to reveal that her legs are also made of these metal rods, Mimi cannot hold in her scream, causing the woman's head to snap in her direction.

[00:05:09]Mimi cowers on the ground, staring at the hole in the wall with unease.

[00:05:13]Suddenly, a crunch sound.

[00:05:15]The sound of rock crushing.

[00:05:17]Another crunch, and then, finally, a metal rod comes burrowing into Mimi's room, the same type of rod as the woman's appendages.

[00:05:28]The rod extends at a violent speed right towards Mimi, and she just barely dodges out of the way.

[00:05:34]Impossibly, the rod suddenly bends at 90° again, directly towards Mimi.

[00:05:40]She dodges it, but just barely.

[00:05:43]The rod recedes back into the hole in the wall, leaving Mimi on the floor, breathless and scared of whatever is about to come next.

[00:05:51]Mimi is panicked, terrified, and confused at how this woman could extend like this. And a horrifying idea crosses Mimi's mind.

[00:06:00]What if there's only one woman in the room next door, and she has been changing her height the entire time?

[00:06:07]Mimi locks her door. She can hear the woman exit her room, but has no way of knowing where she went.

[00:06:13]Mimi stands in silence, when suddenly a clicking sound can be heard outside of her upstairs window, growing closer and closer.

[00:06:23]She pulls back her blinds and looks into the night.

[00:06:26]Standing before her in the dark night is the woman at eye level. Her legs extended 20 ft below her. Her arms triple their human length, giving her a spider-like appearance.

[00:06:39]Mimi falls back in the shock of what she has seen. Without hesitation, the woman's hands latch onto Mimi's window, and she crawls into the room with an insect-like ferocity and makes her way towards Mimi.

[00:06:52]And in that moment, mercifully, Mimi passes out from the sheer terror of what is happening.

[00:06:58]We are told the next day Mimi saw the woman in the hallway, and she acted as though nothing had happened.

[00:07:04]And that is the end of The Woman Next Door by Junji Ito.

[00:07:08]I loved this story. What an absolute blast.

[00:07:11]When you think scary design, my mind always goes to blood, gore, rust, filth, things like that. I never considered just how unsettling something with a metal frame for a body could be.

[00:07:24]How basic and sterile the metal below the clothing was gave them an unbelievably uncanny feeling that really landed for me.

[00:07:32]I really appreciated the final page of this story, telling us that after that night, the woman went back to acting like normal. It almost made me question Mimi's sanity. Like the shrouded woman may actually be living relatively normal and the supernatural aspects were all Mimi's imagination. I'd love to know what you think in the comments below.

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[00:08:07]Up next, we're going to read Scarlet Circle.

[00:08:11]The story begins with Mimi and Naoto walking together outside with their friend Misa and everything is not okay.

[00:08:18]Mimi and Naoto are having a huge argument. Mimi is a firm believer in spirits after everything that they have been through and Naoto is adamant that spirits are not real.

[00:08:30]The fight continues to escalate and eventually it gets so heated that the two break up causing Naoto to storm away.

[00:08:37]Mimi is flustered but still furious. She asks Misa what her thoughts are on spirits to which Misa replies that she also believes in them.

[00:08:47]Misa tells Mimi that she actually has good reason to believe that they do exist and alludes to some weird things happening to her lately.

[00:08:55]It's too much to explain. It will be easier to show Mimi what she means. So Misa leads Mimi to an old abandoned and mostly destroyed building.

[00:09:05]Misa explains that this building actually belonged to her grandparents and uncle.

[00:09:10]They were in the process of tearing down the building when something strange caused them to stop.

[00:09:15]Misa leads Mimi to a strange deep hole underneath what once was the kitchen.

[00:09:20]It looks like a deep well with a rope ladder hanging inside.

[00:09:25]Misa explains that her uncle found this hole underneath the floorboards of the house and no one had any recollection of where it came from or who dug it.

[00:09:34]At the bottom of the hole is a strange and empty room.

[00:09:38]Curious to see it first hand, the two girls make their way down the rope ladder and into the dark abyss.

[00:09:45]When they reach the bottom, it was exactly as Misa had described. A simple, very small room.

[00:09:51]Ancient cracked stone made up the four walls into tatami mats lining the floor.

[00:09:57]The room is eerie in its simplicity, haunting in its normalcy.

[00:10:02]It should feel harmless, but how does a room exist meters underground with no door or way to enter?

[00:10:09]The only features within the room that stand out is that on one of the walls, there is a circle the size of a basketball painted red.

[00:10:18]Misa shares something haunting. She tells Mimi that when her grandfather and uncle first found the strange room, the grandfather believed that it was sacred.

[00:10:27]He shut himself inside alone for days, and when the uncle and grandmother stopped hearing him from inside the room, they opened the room once more to find that the grandfather had vanished without a trace.

[00:10:40]In the days that followed, the uncle continued to look for the grandfather throughout the house, feeling certain that his disappearance had to do with the mysterious room and the scarlet [music] circle.

