A Sarutan (planet from another dimension) noise/minimal artist.
Being th… Read Full Bio ↴A Sarutan (planet from another dimension) noise/minimal artist.
Being the rhythm guitar player for Anak Krakatoa and for the now disbanded 010054, ___dREàgänN|||||| wanted to create the complete opposite of what he does in his band. No rhythm, no structure, no composition, no song.

He started working on his first earthly noise song, the never released 'Mantra Whistle', in December 2007. His earthly debut album, Vertebrae, was released a month later. Following the postive reception of Vertebrae, he started working on a sophomore album, which he released in the March 2008.

His instruments include his guitar, his voice, his band mates and anything that creates a sound or noise he can record, whether it be sounds found in the outside world or sounds created using everyday stuff or garbage.

___dREàgänN||||||'s release rate is quite fast, which isn't abnormal for the noise-genre. Most of the albums are quite experimental and dissimilar to his previous releases. Recently he has been venturing into new territories, most notably lolicore.

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March Of The Snail
___dREàgänN|||||| Lyrics

No lyrics text found for this track.

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

Most interesting comments from YouTube:

JannetFenix

2y↑4

@El Halle Point you missed is that the horror of terminal illness touches not just the person in question but their entire surroundings. That's the horrible thing, how in the heartfel desire to care for child, her parents are aso deprived of their life. Her friends can not see her as human anymore. She knows everyone simply wishes for this everlasting torture to end. The horror of loving someone but realizing that tending to their progressing condition is so exhausting you wish it to end? Knowing, that the child is aware of it?

The "bigotry" IS personal. It's noone else's problem but the person touched by it. It doesn't change life of anyone but the one who has the problem and the problem CAN be adressed and dealt with personally. I'm tired of people bringing up the "buuh people get killed cuz of it" - they are not, at least not in communities that these works are adressing and not for reason of simple "inacceptance".

But let me stay on topic: there are more ways in which the point video tries to bring up is farfetched.

Slug girl starts healthy and withers away, and while her parents try to alleviate the symptoms, it's not them or her friends that are responsible for her state worsening and worsening. They simply cannot do anything about it because they're helpless against it.

She HERSELF wants the condition to stop. She doesn't want people to accept her "difference", she wants it to end.

Her condition is not problem because she isn't free to be who she wants to be; her condition is the problem, because slug issue takes away her dignity as human being and reduces to mere vessel, filled with slug and perceived only as it.

Her "condition" is not ignored - its just her condition takes away her entire humanity, because ebery action performed around her is done with the condition in mind.

And most of all, her condition is not downplayed as something that can be "fixed" or "will pass"; the sollutions offered by parents bear mark of the desperate means of those devoid of patience and hope.

I am tired of people seeing a thing and immediatelly making it about self-victimization, ego-obsession that strips the world of art and media from multitude of far more complex and mature concepts. This stencil simplification is what repulses me.

El Halle

2y↑3

@JannetFenix Dude, simply because someone does not agree with your opinion, doesn't mean it's repulsive.

If your going to use that point, I think it's repulsive to not understand that bigotry isn't something personal and closeted.

It is actually everywhere. People get murdered, assaulted and bullied daily for being who they are. Its so widespread it's honestly insane, and to be frank I would not consider it closeted.

It's hopeless to worry if you're going to die, or get bullied or assaulted for being who you are, maybe not as worse as terminal illness, but still fucking horrible.

I think you have a very good point about the story, but calling my opinion which is literally just interpreting something different than you repulsive was completely uncalled for and unneeded.

There are a lot of problems in this world, and just because you don't think the same about this one, does not change how bad the problem is.

Bigotry isn't just rejection. It's constant fear. Its the acceptance that people will never truly see you how you are. It's the fact that there is a chance that going out today might be your last day alive.

Clearly you've never educated yourself on how bad this is. I literally just got beat up a week ago for being non-white. I don't know who you are, but I'm taking a guess that you don't know how that feels.

Terminal illness is horrible, and I think your opinion is very intelligent and all, but calling my opinion repulsive and saying I'm downplaying terminal illness, yet you said bigotry is a closeted issue, is totally hypocritical to a insane degree.

C

1y↑1

@Jesus Christ
Oh, sure, sorry, didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.

And I mostly debate it because I enjoy to debate things. And art, in part, exists for its consumers to speculate about it. My reasons for debating it are probably much like yours and the reason why so many people responded to my comment with the intent of disagreeing and debating.

I can certainly understand wanting to see more representation and analogies to the transitioning experience, but I feel like projecting it onto stories that don't really have it cheapen it for other stories that actually do.

Take for example the Star Trek TNG episode "the Outcast" now that has some VERY strong, obvious and almost definitely intended LGBT+ subtext.
I would... not necessarily recommend watching it, however. In order to garner sympathies for the change the show wanted to bring and to have an emotional ending, it has a gut punching bad conclusion.

