Yuta Shimotsu Built Strange Around Junji Ito's World, Not Jump Scares
Director Yuta Shimotsu told Anime News Network that the live-action anthology Strange: Junji Ito's Tales for Sleepless Nights was built to recreate Junji Ito's world with as few jump scares as possible.
1 source 16m ago
Reporting from 1 source: Anime News Network.
Why it matters
Shimotsu's stated method, fewer jump scares and more world-building, is the practical answer to why Ito's manga is hard to adapt, and his Hollywood signing puts a director working in that method into a development pipeline outside Japan.
Key Facts
- Yuta Shimotsu directed the live-action anthology Strange: Junji Ito's Tales for Sleepless Nights.
- The opening song is performed by the K-pop group IVE.
- Shimotsu said he used as few jump scares as possible to build Junji Ito's world.
- The first two episodes are "Lovesickness" and "The Bully."
- Shimotsu said he has signed with a Hollywood-based management company.
The opening song is performed by the K-pop group IVE, and the lettering hides characters from the adapted manga. Shimotsu also said he has signed with a Hollywood management company and is developing a Hollywood project.
Shimotsu said the opening was made by another creator and the producers, not by him, but he pointed to the lettering: the characters from the adapted Ito stories are hidden in it. The opening song comes from the K-pop group IVE.
On the two episodes screened for ANN, "Lovesickness" and "The Bully," he described a deliberate sound choice. "The Bully" is about someone who aged without growing up, so the team used a toy piano to carry that idea. The slow-motion blood in episode 1 came from uncertainty about how far broadcast television would allow the imagery to go.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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