Customer Reviews

Tomie, Volume 2

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I personally don't really care for the first two medical chapters, although that doesn't mean they aren't a good read -- they are. It's just that compared to the rest of the book, they' aren't as intriguing. "The Artist" is damn creepy, and shows how devastating Tomie's power can be. "Assassination" is definitely my favorite Tomie story of all time; you really see the contrast between Tomie's personalities in this one. That, and the last frame in the last page scares me. This chapter also contains the famous "bloody head in the bag" shot that some of the Tomie movies used. "Hair" is odd, but it displays more of Tomie's supernatural abilities -- even her hair can be a deadly weapon. "Foster Daugher" is an odd one to end the book (and the Tomie saga for some odd years), but I suppose it fits. The story contains two very nice twists at the end that I didn't see coming: the first one was completely unexpected, but the second one I should've seen coming. Junji Ito caught me offguard there, and I applaud him for that.

The above phrase fits Tomie perfectly. Although she appears to be a very pretty girl, she is in fact a demon to be feared. She is killed often but always comes back to bring misery to others. Such a pretty face, but so ugly underneath. The most interesting story in this volume in my opinion was "Painting" where like in the previous volume in which photography showed Tomie's true form, art brings out Tomie's true form; from a beautiful young woman to a monster. good stuff. If you do not like manga because of the artstyle try this one out it is like Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and Domu: the characters are drawn in a realistic way, and look japanese. This review was suppose to be for volume two only i didn't know that it would show up under volume one as well. . . gomen nasai, I'm sorry

A friend of mine loaned me this manga/comic book/graphic novel saying that it was one of several horror comics that he really liked. I had to agree, I found the woman/creature Tomie to be very well created and quite disturbing in a very readable way.
To me she embodies all that is dangerous in women and brings out in men all that is frightening but all to real. She is truly a monster, and one that I think all men fear that any woman might become.
Manga comics are often disposable. Read quickly and thrown away, but I had to search and find a copy of this to keep for myself...and to loan to other men as a warning (evil laugh).
[Copied from my review of volume I]

(This review is for volume 2 only)

So I read volume 1 and got totally involved and couldn't wait to read this. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to par. It's incomplete. volume 1 takes a lot of time (most of the chapters) with the storyline of Tsukiko and Yamazaki. The last two chapters don't deal with them, but since their story obviously isn't finished one expects that it will be continued in volume 2. The last we heard of them is that they're both more or less in a state of danger, but volume 2 totally ignores their plight. Instead, you get a series of little independent stories. Each one features totally different characters, with Tomie being the only common link. There is no conclusion to the story whatsoever. It's rather maddening.
It gets two stars because of the beautiful artwork and a few interesting stories. However, it lacks what made volume one great which was a patient and skillful buildup of events with recurring and interesting characters.
If you're a diehard Junji Ito fan you should probably get this. If you love his artwork and want more, this is also a good choice. However, if you mainly want to see the conclusion of volume 1's riveting storyline (and get scared in the process) then you shouldn't bother. It's just not there.