"Remina" by Junji Ito

There’s a twisted sense of humor in a lot of Junji Ito’s work that really shines in Remina. It’s an equally excellent and absurd exploration of cosmic horror. Perhaps the human mind’s only defense against the unknowable, unbeatable, grotesque calamity is insanity. As unnerving and ominous as the artwork is, there’s something inherently morbidly funny about a cloud of people flying around a rapidly spinning earth. The beautifully, horrifically illustrated full page spreads that Junji Ito uses to punctuate his work are on full display in their awful grandeur.

One thing I would have liked to see would have been a slightly slower descent into insanity, where anxiety becomes dread becomes madness, instead of a large part (if not quite the entire world) instantly snapping. Once again I feel obligated to bring up Uzamaki— although perhaps a slow descent into madness better suits a spiral than a planet.

There’s also probably something to be read into about mob mentality and idol culture, if you really wanted to. I don’t. The rich people abandoning humanity and blasting themselves into space believing that they could save themselves, only to realized that they abandoned earth and trampled over their own wounded for nothing was, again, morbidly funny. I can only assume I am supposed to laugh at the terrible people willingly throwing themselves into a horrible death.

I’m left a bit unsure of how I feel about the ending. It was rather hopeful all things considered, but I’m left wondering if it would have been more impactful if it was even more ambiguous.