Gyo, Vol. 2 By Junji Ito
“Gyo” Volume Two picks up precisely where Volume One left off, and it’s a still a stinky, stenchy, over the top mess of a modern-day monster-from-the-sea story with a twist. If anything, it’s even MORE over the top than Volume One, and…...wait….hold on….if you have no idea what I’m talking about then you need to go here and read this:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
That’s my review of the first part of this short two-part horror manga from the crazily inventive author and illustrator Junji Ito. Part One was simply a gas as we are introduced to the main characters and get a feel for just where this adventure is heading. It doesn’t take long to figure out that there isn’t much in the way of a plot to get in the way of the story. It’s all pretty simple. Moody couple on vacation in Okinawa discover rotting fish with legs walking out of the ocean to terrorize and stink up the island. Before too long, the death stench spreads to mainland Japan where the whole situation careens wildly out of control as a mysterious virus is determined to be the driver of this whole stinking mess.
Things only get crazier in Volume Two as society begins to collapse in a fetid heap as our hero from Volume One, Tadashi, tries to keep a handle on his sanity as he attempts to recover his infected girlfriend Kaori. The walking fish have mostly rotted away, and now humans and other land creatures have taken their place on the strange walking machines that seem to be powered by the gas that the virus generates. Events become completely surreal as Tadashi encounters a dark carnival driven by the seemingly intelligent germ that has infected most people. From there it’s naught but a spiral down to absolute chaos. By now it’s a bit less like a ‘50s-era monster movie and more like a Lovecraftian take on what might happen if the Great Old Ones took a dump into a paper bag and set it on fire on your porch. All that’s left at this point is death, doom, despair, and foul odors the likes of which you will never know unless you get a job as a nursing assistant in the Leprosy Ward down at the cut-rate geriatric home.
Volume Two has two bonus stories that have nothing to do with “Gyo.” One is a four page quickie entitled “The Sad Tale Of The Principal Post.” Definitely a metaphor for the homeowner who took on just a LITTLE bit too much of a mortgage…..
The other story is titled “The Enigma Of Amigara Fault.” Now THIS little tale is truly wicked and scary. A mysterious faultline is opened up after an earthquake, bringing many curious onlookers. There are holes in the bedrock that seem to correspond to various human body shapes. Some of the visitors feel as if the holes have been created just for them, and they start to disappear into the mountainside one by one. Just be very careful, because what goes in must eventually come out………
“Gyo”is certainly a worthwhile read even though it didn’t really hit me in the scares. It’s a bit too over-the-top and campy in parts to really deliver the horror. By the time that Ito comes around with an attempt to discover his inner Stephen King it’s too late in the game. It’s way less “The Stand” and way more “The Stench.” Ito just keeps coming after the reader with wave after wave of nauseating imagery and a quite literal jump-the-shark mindset that just derails any attempt at subtlety or restraint. And I think maybe that’s the point. “Gyo” is meant to be pretty much exactly what it is, a tribute to those old Japanese monster movies where the threat is a thinly disguised metaphor for nature gone amok after humans decided to monkey around with the natural order of things in an attempt to conquer forces they cannot possibly control. It’s a deeply-held theme in popular post WWII Japanese popular culture, and Junji Ito certainly does it justice here. Grab it so that you can enjoy the crazy thrill ride, just don’t read it while you are trying to eat.
Paperback I am still giving it a 3 star because of the art but its not that good.
This time we follow Tadashi as he wakes up after a month and well the underworld creatures have taken over and its interesting following the death spiral of it and what happens to his uncle and GF and the nightmare the world has become, this creatures and what will be the end and will he rescue his GFs body and what will he do next to save the world sort of but it ends?
Its a very strange volume and unlike Uzumaki its very uneven and doesn't even have a proper ending and maybe its a horror world where everything goes wrong and one thing I like was how he saved his GFs corpse and the thing surrounding it but yeah that was a struggle to read through and there are some short stories like holes appearing in mountains and people being compelled to enter it and the horror it brings.. ehh its alright but its very weird and was kinda bad.
I have mixed feelings about this volume as on one hand there is a fantastic premise but the story seems to lose itself somewhere and all that. So maybe good for a one time read or skip it. Paperback • 3,5/5 • Pitam se o čemu ovaj čovek sanja dok spava, kada ovakve stvari zamišlja, piše i crta dok je budan na javi. 😂
P. S. Čista petica za dodatnu kratku mangu “Misterija raseda Amigara” nakon završetka “Gjo-a”! That was amaaazing and SO ORIGINAL!! Paperback Um what? That’s it? That’s the ending? Wtf happened to the uncle’s assistant? Bad wrap up.
