Tomie Did Nothing Wrong | Junji Ito's Tomie
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
- i support women’s rights. but more importantly i support women’s wrongs
*NOTE: This is a horror manga that contains dark scenes, and viewer discretion is advised. While none of the images shown in this video directly depict heavily gruesome or overly gratuitous violence, there will be both audio and visual content that fits in the sensitive categories.
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Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
3:33 - The Plot of Tomie
28:27 - The Message of Tomie
29:38 - Tomie: Reimagined
47:38 - Conclusions
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Sound and Music Credits:
- Wondershare Filmora
Image & Video Credits:
-Thank you to Munna Ahmmed on Vecteezy.com
-Thank you to Julia M Camero on Pexels.com 
Развлечения
I always interpreted Tomie as a manifestation of her vengeance, like how some spirits in japan linger after a horrific death to haunt the living. The original Tomie was in all likelihood just a regular girl, but the sheer violence of her death and dismemberment created something that looks like Tomie but is clearly a curse. This is shown in how any man who is attracted to her eventually goes mad and dismembers her the same way she was originally dismembered, proliferating the curse of Tomie on the kind of men who killed her to begin with.
Tomie’s regenerating clones are like biological wraith that seeks to reenact that moment of violence that ended Tomei #0. But unlike her predecessor, the girl who was disempowered, defeated, denied agency, denied life, Tomei the cancer gains all these things whenever she is “killed.”
Are we even sure that was a human in the first place and not yet another tomie doing what she does.
@@jellyface401 naw, Tomie #0 is super different from the Tomie that followed. It seemed like she had mostly normal relationships, history, and personality. Anything negative you can say about her behavior is completely within the bounds of a regular (if conventionally attractive) teenage girl. Were it not for her teacher she would be perfectly normal, and even after if she been allowed to grow up she could’ve become a better or worse person in all kinds of ways. But she wasn’t allowed to have that chance because her life was taken.
But I don’t think it’s like the video says. After her first resurrection she suffers traumatic amnesia but still seems mostly human. Even so everyone is unnerved by her simply existing and again lash out against her. At this point she still works as a human being dehumanized, but subsequent versions of Tomei DO become less and less human. Because Tomei #0 is dead. She was murdered by a .pdf file. What remains now isn’t Tomie #0 but a cancerous curse that enacts her revenge.
To me shes the embodiment of "the inappropriate/disproportionate response of misogyny". She has flaws but none of them warrant the absolutely twisted response she gets from men. Shes a perfect way to represent misogyny.
Tomie always had these onryo vibes to her that remind me of others in that category, old-school like Okiku or pop-culture like Sadako. Maybe Tomie #0 was in fact just A Normal Girl, but (like Okiku and Sadako) the circumstances of her life leading up to and including her gruesome death (plus the absolutely ghoulish way her body was disposed of) created and anchored a spirit that would forever live on tormenting anyone and everyone that could ever be so callous, so violent, and so abjectly godawful as Takagi and his class.
And, as the many, many, _many_ stories illustrate, a LOT of people are (potentially) like Takagi and his class. That so few people can resist her charm is as much a quiet admonishment of society writ large as it is a spooky part of Tomie's curse.
Because, let's be clear, Tomie both _is_ the curse and _is the curse's vessel._
In my opinion Tomie is a representation of a sexual assault victim , but not a depiction of an actual victim grounded in reality but, how a victim is depicted by "men" or media/the public. The woman who is "asking for it", "shouldn't be wearing revealing clothes", "egging men into violent behavior that they NORMALLY would never do" or shouldn't be "walking around late at night if they don't want to be assaulted".
There are glimpses of the true victims in the terror and survival instincts of Tomie, but it is quickly obscured by the Tomie that fits the narrative. There are so many Tomie's because there are so many women that become victims. They grow out of others, iirc only other women or inanimate objects, as an allusion to a woman becoming a victim or being molded into victim by the people or environment around them.
I very much agree, I also saw a thread somewhere, maybe on Tumblr, about victims of abuse (in the threat they specifically talked about SA victims, given that her teacher groomed her) die in a way when it happens, but then keep living. Tomie dies, keeps living, but then keeps dying because more men keep abusing her in such violent ways.
agreed---she's become warped and monstrous due to what happened to her, to the point she now preys on others. she is the girl who 'deserved it' for nonsensical and farsical reasons. those who try to justify their acts towards her are always depicted as desperate and insane. i think that's the portrayal of her that was intended.
It’s kind of like how a lot of sa victims end up hypersexual, or in similarly predatory relationships on both sides
I think ‘the boy’ chapter also shows that Tomie thinks it’s appropriate to be creepy with young children, because she herself was taken advantage of by an adult teacher at young age
That's actually how a lot of ppl who develop an attraction to young children start, those ppl were taken advantage of at young age as well. Al least most of those ppl, idk for sure about all tho
😂 that didn't stop her from kissing all over him & driving the whole damn family crazy
That's a way to read it.
most victims go on to not become perpetrators or pedophiles and thats always important to remember.
@@elalala576 most but not all. And Tomie isn’t just a normal victim either, she’s a spirit that encapsulates that worst of a victim
The thing that caught my attention in the early Tomie stories is how often Tomie, often after already being injured horribly in some way, stops a man from hurting another girl; turning up just in time to stop her old class from killing her childhood friend; when she stopped her two thugs from killing the photographer by insisting they cut off her 'tumour' and just tie her up instead, and when her head then went on to order them to burn the 'tumour' when they were about to kill the photographer. This isn't exactly a glowing endorsement of her, as she's the one who ordered those two to kill the photographer in the first place, but it's a very interesting trait that she looses in later stories. In terms of being a depiction of the abuse women suffer just for existing, there's something to be said for the woman who directs attention to herself and thus protects other women, knowingly and intentionally or not, and it reminds me of something I once read, that telling girls to not draw attention to themselves in dangerous situations instead of teaching boys self control is subtly telling girls to make sure someone other than them gets attacked.
wait this is a really great point thank u for sharing
I always saw the first Tomie as an innocent victim and completely human. in that first chapter she even looks more childish and average beauty, she becomes this gorgeous femme fatale with pouty lips and ethereal beauty after she is reborn. Like she became this being created for the male gaze, but at the same time they hate her because she does not behave like they want her to. she becomes something they want and can't have, and that drives them crazy. all the "it's her fault I killed her because she wasn't what I wanted her to be". They killed a young minor girl for being a "mean, selfish, inhuman, evil seductress" towards her teacher and betraying her boyfriend, and everyone just accepted it and said nothing; and she became just that and unleashed what they made her into, to the world. like they are the ones that created this evil and Tomie is just following the story they made for her again and again whether she wants it or not.
But I like your interpretation more.
To me she was never a human, she was a Supernatural Entity who just causes trouble everywhere she goes, somehow manipulating her victims to decapitate herself, So she could get more Reincarnation of Herself.
Damn
No, I like your interpretation the best, honestly.
I’ve never personally read any of the Tomie stories, but I was intrigued by the storyline, so I watched this video. Coming from someone with no firsthand experience with the plot, I also came to your conclusion.
Tomie definitely comes off as completely innocent in the first installment. She’s preyed upon by her teacher, betrayed by her boyfriend, then her entire class becomes an accomplice to her murder. They all then justify their actions in the manner that you mentioned. So, paranormally or supernaturally (whichever of the two works better), she returns as the very thing they made her out to be, as you said.
She mostly seems to aim for survival time and time again, but she also sabotages her chances in some installments. I believe this is because she doesn’t know any better, really. She doesn’t know any better because she was killed so young. She wasn’t even allowed to flourish into a mature adult. Her immaturaity perfectly explains why she treated that little boy the way she did (basically grooming him). She could’ve definitely won him over by being a motherly figure, but her idea of how an adult should behave with a child was skewed by her relationship with her teacher. For all we know, since her relationship with her parents was never mentioned (at least, not in this video), she might not have ever known what a true fatherly or motherly role was supposed to look like. Tomie was replicating behavior that she probably still didn’t believe was completely insidious or heinous (still, her actions definitely aren’t justified) with that little boy. She sabotages herself mainly by honing in on men who aren’t immediately interested in her. She really wants them to like her. She even went as far as to slow her regeneration so that the brother would relate to her and fall for her.
You’d think that someone whose hellbent on survival in the manner that she is would cling to those who are unfazed by her in a manner that wouldn’t incite romantic feelings. You’d think she’d want them to STAY not liking her that way so that she can coexist with them without risk of dismemberment.
But, similar to the outlook she has with the little boy, she is ignorant and falls into her normal even if her normal/what she knows will hurt her in the end. Someone disliking her is outside of her comfort zone. She doesn’t know how to plan her next move in her grand (although short because she dies so quickly) scheme when a man is disinterested.
Which begs the question: if she’s simply trying to survive, why doesn’t she live a secluded life in the woods or something? Why doesn’t she try to live a life of solitude? Why does she place herself in populated areas in which men and sometimes women will be supernaturally enthralled by her? I believe the answer is that she, like many women in real life (since many see her tale as an allegory for crimes against women), shouldn’t have to diminish themselves so they won’t be attacked by deranged, sick, and wicked men. It’s like saying that a woman shouldn’t have walked down the street naked if she didn’t want to be assaulted.
