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Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre Anime Reveals More Cast
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
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, revealed four more cast members for the anime on Monday. All four cast members are part of the anime's adaptation of the "The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance" (Kaiki Hikizuri Kyōdai: Kōreikai) story.
Risa Shimizu as Narumi
Ayaka Asai as Hitoshi
Tomoko Kaneda as Misako
The four new cast members will join Takahiro Sakurai and Romi Park, who play Kazuya Hikizuri and Kiko, respectively, in the story.
Hisako Kanemoto also plays Sayoko in "Unendurable Labyrinth" (Taegatai Meiro). Yōko Hikasa plays Chiemi in "The Long Hair in the Attic" (Yaneura no Nagai Kami). Natsumi Takamori plays Kuriko in "Bullied" (Ijimekko). The anime will also include Ito's "Where the Sandman Lives" (Suima no Heya) story.
The anime will debut in 2023, and 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.
Ito's Uzumaki and Tomie manga have inspired live-action adaptations, and his GYO manga inspired an original video anime project. Viz Media has published these three manga titles, as well as Ito's Fragments of Horror, Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection, and Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection in English.
The 2018 Junji Ito "Collection" anime adapted some stories from the Itō Junji Kessaku-shū (Junji Ito Masterpiece Collection) and Fragments of Horror manga. The anime included an adaptation of Ito's Tomie story on its second and third DVD sets.
ComicsOne has published his Flesh Colored Horror manga, Dark Horse Comics has published his Museum of Terror manga, and Kodansha Comics has published his Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu manga.
Ito's Uzumaki manga is also inspiring a separate upcoming anime adaptation. The four-episode mini-series will premiere on Toonami. The anime was originally slated to debut on Toonami in 2020 before it premiered in Japan, but the anime was delayed to 2021. It was again delayed to October 2022, and then delayed again in June to an as-yet determined date.
Sources: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre anime's website, Comic Natalie
