News

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre Anime's Video Reveals More Cast, Stories

The official website for Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, a new anime based on horror manga artist Junji Ito's various stories, began streaming a new video for the anime on Friday. The video previews the "Tomie: Photo" story, and also reveals five more Ito stories to be included in the anime, as well as their cast members.

The new stories announced for the anime include "The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel" ("Tunnel Kitan"), "Mold" ("Kabi"), "Layers of Fear" ("Kyōfu no Jūsō"), "The Thing that Drifted Ashore" ("Hyōchakumono"), and "Back Alley" ("Rojiura").

The newly announced cast members include Shun Horie, Tomomi Mineuchi, and Risa Mizuno for "The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel"; Daisuke Hirakawa, Kousuke Okano, and Ken Uo for "Mold"; Lynn, Romi Park, and Mina Kobayashi for "Layers of Fear"; Kaito Ishikawa and Yūko Kobayashi for "The Thing that Drifted Ashore"; and Yuuto Suzuki and Seiko Ueda for "Back Alley."

The anime will debut worldwide on Netflix on January 19, 2023.

The previously revealed cast includes:

• Hisako Kanemoto as Sayoko ("Unendurable Labyrinth")
• Yōko Hikasa as Chiemi ("The Long Hair in the Attic")
• Natsumi Takamori as Kuriko ("Bullied")
• Takahiro Sakurai as Kazuya Hikizuri ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Romi Park as Kiko ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Hajime Iijima as Shigorō ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Risa Shimizu as Narumi ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Ayaka Asai as Hitoshi ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Tomoko Kaneda as Misako ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Riho Sugiyama as Kazuko Morinaka ("The Hanging Balloons")
• Daisuke Kishio as Shinya Shiraishi ("The Hanging Balloons")
• Iori Nomizu as Kagumi Fujino ("The Hanging Balloons")
• Rie Suegara as Tomie ("Tomie: Photo")
• Yumiri Hanamori as Tsukiko Izumisawa ("Tomie: Photo")
• Taku Yashiro as Yamazaki ("Tomie: Photo")
• Tomokazu Sugita as Tachi ("Tomie: Photo")
• Hiroyuki Yoshino as Kimata ("Tomie: Photo")
• Yūji Mitsuya as Sōichi ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kōichi ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Yuka Saitō as Sayuri ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Yutaka Aoyama as Tagaisu ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Hiro Shimono as Oshikiri ("Intruder")
• Ryōtarō Okiayu as Sonohara ("Ice Cream Truck")
• Sara Matsumoto as Tomoki ("Ice Cream Truck")
• Takatsugu Chikamatsu as Ice Cream Man ("Ice Cream Truck")
• Ryōhei Kimura as Tsuyoshi Yoshikawa ("Tombtown")
• M.A.O as Kaoru Yoshikawa ("Tombtown")
• Aya Uchida as Izumi Murakami ("Tombtown")
• Yūki Kaji as Goro Shinozaki ("Library Vision")
• Tomoe Hanba as Koko Shinozaki ("Library Vision")
• Fumiko Orikasa as Rumi ("Headless Statue"
• Takashi Kondō as Shimada ("Headless Statue")

Shinobu Tagashira, the director of the previous Junji Ito "Collection" television anime, is returning as director and character designer. Kaoru Sawada similarly returns from Junji Ito "Collection" as scriptwriter. Yuki Hayashi is composing the music, and Hozumi Gōda is the sound director. Studio DEEN is animating the series. MADKID performs the anime's opening theme song "Paranoid."

The anime will include 20 stories from Ito's body of work that will be animated "for the first time." The anime will include stories from Tomie, Sōichi, and The Hanging Balloons volumes, among other volumes.

Ito previously revealed that his Itō Junji Kesssaku-shū (Junji Ito Masterworks Collection) manga collection had a new anime project in the works. The manga collection features some of Ito's more famous works and has 11 total volumes, published between 2011-2013.

Sources: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre anime's website, Netflix's anime YouTube channel, Comic Natalie