Tomie (especially the first version of herself) deserved better. She was a victim of her circumstances and she continues to be a victim of her circumstances in so many ways. She knows this to a certain degree, so she timelessly attempts to bend the odds in her favor, but at the end of the day, it’s like she’s cursed to die, be reborn, die, and be reborn over and over again.
Tomie is an all-around victim who has been villainized by her circumstances.
Please excuse me for writing all that 😂 i have a lot of fun doin story analyses
To me, tomie is the perfect BAD victim. We often talk about perfect victims when it comes to abuse but tomie is the opposite. Victims are made into monsters no matter what they do, and they suffer for it. Tomie is different. She is selfish, rude, emotionless, sexual, "asking for it" etc. and she still get abused, blamed... but regenerates. Survives.
I think her surviving and multiplying could signify how victims will never not exist. We will always multiply and survive, monsters to haunt society. Society is obsessed, attracted to, hates and wants to destroy victims.
Tomie has lost all identity. She has no personality but being awful. She has no family. She has no friends. She is never really loved. She is the worst victim possible but she is still a victim.
In a weird way, it is freeing to see a victim so unapologetic and evil. As a victim of abuse myself, i always feel so guilty and ashamed for who i am. No one will be a perfect victim.
Tomie will survive and wants to survive, but she doesnt want more of her to exist. She can coexist with other victims, but she doesnt want to.
Men AND women tear down and literally destroy her. All ages, all backgrounds, etc. Her friends. Her classmates. Her adopted family. Her lovers. Strangers. As a victim, it can feel like everyone is your potential next abuser.
I think it's really interesting how she is a bad person who is also a victim. Because it shines a light on how quickly people can turn to victim blaming.
Obviously you have misogynists who will blame women no matter what, but you also have a large amount of people who simply don't want to accept that someone can be so terrible as to inflict severe abuse on anyone, much less children. So they begin to point to things the victim did wrong and justify the abuser's behavior, making the abuse "justified."
In Tomie, because Tomie is portrayed as a monster and because she is selfish and rude, people can easily point to her and say it's her fault for the abuse towards her. It doesn't matter if most of the time the abuse she is being met with is exponentially worse than whatever she did, because people are more ready to accept "justified" abuse rather than just abuse.
I don't know if that was Junji Ito's intention, but reading it like that makes me feel a bit better about my own experience with being victim blamed.
This is SUCH a good explanation of why I have always loved the Tomie stories. 👏🏻
anyone who knows the history of how japan treats underaged "pretty" girls, knows that this exactly what Junji Ito meant to represent with the Tomie series.
I really like this take cuz it makes me think about how much I like victims who are unapologetic because everyone who isnt the victims wants victims to be sad and gloomy about what happens, and then positive for the sake of everyone else. Making life more difficult for them for the sake of others.
Not victims who turn into villains, but just victims who dont give a f--- . Thier trauma is real, so leave them alone. They wont bother you unless you bother them.
@@spectaclesspectacle2327 Er, Tomie has specifically had her crazed followers attack and kill others under her orders. Sometimes other versions of herself, but sometimes men who don't fall under her spell or women who don't show her respect.
She isn't just selfish and rude, she's evil lol. Also her powers make it so that people get violently obsessed with her, and isn't something the victims or even she can control. It's not victim-blaming, because her powers aren't what make her terrible, it's her personality.
She can't be blamed for being an eldritch being that passively corrupts minds and grows via dismemberment, but she *can* be blamed for going out of her way to hurt others, such as the elderly couple, the child, the grieving man, and so on.
It’s funny how Junji Ito is so kind and sweet in real life even though he makes horror while Hayao Miyazaki the founder of Ghibli studios is so cynical.
I honestly think it’s the difference between someone who sees fantasy as a horror and someone who sees fantasy as escape. If the world you imagine is more beautiful than anything that could possibly exist, then of course your life can never live up to your imagination, but if you’re someone who can imagine a world as dark and twisted as Junji Ito, then normal life is simply worth living for it’s peacefulness.
@@chickpeabunny9435 Definitely more complicated than that.
I think when you create stuff that terrible, you had better have a healthy world view or it is just gonna eat you up.
omg yes i never thought of comparing the two but that’s so true. im not shocked abt hayao then junji. i cant fully put it into words but yea.
@@chickpeabunny9435 it's kinda like something Yusei Matsui said- while doing research on the past/historical figures and writing The Elusive Samurai, he came to realize and expressed how grateful he was to be born/live in more peaceful times, and much safer thecworld is nowadays. In the same way, Junji Itou is probably just happy knowing none of the horrors he writes/draws exist off the page and is glad the world he lives in is safe and comfortable in comparison.
I have two female friends from Japan. Obviously two people is not representative of an entire population, but from their reactions to things or experiences they explained to me….there is something very sexually dark and dangerous about the culture in Japan.
One of the girls I know expressed joy to me that she hasn’t been touched in America. And explained that she had been groped, touched, brushed against, and sexually harassed in Tokyo. From interviews and documentaries I’ve seen about in Japan, this seems to be verified.
I think this manga is representative of the female experience in a culture that views women and girls as disposable sexual objects. At the end of the day, no matter what they do….they end up as victims. It’s the culture itself that normalizes this.
The more I hear about other countries, the more I wonder if it’s like that everywhere…
@@samsamsam446 it really is. I think certain countries all have problems but some are highlighted. I know racism and domestic violence is rampant in Korea, human/sex trafficking is huge in Colombia and Thailand, England has a bad drug problem, etc.
@@alessandrajackson3768Mexico is very lenient on DV also.
It's hilarious considering USA has the highest number of s*xual crimes against women in the entire world barring war ridden countries. USA is ranked 9th in crimes against women by UN 2022 data much higher than SK, NZ, India, Japan, UK, etc. USA has 4 times more r*pes than India despite having 4.5 times less population, USA has more r*pes and SA cases than South Korea which is basically the most misogynistic country in Asia. USA is hell for women compared to asia, but keep pretending. I love when ignorant americans take moral high ground despite stats saying otherwise.
and no this manga is not representation of whatever you said, Tomie literally assaults a minor, drives an old couple crazy, kills a random guy because his son called her mommy, tomie is evil, manga literally shows she has powers which makes people obsessed with her. How come nice people randomly start killing when they encounter her, tomie has this effect on women as well. Not everything is a social issue, the writer junji ito also clarified this in an interview but people have to whine about random issues.
the cycle of abuse Tomie repeats when she as an adult uses romantic affection to manipulate the boy, knowing her first death was at the hands of an adult who did just that to her is soooo spooky
o shit.
She's definitely being predatory towards the poor kid, but remember, 15. Not an adult. She doesn't have to be an adult to be an immoral predator.
Kinda real in a way.
People develop paraphilias often due to certain events in their lifes (like in their childhood). Say, someone gets groomed as a kid at the time not knowing how wrong it is. Then layer in their lifes they associate the you know what and past events not with negetive feelings but the "positive" ones since that's what they mostly felt.
Abuse breeds more abuse...
@@Kyumifunthis explains Arianna Granda and Liz Gillies very well. they don't believe Dan Schneider was a had guy and are still friends w him/ Liz married the other guy that groomed her and Arianna cant seem to stay out of other peoples relationships/hold onto hers and is purposely very sexual towards her younger audience
I don't think she's an adult then tho. The guy in black said once she splits, her reincarnations doesn't age (so she's still 15, since she died at 15)
It's bittersweet that Tomie kinda gets a happy ending by literally having her mind put into the body of an ordinary man. Well if that ain't a metaphor for misogyny in body horror I don't know what is.
I assume you're speaking about tomie takeover? How can you access the english translation? Also is it officially by junjii ito?
Okay, just back from reading it! I saw it as that tomie was nothing inside , a metaphor for the fact that women, especially teen girls, are often stripped of any autonomy or are perceived with the notion that women are only their bodies. I also saw it as similar or perhaps even an antithesis to the story 'boy', which could depict how victims always perpetuate the cycle of abuse. But now, in takeover, tomie is freed, however, there was nothing left of her that men have not taken away. Maybe tomie is nothing because of the men around her.
Piggybacking off of when the video creator said that tomie is always blamed for others actions, tomie is only left unblamed for others actions when she is not in her own body. The character from tomie takeover did not blame tomie, which I found odd compared to tomie's other stories. I feel like it was made a point, that tomie is only a real person when she is no longer confined to her body. We also see this theme in "old and ugly", when, yes, tomie is left as nothing at all, however, she is free, but there is nothing ultimately left of her because of men's treatment of her.
I actually hope to analyze tomie one day, because there are far too many themes that show up throughout random parts of the story to be summed up in a singular yt comment😭
@@avilove8602 I think it's more she's unsure what just happened, and just walks off in daze because she's... Not sure. She's really not sure. I like to think she wandered off somewhere, found the guy's apartment, and then locked herself in and broke down in hysterical laughter and tears because she's finally, finally free of the torment.
I feel like another example of that first story being the original Tomie comes from that funeral in the form of her picture. Since we know the Tomie eventually distorts any photographs taken of her, there would have been no other way for her funeral service to have had a normal picture of her in it unless she hadn't been able to regenerate until after her first death from her class.
Tomie, to me, is a perfect representation of frase: "men are afraid that women would laugh at them, and women are afraid that men would kill them." She's just a bad person and kinda bitchy, but people around her are straight up violent bloodthirsty murderers and lunatics.
