Junji Ito is a horror mangaka whose work has an impressive cult following, thanks to his beautiful and grotesque artwork and impactful storylines. From an immortal girl to floating heads, his works' influence on horror manga can't be underestimated, and it would be great to see his works translated into scary horror games.
Video games such as World of Horror and the canceled P.T. have already felt the touch of this legendary mangaka. It would be great to see his unsettling works translated as horror games, putting you in the shoes of a protagonist as you must navigate these terrifying situations.
10 Girl Power: Tomie
Perhaps the most popular of Ito's works, the titular Tomie is a beautiful and manipulative girl who has the ability to make any man fall in love with her presence alone. Men under her thrall are driven into a frenzy, leading them to lose control and brutally kill her over and over.
Tomie's regenerative abilities would make for an interesting gameplay mechanic, allowing her to join the ranks of other video game characters who are invulnerable to damage. It would be great to play as this powerful character, manipulating men to do your bidding while dodging their attacks.
9 Wood You Play This?: House Of Puppets
In this story, the puppeteers are the ones being controlled rather than the puppets. In a reverse of the classic Pinocchio fairytale, this family of puppeteers become wooden puppets themselves – manipulated by the creepy puppet, Jean-Pierre.
Puppets aren't a new concept in horror games, with series like Five Nights at Freddy's highlighting their creepy factor, but Junji Ito's influence could take the concept to the next level. A video game iteration of this story could lean into this fear, blurring the lines between puppet and puppeteer as you attempt to retain your humanity.
8 A Twisted Pet Simulator: Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu
Yon & Mu is an autobiographical manga chronicling J-kun and his fiancėe's experience as cat owners. Despite being a comedic manga, it blends together its slice of life elements with the disturbing imagery Ito is known for.
The video game industry is saturated with cute life simulation games – many of which involve you looking after a pet. It would be great to see this genre turned on its head as you play owner to your own Ito-inspired cat, complete with his unique art style. It might not be the most conventional horror game, but it would be interesting to see how these two genres coexist to create an eerie atmosphere.
7 You'll Float Too: The Hanging Balloons
The Hanging Balloons has a terrifying plot, where your own floating head chases you, goading you into taking your own life. This work presents a surreal situation where you must hide from a giant balloon version of your head, generating a lot of disturbing images of these haunting specters floating in the sky.
The balloons of this work would make for a scary horror game antagonist, as you would have to trap yourself inside your house, safe from the terror floating just outside your window.
6 Just Five More Minutes: Long Dream
The Long Dream involves a patient called Tetsuro Mukoda, who has terrifying nightmares where time works differently – one night being the equivalent of a year. Over the course of the work, his dreams become longer, causing him to age rapidly. The story shows you the darker side of living for such a long period of time.
In the game adaptation, you could enter an endless dream, using the differences between the awake and sleeping world to play into your psychological fears. Imagine a game where a sleeping mechanic is pushed to the extreme, having you awaken only to discover that your entire life was only a mirage.
5 Hole In One: The Enigma Of Amigara Fault
The plot of this short story involves the discovery of human-shaped holes exposed by an earthquake. Following this incident, people become compelled to enter 'their' holes, claiming that it was created for them.
Although this story is mainly based on a scary concept rather than an overarching narrative, the compulsion these people feel and not knowing what happens to them after they enter their hole makes it a chilling situation. A horror game could adapt this scenario – examining the shared hysteria behind such an event through engaging dialogue.
4 A Hairy Situation: The Long Hair In The Attic
You've heard of bad hair days, but this story takes it to another level. After breaking up with her boyfriend, Chiemi decides to cut her hair, only for her hair to become sentient and fight back – killing her and hanging her head from the rafters of the attic.
It would be interesting to see this story adapted using the premise of a point-and-click horror adventure game, having you find clues to discover who murdered Chiemi. The twist is that she was killed by her own hair.
3 Grease Up: Glyceride
This plot isn't for the squeamish. Glyceride tells the story of Yui and her family who own a barbecue restaurant. Yui's brother, Goro, has a violent temperament and a fixation with oil – drinking it to the point where it seeps out of his body. After Yui's father kills goro, he serves his body to his loyal patrons, resulting in a boom in business.
The plot could be represented as a survival horror game, involving checking the saturation level of grease in the air and stopping your father's attempts to serve you up as dinner. This game would give the likes of Resident Evil 7 a run for its money, following in the footsteps of the Baker family's hazardous lifestyle.
2 In A Bit Of A Stitch: Army Of One
The Army of One is another of Ito's stories that play into the concept of mass hysteria. It features a mysterious organization, the Army of One, that's linked to mysterious deaths taking place in Japan, with bodies being found sewn together.
A horror game of this story could involve you using stealth elements to hide from the Army of One while uncovering the secrets behind this sinister group. The game could place you in intense situations where you navigate through environments, doing your best not to become the next victim.
1 Spiral In More Ways Than One: Uzumaki
Uzumaki is an epic series about a town that's terrorized by a spiral curse that causes the denizens to become obsessed with spirals. The paranormal effects of this curse cause the citizens to mutate and the town to change in mysterious ways.
It would be incredible to explore this town in a video game format, uncovering the intricacies of this town and encountering the twisted townsfolk as you attempt to escape the spiral. As the spiral curse causes time to speed up, it would also be interesting to see a time mechanic, like the one in Majora's Mask, implemented to add an extra challenge to your terrifying adventure.
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