Junji Ito is one of the most famous horror mangaka as his most disturbing drawings have earned him international acclaim. Ito’s tales of terror are remarkable feats that know how to mess with the reader and create tense moments, with his artwork making ever Junji Ito story pure nightmare fuel.
Fully displayed in black and white with a focus on detail, Junji Ito’s drawings have become as well known as the stories they accompany. There have been countless images that stick out in the minds of fans as some of the scariest art ever drawn. This imagery is abundant in the hundreds of stories crafted by Junji Ito, and here are the ten most disturbing drawings Ito has made throughout his career.
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Souichi’s Beloved Pet
This blend of Ito’s signature style with a dab of Lovecraftian horror kicks off this list in the best way. Coming from the story Souichi’s Beloved Pet, this image shows the family cat cursed by Ito’s infamously villainous Souichi as it brings up a horrifying sight. Souichi describes it as “one of those insects that live in Hell,” and Ito’s depiction of this is too complex for the mind to handle. The way the bug’s legs stretch out with its thousand eyes is enough to turn the stomach of any reader. It may not be incredibly gory like some of Ito’s other drawings, but the mystery behind this creature makes it one of his most disturbing creations.
9 The Rib Woman – One of Ito’s Most Disturbing Creations
Lovesickness
This titular monster drawn by Ito is undeniably one of his most disturbing creations. Throughout the story from Ito’s Lovesickness collection, a woman who has undergone rib surgery to adjust her figure hears an uncanny sound throughout the night. It turns out this is the work of the Rib Woman, a seemingly friendly woman playing music on a rib bone. However, what she reveals underneath her shirt is a hodgepodge of ribs she has stolen from others held together by string.
The way the Rib Woman is drawn gives her an eerie obsessive vibe as she comes to collect Yuki’s ribs for her own. Plus, the way that her exposed ribs are popping out to cause festering wounds throughout her chest makes for a grotesque sight that will never leave the reader’s mind.
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8 The Centipede – A Uniquely Twisted Take on Body Horror
Honored Ancestors
Returning to something a little less grotesque but nonetheless disturbing, this image from Honored Ancestors depicts a father connected by the skulls of his ancestors. There’s just something so odd yet fascinating about the design of this creature. The way the skulls are assembled to give off a centipede-like look makes it hard to look away no matter how disturbing it is. It’s just an endless moment of terror that sticks out because of how hauntingly beautiful it is.
7 Mr. Yokota – A Perfect End To a Disturbing Tale
Uzumaki
This next drawing comes from the pages of one of the best-known stories in Ito’s epic and beloved Uzumaki. This short story, titled The Snail, focuses on a mysterious happening where some students slowly turn into snails.
This dive into body horror is something Ito excels at, but he flexes his talent best in the final transformation when the students’ teacher comes to class half-transformed. He’s lost his legs and has a shell, but his hands pull him into the classroom with his head still there. However, his eyes have been replaced by stalks and his mouth is slowly vanishing as he’s covered by ridged bumps all along his skin. This is a perfect way to end Uzumaki‘s snail story and shows just why this is one of the scariest shorts throughout the graphic novel.
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6 Chiharu’s Deflating Head – One of the Scariest Moments From An Ito Classic
Hanging Balloons
In a story dominated by floating heads trying to snag up their human counterparts by the neck, Junji Ito’s scariest short story Hanging Balloons‘ most disturbing moment actually happens on the ground. This one image from this short story is Ito’s way of showing why the uncanny balloons in the sky can’t be shot down, and he does a remarkable job making this case. When the balloon mimicking a girl named Chiharu gets shot and deflates, Ito quickly shows that whatever happens to the balloon will happen to the human as well. The way Chiharu’s head deflates is both shocking and upsetting as it’s drawn in such detail that makes this girl’s death hit even harder.
5 Shuichi’s Father Becomes the Spiral – Uzumaki’s Monstrous Start
Uzumaki
First impressions are important, and this debut story for Junji Ito’s Uzumaki is disturbing enough to hook the reader instantly. The Spiral Obsession features Shuichi’s father as he becomes entranced by spirals. As the story continues, his obsession grows more and more disturbing as he’s able to curl his tongue in unnatural ways and spin his eyes in spirals with ease. His death has become one of Ito’s most haunting images as he’s found in a large tub, his body contorted into a spiral. The way he’s depicted makes him not appear human anymore. It’s an omen of things to come, and it makes a great case of why the spiral is so deadly in Uzumaki.
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4 Full Body Tattoo – One of Ito’s Uncanniest Images
Lovesickness
This disturbing artwork from Lovesickness: A Woman in Distress is perhaps the uncanniest image Ito has ever made. The story follows a boy named Ryusuke as he comes across a woman over a period of nights with worsening problems. After mentioning that she wants to get a tattoo one night, she emerges covered head-to-toe in them. The way Ito designs this look gives off an uncanny and obsessive vibe. The shape is clearly human, but the tattoos make things feel off. The shapes of the animals and other images contort parts of her body and make her seem no longer human. It’s undoubtedly one of Ito’s creepiest creations that gets the mind working into overdrive as it tries to decipher what it’s seeing.
3 Tomie’s Painting – Tomie’s Most Horrific Image
Painter
This image comes from what’s undoubtedly the most famous story featuring Ito’s iconic Tomie character. Like Souichi, Tomie has become Junji Ito’s recurring femme fatale who terrorizes Japan with her beauty leading others to commit murder. The story Painter sees Tomie become a muse for an up-and-coming artist who desperately wants to depict her beauty. After numerous failed attempts that she laughed off, his final masterpiece shows Tomie in all her glory with a horrendous second head growing out of her. This is an image that’s so disturbing that it’s also become one of the most well-known interpretations of the character. It’s a beautifully designed work of horror that shows that underneath her beauty in the real world, a monster lies within that will drive others to madness.
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2 Yasumin Gets Smashed – A Gory Moment With Brilliant Set Up
Smashed
The brilliant thing about this disturbing drawing is that it’s not the first time readers encounter a moment like this in the story. Junji Ito’s Smashed actually sets the readers up for what they’re in for when Sugio takes his friends to Ogi’s house to try a delicious nectar. When they arrive, they find Ogi smashed against the wall in a gruesome display. However, it’s when Yasumin gets splattered that things get disturbing.
The way his violent demise is portrayed is incredibly haunting. Readers can tell it’s him with his outline and glasses easy to make out as blood is sprawled everywhere. It’s the first time the characters truly encounter what’s going on, and the first death among them perfectly sets up the horror to come.
1 Azami’s Scar – Junji Ito’s Most Disturbing (& Iconic) Drawing
Uzumaki
The most disturbing drawing in Junji Ito’s repertoire is one that most people may instantly recognize. This artwork from The Scar in Junji Ito’s Uzumaki depicts a girl named Azami as she reveals her succumbing to the spiral curse. She’s grown a large spiral on her head that has devoured most of her face with one bulging eyeball still remaining before swirling through the shape and disappearing.
Not only is this one of the most well-known images from Uzumaki. It’s also one of Ito’s most famous in general. The way it’s designed brilliantly showcases his brand of shock body horror. It’s upsetting to look at and is so terrifying that it burns itself into the reader’s mind long after they’ve finished seeing it for the first time. This is undoubtedly Junji Ito’s most disturbing drawing of all time as it stands out among his other terrifying works.
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