I also agree heavily on the point of her saving the final girls from their boyfriends because we did see a small minority of men not being affected by her and not actually hurting her. So, in theory, there are men in this universe who don't have that violence in them and can withstand her influence, and the guys she "stole" from the final girls are not part of that group (so they would potentially turn their violence onto their girlfriends as time went on).
Yeah, It makes me wonder if they people she's stumbling upon are fated because they already were evil underneath. Maybe not the boy, but her grooming sealed his fate, same way her teacher all but created her. People point to the old couple, but I wonder if that's an allegory for family turning a blind eye. I haven't read directly, just going off this video but their babysitter was poisoning their kids to take their place, and they somehow didn't realize and even offered to adopt her? Seems like willful ignorance. Tomie shows up and she is poisoned too. It doesn't work but she's still not protected. They all eventually succumb to their darker inclinations. Maybe I'm off but that's what came to mind listening to it.
You two are actual geniuses I didn’t even think of the ‘hero’ approach. Like her exposing the violence some of the men had before they were able to enact it on the other female side characters. She might come off as a homewrecker sure, but she’s showing those girls who the man they liked really is deep down.
She wasn't just kind of bitchy. She was cruel, manipulative, lacking empathy and remorse for people who didn't always deserve their punishment (the ugly brother, the old couple, the child that she molested and traumatized). She was a force of nature that didn't care who she poisons, corrupts and injures in the process because she was taught that this is the way to go with her death.
Womp womp
I think Ito has said himself he doesn't view Tomie as purely a villain
Also, on top of people killing her out of posessiveness or jealousy, the fact that to many viewers and the people who kill Tomie, being a bad person makes her worthy of being slaughtered meanwhile the killer (usually a man) acts like they're the true victim is just way too real
Along with sometimes killing her because they can't HAVE her
she brings that herself im sure the boy was a victim
@@toniotrussardi8126 cheating doesn’t make dismemberment justified. Many of her personality traits doesn’t really justify the killing either. All of the victims became obsessed because of the curse. She is an evil person but the victims are also not innocent.
He said that? Interesting, I always felt like Ito's kind of weakness is that he's not really varied on writing women. The dead caretaker who guides her client until death is probably his one interesting girl story with themes of sisterhood.
@@toniotrussardi8126classic rapist apologist line
I’m a huge fan of Junji Ito. I interpreted the Tomie series as Ito’s commentary and portrayal of Japanese culture. Specifically male violence against women. Her age also plays such a large factor as well, with japan having such a low age of consent limit. Anyways, great video. I really liked your analysis :)
I interpreted it as what happens when a man terrified of women accidentally creates a feminist icon
@@pkthunder416he’s married with 2 kids. On the other hand I think there’s some self projection.
I can’t tell u trolling or u actually think tomie is a “feminist icon”? U just being sarcastic right?
Now their age of consent is 16, which is better than 13.
@@AG-en5y A character that explores the patriarchal structure of society and criticizes it is a feminist icon.
I feel like the way u see it makes sense and I’m assuming the last Tomie with the parasite thing was likely about internalized male gaze probably, like how she’s finally gotten away from the men around her for a while but something from a man she interacted with had stayed inside of her and continued to do what all the other men had done from insider her own body.
I adore how such a sweet man can produce such absurd, visceral and disturbing imagery. Junji seems to truly understand how fear works, I mean, he’s even able to *CREATE JUMPSCARES WITH STATIC IMAGES*
Man’s got mad talent
I agreed and that first page turn after revealing the Dad in Uzumaki…. Two pages… one image of WHATTHEACTUALEFFISTHAT?!?!?”
@@Jim87_36 ikr!!
Junji ito always came off as a guy whos just always just very tired but in good spirits. Like he's exhausted but happy with his life nonetheless. I remember videos of "junji reacting to scary art" but he basically just goes "oh... spooky heh heh... its pretty neat"
Tomie is the ultimate victim. Time and time again she's killed for existing, and it warps her so badly, these facets of her splitting and reforming over and over... who wouldn't go insane? Her base personality is always that of a self-centered woman who is rude and condescending, this is true, but she's also the antithesis of the "ideal woman" in Japanese culture.
Taking into account the severe misogyny present in the culture itself, Ito brings to our attention how we are in a cycle of demonizing women for being less than is expected of them by society. Beautiful, wrathful, opinionated. She's killed for being all these things in a vicious, endless cycle of blame, and those around her trying to shape them exactly how they want her to be in a physical sense. She does not fit their mold, so why not cut her up into little pieces until she does? Her rebellion is always coming back and proclaiming she is who she is. Does that make her a monster? Just that one time.
so explain the manga mansion where Tomie goes after a old couple who just want a child they could never have? or the one where she made a child call her mommy and killed the father because the real mother did not like her son calling a stranger mommy?
@@youreannoyingYep, Tomie is wicked as shit.
@@youreannoying The mansion Tomie is a con artist and frankly, if you're stuck in a immortal cycle where almost everyone you meet will brutally end you, you might as well snag a fortune from the rumored cannibals. Also why did no authorities (or the elders) investigate the home where every girl sent there to be adopted ended up dying?
Tomie was absolutely vile in what she did to that poor child and deserved to be punished for it. Unfortunately there are some victims of abuse turn into abusers themselves. I think that chapter was the only one where she didn't receive a cruel punishment when she actually did something worthy of such.
No she isn't. She's a p3d0
@@youreannoying while I think the analysis of tomie always being the victim may not apply to every story, the "Orphan Girl" and the "Boy" were still subversion of a typical "good girl" character.
You'd expect in a story of an old couple finding a lost young girl and taking her in that the girl would be sweet and thankful. But she's not. And it asks the audience then - does she now deserve to be poisoned and killed. Is her existing and being herself, causing envy and obsession in others enough to justify her destruction? The way the story ends seems to say - even if she did deserve to die, you still can't kill her. Because what empowers Tomie is the same thing that destroys her. Just like how in real life "bad women" (knowingly beautiful, confident, selfish) are both seen as powerful, capable of manipulation and control, while also being hated for it.
In the boy I think Tomie is a stand in for a few things, but mainly she's a representation of other women's anxiety about the "bad woman" wrecking their homes.
The way she grooms the boy and makes him turn away from his mother is how some mothers may feel when thier son starts to look for girlfriend's. The fact that the boy is both romantically infatuated with Tomie and that she refers to herself as his mother is a way of showing how a mother fears becoming replaced by another woman in a sons life (not sure how realistic that is, but it is a trope in meadia, the "possesive mother")
The father leaving with Tomie is a more direct expresion of the mothers fear of the "homewrecker". A woman who seemingly comes out of nowhere and destorys her relationship with her husband.
While in those stories it might be simplic to call Tomie the victim, she’s still a representation of the fear society has for "bad women" and especially bad women who can't be stopped with violence.
Tomie is repeatedly living out her death over and over. The best I can describe it is that she's a sexy version of the grudge. She died in a state of immense emotion and her body was torn to pieces carried away by peers who did nothing to help her. That immense moment lingers and ripples, it spreads like a virus to others. It's like becoming a ghost cursed her with supernatural PTSD that makes her relive her worst moment over and over and over again. She is simultaneously the monster and the victim.
oh... she's an Onryo....
@@popcornsprinkles8071 She's WAY OLDER than we think, we only start seeing Tomie during what looks like the 1980s - 1990s based on the fact that it looks like there no smartphones in the manga yet. She could be decades to hundreds to THOUSANDS of years older than we think because we don't know the year or age in which she started to regenerate.
@popcornsprinkles8071 Worse, her classmates are the ones who basically killed her.
I've always loved this, honestly "feminist" perspective of Tomie. When I first picked up Tomie as a teenager, I thought it was a simple story of a femme fatale: Evil woman(/demon?) seduces guys, ends up unalived. At first glance you'd think the body horror and Tomie's evil personality is what makes this masterpiece a horror manga. And while that aspect certainly adds to he eeriness of this story, it's the brutality against Tomie, the ultimate victim of abuse - assaulted over and over again, in every single way possible by men, who want to claim her and are driven to insanity because they fail to do so - which is the most terrifying aspect of the story. Is Tomie an insufferable person? Absolutely, she's rude and mean and bratty. But it definitely doesn't feel right to think, as a reader, "well, she doesn't have to be a b*tch about rejecting these poor men. Maybe if she were nicer about it, she wouldn't be treated so badly." Because YIKES! Tomie is an anthology about violence against women, the objectification of them, femicides and victim blaming. This manga provides very interesting food for thought and I will die on this hill.
I've also just heard about Tomie: Takeover for the first time and immediately had to read it. Wow, I am speechless. Tomie must've felt finally free after that body switch, damn.
yes yes modern women have it so tough lol muh patriarchy @@reiKANRA
@@talesofgore9424unironically yes
Tomie doesn’t like women at all
@user-eb1xy6cl9m Yes but we like her because shes a real representation of beautiful women in this society
24:55
The way Tomie looks at him while tied up. She is so not impressed. 😆
Yeah, lol.
I think my favorite Tomie story is the body swapping one, because at the end Tomie is implied to live out possibly the most normal life she could (because the body she inhabites is kind of implied to not have the same compulsion effect). Idk I just like to think at least one iteration of Tomie is just out there chilling.