Total time spent: 25min 11s Paperback You know my walking shark story?
Yeah! It's really cool. I can't wait for the ending.
What if I made the rest of it about naked fat people strapped to mechanical legs powered by ghost farts? Ram a tube right up in there so they can power their crab walkers.
What about the sharks? Do they fight the people?
Nah, I'm not into sharks anymore.
What do the farting people want?
A circus that shoots them out of fart-powered cannons, and maybe a fart-powered blimp.
You're sure you want to do this instead of wrap up why all those squid and whales were attacking Okinawa? What's the ending?
What's an ending?
Japan is being overrun. What's the payoff? You are going to write a climax, right?
God, no. The survivors are just going to watch as the fat people fart the world into a constant smog.
How do people survive that?
Duh. By being men. Paperback
Tadashi hopes to save the horribly mutated Kaori from a fate worse than death, but the treatment by Doctor Koyanagi may be worse than the disease. This new volume features a struggle between man and machines powered by dead flesh -- will mankind survive? Gyo, Vol. 2
3* STARS!
It has been a month after the attack and Tadashi just wake up from his coma. He accidentally fell in a group of walking dead fish in the previous volume. The military is already on the move. But the worst is, Kaori has became one of them. Professor Koyanagi has his own walking machine version also his karma.
Tadashi desperately search for Kaori who ran away from Professor Koyanagi's place. He was surprise with many humans attached to the machine. It started to more odd with the gas has a thing. Like a demon or such.
In the end, Junji Ito's manga always left unsatisfied. There's so many questions without answers. This is not your type HEA/HFN now. But the ending from the manga is way better than anime. Tadashi joined some people to research the cure in here. But in manga, Kaori was survive along the others. That's it. Paperback Gyo vol 1 :- 4/5⭐
Gyo vol 2:- 3/5 ⭐
*Ufff* First thing , don't come at me , I still love Mr. Ito with all my heart but I am not a big fan of how things ended , like I loved the ending of Uzumaki but this was incomplete , things should have been wrapped up a bit more , and we can get a vol 3 if Mr. Ito wants !
Pretty please? It's actually a really good idea sir , consider it!
There were two short stories at the end :-
The sad tale of principal post :- 2/5⭐
okay okay, hang on, I am trying to call Mr. Ito.
Yes sir , please explain your story , ahh this one the sad tale of principal post , yess sir , what?
This was only 4 pages long , are you sure no pages were missing?
You want me to complete it? No , sir..sir...
Okay so , this was it , I mean idk this was incomplete , no ?
Explain me?? This is it.
The enigma of amigara faults:-3/5⭐
This story is gonna give me nightmares for a really long time because I know I will not stop thinking about something like this could actually be possible , what a motherfucking bizzare , horrific story! Paperback Gaspunk? This was pretty gross and unsatisfying in some ways, the second part and the ending especially. Uzumaki was better. But bonus chapter was pretty fun, I wish we could have more horror like that. Paperback OK, so this is the second volume telling of the walking fish that have overrun Japan (here's my review for the first volume).
Right in the beginning, the male MC from volume 1, Tadashi, wakes up in a hospital. He's told he's been out for a month and the entire world has been infected with the germ by now. The fish are rotting so the germ needs new hosts to produce the gas that makes the mechanical legs move.
I thought we'd get further insight into the history and origin story. In a way we did, but only kinda sorta and only very briefly, leaving me unsatisfied. Instead, it got more and more abstruse, with more and more human inventions rivaling the original design - even after the scientists are all dead.
Moreover, it was just too damned convenient. Or that . And yes, the author was more realistic in his other horror story which is exactly why this was so disappointing.
Sorry, but even when reading a slasher / body horror story, I still want said story to be intelligent. Furthermore, this wasn't as deep (taking time to address social issues) like the author's other work. It felt as if he just wanted to be gross and that isn't enough for me, sorry.
Paperback Houli fak kakvo ludilo. Ito krene od nekakve polu-klasicne horor premise i onda samo prati logiku snova (odnosno kosmara) i onda svaki njegov strip postane prestrasno kosmarno iskustvo. Gjo, dakle, pocne sa tom nekom premisom da se pojave ribe sa nogama koje izadju na obalu..... a onda sanja i sanja i masta i pusta nesvesnom da se ispolji na najbizarnije/najdivnije nacine. Kakav maestro. Plus, ovde se na kraju nalaze i dve kratke bonus price koje nemaju veze sa glavnom pricom, od kojih mi je druga bila posebno neprijatna za citanje. Paperback
