I am reviewing the manga Remina by Junji Ito. Before jumping into the review, though, I am going to go through a bit of history for this manga.
Shogakukan released the original manga, Jigokusei Remina, in Japan from August 16, 2004 to June 24, 2005. The manga became commonly known as Hellstar Remina in English; however, the name was first used when ECC Comics published the manga in Spanish as Hellstar Remina on August 26, 2015. It was not actually officially released in English until December 15, 2020 by VIZ Media simply as Remina.
Although “Hellstar Remina” seems like a faithful translation of “Jigokusei Remina,” “Hellstar” was dropped from the title for the English release. I do not know the exact reason for this, but I would guess it was to differentiate it from the Spanish release. More theories for the change could be because Remina is a planet and not a star, or it was to have a more even focus between the person Remina with the planet Remina in the story.
Another difference, which also could have caused the title change, is the English release dropped the short story. Originally, Junji Ito’s story “Okuman botchi” was included in Jigokusei Remina. This story was commonly known as “Army of One” in English, most likely due to the Spanish release of Hellstar Remina, too, but it was officially released in English in Junji Ito’s Venus in the Blind Spot collection as “Billions Alone.” Since Venus in the Blind Spot was the most recent English Junji Ito release before Remina, it makes sense why it was not included again. But, I would also think they could have just waited and included it in Remina, since they both released so close together.
Now, let me start the actual review of Remina by first going through my observations of the physical existence of the book. From the first look at the cover there is an immediate impression of a whole lot of red, and weirdly I think it is the “brightest” looking of Junji Ito’s English releases. Since the manga is of course completely black and white throughout, this red cover can show what the atmosphere must have been like when the planet Remina was near. Now, the insides of both the front and back covers show other scenes, similar to the covers of earlier releases, that contain more colors which does kind of take away from this severity of the redness.
My observations of the covers continue with how it feels. Like the other releases this one is hardcover but has two textures. Most of it is smooth and glossy, while the spine feels more like paper. It makes me very curious as to what the decision for this was; it seems random. Of course, these different textures produce different sounds. The glossy part has a nice study yet hollow sound when tapped, while rubbing the paper part has a relaxing subtle scratching sound. Also, just throwing this out there, the book smells weird. It must be from what the paper is treated with, but it has a heavy chemical smell. This may just be from it still being pretty new and will hopefully fade. As for taste, well I do not want to risk my saliva damaging the pages, so I would not really lick it. I should just assume it taste like manga. Now, my sixth sense is giving me feelings of dread, jealousy, and obsession, which brings me the story of Remina.
Professor Tsuneo Oguro discovers a planet that appeared from a wormhole and name it Remina, after his daughter Remina Oguro. This amazing discovery leads not only to the professor gaining fame, but his daughter becomes wildly famous, too. After a year, though, this popularity only brings disaster to them when the planet Remina starts heading towards Earth, while devouring other planets on the way. The public panics and put the blame on the Oguros, the professor for discovering it and the daughter for simply sharing the name Remina. The woman, Remina, desperately tries to survive the mobs with only a handful of devout people to help her, while the dread that is the planet, Remina, rapidly approaches to consume everything.
At first the most crucial antagonist of this manga is this planet Remina. Although it is dangerous, it is also almost a red herring as to what the real horror of the story is. To the person Remina, the planet may be the underlying cause of her problems, but it is the least of her concerns when it comes to the real threats to her life. Most of the horror in this manga is rooted in psychological terror. Everyone is of course scared, but most of the damaged done is by these people before the planet had a chance to do anything to Earth. There is an immediate sense of mob hysteria when the human, Remina, becomes the target of a witch hunt that only leads to needless deaths.
Even with the people wanting to protect her, there is an overlying feeling of distrust, because most of them are only doing it because they are obsessed and want something from her. Mix in the jealousy they hold towards each other, due to them thinking the others may be closer to her than themselves, and there is a lingering suspicion that these people could turn into a yandere on her at any moment. Yes, a monstrous planet is scary, but not as scary as the fickle and violent nature of humans.
Before wrapping up this review, there are a couple more points I want to point out about this release of Remina that differs from earlier Junji Ito English releases. First, it is common for there to be a short story to be included, even with these releases that contains one main story. Since “Billions Alone” was taken out, Remina does not have a short story and therefore makes it a shorter book overall.
The other thing that sticks out to me is the scope of the story’s setting. Most of Junji Ito’s stories do not pose a kind of worldwide threat like Remina, and if they do the settings still are usually contained to a single town. Remina kind of does both. The planet Remina is the big obvious threat to the whole world, but the story and horror mainly revolves only around the person Remina. It is this smaller scope inside of a blatant large scope that makes this manga feel, at least to me, a bit off compared to Junji Ito’s other stories.
So overall, the book itself is smaller, and the story may have a different feeling than usual. However, this difference does add something new, and Junji Ito’s style of horror is still strong and thought (or nightmare) provoking. Plus, the art style for this horror is top notch as usual. If you are a Junji Ito fan, of course get this. If you are a fan of horror in general, of course get this. If you are thinking about getting this, of course get this. If you are completely biased like me and would tell any and everyone to get this no matter what, of course get this.
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