15 Most Horrifying Junji Ito Manga Stories Ranked

Horror master Ito goes beyond the terror of the supernatural and digs deeper into the relationships between troubled characters.

A group of men falls in love with Mariko Shono, a remarkably beautiful woman. Mariko’s father, who runs a UFO research club, cannot take it and decides to control her moves.

Venus in the Blind Spot follows the deeply troubling relationship between Mariko and her controlling father.

This masterpiece takes human emotions like lust, possessiveness, and desperation to new lows.

ALSO READ: The Best Action Anime With a Badass Female Lead

A mystical supernatural force is controlling people all over Asano’s hometown in this horror story from Junji Ito’s Smashed collection.

After frequent sightings of people getting stuck in uncomfortable poses, Asano takes it upon herself to unravel the mystery.

She starts investigating these unusual happenings known as “Earthbound symptoms.”

The victims of Earthbound symptoms are stuck and cannot move their bodies. Eventually, the victims end up decaying.

The Earthbound shines in displaying body horror with supernatural elements.

Based on mystery author Edogawa Ranpo’s original story, Ito brilliantly illustrates Ranpo’s epic story that was originally published in October 1925.

The short story balances creepy and horror elements as a man decides to hide in a chair. The reason he hides inside the chair is his obsession with human contact.

With his intricate and imaginative illustrations, Ito brings Ranpo’s The Human Chair to life.

In The Strange Hikizuri Siblings, Ito invites his readers into a slice-of-life tale with a dark twist, of course.

The manga follows a group of siblings who derive pleasure in torturing and tormenting each other and other unsuspecting folks.

The story shows how their pranks can turn out more than just inconvenience.

Considered one of Ito’s most popular stories, Fashion Model wastes no time in introducing the horrifying monster.

A man sees a rather bizarre-looking model and becomes consumed by her looks. He is unable to get her face out of his mind.

Day and night, all he can think about is that model’s face with sharp teeth and a piercing gaze.

As time passes by, he seems to forget her, but during a casting audition for a student film, the same woman appears before him and his friends.

READ MORE: Manga Guaranteed to Make You Cry

Ito plays with ambiance and atmospheric elements in Used Record.

This eerie manga tells a story of a record that hypnotizes the listener. The protagonist of the story, Ogawa, buys a used vinyl and becomes obsessed with the song.

Not just Ogawa, the song also manages to entice her friend, Nakayama.

The duo starts listening to the record from cover to cover and it is all they could do.

Sadly, there is only one copy, which means Ogawa and Nakayama will have to find another way to listen to the hypnotizing music.

Used Record brilliantly delves into addiction and obsession.

Mold is an example of Ito letting the objects become an accessory that horrifies not only the characters but also the readers. Akasaka is coming back to Japan after working overseas for a year.

While he was away, he asked his brother, Seiji, to take look after the house. However, Akasaka is shocked when he finds out that Seiji rented out his house behind his back.

Turned out, the house was rented to Mr. Rogi, Akasaka's former high school teacher. When Akasaka entered the house he was furious to see mold infesting the kitchen and bathroom.

The story reveals that Rogi's family was weird and he had done mold experiments.

As Akasaka spends more time in his house, he finds out that his entire house has been covered by mold in a short span of time.

Mold is part of the seventh volume of the Horror World of Junji Ito Collection titled Slug Girl.

Students of a high school are mourning the brutal death of one of their own – Tomie Kawakami.

She was murdered and dismembered, and her classmates are beyond terrified after hearing the news of her gruesome demise.

Suddenly, a familiar student who is drop-dead gorgeous appears before the class. Her name is Tomie and she apologizes for coming in late.

However, this Tomie disregards humanity and is manipulative. She has a beauty mark under her left eye and unlucky men get instantly smitten when they look at her.

More than lust, the men get urges to dismember her. But even after killing her, she returns from the dead to continue manipulating men.

ALSO READ: Best Sci-Fi Anime to Watch for Beginners

Part of Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre anime series that was released on Netflix, The Hanging Balloons revolves around Kazuko who is dealing with the untimely death of her best friend Terumi Fujino.

After the death, Kazuko is stuck inside her house, if she leaves, she would be killed. She is in a miserable state as she fights starvation.

Meanwhile, the creature outside is using Kazuko's own voice to lure her outside. Earlier, Terumi died by suicide after she hanged herself from a telephone wire.

Terumi's, who was a popular idol, death results in several copycat deaths among her followers. People start to report that they see her head floating in the sky.

The Hanging Balloons is part of the fourth volume of the Horror World of Junji Ito Collection, The Face Burglar.

Taking the top spot is an Ito classic manga – Uzumaki. Considered his magnum opus of sorts, Uzumaki revolves around spirals taking over a small town, Kurouzo-cho.

Ito excels in Uzumaki by turning mundane everyday things into psychological horror for the characters.

This classic manga features several themes like paranoia, obsession, and everyday things turning bizarre.

Uzumaki is one of the most iconic manga by Ito that got a live-action film, two video games, and an anime, which, as of this article’s writing, still remains in production.