Benersan the Bread

4y↑396

I really can't see the Metamorphosis parallel to be honest. You yourself said that Samsa transformation isn't treated as otherwordly. In Slug Girl it clearly is! Her parents don't disgust and hate her, they're horrified by what is happening to their daughter. Her transformation is clearly painful and uncomfortable for her and it's not like they had any other options to help their daughter that they didn't try, they were desperate.
Showing her father grabbing her clothes out of the salt pile as an example of him "overstepping boundaries" seems like an especially massive leap. He was trying to find his lost daughter!

If anything it's a story about bullying. Her transformation is her trauma coming back to haunt her. I mean, if her parents had accepted her, slug included, then what? She'd still be unable to eat or talk. She'd constantly feel something crawling in her mouth or have to constantly keep her mouth open. If it is allegorical in the way you say it is, I don't think having the transformation be something that horrible and uncomfortable is a good way to express it.

And saying that it's a bit too cruel to just be about a horrible mutation is... odd to say the least. Isn't the obsession with Amigara Fault cruel? What about having your own head chase you, trying to hang you in that story I always forget the name of? What about being powerless to stop unending horror? The genre is horror after all.

I'm not saying that it's not, but I don't think dismissing the idea that it's not allegorical very fair. The details you said were "too anecdotal to be about a girl with a slug in her mouth" work just as well from the perspective you dismiss. Knowing that she fears slugs and has trauma relating to them makes the position she's in even more horrible.

Also, she ends up being even more slug in the end, how is that the nail that sticks out being hammered in? I'm going to be repeating myself but I really can't understand how it's a story about rejection when she wasn't even able to feed herself. That detail makes zero sense if the story really is about bigotry. It shows that she's literally unable to live on in the state she's in.

Nemo Windsor

1y↑1

Yeah, it’s not about being different. These things that happen to both characters aren’t things that they are, they are things that happen to them that understandably bring them shame and cause them to become recluses, imprisoned in their bodies and homes. The horror comes from them transforming and how they are treated afterwards, of losing their sense of self and humanity and becoming enslaved by the lowest of the lowest creatures - for Gregor, he becomes unable to fight off the mind of the cockroach, and for Slug-girl, she becomes a passenger on its back, sheltering its body while retaining her mind and losing her own body and mobility.

The cockroach is not Samsa, the slug is not Slug-girl. They can easily represent illness, mental illness, fears of inadequacy or becoming a parasite, but they aren’t integral parts of their personality. But people aren’t their mental illness. Being mentally ill isn’t who you are. The slug is a parasite, an invader. It steals her body. It is not Yuuko.

There are Ito stories that do explore the horror of being different in a society that values conformity. Many of them. But not this one.

The reason Yuuko scares the protagonist is because she’s afraid the slug is contagious. The slug, the parasite, has infected her friend. The panic and fear is an understandable disgust response and doesn’t work as an allegory for unfair social rejection. The slug certainly doesn’t work as an allegory for ‘being different’, but it does work as an allegory for illness. We are horrified at illness and designed to shun the sick - because that kind of behaviour protected us from contagion and parasites.

I just can’t get behind this take.

Chip Noir

4y↑8

The thing that really struck out at me is that the more they tried to diminish the "Slug" the less left there is of her besides the slug.
Because so much focus can be put on identity politics, people can be lost in a cause. They either start to become so ingrained in protecting that side of themselves that they forget how to exist beyond it, or others will only focus on that part of them and forget that there's an entire human being beyond it. I've experienced both sides. Being so boxed in by my fear of rejection as a young teenager, I often found myself introducing myself as gay as quickly as possible. Hell because I was so focused on that identity I couldn't even face my own biphobia, or my own actual identity as an andro-centric bisexual until much later after even coming out in the first place. I didn't have room in my life to think of or present myself as anything other than a gay male, for fear that that still very important part of me would be rejected, and everything else about me would be rejected wholesale along with it. I sleep with and fall in love with men, but that isn't the entirety of who I am. But it's important, and it';s threatened, and I feel a need to protect it even today.

On the flipside in social media, so often I find myself reducing other people based on just what kind of a political party they're in. There's no room for nuance in how I interact with much of the world online. All it takes is for one comment to feel threatening and more often than not I've been ready to write that person off as a given threat: That they'd vote against my safety, that if I met them in person they'd attack me. That their very existence based on a few lines of minimum context dialogue defines my impression of their value.

I am an Other, but I've also turned total strangers into the Other as well. I'm working not to do that anymore, but it's hard.

Manti Core

4y↑2.8K

While I don't disagree with your Analysis of the Story, I do have a small Problem with it, though it could be that I just read too much into a Detail.

Also, to be clear, I'm not trying to be passive-aggressive or try to post a "Gotcha!"-Comment, it's a Detail that does bother me:

As I've said, I don't disagree that the Story is about being different in general. But it is clearly shown, that the Slug - the Thing, that makes Yuuko different - is clearly harming her, starving her as she can't eat and then, after her Parents tried to "cure" her, using her Head as a Shell, while she has to live on as a Head. (if she even is alive)

It's not the same as with the Protagonist in "Metamorphosis", where he could have had a somewhat happy life if Society wasn't so bigoted against giant Insects and just accepted him as he was.

