Few artists are equally disarmingly nice and approachable while wielding the power to put pure dread and malice onto the page like Junji Ito. Such is the case with his most famous works, like Uzumaki or Tomie, but real fans will eagerly collect each release of his. With Statues on the horizon, fans can own some of Ito’s darkest tales.
Statues is Ito’s latest collection of short stories released by VIZ following other hits like Alley, Moan, Soichi, and Mimi’s Tales of Terror among others. It offers similarly open-ended horror manga spanning circus disasters to killer hornet colonies, some stories having bleaker endings than others. Now, Screen Rant is proud to introduce VIZ Media’s latest trailer ahead of Statues’ release.
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Statues by Junji Ito Reaches Special Levels of Uncanny Horror & Dread
While there have certainly been similarly dark short story collections in the past assembling the iconic works of Junji Ito, Statues definitely brings the dread in full force. Featured in the trailer exclusively provided by VIZ is Scarecrow, a chilling tale of a community facing the devastating loss of Yuki Numada, with her father putting a scarecrow at her grave to ward off “weasels”.
But anybody who reads Junji Ito manga knows that a dark turning point lies ahead. In the case of Scarecrow, Ito transforms the innocent image of the henohenomoheji, a common neutral “human” face drawn onto scarecrows, into a mask concealing an increasingly uncanny human face that develops as they take on the soul of those buried near it.
It’s a particularly chilling story easily worth checking out, much like the other tales, particularly the eponymous Statues which practically weaponizes automatonophobia, or fear of human-like figures. It turns an art class into a slaughterhouse, with much of the other stories in Statues similarly turning rational fears into full-blown nightmares, unlike other sillier releases like Soichi.
Each Tale of Statues Features Familiar Terrors in Junji Ito’s New Collection
But the hits keep coming beyond headless plaster statues and human-faced scarecrows whose uncanny gaze follows humans in every direction. The stories of Statues are multifaceted in their horror, often featuring a death toll which, while perhaps not matching the scope of The Hanging Balloons, certainly remains as impactful and horrendous. Statues features the following short stories:
- Red Thread
- The Giver
- The Bridge
- The Circus Has Come to Town
- Hornet Nest
- Town of Maps
- Statues
- Die Young
- Scarecrow
- Suicide Note
In this collection, Junji Ito makes every story count with some truly impactful events often ending in calamity with no further answers to questions the reader may have. It includes fittingly ominous stories like Suicide Note, in which it features a burning hatred so strong that its central feuding forces are cursing each other even in the afterlife.
As a result, Ito’s latest collection treads a fascinating breadth of horror tropes and topics, including the familiar pain of a high school breakup, and the human fear of letting post-breakup depression and denial consume oneself. It even verges on Final Destination territory with one story’s calamitous incident, eventually forcing the reader to see the pattern of unimpeded death ahead.
Statues is a compelling read simply because there’s a flavor of horror for every reader. It’s some of Ito’s most underrated work, sporting some truly horrific shading, character designs highlighting the uncanny potential of even regular human features, and features some truly haunting fates for its doomed stars. Beautifully bound in hardcover format, Junji Ito fans can’t miss this one.
Initial impressions on Junji Ito’s Statues were made possible by an advance review copy, as well as high-quality panel scans courteously provided by VIZ Media. Statues will be available via participating local book retailers and online marketplaces in both print and digital on March 24, 2026.
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