A review by anemosise
No Longer Human by Junji Ito

dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

im a little surprised with how lowly im rating this novel (though i will say, ito's art is just as on point as always haha). it might have to do with having just read dazai's original novel of no longer human a few days ago, but did not feel as much of the emotional weight in this manga adaptation as I did the original. it goes for a very different approach, as it's an ito horror work, but I found it didn't do as much for me. I found the changes in the plot to take away from some of the parts I really loved from the original novel, and though i found yozo to be unlikeable in both novels, I related to yozo's dissociation and pain in dazai's work and just found ito's to be irredeemable. i do think that ito's artwork really did visualize some of the moments profoundly well. i also did really appreciate the more monsterous adaptations of some of yozo's interpretations of people and memory. it felt like it honored the way his brain interpreted events, which was great. however, in dazai's work, some of the moments of yozo's life seem too abstracted by memory for him to comprehend or process properly. i found the illustrations of those moments to be too direct and less abstracted. I'll have to think on it more, and possibly reread it to see if my feelings on it change.
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