In Slug Girl, Yuuko couldn't eat or speak (two very important things as a living Being and as a Human) due to the Slug blocking her Mouth. Even before her Parents tried curing her with Salt, the Slug was physically harming her in a way, that wouldn't have changed if Society was more accepting of People with Slugs as Tongues, as the Slug wasn't a normal Part of her Body and more of a Parasite or a Tumor.

While I don't think that Homo- and Transphobia or most Mental Illnesses don't fit into the Story at all (they do, if you don't look too hard at small Details like me), I do think, Junji Ito had something specifically in mind.

I'm thinking about People with extreme Illnesses, where they basically need to be fed and cared for daily and the Illness basically Hijacks their Bodies like the Slug does with Yuuko's Head. Nobody would want to live like this if they had the Option. And it still does fit with your Analysis of a Society that would rather see those People revert back to "normal" by any means or even simply make them disappear than them being cared for.

I personally worked briefly at Care Center for Children with Autism and one Kid (or better, Teenager) had an extremely severe Version of it - and even I, as an emotionally somewhat distant Person, was shocked when I realised that even the Workers there saw that Kid as more of a Burden (despite still doing their best to care for him) because he was so hard to work with and would harm himself within Minutes if not supervised every Second.

This was the Kind of Person I was thinking of, when you described the Story - a Person who isn't just different because Society doesn't want those People; but different in a Way that it harms themself even if Society tries it's best to care for them. And if left to less knowledgeable and understanding People (like Yuuko's Parents), Kids like him would be probably subject to the most cruel and harming ways of "Healing", left to be a Husk of themself if they even survive.

Seven Proxies

2y↑1

I've felt like a misfit throughout most of my life. But during my formative years, I guess I had the luck of being taught the lesson that "different" does not equate to "bad". So generally my outlook on differences have been that our differences makes the world a more interesting place to be in, and that by being different from other people I can at the very least contribute a different perspective to the group.

Sadly, I feel that the way the public political discourse is taking a wrong turn.

Instead of embracing being different, some political activists I have come to dislike seem to demand that their differences being considered "normal" by mainstream society. Usually with huge amounts of hypocrisy tied to it.

In general, I think it's wrong to try and force people to view you as "normal" when you're not. It makes the normies less amicable and accepting towards you.

My personal philosophy is more about being honest about my misfit status, but at the same time showing people that i'm not a bad or harmful person because i'm different.

And frankly, it works most of the time. Far better than making demands and calling other people bigots.

So my advice is this: if you feel like you're not "normal", then ask yourself: why would you want to be? Will "being normal" really fix your problems?

All comments from YouTube:

Prabhdeep Singh

4y↑2.8K

I have realized that what makes Japanese horror so creepy is that they unapologetically end their stories in a hopeless state where the protagonist is made to suffer even without their fault at all. Movies like Kairo, Dark water are such stories where things go from bad to worst. This type of horror stays with you for days after watching these movies or anime. It makes you think philosophically too which is rare especially in horror genre.

Scroto

1y↑1

@Fiction Lover What? Read what I said, I said that western horrow was a lot better than japanese horror in some parts, for example there is a good reason for punishment in western horror, the transgression of rules that should be left untrespassed, in japan there is not common to use that ( as far as i can tell)

Fiction Lover

@Scroto Japan godly, west bad, see it everyday lol

Scroto

1y↑1

Western horror is based in transgression, if yo do things bad you will get punished, japanese horror is different, in this regard i hold western horror as highly superior, but in othet things japanese horror is far better.

Prabhdeep Singh

@Mao Rutte I recently saw that movie. It was great.

Mao Rutte

You should watch Noroi: The curse

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Layuni Rocha

4y↑1.7K

Although I think you can definitely fit mental health, sexual orientation and other ways of being “different” in the meaning of the story, I feel like it reflects more accurately terminal illnesses. My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and died one year later. I watched the whole process and this story reminds me so much of it that it’s become hard for me to even finish it. The repulsion (both from the patient towards themselves and the family members towards them, even though it hurts to admit this feeling), loneliness and hopelessness, not being able to eat and wasting away as a parasite consumes you and then becoming nothing but a shell to that same parasite... Sounds A LOT like cancer to me. It’s at least exactly what happened to my mom.
Maybe my own personal experience is making me too biased to analyze the story, but I think the idea of being consumed by a parasite with no hopes of recovering can be applied to a lot of other illnesses other than cancer. Like Alzheimer’s or even depression.

