Ningen Shikkaku
No Longer Human

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No Longer Human by Junji Ito is classic Japanese novel reimagined by a classic horror artist. The keyword here is "reimagined". While this version follows the original closely, it is still remade to fit the style of Junji and expands the story with more content. This is indeed the one complaint readers might have with this work, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing. This wasn't meant to be a 100% adaptation of the origina and change doesn't always have to be bad. Ultimately, the novel and this manga are two different books that should be judged separately.

The original story is one of existentional ... horror and psychological dread. This new take on the story adds another layer - the visual, grotesque horror that is only hinted in the original. This is where Junji's craftmanship truly comes in play, as the depictions of "ghosts" and the humanity throught the eyes of the protagonits are truly chilling. This is Junji's first major work that doesn't use the supernatural as a source of the predicament and this change was a great succes. Otherwordly illustrations of inhumane horrors that come from weirdly familiar human source are, after all, from source closer to a reader and can hit closer to home.

Of course, the horrors aren't the only way the illustrations help with conveying the story. What I really liked is how the character design reflects the character itself and their background. This can be most easily observed with Tsuneko and it's amazing how just a small difference can portray the depression, tiredness and worn-out lifestyle through her face.

Back to the story portion of the manga. The core of what makes the original story great is still present, so I would like to focus on what is different and new in this work. Some say that the additional bits that Junji added are too violent and don't fit the naration. I disagree - violence is a part of human nature and the one portayed in this manga is well within the real possibilities. I could go even further and point out that using a reality of violence commited by humans in a way that makes the reader feel like it doesn't belong in the world brings the reader closer to how Yozo felt about humanity. I also found the little twist at the end that nods to the circumstances of the publication of the original novel a great idea.

Now, I have mentioned that the novel and the manga should be judged separately, but one can't escape the thought of comparing those two. So I would certainly suggest that you should read both this and the novel. It's up to you if you want to start with the adaptation of the original, though I'd say that reading the novel first and the manga shortly after while your memory is still fresh would be the best to enjoy both of those works to the fullest. You should also check out the manga by Furuya Usamaru which is yet another interesting take on this story.

And finally, some notes about the official English release. I really liked how Viz used the English release of the novel as a reference point, so the feel is so similar and frequently the exact same phrases appear, helping the transition from novel to a comic. The English cover is also very aesthetic and overall feels good, so if you can, you should definitely get the omnibus release.

Junji Ito isn't a great writer. He's excellent at monster design, and drawing strange, gross creatures and gore, but his characters are often flat, boring, and interchangeable. They're just a means to an end, a literary device, a blank slate for the reader to relate to. Their only purpose is to get spooked by the strange, gross creatures Ito is obviously far more interested in.

No Longer Human is an excellent, character driven novel about one man's decent into decadence. Its horror (if you can even call it that) is internalized. A man slowly self-destructs due to addiction, mental illness, and his own nihilism. It's a ... work of great subtlety and beauty.

Junji Ito's No Longer Human tells a very similar tale, but with many changes that drain the story of both its meaning and nuance. It is externalized horror, because that is all Junji Ito can do. The chapters are episodic, and usually end in a blood bath. I'd estimate that 9 out of 10 indistinct, interchangeable women we meet in this book die horribly within 2 chapters of their introduction. Our drug addled, alcoholic, socially awkward main character is so handsome that he drives every woman (and even some men) he meets to suicide. Yup, it's Tomie all over again.

Why? Why is Ito jumping on the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies band wagon years after that was a thing? Why take a novel about a very personal breakdown and turn it into a manga about...I don't even know. Scary suicide corpses?

In short, Ito sucks at character work, and No Longer Human is a character study. He tries his damnedest to mold it into something scary, but instead we're left with Ito's least imaginative art, and a shallow husk of a story. It's like those old, "spooky" covers Marilyn Manson used to do, classic songs turned into something you might listen to on Halloween for a laugh.