[00:10:51]It didn't take long for the uncle to head to the house alone one day, never to be seen again.

[00:10:57]Misa believes that this circle is to blame.

[00:11:00]She doesn't know what it is. Maybe a demon, maybe a portal to another reality. But each time someone disappears, the circle grows a deeper, brighter shade of red.

[00:11:11]The two climb out of the room, luckily safe.

[00:11:14]Misa asks Mimi's help solving the mystery. Everyone she speaks to about it reacts like Naoto did, laughing and dismissing the supernatural.

[00:11:24]Mimi is [music] disarmed. She is empathetic to Misa and her situation, and she wants to help.

[00:11:30]Unfortunately, letting her guard down was a grave mistake.

[00:11:34]Suddenly, from behind, Misa pushes Mimi into the dark room.

[00:11:39]Mimi lands on the floor with a hard thud, knocking the wind out of her.

[00:11:43]Misa quickly climbs down the ladder once more.

[00:11:47]Before Mimi can pull herself together, Misa grabs her cell phone from her and crawls back up the ladder and out of the room.

[00:11:54]When she reaches the top, Misa pulls the ladder out of the room, leaving Mimi trapped inside.

[00:12:00]Mimi screams at Misa, demanding to know exactly what is going on here.

[00:12:05]Misa is vague on her motive, but she is clear with her plan.

[00:12:09]She tells Mimi that she wants her to disappear as she covers up the top of the room.

[00:12:15]We see that the very next thing Misa did was call Naoto and ask to meet with him.

[00:12:19]And it quickly becomes clear what is going on here.

[00:12:23]Misa tells Naoto that she has always had a crush on him. And now that Mimi and him have broken up, she wants to know how he feels about her.

[00:12:32]Back in the strange room, we see an injured Mimi trying her hardest to climb up the smooth walls. Despite her best efforts, she is nowhere near being able to escape.

[00:12:43]She turns around and what she sees makes her stomach drop.

[00:12:47]The red circle looks back at her, no longer the size it once was.

[00:12:52]The circle has grown to cover nearly the entire wall.

[00:12:56]It's almost as large as Mimi is.

[00:12:58]Mimi questions her own sanity. She questions if it has always been that big and if she just did not notice.

[00:13:05]Any doubt that her mind was playing tricks on her is soon relinquished as the circle swells further, spilling onto the other walls.

[00:13:13]Mimi cowers in the furthest corner of the small room and screams for her life.

[00:13:19]Misa and Naoto are far away from Mimi's hell, but despite this, Naoto can sense that something is wrong. Almost like a voice in his head calling for help.

[00:13:29]Despite the sensation, he dismisses it having no clue what Mimi is going through at this very moment.

[00:13:36]The scarlet circle continues to swell.

[00:13:39]The entire room nearly painted [music] in its red shade.

[00:13:42]Mimi holds herself as close to the wall as possible looking like someone holding on to the last breaths of air in a room that fills with water.

[00:13:51]The scarlet reaches her body and slowly begins crawling up her legs as she cries in agony.

[00:13:57]Just as all hope was lost, the cellar door above her is ripped open. It's Naoto.

[00:14:03]She grabs onto his hand and he pulls her to safety just before it is too late.

[00:14:09]As he was talking to Misa, the voice in his head continued to grow louder and louder until it was clear that it was coming from Mimi.

[00:14:16]What compelled him to run towards this old destroyed home, Naoto does not understand. It was beyond comprehension, like an animal's instinct.

[00:14:25]The two turn to see Misa standing in the broken home silent with tears running down her cheeks.

[00:14:32]Naoto and Mimi left her there without saying a word.

[00:14:36]We are told that moment was the last time that she was ever seen. She vanished without a trace.

[00:14:41]As time passed, the home was finally taken down and the strange room below it was filled with dirt, sealed forever.

[00:14:49]And that is the end of the scarlet circle.

[00:14:52]It is always very satisfying to me when all the cards of the story are not revealed.

[00:14:57]Don't get me wrong, I craved more.

[00:14:59]Certainly when I finished reading this story, my first thought was frustration.

[00:15:03]I want to know what the monster is, what happened to Misa, and everything in between.

[00:15:08]But I know that deep down, that creating a story that prompts imaginations to wander is the real sign of mastery as an author.

[00:15:16]My interpretation of this story is that Misa did not have control of whatever this entity was.

[00:15:22]It almost felt like she happened to discover a supernatural bear trap. When Naoto ultimately chose to love Mimi instead of Misa, I interpreted her disappearance as she chose to end her own life and let whatever that thing was consume her.

[00:15:37]If you made it this far, thank you for watching. Make sure to let me know your thoughts on these stories in the comments below.

[00:15:43]Did you interpret the end of the Scarlet Circle the same way? Or did you read it differently? I would love to hear.

[00:15:49]Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and I will see you in the next video as we continue the journey of reading every single Junji Ito story together.