LJW1912

Yeah I imagined it as a terminal illness allegory as well

Entteri

No at least I agree. Exactly the same case here. Grandmother died of pancreatic cancer, and it was the same case. And now dad was diagnosed with colon cancer, that has metastasized to lymph node and liver. And exactly the same pattern. You slowly watch a person you love, dissapear from their body.. 😐

Diana G.

im so sorry for your lost

Hawthorne

1y↑1

thats what I had thought as well! although I may be biased too since, inna similar situation, I had dealt with the slow process of losing my dad mentally through dementia, and physically as his body started failing

SlapHappyPants

2y↑1

I was thinking something similar! I recently diagnosed two years ago with several genetic chronic illnesses that have quite honestly reduced me to a shell of my former self, and because they are genetic in nature there is no "cure" for them. So all that repulsion and fear and anger and repeated failed attempts to fix an unfixable issue felt very relatable. Though I also related to it through my mental health issues and from being lgbtq. The amount of flexibility this story has while still giving such a potent message is just so masterfully done

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Syd SugarSkull

4y↑1.9K

As someone with Asperger’s but also suffers from depression and anxiety since childhood, this really hits close to home for me. 😔

Spregged72

@Jessica Evans they’ll only understand when we stand up for ourselves. Until then we’ll be constantly portrayed as either idiots or savants. We need to do what we’re the worst at: presenting ourselves as we are to the world loudly and fiercely.

Jun Robin

I know how that feels. I'm in the same boat and I had to search so hard to find some people that care for me. So I really hope it's better for you now as it has been for me. You totally deserve it.

MozarteanChaos

@BUCKAROOBOI please read

MozarteanChaos

3y↑2

@NEET thank you for assigning people "loser" status based on your arbitrary and unknown reasoning. surely we can trust you, youtube user... NEET... hmm.

LanieMae

@Aye Jay lmao

26 More Replies...

AsFlowingWater

4y↑3.3K

The moment you said "condemned to live the rest of her days as a literal shell", my mind went straight to lobotomy and other ways mental health has been dealt with in the past, often leaving patients far more hurt than they were when they'd entered treatment. The fact that it's a fate unwittingly imposed on her by her parents' choices strengthens this similarity even more. You're right in saying this story lends itself to a lot of different interpretations, which is definitely part of what makes it so poignant and memorable!

Brooke

3y↑7

@Emerald Black hm yes a conservative website their views wont be biased at all

magnusm4

So basically it's a story about the Kennedy family.

Google User

4y↑4

You can spin it around. You can define the slug as her true self, wearing her societal persona and former forced idendity as a shell.

- chipped stars -

4y↑4

Makes me think of Bojack Horseman's grandmother, who is a terrifyingly good example of how lobotomy affects people in horrible ways.

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Ayo Stap

4y↑739

I love how most of these comments are respectfully disagreeing and not just attacking him.

Bloodlust

2y↑5

@Augusto Vasconcellos imagine disagreeing in a respectful matter. Couldn't be twitter

iris

3y↑5

@Augusto Vasconcellos tiktok could never do that someone once called my brother plastic bc he was wearing some different football kit and was able to meet football players on some other team 😀

Augusto Vasconcellos

3y↑46

I spent so much time on the shittier parts of YouTube and Twitter that for a second there I forgot people could even do that.

Respectfully disagreeing? What a concept...

Sainshring Langthasa

4y↑53

I love those kinds of people

ghostcohort

4y↑249

when i saw this i thought it might have some relation to an eating disorder.
being called fat is such a schoolyard insult that can sadly destroy people internally once they grow up, especially in girls around Yuko’s age. for example, the slug taking literal control of her eating habits, creating a literal physical AND mental aversion to something like salt, which is notorious in pro-ana circles as a big nono as it can cause water retention, leading to weight gain. her parents forcing her to submerge herself in salt could me a metaphor for people trying to force people suffering with eating disorders to eat in an attempt to ‘cure’ them which can just lead to isolation (ie yuko hiding in her room/withdrawing from socialisation) and worsened restriction/purging habits that ultimately gives the eating disorder more control over a person, i.e, her body literally shrinking and her head becoming nothing but a shell for the slug, like someone becoming so overcome by their eating disorder that they become nothing but a shell of their former selves or a just a literal home for their eating disorder. just a potential theory though!

Kanee

Holy shit, good analysis

El

2y↑6

Brilliant take as someone who’s had a friend with an ed and seen them in and out of hospital I never knew about the salt thing thank you for explaining it to me this comment is brilliant

ghostcohort

3y↑1

@Nimaz Sheik :’) thank you!! i really appreciate it

Nimaz Sheik

3y↑15

Out of all the analysis of the story, I like yours the most. Slug Girl is a perfect representation of what girls that age go through when being called fat or bullied especially by other girls their age.

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Created By Seere

4y↑774

How would accepting her with the slug in her mouth helped her though? It prevented her from eating or talking coherently.

The parents jumped to conclusions when trying to help her, but it's not that they rejected her and kicked her out or anything. They were trying to literally save her life.

darklord884

2y↑1

@El Halle That doesn't really make much sense when viewed in context. What you said basically implies that she saw the parents hating something and because of that she started turning into something similar.

For one, slugs are actual pests. They aren't just 'different' they are actively harmful to other things around them. If you equate slugs to minorities, you directly imply that the book implies that minorities are harmful, negative creatures by their nature.

Second, she didn't start rejecting the slug because her parents hated slugs. It started harming her on its own without any input from any other party. You can argue what the parents did was ineffective or somehow hastened the process. What you cannot do is try and claim the slug was good for her when it is clearly shown it was not. She can barely eat, she can't talk,she feels disgusted and nauseous, I doubt you could argue that the slug in her mouth was somehow 'helping' her by causing her all these things.