That sounds nice
All it took to free Tomie was to trans her gender. To remove her from the inherent victimhood of femininity.
That was actually so nice. She (Or well, he, now) deserves a break for sure
if her story is about the way woman are treated in japan,
becoming a man would break her cycle and she could escape to a “normal” life.
@@_.ana._.she doesn’t she’s a Pure narcissist
I agree with your analysis that the story of Tomie isn't simply of a monster girl.
I also see it as Tomie starting out as a normal girl who died because of abusive men. I think that once she regenerated, I think she became what her killers saw her as. It looks like she both wants to live while also not wanting to regenerate. Which is understandable since each cycle must be very painful to her.
And I have a feeling the story symbolizes victim blaming and the pop culture of Japan, where a lot of girls are made to become famous singers at around 14-15 and aren't allowed to have partners or to live a normal life so her fans, specifically boys and men, can fantasize about being with her. I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of those pop stars are bratty because of the toxic environment they are in.
Oh shit that makes sense that's a good theory!! She started as a real girl who was bratty but still a child preyed upon for her beauty and became a victim after being used by an adult in her life. And it's only after all that she becomes the monster that man made her, each incarnation becoming nastier and manifesting more evil, a copy of a copy each losing less of what made her human and more becoming a demonic parasite, and only those with the purest of hearts and intentions, or asexual or hetero women are outside of her influence (more or less). Her entire being in death is to ruin the lives of as many people as she can. It makes you wonder, does she cause people to go crazy, or does she just bring out the bad that was already inside them? In which case Ito is showcasing the true horror of being a woman in a world where men see you only as prey to be coveted and used. Fascinating think piece!!
Yes it also has themes of femicide culture
snap this is cannon to me now- i feel like the smallest part of her thats still herself is the part that her og bff took, and the rest of her classmates/teacher would see her as what all those evil tomies did, when in reality shes just a very immature teen, said better in the vid ^
@@AoAstar I don't think grooming children and driving men mad enough to murder is justifiable to say as an immature teen. Tomie is just as guilty as those who've killed her. There is no single victim in the stories.
@@fadetoblack40k she does all that after the first chapter- which is where my point is. i like the idea of there being no victims, but getting a bunch of different opinions on who really is to blame here is what makes this story so great
I love the idea that the "main" tomie personality is just numb.
I always headcannon it as "if they're gonna kill me, over-sexualize me, and treat me as a villain no matter what i do, i might as well be the villain" kinda vibe.
I don’t know how this guy can be so sweet and kind and make Japanese horror at the same time
honestly the plot with the school girls starting like a cult of tomie is PEAK school girl shenanigans, comes so close to shenanigans me and my pals used to get up to in primary school
Hair is so 💞✨girlhood✨💞 I love it
Like... I get it hahaha ✨👏
I forgot all about that cult me and my friend started in elementary school. Good times
@@islandofideals6571 see!!! peak tween girl shit, me and friend managed to convince everyone in our class we had to make “sacrifices” with berries and stuff from the playground to appease some sort of monster in the drains 10/10 could never get away with this stuff as an adult
You just unearthed a very specific memory, and now I can't believe I had forgotten a friend and I dedicated some months to attempting to resurrect small animals. Went out collecting roadkill and all, while thinking of it as entirely mundane. Maybe this is girlhood after all?
I think the first arc is Tomie's origin story. When she died and they tore her apart they forced her to never be able to rest they turned her into essentially a man made Yokai. They forced her to become who they saw her to be, and forced her to be killed and pulled apart forever. Never able to rest while constantly being taken advantage of by the men around her.
I agree with this. I also think the dismemberment of her body was foreshadowing for her ability to clone/ reincarnate.
I love that Junji ito can make the most nightmarish works of fiction ever, but also has a manga in the same style that’s just about his cats.
I think the reason she acts like a "monster" and so awful all the time is because it's a metaphor for how abusers talk about their victims after they get away. I've been through that several times now, and if you believed they things they said about me, I'd look a lot like her too.
Honestly with all of these stories, the phrase 'If i can't have her no one will' comes to mind. Is like the peak of make violence towards women: she rejects them, or they have to fight for her, and men hate that, because they feel they shouldn't have to fight for what it's theirs. So instead of fighting each other, they end her for 'disrespecting them'.
Going further down this line, we could even add the fact that none of these men even begun to considered the most sane option that respects both her autonomy and acknowledges their self-respect and self-awareness (which I'm assuming is nonexistent): What if they just decide she's not worth it and leave? The action that is arguably the most warranted option when someone shows that they're not interested. But as you said...they went a step beyond and assumed she was already theirs. the term "self-entitlement" comes to mind...which is ironic since Im almost certain that these guys would assume the same of Tomie without realizing that they're being hypocritical.
Well Tomie also loves attention. One time a guy rejected her and she immediately went crazy.
@@prof.laytonfan764 I wonder if its her loving the attention, or more of a 'the devil you know is better than the devil you dont' kind of situation. If Tomie has only ever known men to become obsessed with and eventually dismember her, then the presence of a man who doesnt immediately fall into these same behavioral patterns would arguably be terrifying for her, because it is an entirely new and unfamiliar attention, and as shitty as what she usually goes through is, at least she knows whats coming and what to expect.
You speak like someone who is a terrible judge of male character and has had her share of terrible male partners because she was selecting for traits that were ultimately shallow.
Almost every woman I know that talks like you do has a long string of abusive douchebags in their history and keeps going back for the same type of man.
@@prof.laytonfan764 Not really Tomie has been shown to hate it or rather grown too used to it. It's more like she fears what is unknown to her, men being attracted to her was something barely out of her control, so when this guy suddenly comes in and destroys her perception of what is normal, she is obviously terrified.
I felt bad for the one guy that pinky finger tomie went after, he just wanted her to leave him alone and for his brothers to leave him alone. At that point she was of course way beyond the point of caring who she killed, she saw that kid the same as everyone else when he said he cared for her. I feel bad for Tomie too but in the end she becomes what she hated, especially with the tiny child.
I don't think he did. I think he acted immune because he thought he didn't have a chance. The second he thought he did with Little Finger, he confessed.
@@AnakhaSilverthen how come he is not receptive to her when she hits on him and invites him to his room
@@AnakhaSilver no I think he isn't charmed initially because he's too young for all that?
@@Apples765No, he wasn't charmed because of his own personal experiences with being unattractive meaning he wasn't deserving of companionship with someone more attractive. Attractiveness to him was through relatability of being the ugly duckling in the pond. That's why despite how hideous pinky Tomi was, he still cared for her which was intentional by Tomi. She intentionally recreated the same situation he had experienced his whole life with his brothers, but with her one copy.
@@AnakhaSilveridk, I was under the impression he only said that to comfort her. Not because he actually did
My interpetation is that the original Tomie was innocent, but eventually she changed much for the worse after losing her humanity after the reincarnations
Consiridng her whole class hated her she wasn’t a innocent person
@@user-eb1xy6cl9m people disliking you isn't a factor in the innocence of a murder.
thankyou for this video essay , its amazing . keep up the amazing work !!!
I feel like the overall portrayal in the story is the brutality that women face not just from men but women too. While yes we do see most of the violence's coming from the men the women in series also are complacent to an extent. Many women in the story victim blame Tomie for example when Tomie was first killed it wasn't just the male students some of the girls joined in and added insult to injury by saying that it was her fault if she wasn't this then it wouldn't have happened. Tomie, like many real woman, is made to be the instigator in her own victimhood. Doesn't matter how she dressed or her age she is constantly told it is her fault for these men's brutality
!!!!! this this this. it’s a lot of internalized misogyny that has a lot of women keep up patriarchal ideas and pass them onto their daughters
I think it’s more so how women are turned against each other bc of the misogyny perpetuated by men and the envy that comes along with male attention.
@@chikari123 that too!
@@chikari123Women understand that other women are their competition for provisional protection from the prospective men they wish to have in their lives. It has nothing to do with misogyny. It’s simple biology. Just as men, hate other, more successful men, who are competing against them to get the women they want in their lives is not misandry.
Is there blatant misogyny, & misandry in our society? Absolutely! However to say it’s men’s fault that women hate one another is a cheap, & disingenuous tactic for women not to be held accountable, & responsible for their behavior.
@@bryanmiller8604 You have no scientific data backing this up you just pulled that shit out of your ass. Also implying that women don’t compete for success with other men and women are you dumb?
“Misandry” I just know everyone groaned when the teacher called on you to read. What structural, systemic and economic oppression hell a written law ANYWHERE in the world that has been written by women? What power has been given to women to do anything that is specifically an anti-male law? Or, and I’m so serious, did some women say some shit online you didn’t like? Did women say “kill all men” or “I hate men”? You gonna cry? Shit your pants maybe? Don’t ever comment some dumb shit like this to me again.
Regarding the boy story. Despite being SUPER disturbing, I feel like Ito wrote it like this intentionally. Where the previous chapters were basically a minor being exploited/abused in all manners by ADULTS and the reader didn’t register the reality of this issue. When switching the power/gender dynamics, the reader instantly feels appalled by it. As if saying why do u think that was ok earlier? And not this?. I was really uncomfortable first time reading it. Anyways, LOVE ur video analysis of tomie. Def gonna sub
I think its because the age of consent is 13 in Japan and well even if Tomie is 15, the boy was clearly younger at 10 or younger, Tomie is considered an 'adult'while the kid isn't. Even compared to Western standards there's a difference between post puberty and pre puberty, and I think to make it worse Tomie only went for the kid to get to the dad...and potentially make the mum jealous.
