The 15 Best Junji Ito Manga

Cosmic dread, grotesque body horror, and quiet creeping unease collide across spiraling towns, immortal beauties, and deep-sea nightmares. Career-defining epics sit beside cult short-story collections. Which one haunts you most?

1

Uzumaki

Junji Ito's masterpiece about a town cursed by spirals, widely regarded as his greatest horror work.

1000pts

2

No Longer Human

His acclaimed manga adaptation of Osamu Dazai's classic novel of alienation and self-destruction.

840pts

3

Sensor

A 2019 standalone weaving cosmic horror, cults, and golden volcanic hair into a strange mystery.

703pts

4

Hellstar Remina

A cosmic-horror epic about a malevolent planet that devours everything in its path while a mob hunts its namesake.

703pts

5

Tomie

The series that launched his career, following an immortal femme fatale who drives men to madness and murder.

653pts

6

Smashed

A collection of standalone horror shorts blending body horror with dark comedy.

653pts

7

Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu

A lighter, self-deprecating autobiographical manga about the horror author living with two cats.

653pts

8

Gyo

A grotesque tale of fish and the dead marching ashore on mechanical legs, driven by a deadly stench.

653pts

9

Shiver

A best-of short-story collection gathering some of his most celebrated tales, including The Enigma of Amigara Fault.

594pts

10

Fragments of Horror

A 2014 anthology marking his return to short horror after a long hiatus.

594pts

11

Frankenstein

His award-winning faithful manga retelling of Mary Shelley's gothic novel.

522pts

12

Dissolving Classroom

A darkly comic collection about a sinister brother whose endless apologies literally melt people's brains.

522pts

13

Venus in the Blind Spot

A career-spanning best-of collection of his short stories selected with the artist.

435pts

14

Lovesickness

A collection centered on a town haunted by the deadly fortune-telling game of the crossroads.

435pts

15

Black Paradox

A surreal story of four strangers who meet to die together but unleash something far stranger.

435pts