El Halle

i think thats the point. they didnt reject her, they rejected slugs which in turn was rejecting what she was becoming. You could argue that when your a minority, you dont become anything but many people dont think of it that way. They want to change parts of you that cant be changed.

darklord884

2y↑1

@La Vitorroja I don't know man. Seeing another person suffer from a terrifying physical condition and going "Oh cool! Can I feed it?" sounds more crazy to me than trying to help her by removing it. Lots of commenters seem convinced the slug would have disappeared if her family accepted her but there's no information to suggest that.

darklord884

weird internet person And how do YOU know that? How is she different if not because of the slug? There is no information to suggest something else changed about her, she hated it and THAT's why her tongue became a slug.

darklord884

2y↑2

@Manawa The problem with what you said is the allegory still has to make sense for the message to be adequately delivered. If Ito wished to make this tory about sympathy for those who are 'different' and the bigotry they face, he would have made the slug beneficial to her but seen as bad by others. But it is physically bad for her, not to mention mentally. If seeing this you argue that the slug represents some societal function people hate, then that also implies that said societal function is bad and causes harm to the one carrying it regardless of outside influence. The slug started hurting her way before anyone else tried to kill it.

To take your allegory about scents and messages in arabic culture, sure, the scent merely delivers the message but if the intended scent is daisies and the product smells of farts then whatever the message, it was lost during delivery.

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Agata Kubala

4y↑816

I agree with people in the comments saying it's not about bigotry - having a slug living in your body isn't a positive thing in the story, it's not even a neutral thing. It's something bad that prevents you from living a normal life and slowly killing you.

What the point of the story could be is that sometimes bad things happen to people for no reason, be it disease, accidents, trauma - and we're powerless to help them. Trying to make everything go back to normal can in fact be harmful, and some people, like the school friend, can be unable to cope with and face what's happening. And sometimes it doesn't get better, ever, and we end up stuck with a sad slug girl in our garden.

It also works pretty well without a metaphor. "Wouldn't it be fucked up if that happened" is a pretty good point by itself, and one Junji Ito seems to enjoy making. He's said that he enjoys simply taking mundane things and seeing if he can make them horrifying.

deadpantristan

1y↑1

@Jose peña if you do not relate to the interpretation then that's valid for you to feel, and i'm honestly happy that you seemingly haven't had to experience something causing you to relate to the story in that way. however, you are not so important that you personally not agreeing with someone's take on a story with many interpretations makes your feelings are the only "correct" ones.

Cosetta Pessa

1y↑1

@Jose peña 😂 yes

Jose peña

1y↑5

The moment he said bigotry I burst out laughing, this guy is full of crap.

Spregged72

Did you never take English literature classes? Yes there is symbolism and allegory in the story if you close read it. Don’t take the story at face value.

Take for example Lord of the Rings. What was that story about?

Roll Caskett

2y↑2

Making me worry whether or not my tongue is going to turn into a slug is a pretty compelling achievement for horror in fairness.

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TheIVEyed

4y↑790

The biggest issue with this story is it should be called "Snail Girl" because slugs don't have shells

Teratoma 彡 Prod.

3y↑5

slug girl rolls of the tongue better tho

sculptorgalaxy

3y↑11

wait i think this is just because in japanese, they have the same word for slug and snail (katatsumuri)? correct me if im wrong, im kinda rusty on that

Alan Hagerty

3y↑15

Well at least in the translation I read slug girl mentions it uses her head like a snail their shell so ito may be aware of this.

My question is does the snail like make her hair look like that or do the parents comb it like that? Its styled in a spirl (callback?) in a clean deliberate way. so like does the slugnail like wiggle all over it? Like ligit that is a talented slugnail, it should be a hair dresser. Do the parents take turns combing the shell head of thier daughter? At that point you are actively saying "I cant be bothered to get a doctor for this". That or they really hated her though the salt bath told us that already

N O T A B O T 2 0 0 0

4y↑30

Snail female

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NireF

4y↑285

I kind of disagree with the analysis of this being a story where the main character is different and being hated for it.
It's very clear that the main character is not only disgusted by the slug but also the slug harms her, I don't see how that supports the idea of people just hating her for being who she is. If anything, it may very well be a story about some type of illness and how people perceive people with illnesses that cripple them, loved ones try to help but end up making things worse, until you're just a shell of yourself because of how much it advanced and destroyed your body.

El Halle

2y↑2

@JannetFenix Next time, educate yourself before you say a word to me.

JannetFenix

2y↑4

El Halle

2y↑3

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Asta C. J.

4y↑316

I was interning at a boarding school (I am studying to become a teacher in Denmark), and I tough a mix of English and Art (9th and 10th grade), and my chosen work was Junji Ito, we read Amigara Fault and the first two chapters of Uzumaki. The 9th and 10th graders ate it up! We did some drawing exercises based on Amigara Fault :)

Asta C. J.