@@lizxu322 Just wanted to point out that the federal age of consent was changed to sixteen to June of this year, and before that most prefectures had a prefectural age of consent of sixteen.
@kennyl4699 that's great but for decades it was ingrained that 13=sexually adult so it'll take a while for the cultural image to shift. 13 is WAAAY too young but searching up hentai, the girls all look pre-teen or super young teen. It's sick.
Probably because Tomie is a demon that regenerates and is shown to mind control people? In the first story and I did feel that the teacher was evil, but that ends up being blunted by her mind controlling people. Its just so crazy to think that 2 dozen people would help cover up her murder that I assumed and still assume that she was influencing them all from the start. The. as the story goes on its shown over and over again that she can literally mind control people so I assumed she was doing so from the beginning,
Its not like theres really an indication that the first story is the first time this has happened.
What do you even mean "didn't register"? Are you saying you didn't recognize the fact she was being abused in the first story? Because I picked up on that pretty quick, and I'd say almost everyone did!
the interesting thing about the boy chapter, to me, is that she's continuing the cycle of harm.
she grooms this young boy, much like how she, in her original form, was groomed by her teacher.
I think that's the point of that volume.
Because in a lot of ways Tomie is a story about abuse, and about the horror of social expectations around women. The fear of reprisal from angry men when you're not perfect. How you will be seen as a temptress at fault for her own murder. How the men were somehow just "driven mad".
But that doesn't mean that she can't spread that abuse, doesn't mean she is always the victim here. She can also perpetuate the cycle. This volume seems to cover that very topic, and that's very interesting.
It seems to me that the story of Tomie tries to explore all these dimensions of abuse. Often this is perpetrated against Tomie, but sometimes it is perpetuated by her. Because the cycle of abuse can be cyclical for a reason. No true examination of the horror of abuse could be complete without that aspect.
This completely disregards the supernatural effect she has on the minds of others, as though all these people were bound to cut up someone eventually, she is just always at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I got a TOTALLY different theme from the series than "bad people get what they deserve" in regards to Tomie. To me, tomie is the embodiement of female rage. Her anger from being murdered and dismembered fueled her for a journey of revenge. Revenge can also be a nasty thing.. So it makes since how over so many deaths, theres nothing but ugly vengence left
Edit to clarify: I'm saying the men are the bad ones (at first), not tomie. The video seems to frame it like Tomie is murdered over and over for being bad, but I believe Tomie murders because OTHER PEOPLE are bad. Eventually leading to her own corruption with nothing but revenge to keep her going
That's kinda the same thing, though.
@@maximillian1109 im pretty sure the video was saying that tomie is the bad person and she keeps being killed because of that. I'm saying the men are the bad people and thats why tomie kills them. I hope that makes sense, theyre similar but not the same
@@chattycatty3336 You should watch the reimagined portion of the video. It goes over how Tomie is the way she is because bad men hurt her over and over again. But obviously she has some objectively bad moments (like when she preys on the kid), but if she hurt someone, most of the time it's because they deserved it. So I think you're saying the same thing
@@Xentrolis oh yep, sounds pretty similar lol
Although its kinda funny that its in the reimagined section 🤔 makes me curious now what other people thought the core story was about
I agree that I don't think Ito ever intended for the series to be read as punishing Tomie. I suppose some people might read it that way but it seems like a weird take to me.
This is an interesting take I haven't heard before. I remember definitely considering the thought to feel bad for Tomie but as she was increasingly more and more cruel I began to see her as nothing more than a lovecraftian love parasite whose sole purpose was to ruin lives and multiply because she was just pure evil. She was shallow and didnt seem to have any deeper sense of self, she doesn't have any goals grander than getting men to obsess over her and being the center of attention, and surviving.
But now, I think you've shifted my perspective a bit. In the very first story she had a childhood, and a family and a funeral. She really seemed to he a bratty teenage girl who gotten taken advantage of and dismembered.
But instead of dying, she became something else. With each cycle and each incarnation she becomes more and more the monster that the male gaze and patriarchy have made her. They want her, they hate her, they seek to consume her, because they don't actually know her and they dont care. She's an object to put on a pedestal to them and you don't ask a trophy about its life aspirations because thats not what it's for. They made the consumption of her a commodity to covet, so she consumed their love and worship and took advantage of their obsession. Because thats all the power she has.
The thing that is the lynchpin in this theory is the fact that some men choose not to fall for her, they genuinely aren't interested and that frustrates her so she tries to become what she needs to to attract them.
At the end of the day, Tomie never does the stabbing. True shes a bad person but shes a teenager and a human being who doesn't owe anybody kindness or her time or her affection. She can be cruel and petty but that doesnt justify other people's violent reaction to her. The scariest idea is that she isn't just some mind infecting parasite... These men had a choice not to pursue her, and chose to lash out and act crazy anyway... That's even more chilling!!
Its a game changing perspective I need to think more on.
What's ur take when the time she manipulated a little boy? She has no reason to do that but she did
@@AllyInRealityshe did it to survive hell in the video itself it adresses that
@miigi-p4939 u do realize that she would end up bein dismembered by another man right?
@@miigi-p4939Grooming (what she did to the boy), isnt justified, ever.
@@AllyInReality yes and thats why she did it to a boy she thougt it would be different
At one point she even tells the boy to only go for her after he becomes older
She also ignores him the moment she finds another victim because she doesn't want to be with the boy
Twice in fact
Also she maybe wanted to act like a mom for him but doesn't know how since she is just a kid and for her maturity is the same as romance
thank you for this video!!! tomie was my first dive into junji ito's works and remains my favorite to this day. i knew there was some other interpretation or message lurking under the surface but i just couldnt crack it open myself. this was super enjoyable
I like the idea of the patterns in certain Tomie stories! Tomie's death, targets, and names of her antagonists sharing similar traits really puts the feeling of a never ending cycle. As if there's no way to prevent the pattern from continuing. It's very creative and makes you feel this dread for Tomie, like she'll never get to just live a regular life like a teenager. It makes her character tragic in an visionary way.
Tomie's archetype is kind of- not common but occasionally pops up in horror, I like to call it "accidental siren" or the "accidental siren paradox" where she's not meaning to allure people and drive them insane but something about her turns people insane. Like she has the basic power of a siren but to her detriment instead of benefit and is cursed to have this continuously happen. I like to think she was like "finally, free at last" when she switched bodies with that guy, like she's just tired of this.
This is interesting, can you think of any other examples in horror (or other genres)?
@@stickynutjuicemoved959 You don't even have to look that far. Uzumaki has a character like this (the girl with the scar) and Hellstar Remina could be read as Ito playing with the trope early on.
Misa from death note! While it only happened twice, men went after her for disgusting reasons @@stickynutjuicemoved959
some of tomie's behavior reminds me of some attractive women i've met irl, like there's a certain amount of apathy they have towards men who find them attractive because they believe that the chances of this guy giving a fuck about them beyond their attractiveness isn't very high and it happens so often that they just don't care anymore and it makes sense because misogyny makes ppl believe women aren't worth getting to know and for conventionally attractive women it manifests as ppl believing they're too vapid and shallow to have much of a personality anyway
And how to bridge that gap?
real
i love this video. i hope you continue to make more!!
Something that the Takeover chapter reveals is that Tomie's mind literally becomes fragmented and lives in the multiple bodies she sprouts after getting chopped, with the bodyswapper even wondering if he'll be able to keep his sanity after the body multiplies even further, which would explain why the Tomies started killing each other. She literally can't live as hundreds of separated bodies, so she needs to kill as many as she can so that her mind can become whole again.
The whole story to me is an allegory for female beauty, the horror of being a woman, and how society treats it. XD I don't think it's the thought behind it, it just happens to fall neatly in to that. When men kill her it's somehow her fault. Other women either hate her or wanna become her, if they're not indifferent. And all the Tomie's react differently to the world but are treated as the same entity.
I've always seen the stories to be about different Tomie's like, they don't actually have the exact same personality. Some are good and some are bad. But they all share the same "curse" of madening beauty which make people go insane and kill them. Just imagine living with a curse like that, being killed over and over again?
The different stories are about the different ways that play out. Sometimes she tries to manipulate people with it, sometimes she just falls victim again but reacts in a mad way like laughing. Sometimes she is the pure selfish villain.
And the reason she sometimes kills her clones and sometimes not is exactly the same reason.
It depends on the situation.
I've always sympathized with Tomie, it would be very lonely to be cursed like that. She can never truly have anyone close to her. I never saw her as a pure monster.
It is Tomie's fault. She's groomed little boys, driven men mad to the point of murder, and manipulates everyone around her. What I'm saying is by no means justifying the actions of the characters who killed her, but Tomie is absolutely no saint or victim as she's portrayed to be by some faulty mindsets.
