Junji Ito Exhibition: Enchanted

My favorite horror mangaka had an exhibition here and originally I couldn't get anybody to go with me (my lolita friends feel it's too scary) but luckily, a different friend invited me to the exhibit so we went a yesterday!

Hair clip: Kawaii Monster Café

JSK: h.Naoto

Shoes: Sheep Puff 

The horror aesthetic is not so reliant on gore, but rather makes you think a bit about human nature. I've only read Tomie and Uzumaki, but after seeing the exhibition, I'm interested in finding more of the manga series!

 

The majority of the exhibit was drawings, but there was this 3D version of one of the famous illustration. 

It's a beautiful image that is both enchanting and disturbing. 

There were also colored illustrations and some plaques describing the artist's thoughts about them. 

I love all the details and linework!

Tomie was the first series I read and it is both supernatural and also reflects on human nature regarding obsession, selfish desires, and jealousy. 

Some of the drawings were done as wallpaper as well!

Though I didn't recognize all the characters, they each had their own form of beauty, often twisted. 

The ticket was NT$450-480 depending if you bought individually or in a double-pack. 

Some of the illustrations are more directly horror, especially with body horror, and there were a few images I really don't like, such as the spiral cones growing from feet. But that may be because I'm scared of and disgusted by feet... As well as general skin disease.  

There was also a short video interaction for Uzumaki!

If you are unfamiliar with the series, it's about an obsession with spiral and becoming infected with spirals. 

It starts with just the main character's friend's dad but it spreads to the whole village. 

The video setup takes a photo of you, so I used Violet!

Because no video was allowed in the exhibition, I could only take a few snaps. It twists your photo into a spiral, taking you into the curse. 

When the other two did it, the spiral started in their eye, but Violet's is on her nose. Maybe it detected the nose as the eye due to being a non-human character 😹

I have no idea what this walking fish series is, but it looks sort of funny?  It must still be horror but maybe a bit more comedic to me?

I also don't know what this mecha cyborg character is, but it's cool!

And the cat series seems to be about cute aggression? But very adorable!

The cat series had a tatami room setup! Cute~

There was also a special illustration by the artist during the meet and greet (I assume at the start of the exhibition) which is beautiful!

The mirror room had illustrations on them for you to become a part of the series 😹😹

The balloon heads are sort of creepy haha!

I like this photo~

The merch shop was a bit expensive, so I only did a purikura. There were some items I wanted but couldn't justify spending that much when I don't have income!!

I adore this illustration but the accessories case is too small...

The purikura machine only did one photo, but it was nice! 

Do you read horror? I feel like reading horror has a creepier feeling than watching. Sometimes you just want to put the book or manga down, but at the same time are drawn in!!!