@JapanischErfahren - einfach online Japanisch lernen English is not my first language :)

JapanischErfahren - einfach online Japanisch lernen

An English 'teacher' who can't speak English?

Asta C. J.

2y↑2

@RagnarRox I know a year has passed, but I am writing my final project in my teacher training class. And my chosen subject is English, working with this manga and the themes of being different. I am currently writing questions for the students about your video, as it will be used to discuss the manga! It is such a geast inspiration for my project! Thank you!

thatguy

4y↑2

I need to go to Denmark. If I did that in America I would be expelled and sent to a mental hospital.

Gabby G.

4y↑6

Wish u were my teacher ❤️that’s so cool & different to what most do. I appreciate you ! Keep this type of literature alive

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C

4y↑179

In the end, the slug is an eternal, unkillable tormentor. That might work well for depression, but I am not sure it works well for stuff like gender identity or sexual orientation.
To me, the story seems much more about the horror of being powerless to stop your life from falling apart, no matter what people try to do to help you. Powerlessness. The ultimate horror, isn't it? Being imprisoned in your own body, believing that things will never, ever get better, again, while your own self turns against you.

C

@Golden Misfittt
No, it absolutely is talked about. You can read several scientific papers on it and most found that the vast majority of people who transition do not detransition. And those 2% that do, often do because of outside pressure.

This includes studies from countries that are generally very anti-trans, so we can be quite confident that they had no reason to lie about these results, and the studies roughly all come to the same conclusion, so we can be very certain that they are genuine.

Golden Misfittt

@C incorrect it’s not very rare for some trans wanting to detransition. It’s just not talked about so much because ppl fear

C

1y↑1

Jesus Christ

@C not gonna lie, as a trans person I really don't enjoy the way you phrased that, transitioning and being transgender are different things especially when you include those who aren't on the binary or those who can't transition for personal and health reasons, I know this the internet and you won't care what I have to say but in the chance that you do then please just say "transitioning" and not "going trans" it sounds a lot like those stupid "stop transing our kids" signs

In regards to the book, I still think people are valid for seeing it however they see fit, like sure if you want to get down to the detail of things it probably doesn't fit in but I think I speak for most of us when I say we'll take the rep where we can get it, I'm not saying you're wrong but I dont see why you're trying so hard to convince the other commenter that you're right? Idk if that makes sense, take what I say with a grain of salt because in autistic and not good at presenting my arguments, I'm sorry

C

@Jesus Christ
"going trans" would be the actual pursuit of doing so, to make an active effort to transition. Because unlike the slug monster, it doesn't happen on its own, of course.

And my argument is that it's the opposite to a queer experience in too many ways to serve as an allegory. The girl doesn't want to change, doesn't enjoy her new life and didn't feel bad about how her life used to be. She is not hated or feared, but pitied. At no point is it implied that she needs or enjoys her change and she very clearly is miserable at the end of it, merely being a shell of her former self, while clearly still in the shell, not the slug controlling that shell.

The only way in which this story compares to the trans experience, is the vague idea of change and being different and that's simply not enough in my opinion, when all the other aspects are directly opposed to it.

13 More Replies...

Sasa

4y↑61

Gosh, Metamorphosis had me weeping. I've lived with pretty severe depression for 7 years and feel all the time like I'm literally subhuman. My boy Gregor deserved better.

Sellerie

have you tried yoga?

Raphael de Moraes Fontella

4y↑2

I can say the same about Saki...

Leroux Purple

4y↑885

The super imposed "Have you tried yoga?"really had me!

Alex Schalk

@Werewolf I think positivity and try to have a good mindset is helpful. I's not everything and can cure problems, but it does help

0Advocat0

3y↑4

@Kari166
I'll be blunt. Unless you're dealing with a very small child, chances are they're already aware about this, as it's not exactly secret information, so the "advice" is already generally not that useful. The problem is that in real depression, one of the first things to die is the force of will needed to implement anything.

word2believe

Most people confuse sadness with depression and they also confuse a good moment with happiness and wonder why they can't be always happy... They also think fame, money and power is the way of life and if you don't have that your life "sucks" and that's such a wrong and unfair way to think and live our lifes but sadly society programs you since childhood to be as princes and princesses. As Jesus said "in the world you will only find tribulations but be of good cheer i overcame the world", you will always have sadness and disappointments but you will also have good moments where you will feel happiness and pure joy, happiness is not a constant state, you change humor through out your day, but if you have a solid foundation as Jesus is you will have comfort despite your struggles, "come to me all that are tired and heavy burden and I shall give you rest", unfortunately organized religion uses and twists the word of God to take advantage of people and make money out of them but once you see what world you're really living in and how things are kept from you behind lies, once you start going after answers and seeing the truth, accept Jesus and you will have peace in you, it worked for me and it got me out of all the bad stuff and negative feelings, it doesn't mean I'm immune to feeling sad but i just don't sink like before because now i have a lifesaver, just thought I'd share this with you all, maybe it can help someone, much peace and love to you all in the name of Jesus Christ. ❤

August

4y↑4

@Kari166 because people always think it is somehow a cure when they suggest it

Kari166

4y↑2

What is the issue with giving suggestions? Doing things like yoga, exercising, and eating a healthy diet might not be a CURE but that doesn't mean there's no place for it or that it won't help.

