Which one do you like best?

My two favorite short stories by Junji Ito are

• Hellstar Remina
• The Long Dream

I really like the concepts of both stories, although I find Hellstar Remina more interesting and action-packed, whereas The Long Dream actually makes me feel uneasy. In Hellstar Remina, I think the idea of ​​the man-eating planet is really cool – I'm generally into cosmic horror/Lovecraftian horror. And with The Long Dream … I don't know. I think it's mainly the drawing (you know which one.) And also how quickly it all happened. Like, how quickly the dreams of the patient – I can't remember his name – became longer. It really got to the point where he – what was it? – lived through several hundred, thousand years in just one dream – really lived through them! Not just, say, 5 or something. It was a constant upward trend and before you knew it… Well.

I'm assuming you already know these two stories because they're among his more well-known ones, and I haven't spoiled anything for you.

Please also write when you became a fan. I was 9 or 10.

Oh, that's early. I haven't known him that long. For… about three years, I think. So, around 22.

Although I had already come across at least one of his works before, I didn't know at the time that it was him and that he had written/drawn other stories.

I was about 16 or so, I think, and back then I still occasionally watched Kurono or Koruno or whatever it's spelled (anime YouTuber), and he did a "Hands Off!!!" episode about GYO – by Junji Ito. But I didn't think much of it at the time. In retrospect, I still think that Ito's horror works better on paper, in black and white, than in series/films, in color (plus: page-turn effect – much better than jump scares), but… The longer I think about GYO, the scarier it gets. Regardless of the medium. Although I feel more sorry for the fish, etc., that suddenly grew giant metal legs and arms and now crawl out of the sea. I mean, did they even mean that? Don't those things hurt? 🙁