@@fadetoblack40k I mean, you can see as that. Any way you see it, you can see that she's kind of... psychopathic. Maybe because of what happened to her throughout the years? Maybe because she's always been that way? The thing to drive home is who is the actual monster in Tomie. People who are driven mad, groomed or swayed into her ways or just her? It's explicit that she's not a saint by any means, but trying to know why she is what she is is the keypoint here. In the end, everybody who comes in contact with her does not become psychopathic as she is, but they surely as easy to sway themselves to being murderous for a "Pretty Woman". That's why I like the one where the guy pays no mind to the cult she made. Him being "immune" to her charm shows that this world may be twisted, but not for everybody. But it's all layered. That's why you take everything as you want to take it.
@@fadetoblack40k no one said she was a saint, but she gets progressively worse as she’s abused and murdered over and over again. She’s accepted there’s nothing she can do about it so she manipulates and does what she wants because it doesn’t change the end of her story.
@@fadetoblack40k yeah, shes's not 100% innoncent at the end, but that what's gives layers to the horror of the stories, just like in real life victims can become abusers.
This post makes a LOT of sense for why the tomies instinctively kill eachother. If all the tomies represent womanhood, women are all different from eachother and yet the idea of womanhood bieng an 'you either hate her, want to be her, or are indifferent' can apply to the tomies who exist all at once. That is until they DO kill them down to 1. They ALL become her. So its all 3.
There's almost no good people in the Tomie manga. I often saw her as a... thing that brought out the worst in the people who interacted with her, given that some people are apparently immune to her charm, so it doesn't seem to be the case that she makes those people evil. But then we get stories like with the kid, and the bullied guy who she goes out of her way to finally "seduce" and just leaves him to die, for seemingly no reason...
I wonder if Tomie is even a person? Like, I agree that it seems like there was a single first version who had a funeral & a childhood friend, but was she actually a normal girl or was she something else? A lot of people seem to take for granted that A) Tomie is or was at one point a person with normal human thoughts/feelings and B) the writer thinks or wants you to think that Tomie deserves to be punished. But neither of those ideas seem like a given to me. A lot of Junji Ito stories are about people encountering situations that have no explanation or logic. I see Tomie as something more like the embodiment of obsession.
@@jaynestrange It makes me think of how some yokai in Japanese folklore just mess with people for no discernible reason, sometimes with lethal results, but still have certain rules or behaviors they follow.
I like the ibterpretation poat-mortem Tomie is a curse, it's a *thing* that happens over and over and spreads like a virus rather than an actual spirit,if that makes sense? She's forced to relieve this seemingly forever, she's sort of stuck on this predeterminated loop of repeating her horribke death
I think she might have some level of supernatural influence, but it might be due to the nature of her curse, rathee than an "intentional ability" she has if that makes sense
She's not a person anymore, she's a thing stuck in a loop of jer own death forced to relieve it and force other people to do it too until the curse ends somehow
what are you even saying?
I think the guy she left to die was just a case of her proving to herself that all men are just going to end up Like That eventually. And he did. He fell for the her that he felt he had a shot with--one so disfigured no one else would give her a chance. MEanwhile, we have a handsome man in another chapter who shows sympathy and... Doesn't fall for her charms, but also recognizes she's a Problem. So he survives, untouched by her and her admirers.
You said absolutely everything I've ever thought about Tomie's story. I love her so much and the stories really fascinate me. You did an absolutely amazing job with this video!!
How did no one use Tomie as a base for an SCP entry.
The biggest thing that scares me about Tomie is the obsessive actions and thinking that comes attached. As someone that deals with being obsessive to the point where it cripples daily life for me, it's relatable. I want to control this obsessive, destructive behavior because I don't want to spiral out of control.
Well the obsession in Tomie is supernatural not real life
When I saw that image of the guy after the entity and Tomie switched, I kinda felt like we were finally seeing every thought in her head from the course of her life and reincarnations, broken bliss. She herself was finally free, but her mind was beyond repair from possibly decades of a never-ending cycle. Where she had do anything to survive, even using and throwing out herself. I feel like she realized that she didn't have to do that anymore, but everything she knew, did no matter how wrong it was, and endured will forever be there. But now she finally doesn't have to do it. I also think that Tomie feared and hated the monstrous form that was in pictures and paintings due to just feeling that people weren't either ready to confront their own reflections or ready to see how cruel and twisted people were and accept the monster that sits by them, thus letting it show through actions of those who "deeply love" her.
I wanted to add, cause I just thought about it, I think another way you could see Tomie and the people who are indifferent to her is her preventing them from being just like her. There can only be one Tomie to carry the curse, more, although they can all work together to survive, will only cause further suffering. And seeing how it goes for both female and male final characters who never want to hurt Tomie and never fall under the curse, something tells me that if you remove Tomie from the equation, the curse will remain in someone else.
It's fair to mention that Junji thought of the concept for Tomie while observing how lizards regenerate tails after a portion is cut.
I guess he imagined that evil will always grow even if you try destroying it. And that capability of it regenerating influences people into cutting it
Lizards tails are an evolutionary survival mechanism. They serve as a decoy to distract predators so they can try and flee... the overlap of the themes is just again so thought provoking
the description of being baffled by the "analogue anime" that is manga when first discovering it had me hooked on this video
the hard cut to "reading hardcore yaoi" had me SOLD on this channel
Tomie is an absolute icon. I've loved her since the beginning and thoroughly enjoy this idea of her being a creature or spirit reborn from her horrific death out of spite to keep living, and gradually loses her 'humanity' and sinks almost wilfully into her role as an eldritch facade of an eternal victim, it's like despite her will to survive she just can't help but fall victim to her own nature and perpetuate her cycle.
Exactly this! And neither can the man. The man is doomed to an eternally irresistible "temptress" because he can never take accountability to not ruin his life in his desire for her, and she is left to be the victim, always the blame by society. And instead of a perfect victim she eventually morphs into what they made her out to be, and even more damning every time.
"icon" didn't she sexually assault a child?
@@bunnywavyxx9524ummm u do know the Men in the manga get their life / mind drained by Tomie that’s why they lose their mind
I have lots of thoughts on Tomie:
I honestly want to know what happened to the final girls from some of these chapters, it might give some insight as well based on if they ever see a Tomie again. I also want to state that I think the first incarnation we see might be the original one, if only because this Tomie had a picture taken of her and was perfectly fine (the one at the funeral) I also noticed that she never dies older then (possibly) the original age she died, 15.
Her cycle always ends the same way, even though it seems like she wants to live a normal life. Since we never see her die naturally, always from trauma either to the body or mentally, that's the actual trigger for the splitting and regeneration, so in theory, if she can ever get past 15 and die peacefully the cycle would end. Honestly, I think if Tomie looked for help in women rather than men the cycle might end, as most women are unaffected unless they literally want to become her.
Lastly, whenever I read the men having "the urge" to kill her and chop her up, I think of two things: Tomie being a stand-in for all the countless murders that do happen to teenage girls because they are attractive but sexually unavailable, and if the curse stems from the teacher who butchered her, rather than Tomie herself. Tomie seems like a girl who needs a friend, rather than a lover, the only thing that gets me is why she can be so hell-bent on making others obsessed with her when they are not interested, maybe she sees hope that they can be her solace since they can be her protector without the consequence of wanting to kill her?
I also wonder how much of the Tomie tale is considered "truthful" as in perspective, most of these tales seem to have a perspective from the killer or someone else, not Tomie, which gets me to wonder how much of her bad attitude is blown out of proportion and what is considered factual events and dialogue. The killers are already convinced she is a curse and had to do it, but from the story that she pretends to be a mother her personality is quite different, calmer, slightly bratty, but mostly normal (besides her being a predator) and I think that stems from the child, they did make outlandish claims, nor did they kill her, we even seem more sides to her like being afraid of her possible demise. The boy was starting to show tendencies to want to kill or to possess her, but honestly, it makes sense since she basically groomed him, but the story is a good one to see a different side because the target is not a part of her usual demographic.
This is also seen in the stories where someone is not attracted to her, most times she is generally acting like a normal teen, not being cruel. Yes from time to time she is trying to manipulate, but she does not lash out at them nor do they see her as a monster or a possession, but a desperate girl trying to get their attention and some even try to help her because they see the world (men) around her and the actions taken against her as a bystander rather than a participant.
I really enjoyed your comment! I think it’s interesting that the teacher might have created the curse of cutting her up, I simply viewed it as both a need to make Tomie, and all the things she represents like female agency, feminine rage, victim hood, as small as possible so it’s easy to dismiss and control by patriarchal society as well as a depiction of the physical desire men have to enact violence on a woman’s body. Your comment gave me a lot to think about!
I think tomie is unable to change. She might forever have the mind of a bratty teenager, and gets killed so quickly that she doesn't have time to reflect or grow, she is unable to
You’ve answered a lot of my questions about why she targets people who seem immune to her magnetic aura. I also agree that the curse is of the teacher’s making. He was specifically afraid of her being pregnant, of _reproducing_, which she does again and again.
I was randomly recommended your channel, and I'm so glad I clicked the video! You took a lot of the abstract thoughts I had swirling around my head about Tomie and arranged them into a really solid and interesting video essay. Also, I love your sense of humour and your voice!
(The boy story and the one with the old couple were the hardest for me to read...I felt to bad for the old lady...)
i've only recently become acquainted with the work of Junji Ito, and i'm fascinated. thank you for your work on this video that has furthered my education!
you've gained a new subscriber today, and i'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.✨️
5:05 I've heard that a name ending in "ko" ( 子 ) in Japanese just indicates the name being feminine; just as in English where Martha is feminine, but Mart is masculine.