Ningen Shikkaku is the autobiography of Osamu Dazai, told through the character Oba Yozo. Throughout the work, the protagonist narrates his process of dehumanization, gradually distancing himself from society. The book is narrated in the first person, creating a bond between the reader and Yozo. I believe the discomfort experienced while reading Ningen Shikkaku stems from how the reader might identify with the protagonist's experiences, particularly with the absence of what makes him human. As the story progresses, the protagonist's moral degeneration intensifies, leading him to further withdraw from society.

While the book Ningen Shikkaku offers the reader a “character analysis,” allowing for an intimate relationship ... with the protagonist, Junji Ito’s manga adaptation discards all the character development—which I believe to be the most interesting part of the book—to focus on constructing “horror” through the idea of the grotesque. Ito creates a new narrative for Ningen Shikkaku, yet he doesn’t dare to stray far from the original content, adapting the work in a way he believes makes it more shocking. The biggest shock I experienced while reading the manga was seeing Ningen Shikkaku adapted in such a crude way, fulfilling a completely different function than the book and thus distancing the protagonist from the reader. Junji Ito's attempt to make the work more shocking ends up turning the events into exaggerated and caricatured moments, losing the subtlety and ironic tone present in the original content. Consequently, the manga becomes very superficial, failing to delve into Yozo’s mind and what disqualifies him as a human, nor does it use these shocking moments effectively, as they become so exaggerated and silly. I believe this is one of Junji Ito’s most clumsy mangas, unfortunately not as comical as Gyo or Uzumaki.

I would like to compare the grotesque in Suehiro Maruo’s manga Ultra Gash Inferno with the grotesque in Junji Ito’s Ningen Shikkaku. Ultra Gash Inferno is filled with sex—repugnant sex, sex that involves human disfigurement, something violent and repulsive, yet still full of aesthetics, beauty amidst the purest ugliness. Meanwhile, the sex in Ningen Shikkaku tries to be vile for its own sake. The ugliness is moral; the grotesque is in the act of sex itself. The book contains few sex scenes, and in those moments, the protagonist feels apathetic about the situation; he doesn’t feel guilty or like a sinner. In the manga, the protagonist is literally haunted by ghosts from his past, most of whom are women who passed through his life, with whom he slept at some point, leading to great misfortune that further impoverishes Yozo. Junji Ito adapts the sex scenes using the same moral criticized throughout the book: sex is wrong. This is where the horror of the manga concentrates—shocking with sex scenes and ugly characters. Junji Ito is considered a disruptive author, but in Ningen Shikkaku, the ugliness and grotesque reflect society’s moralistic view of what is happening in the plot.

The ghosts of Yozo’s past, heavily present in the manga, distort the protagonist’s personality, making his experiences seem trivial, and turning the work into something overly expositional, not allowing for a real sensibility to the events. These moments end up serving only as a stage to judge the protagonist, condemning him for being so far removed from what is considered “right” in Ito’s eyes. The focus of the manga is on showing how miserable Yozo is because of his sins, not because of his disconnection from society, his shame, and his fear of other people. This causes a significant loss of the existentialist content and psychological analysis of the protagonist present in the original work, giving way to the moralism employed by Ito in his adaptation. Ito doesn’t innovate much in terms of plot or aesthetic choice, maintaining a conservative view of the work, unable to shock without being exaggerated or caricatured.

In his interview with VIZ, “A Talk with Junji Ito,” Ito comments that there is a limit to the content of his stories: not to cross the boundaries of common sense. Adapting a work that isn’t tied to current morals like Ningen Shikkaku using this “common sense” only serves to reinforce Ito’s viewpoint on the work, which should make him the last author to adapt this story (Furuya should be the second-to-last).

In conclusion, the positive aspects of Junji Ito’s Ningen Shikkaku manga are due to the merits of the original work, with the manga being a distorted and superficial adaptation, exaggerated to the point of bad taste. If you’re interested in the content of the manga, read the book instead.