Junji Ito's Horror Manga Hits Live Television With Greater Intensity

The disturbing short works of this artist have been adapted for television as 30-minute bite-sized oddities. We obtained an exclusive preview of the next episode, which will stream on HBO Max.

Director Yuta Shimotsu is describing the events of the new installment of the live-action horror series Strange: Junji Ito's Tales for Sleepless Nights, but he could be referring to almost any episode.

The title's award-winning manga artist, whose terrifying short works have been adapted into disturbing 30-minute bites, has a way of blurring the lines between hero and antagonist in his surreal nightmares.

Tales for Sleepless Nights aired its first 12-episode season on TV Tokyo this summer, and now HBO Max is bringing that creepy scare to American audiences. The first two episodes, "Lovesickness (Part 1 of 3)" and "Bully" (previously animated for Junji Ito's Maniac on Netflix) are already available, but New York Comic Con fans were treated to the US premiere of "Face Thief," based on Ito's story "The Face Burglar."

"Face Thief," previously made into a Japanese TV movie in 2000, follows a new school girl named Machida (Nanami Yamazaki) who encounters a strange classmate named Kami (Anna Hoshino). Machida learns this changeling's MO after seeing a similar-looking girl in class who claims she's not related to Kami: "He befriends cute girls and then steals their faces." In fact, Kami's face begins to change during close conversations with Machida. This initially repels the new girl, but when Cami scares some bullies by growing a third eyeball on her cheek, the two begin to bond.

We won't spoil the ending, but the filmmaker turns it into a biting critique of conformity and peer pressure prevalent in Japanese society. As he told the crowd after the show, "We have a social pressure that we're not supposed to be too different from everyone else. Individuality is not so respected."

Despite Shimotsu's desire to reshape the story by "changing the ending so that my live-action version is different," Face Thief still manages to capture the burn of the original comic that ran in the monthly Halloween pages of 1987, the same year that Ito Tami's famous debut appeared. Ann Nemoki ("Strange Tales of Sleepless Nights") from the shōjo manga (for girls) magazine inspired the title of the new TV omnibus.

Junji Ito himself, now a bespectacled 63-year-old, appeared in a video message to New York CC, describing "Face Thief" as an early story he came up with after several failed pitches to his publishers: "Not a ghost, just a unique situation inspired by chameleon camouflage." Ito added that the new Tales for Sleepless Nights adaptation "is brought to life by a fresh team of up-and-coming actors and directors. Instead of jump scares, it creates a slow-crawling nightmare for horror."

Another device by which Shimotsu (Best Wishes to All, New Shader Group) finds Ito's essence in all the episodes he directs is the stillness of the performances and camerawork that evoke the pages of a comic book. He told a fan that he hopes to take the fidelity to the material a step further in Season 2 by shooting at least one episode in black and white, Ito's preferred mode of filming.

When asked by a con contestant which of Ito's works he would most like to adapt, the director drew praise by answering Uzumaki, the groundbreaking horror manga that has been brought to the screen several times, including a recent 4-episode anime series for Adult Swim. The second installment had a famously rocky production, with quality diving after the first installment to the point where the fourth installment had no directorial credits. A new live action version in the hands of Yuta Shimotsu would be incredible and super weird.

Shimotsu said, "I would like to continue to create very strange and unique beauties like Mr. Ito's work. That is my goal." "I'm developing a Hollywood project, so I'll see you soon."