Reviews tagging 'Death'

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

85 reviews

helianthus1313's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Yozo Oba was a scum on this earth. He fooled with a lot of people which led to those people taking their lives. This man was hollow from the inside out. He grossed me out with his behavior towards women. He used all of them for his own gains. In the end, he got what he deserved. An empty hollow life like himself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Abortion, and Death of parent

alexutzu's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

An impactful story that possibly masks a memoir-like suicidal note, credit to the original author for that. Very curious to also read both the actual book and other graphic adaptations of this work that sadly describes a very tragic life story. Junji Ito's style also contributes in a suitable way to the disturbing plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

roach's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

I have wished innumerable times to meet with a violent death, but I have never once desired to kill anybody.

I'm actually a bit conflicted on this book.
I was very stoked to read a much longer than usual story illustrated by Junji Ito and also see how his style would suit a story that's a bit more grounded than his usual work. And, of course, his art is amazing as always. Lots of fantastic, horrific panels in here, as expected.
But I have to say, as far as the story itself goes, I sometimes wished I would have read the original novel instead because I felt like I was missing some deeper atmosphere or more thorough exploration of the character. The pacing of the manga also maybe was a bit too brisk for what I'd expect or want from such a conceptually rich story of tragedy.
Still a great read, but maybe I was a bit too hyped going in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

beck_wreck's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Was hard to read how utterly horrible the life of this character was. Even more so when you consider the strong possibility that it is a reflection of the authors life. To think that this entire story is possibly an elaborate suicide note is haunting. I feel like Junji Ito really added a lot to the story with his art style, and his changes and additions made it his own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Extremely graphic art of the above triggers. I don't recommend this book to anyone who has gone through these tragedies or could be triggered by them.

piepatch's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Definitely a dark read, quite diffetent to Junji Ito's typical brand of horror. The base story that Ito is retelling is horrifying in its own right, and is a much more grounded and realistic type of horror than Ito's normal work. It's absolutely elevated in Ito's style though, a very visceral portrayal. Highly recommended, its a captivating read, but just a warning that it's quite confronting at times.

juju_432's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The art was fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

lonely_tardigrade's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Ok just finished reading the whole thing in one sitting. For context, I have read over half of the original novel already but I was impatient so I read the manga in between.

First thing I gotta say is this is a VERY loose adaptation. Like, more of an “inspired by” situation imo. There were many parts that just plan old didn’t happen in the novel

including the end.

For a solid minute I was like is he gonna change the ending?? Like when he had Yozo meet Dazai at the hospital and start to get better. For a minute I thought this was gonna be a “fix it” version. Then BAM last minute he switched it up again and Yozo is revealed to be stuck in an abusive household for 12 years. Honestly that switch kinda threw me for a loop. Like, it felt like the original plan was a happy ending, and then someone said, “you can’t do that, this story is famous for being a tragedy,” so Ito slapped on an epilogue last minute. Just kinda… strange.

That being said, I think Ito’s art style is an excellent fit for this dark story. It really captures the uncanny feeling Yozo gets from the world around him. I just wish he didn’t lean so MUCH into that reputation to the point that the story itself changed. Even the tone of Yozo’s narration was different and less self-aware, which is probably due to the exaggerated creepiness.

Final thoughts: it’s good as a manga, not so great of an adaptation. Don’t read it and think you’ve read No Longer Human. It’s not remotely that same thing - but it’s not bad standing on its own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and War

For the emetophobes out there: THIS BOOK IS NOT SAFE. Very explicit depictions multiple times. A lot of it is key to the plot but here are the pages to avoid: 182-189

the worst one by far. A woman overdoses as a suicide attempt and painfully vomits to death. Fun stuff.

364-396

nonstop vomiting. The plot here is that he will vomit up the 10 misfortunes in him and… hoo boy it’s graphic.

frozenheartv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

4 stars

Super dark story and characters. Never really disappointed at Junji Ito's work. The story makes me want to read the original book to see how close this adaptation is. I can already imagine that the original book is pretty deep and the artworks help with some of the concepts

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

aricbuckholt's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

reading the manga version now makes me want to read the book this is based of off

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Definitely and adult story

veggiecats's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really intense, but really well done. As a book, I mean its masterful and raw. In terms of Junji Ito's rendition of it, I think the illustrations definitely help with certain themes, such as a

Takeichi being "reborn" as Yoichi. And also the delusions and envisioning different people inhabiting one person.

I think this is wonderfully done and really resonated with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

I would not recommend reading this if you are actively struggling with feelings of hopelessness and suicidal ideations, symptoms of psychosis and extreme paranoia, or are sensitive to themes of sexual assault and rape.