Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

No Longer Human by Junji Ito

45 reviews

miajakobsen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

An extremely visceral, uncomfortable, and devastating story. It has interesting reflections on the feeling of performing your life and being uncomfortable in your body. It is also an extremely raw story of an abusive, terrible, unlikeable man who ruins every woman he meets. The art style – which can sometimes be too much – definitely complements the disturbing story. 

I think that understanding the history of Osamu Dazai's life and the context of this book being basically autobiographical is crucial to "enjoying" this book. The actual story itself is quite tough, but the manga is very impactful and compelling. I definitely want to read the actual novel by Dazai now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt

deadratsinthesewer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

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

5.0

No longer human explores some incredibly dark and disturbing subjects, I find that Junkies Ito’s equally dark and disturbing art style complements this really well. The visualisation of this adaptation is more than I could’ve ever imagined, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the artwork. It is certainly not for everyone, it was a painful read (in a positive way), definitely a story would revisit 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

dishwaterpossum's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

What a ride. A horror story of the tragedy of life. Far less supernatural than some of his other graphic novels, which makes the horror that more real. A very good read, but heavy material. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

wannabesenpai's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

5.0

This rating is in recognition of Junji Ito's mastery as an artist and a storyteller. He captures the grotesque, and the darkness of human psyche in ways that are sickening (yet hard to turn away from) and linger long after you've finished reading. There were parts I didn't fully understand which perhaps is a cultural gap in my own understanding or I need to read it again. Though I can't read this again any time soon, it was gripping from start to finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, and Suicide

ziggers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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

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.

booklitical's review against another edition

The subject matter is very disturbing and I needed to put it down. I may pick back up in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

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.

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.