6 More Replies...

Xyveon

3y↑24

I hate that schools teach you to "be yourself" at a young age when they're just setting up people with actual drastic differences for failure
I grew up with ASD and my entire childhood I was just conditioned to "be normal" and punished relentlessly for things I couldn't control
I talked too much so I forced myself to stop talking at all, and now I don't know how to make friends because I never had the chance to
People need to stop teaching kids that it's ok to be different without LETTING it be okay in the first place. Because it hurts

Benersan the Bread

4y↑396

Nicklas VEVA

3y↑2

Over analyzing simple stories just annoy me so much. It's just a girl turning into a snail. No one is looking at depressed people who are dying because of starvation like "You're just lazy!" anymore. If they do, they're just dumb. You don't just stop eating because you're lazy. If you're vibrant, active and talkative and suddenly just turn into an asocial basement dweller, there has to be some connection to be made.
People are just so obsessed with deriving meaning from nothing these days.

Bob Roberts

3y↑4

I very much agree that the correlation between Slug Girl and Metamorphosis is tenuous, at best. This story isn't really as deep as Ragnarox is insinuating that it is; if one explores its parameters even a bit, it doesn't even make any sense. Then again, it's not necessarily supposed to; Junji Ito is trying to shock and horrify us with a tale about an inescapable and terrible fate that befalls a girl. All we can do is read on as her situation becomes more and more dire, not examine it through the lens of psychosocial trends to determine what it's "really" about.

Bob Roberts

3y↑5

@ivaBroski I had been noticing now, for the past couple of years, that quite a few of these analysis videos of Ragnarox really do apply what I would simply call a modern or 'progressive' take on stories where there is little, if any, evidence that would support such a concept. It's almost ironic at the beginning of this video where he explains that the most obvious explanation of Slug Girl is just the surface of what it's "really" about; when in fact, there's not much beyond that, according to the author. I believe he gets caught up with the idea that because Mr. Ito is a great and renowned author, there must be some great (and complex) meaning behind everything that he writes.

Ninja Przenikacz

@S Hyde Indeed

Kopv 18

God i FUCKING love how ppl in the comment section of this vid are so respectable and dont just yell.Thx for a clean tiny comunity

23 More Replies...

Casandraelf

4y↑99

gonna side with Manti Core on this one: i see it as a metaphor for extreme or physically debilitating ailments. the slug does way more than rob yuko of her ability to speak. it robs her of her ability to eat, hence why she starves. similarly, when you have a chronic, severe or extreme illness, mental or not, it can impact your life. if your depression or other mental illnesses are bad enough, you don't do basic things to take care of yourself. certain physical ailments can render you completely helpless if you don't have some means of getting assistance or if you don't have someone or something by your side constantly to help you.

this can be a huge burden if you have to take care of someone like this and can even lead to you resenting or hating them for something that's out of their control because all they do is take, and it can destroy your life because you have to help them so much. you could interpret them using salt on her as a metaphor for abuse someone who's in this situation might face or the negative feelings their caretakers may feel. if it's not dealt with, it can overwhelm both the caretakers and their charge, and when that happens, it could be too late.

the end of slug girl, in my view, is a representation of the end result of the caretaker's resentment overwhelming the charge and leading to said charge ending it in an attempt to try and ease the burden they put on their caretaker, but anything the caretaker does is too little too late, as the relationship is destroyed somehow, either with the charge killing themselves or refusing to trust the caretaker

Mask

2y↑10

I'm seeing a lot of different interpretations of what Slug Girl is about in the comments and one thing they all have in common is that all of them are true to some degree.

That's what I love about these kinds of stories. Instead of shoving morals down your throat and telling people what everything means and how they should interpret it, they instead give more open-ended stories and ideas without giving a specific answer to what it's about and what is right and wrong, thus leaving the audience to ask questions and form their own interpretations that all have their own merits.

RagnarRox

2y↑4

Agreed! And yeah, none of the interpretations that I put forward here were meant to be "this is what it means", but it's supposed to show how malleable this story is for all kinds of exclusion and alienation and many other things.

mostly ghostie

3y↑9

I see how you came to the idea that Slug Girl would be about being different and bigotry, but it really does seem to me that the story’s subtext is that of illness. When someone gets cancer, the immediate thought is “What can be done to fix this?” This story shows that everything that Yuuko’s parents do to try to get rid of her ailment only harms her, and doesn’t help at all. This reminds me of how those with cancer, or their families, push for as much treatment possible, even though the person themselves isn’t guaranteed to even survive the treatment or the illness. This was an interesting video though, and definitely an interesting take!

Sasha Saunders

1y↑8

I never even considered the children teasing her with slugs. You really opened my eyes here. I always just saw it as a metaphor for depression, with self-harm only taking away the 'slug' for a short while and prescription drugs turning her into a shell of her former self.
Now I realise that it can easily be a metaphor for anything that goes against societies norm.
Thank you for this.