"The shorter the hair, the more final the girl" couldn't agree more lol
Am subbed now 😬
I kinda see it as a cycle of abuse thing, Tomie is abused, so she abuses people, so people abuse her, cycle continues
Fantastic work. Hope to see more of this kind of content!
Not Tomie-related, but I think reading Junji Ito's 'Dying Young' sort of adds some perspective in relation to Tomie. If you have not read it, it basically about what is probably a terminal disease or perhaps a curse that affects young girls and makes them incredible beautiful before killing them, and involves the infected girls trying to murder 'ugly' girls in a hopeless attempt to save their owns lives. It always stuck out to me because it emphasizes the very ugly reality that society places more value on girls who are young and beautiful, even when those same girls are suffering from a condition that WILL kill them. The infected girls themselves did not do anything that deserved the death sentence handed to them, though some did turn to heinous acts in their attempts to survive, and you are left feeling so very sad for these children who will not live long enough to actually grow up. I kind of feel like it's a more sympathetic take on Tomie's plight. Young, beautiful, and absolutely doomed. Much like her, the girls wants to survive and are willing to kill another girl based only on a mere rumor just so she can try to live a little longer. The key difference is, of course, the fact that no men feel compelled to kill them like they do with Tomie. And Tomie's fate is far more gruesome too. The infected girls simply collapse dead on the spot, whereas Tomie is brutally butchered. While you know that Tomie becomes a very bad person as the anthology progresses, the infected girls also act as if they're willing to do anything just for the chance to survive and the audience feels more sympathetic towards them because Junji Ito dedicates enough panels to show just how lost and afraid they feel and how much they want to live whereas Tomie comes off much more stoic even in the very first story. I doubt she as unaffected as she appears, instead I believe she puts up a front to seem more powerful and in control than she really is. The cold reality is that these kids all want to live at all costs, and are all doomed to die despite their efforts. It really is quite sad, and I really appreciate the more solemn atmosphere that's present in Dying Young to emphasize the tragedy. It's awarded bonus points are also awarded for writing an unattractive protagonist, as well as treating her exactly as sympathetically as Junji Ito's more beautiful female protags.
On an eldritch horror level, I could see Tomie as a creature that reproduces through regeneration. Which is why the men more often than not dismantle her. This way it creates more Tomies with more chances of survival.
I've needed this essay my whole life, thank youuuu! I went and read Tomie Takeover, which I hadn't known existed, and it was so cathartic seeing Tomie finally be freed from her eternal torture by being mind swapped. I kept wishing we got to see a montage of her just doing normal things for the first time (as a conventionally attractive adult male too! Lucky~ She can experience having autonomy for the first time!) But I think her just walking into the crowd in the other body and never coming up again was more of a true freedom. She left the narrative for good, finally. I like to think she had a more or less "normal" life after that, probably still as a horrible person as she never experienced any other behavior options before (who knows how long she was cycling) but with a normal lifespan and opportunity to actually die, as she wanted. Free. I'm surprised you didn't mention the lore reveal last line of that chapter- that the person who mind jumped into Tomie and cut themselves up woke up to the pieces growing and specifically described how they were all the same mind and the torture of having multiple copies of your mind that you could feel at once. This means they are all the same Tomie, connected torturously. No wonder multiple Tomie's want to end each other. When Tomies are spawned en mass though they become a kind of hivemind instead from the number of minds linked at once (which the mind swaper said threatened even its sanity). Anyway, I'm happy to imagine Tomie in a new body just going like, grocery shopping unharassed.
This was great! If that hypothetical Uzumaki video is anywhere anywhere near as good as this one, it's gonna be just about the best thing I've ever seen.
This is an amazing commentary on the way girls are blamed for being to sexual .
And I love how she is not perfect and she does take revenge on the world at times because it makes her feel imperfect and real . Because you don't need to be perfect to be victim .
Tomie might be naked some times in the manga but she isn't really sexual, except the first chapter we never get any commentary on her and sex. Whenever her allure is described it describes her beauty, we never hear anything about men being pulled by her sexiness. She actually usually dresses pretty modestly. Ito probably didn't want to show her in that way because he wasn't interested in commenting on sexiness. In the story it's always her beauty, her beauty, her beauty, nobody ever says anything about sexiness.
Love your style. Can't wait to get cozy and watch a video about horror xD
I always saw Tomie as the victim, she isn't the "virginal, quiet victim" stereotype, but she is a young woman, one with flaws and who is undeniably human even in her terrifying ability to regenerate. The regeneration to me reminds me a bit of something like forced birth, how would you feel if your body refused to die but continued to give birth over and over again after a person who decided they owned you or where owed you, but your attempts to push them away or even attitude caused them to decide they had the right to end your life.
Tomie is the embodiment of the horror of being a woman in the modern day.
If you don't let a man down gently you could end up stalked, or beaten, or raped.
If you walked home by yourself the night you were raped, the police will wonder why you didn't stick with your friend's or on a group, god forbid you had a glass of wine, or beer before ypu left. Much less if you chose to wear make-up, heels, and a skirt or dress.
Tomie is a monster because she'd become a woman long before she stopped being a child. She never had the chance to be a regular kid/girl. She was beautiful, attractive and had the perfect body, in some culture's falling into the ideal beauty standards nets you privileges and special treatment, just as much as it nets you the ugliness of envy, obsession, desire, lust, and the need to own the beautiful person. Eventually, the beautiful person will be seen as vain, materialistic, rude, and untrustworthy, as other men are also enchanted. Because another person couldn't contain his obsession aka the teacher, Tomei died and was forced to lose control of her body and knowing she'd been lied too.
I totally get what you're saying, but even if she was sexuest most enticing person alive, she's still a child. She never became a woman because she never got to grow up
It's great to see how his art evolved and improved over time. His level of detail increases from chapter to chapter, his linework becomes more and more precise.
This video is exactly what I was missing about Tomie!! I tried to read it from the perspective that the story pushes you towards, blaming Tomie for everything that happens and I just couldn't get through it. It seemed so stupid and repetitive to read from the perspective of "Everyone's a saint except Tomie"
Thank you for making this video, it allows me to appreciate the only Junji Ito book that I could never find value in.
If you liked Tomie, then please I encourage you to watch "Girl from nowhere" that has a similar premise, especially the very first episode that I refuse to believe wasn't inspired somewhat by Tomie. It's a korean show about a girl that is the literal embodiment of karma and comes around some pretty awful people who need to be taught a lesson.
girl from nowhere is thai, but yes it has similar themes to Tomie
Its definitely not Korean, its from Thailand
I'm so obsessed with that show! Can't wait for the next season!
Still waiting for the new season😭😭😭 I’m dying to know what will happen after the 2nd season. I have my theories of course 😂
The actor from “Girl From Nowhere” actually confirmed that her character was inspired by Tomie, which is why they’re super similar!! It’s a rlly good watch so def go see it
I always interpreted it as like...Tomie being a sort of symbol of vengeance but also symbol of the cycle of abuse. She started out as a victim. She was preyed on, betrayed and killed. But when she returns that first time she's acting completely normal. She acts as if nothing happened. She seems drawn to places where her body parts were dropped off which drives the guilt home for many people but doesn't act antagonistic. She also genuinely seemed to love the teacher, unaware of the fact that he was basically grooming her.
Post-resurrection, Tomie doesn't care about men. She views them as tools and treats them as such. Someone who's 'infected' with her tissue can go from having an interest in a boy to completely dismissive of them. Tomie doesn't feel love anymore...after all, it sort of ended in her death. She did love...but now she's become exactly what everyone said she was...a seductress who strings men along and feels no love for them.
Then you notice post-resurrection she's obsessed with her beauty, she's antagonistic towards others like herself and has a viscerally aggressive response to being called a monster. In life, other girls tended to dislike Tomie because of how the boys reacted to her...a lot like how one Tomie-clone will react to any others in their 'territory'. She was desired and hated for her beauty...so in this sort of undead eldritch state it's important to her. She will not tolerate having that questioned and she certainly will not tolerate competition. People may have thought she was a self-absorbed and vain succubus...now she's exactly that.
After the first act of abuse and the countless deaths, she becomes the abuser herself...going after someone even more vulnerable than she was.
It is made extremely clear throughout the story that the curse surrounding her absolutely is supernaturally compelling people to violence. Her presence magically causes completely innocent people to turn into monsters. And she takes immense glee in this fact.
I think if Tomie can be said to represent anything, it’s the cycle of violence itself. And that’s what’s terrifying about her. Yes, she was originally a victim, and often she is a victim again at the end of these stories, but she also purposefully and willfully and gleefully abuses and murders others. She is both a victim and a perpetrator but she is also neither. She is the very incarnate of the cycle of violence itself. And it’s completely wrong to view any of her deaths as punishment for her, because the fact is that she will always come back. Fighting violence with violence begets only more violence. She is abused, she is an abuser, she is abused again, she abuses again, and no matter what anyone does to her, she always has the last laugh, because she IS the cycle.
Much of puzzle pieces are missing in case of Tomie. We know nothing about her family, or exactly how she was brought back to life and I think this is why story works so well. Tomie is not really that much of consistent character, she is more a force of nature. She fills many roles in many stories. At the end of the day anyone can put whatever symbolism they want to stick on her and made more or less a compelling arguments to prove that.
