Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre Anime Reveals More Stories, Cast

The staff of Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, a new anime based on horror manga artist Junji Ito's various stories, revealed a new visual, new Ito stories to be included in the anime, and new cast members on Friday.

The new stories announced for the anime include "Ice Cream Bus" ("Ice Cream Truck"), "Bohyō no Machi" ("Tombtown" or "Tombs" in Viz's publication), "Zōsho Genei" ("Library Vision" or "Library of Illusions"), and "Kubi no Nai Chōkoku" ("Headless Statue" or "Headless Sculptures"). "Ice Cream Truck" and "Tombtown" have never officially appeared in English, though Viz Media has licensed the latter for its upcoming Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection, which will ship on March 28, 2023.

The newly announced cast members include:

• Ryotaro Okiayu as Sonohara ("Ice Cream Bus")
• Sara Matsumoto as Tomoki ("Ice Cream Bus")
• Takatsugu Chikamatsu as Ice Cream Man ("Ice Cream Bus")
• Ryohei Kimura as Tsuyoshi Yoshikawa ("Gravetown")
• M.A.O as Kaoru Yoshikawa ("Gravetown")
• Aya Uchida as Izumi Murakami ("Gravetown")
• Yuuki Kaji as Goro Shinozaki ("Library of Illusions")
• Tomoe Hanba as Koko Shinozaki ("Library of Illusions")
• Fumiko Orikasa as Rumi ("Headless Sculptures")
• Takashi Kondō as Shimada ("Headless Sculptures")

The previously revealed cast includes:

• Hisako Kanemoto as Sayoko ("Unendurable Labyrinth")
• Yōko Hikasa as Chiemi ("The Long Hair in the Attic")
• Natsumi Takamori as Kuriko ("Bullied")
• Takahiro Sakurai as Kazuya Hikizuri ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Romi Park as Kiko ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Hajime Iijima as Shigorō ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Risa Shimizu as Narumi ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Ayaka Asai as Hitoshi ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Tomoko Kaneda as Misako ("The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Séance")
• Riho Sugiyama as Kazuko Morinaka ("The Hanging Balloons")
• Daisuke Kishio as Shinya Shiraishi ("The Hanging Balloons")
• Iori Nomizu as Kagumi Fujino ("The Hanging Balloons")
• Rie Suegara as Tomie ("Tomie: Photo")
• Yumiri Hanamori as Tsukiko Izumisawa ("Tomie: Photo")
• Taku Yashiro as Yamazaki ("Tomie: Photo")
• Tomokazu Sugita as Tachi ("Tomie: Photo")
• Hiroyuki Yoshino as Kimata ("Tomie: Photo")
• Yuji Mitsuya as Sōichi ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kōichi ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Yuka Saitō as Sayuri ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Yutaka Aoyama as Tagaisu ("The Room With 4 Walls")
• Hiro Shimono as Oshikiri ("Intruder")

The anime will also include Ito's "Where the Sandman Lives" (Suima no Heya) story.

The anime 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.

Source: Comic Natalie