At the end of the day, I think Junji Ito being master of horror he is played a skillful trick on us. Tomie is such an interesting concept that in same way as Junji Ito is able to jumpscare us using page turners he can have his fictional character reach to us through the pages of manga and make us crave more stories, more information, have us on wild chase to piece together how she works, why is she the way she is and to finally see the full picture. We chase that with no less of tenacity than is displayed by various would be lovers pursuing Tomie, wanting to have them for themselves only to learn at the end that it is impossible to have a relationship with Tomie, it isn't even possible to own her in any way or make her bow to anyones whims. We all mirror that chasing explanation and full picture only to arrive at last story featuring Tomie and learning the truth - just as lovers in those stories we got fooled and at the end of the day all we end up with craving we cannot fulfill.
this was amazing!! thank u for this deep dive into one of my fave stories. You pretty much said what I was thinking!!
I like how in the boy chapter you can see real terror in her eyes when she realises she will need to manipulate a child, or risk the boy bringing his father to her
I haven't read Tomie since 2012 and wow, I am seeing it in a new way. Thank you for this!
31:54 The justifications are the text, but I think the subtext is that they are all telling themselves a fake story to excuse their actions. I think the horror is in the collective evil being perpetrated by the class because of the manipulations of a charismatic .pdf file in a position of power.
You are definitely not supposed to walk away from this feeling like their actions were justified.
The text of Glyceride is a man feeding his kids to people in the end.
I think the subtext of this is PRETTY OBVIOUSLY what Ito is actually writing about--people who sell their own children to get by.
Idk after what she did to that boy, I don't really feel that bad for her...
You don't need too. This is a essay on why she does these things, not an excuse. As stated in the video, Tomie should take responsibility for her actions but so should everyone else in the manga
please do more junji ito analyses. i would watch tf out of that
This was a stellar analysis, you put a lot of sentiments to words. I really love Tomie and it's been such a big influence on my art & enjoyment of media, I'd love to hear your thoughts on other works of fiction (from Ito or anything else really!)
I always saw her as a victim who was stuck in a perpetual cycle of unresolved dread and hatred. All her curse(?) revolves around that original event. She is doomed to repeat it over and over for the rest of her life. With each interpretation it drives her crazier and she loses her sense of self.
Just a quick note, -ko is a somewhat common suffix for feminine names in Japanese. The fact that many of the heroines names end in it might be less of a pattern and more of a coincidence.
Just wanted to mention that. Great vid.
I think there's also an element of pregnancy/conception/birth horror with the respawning Tomies. She was (maybe) pregnant when she died, and new versions of her keep being "birthed" by her body parts. The Tomies cannot split on their own. They are created after she suffers physical or psychological abuse, typically at the hands of a man. That could also explain the odd hatred she has for her copies---conceived from male violence, leading the "mother" to resent and reject her "children". She sees them as tumours, as growths that are harmful and unnatural, as things that need to be killed so she can live.
I also think it's fascinating that Tomie can only escape this cycle of being abused and producing a "child" (a new Tomie, a new victim) by inhabiting a man's body. She can no longer birth children. She will no longer have men tripping over themselves to assault her and create a new horrible piece of the Tomie puzzle. She is free.
Idk, I just think she's neat.
i'm not sure if ignoring the supernatural parts in the equation of Tomie while analyzing her is a good idea...
we are talking here about a horror manga after all, where Tomie is at best victim of a curse and at worse the monster itself ... not taking it into consideration makes me feel like something is missing the "Reimagining" part
28:42 what? This is not a satisfying comeuppance! This is Tomie _winning._ Tomie’s “deaths” are not a punishment that creates karmic justice but a moment of ruin the fulfillment of her monsterous goal: to reenact that moment of violence that ended Tomei #0. But unlike her predecessor who was disempowered, defeated, denied agency, denied life, Tomei the cancer gains all these things whenever she is “killed.”
You sound like a man.
What I em getting is that abuse is mutual and cyclical
Also, the Take-Over seems to imply that literally nobody has control over the curse
Not Tomie, and not the people who kill her, because even the Parasite falls victim to it while inhabiting her body
the tomie takeover short story really does put a new perspective on how i viewed her, its such a horrifically tragic existence man
definitly looking forward to more juji ito videos
I always look at Tomie like a flat worm parasite. Not only does killing her just end up making more of her but she can also infect other girls and take them over junji really came up with the best little monster with her character
I always saw Tomie as a "Don’t go into the thicket in search of the lion" kinda thing. She doesn't really have any morals, she is just some weird fungi creature that when poked with a stick lets out toxic spores. She just happens to live around humans. Or...they. Pretty sure there are multiple of them.
That is more of a in universe "science" explanation, though. Not about theme.
This interpretation is kinda funny to me, how does a sapient, mobile fungus who keeps regrowing into a girl and to some degree shares her memories seem in any way more scientific than "this teenager is cursed to keep regrowing ad absurdum"
the fact i read the manga but my dumbass couldn't really process anything so this really helps
tysm for the video, felt like i was hanging out w an epic friend
Tomie feels like some sort of corrupted ghost after her first death. She's doomed to repeat an ever-escalating cycle of the destructive patterns that led to her first death, and all the while, she's drifting further and further away from the child she used to be the first time, the perpetual acts of dehumanization making it harder and harder for her to remember what it's even like to be human. She's possibly drawn against her will towards people who have the capacity to prey upon her and then justify it to themselves; on second thought, she almost certainly is. And she's just becoming increasingly vengeful, increasingly nihilistic, increasingly angry and empty inside as she is murdered again and again and again and her murderer tells anyone who will listen that she had it coming. She winds up becoming a monster herself. She's just kind of... doomed.
Sage's Rain made a video on Tomie with the similar perspective on her as the ultimate victim, perpetually being objectified until she gets discarded and blamed for it, and continuing the cycle by victimizing others, and I've always agreed with the interpretation. Tomie got dismantled and disseminated by so many that even what she is/was is no longer recognizable to the original. She's like an infinity mirror, reflecting cruelty onto cruelty, forever and ever until either the end of time or until someone smashes the mirrors
I think Tomie is relatable to so many women because it is oddly feminist, as readers most of us are able to understand how Tomie is mostly demonised in the eyes of men. The horrific things she does are often things that women would never do, but that some odd day we all wish we could do to the men that treat us like Tomie has been treated. It becomes even more enjoyable as these murders are what we see men do to women as femicides simply for just existing. Personally I find the one with the boy is how Tomie has been so mistreated she has gone completely horrific and insane, Junji Ito portraying her doing something so horrific that we as an audience could never even begin justify. I believe that Tomie always coming back can be seen as a metaphor for how women will always be mistreated for just being women, no matter where they are or who they are. Yes I read into things too much, I'm a literature student, sorry lol
I'd love to watch video about Uzumaki from you!
This one has been great, love how you presented the story and delved into the possible meaning of it
The scariest thing about Tomie is that there is no rhyme or reason to how/why she operates as she does. She just "wants" to set up her little simp fiefdoms, get attention, admiration and gifts, ruin the lives of her rivals (clones or not) and her male victims, get off'ed, get cut to pieces, make more clones, rinse and repeat.
Like a messed up fungal parasite or a sentient virus, but one that also fights itself. If there are too many "fully grown" Tomies in an small area they will compete or fight for dominance by sending "followers" after the other clones.
No one is safe. Kids, nope. Old people, nope. Even her childhood friend becomes a target.
It's the unknown that makes her all the more terrifying.
It is noted that everyone suffers for their involvement with Tomie. The argument falters when we consider how Tomie reacts to the people who are not obessed with her. It is like an insult to her and she goes out of her way to tempt and prod them. Instead of trying to survive, she seems more like she is seeking out her own doom,
She reminds me of a cancer or virus, spreading to a host and yes, if the cancer succeeds, it will kill the host but ultimately if the host dies it dies too. Her success will always end in her death
i think its a emotional self preservation tactic. She NEEDS everyone to be obsessed with her and want to kill her because if some peoples arent then that means that the people who ARE obsessed with her and killed her actually had a choice and its not some curse that makes everyone attracted to her and want to kill her. It means that they CHOSE to do that, and i think that would be a very painful thought for Tomie so she completely disregards that thought and assumes she just needs to manipulate them more to get them to obsess over her.
I think it echoes how a lot of abuse victims start feeling things are "off" when they get to know someone new and things are going well and the person doesn't antagonise them, because it derives from what they're expecting from others, you get so used being treated a certain way that anything else is nothing short of dreadful
@@jr-hc2iv thisssss
Tomie for me is a story about anguish, no matter how many she come back, things are still the same, no matter the looks, the names, people mostly treat her the same with some few exceptions, it slowly drain always her humanity till there is nothing left.
But Tomie herself doesn’t changes at all, she keep being her bratty self from her first life.
I think this is Junji comentary on social stagnation, both Tomie and all of those people that hurted her never changes, through out all of the stories, Tomie held on to her anguish about how people always treated her the same way, society will always think that they have the right to judge and condemned her, both side think themselves right, so no one change and the same mess up story keep happening
She is both a victim and a bad person or even a perpetrator. All of these things all can be true at once. She is not just one thing but a multi fasted person. At the end of the day she isn't the perfect victim which makes people not see her as such.