SunnYRainYDaY

4y↑21

i thought slug girl was about a girl who let her tongue get away from her. like she told a lie to great or one half truth to many and now she must continue letting these lies transform her to the point she becomes them. Metamorphosis in my view was a guy who lost his job, his sense of worth, and saw himself as a worthless bug who deserves to live like one (thus transforming into one) he completly forgot himself as a piece of his family because he lost his function -briefly fighting for his desk as it was something he would toil over as a child-.

KindredKeepsake

1y↑1

+SunnYRainYDaY This, absolutely. The first panel in the story even made a point of mentioning how the girl was a chatty one. She was likely a gossip who ran her mouth as well, who is suffering the consequences in the form of a supernatural cursed transformation.

Nemo Windsor

1y↑1

Chip Noir

4y↑8

Diego Rojas

4y↑108

Oh great, THIS Ito manga. I have a phobia for slugs and snails, but tried to overcome it, then I found out about this and Uzumaki's snail part, and I could never get over my phobia since

Piret Iris

Damn, I feel on ya man...
I am being bullied because of it...

Oaksynia

@Diego Rojas people "turning" into snails

Diego Rojas

@I live inside your house Let me guess, it has a snail/slug?

I live inside your house

You shouldn't read JoJo part 6 then

deadlast

4y↑5

Getting a phobia over a dream is always weird. When I was super young I had a dream were the hoover sucked my little sister up and I was anxious around them ever since though now I can actually walk past one without giving it a wide bearing

6 More Replies...

Jason

4y↑78

One of my most favorite horror manga creators, if you like his work there a game called World of Horror that came out not too long ago as it combines many of the stories and references into one game.

Laniakea S

Oh my is it already out?
Gonna buy it right away. Thank you.

feivel

4y↑2

he played that on twitch some days ago! :D

Masked.Fox

4y↑68

I loved the snails marching at the end with joyful music ♥ it was amusing ~
Overall, great analysis ♥ Thank you

Sleepy Sartorialist

Ever seen the marching cats video it’s from? It’s SO CUTE

Woomy;)

1y↑4

As a trans person with autism, I am very lucky to have been raised by people who understand me and wish to take care of me as best they can. I'm lucky to have grown up with people who love me unconditionally. Not everyone gets that opportunity, and my heart hurts for those who don't. Stay strong, it gets better.

Mike the Creepy Cawler

4y↑319

Nice deconstruction but I find it's more of about disability mental and physical then sexuality personally. As someone who suffers disability myself being unable overcome your disability is a kin to being a shell Pawn to a seemingly foreign entity it's not a good feeling in one that often Spurs oneself self harm in Less direct ways as much as the obvious.

deadpantristan

@K Östberg thank you. i am both queer and disabled, and seeing people fight over which interpretation is "the right one" rather than appreciating the amazingly written, universally relatable story is tiring and sad.

K Östberg

4y↑16

Junji Ito's work is amazing because he can bring people with mental and physical disabilities and sexuality and gender identity differences to resonate with a single story. Now that is some powerful narrative creation. Good tidings to you my friend.

KimAckerman 21

4y↑29

Ragnarox should also talk about My dear ancestors, The bully, Hanging balloons and Hellstar Remina. Those are the most disturbing in my opinion.

Seraphina Sullivan

4y↑2

"Glyceride" is another one

Zookreeper

1y↑1

I see it as a story about depression. It grows inside of you, feels disgusting, slows you down and ruins your self worth. It makes you want to isolate yourself and stop speaking to anyone. It makes it hard to move or eat if it's severe enough. Worst of all, most of the people around you don't know how to handle it. If they don't straight up run from you, they'll try to "help" in ways that only make it worse. Eventually, it can leave you empty, shriveled, and a slave to your own sluggish misery.

Julianne

4y↑56

Surely didn't expect you to talk about casual ableism directed towards people suffering from depression in a Junji Ito video. That was great though ! Great video.

Litticus

4y↑22

I really think you put a lot of meaning on this Ito short that really isn't there. Its as simple as something beyond our control forcing us to have a quality or deal with something that is awful, mental illness, addiction, etc. Most of his stories revolve around that simple narrative, but the amazing visuals and vagueness of said narrative cause people to reflect on them a lot more and read into things that aren't there. Even though that is what great story telling does, this story is not a metaphor for transphobia or homosexuality, as the slug is not in anyway symbiotic or something meant for her to grow into.

_Paws_

2y↑1

Her transformation is almost like what happened to Medusa, even though she is the one who was wronged, she was punished and turned into a gorgon and in this case become a snail/slug.

dinkle the itemlabel

3y↑2

Words cannot express how much I needed this video, felt sexually repressed all my life because of how I was raised, it's been causing me so much distress lately.

Imperiused

4y↑16

Fantastic video. Appreciate all the hard work you do in producing these videos.

Jackie McCann

4y↑57

“Junji Ito’s The Metamorphosis”
To be honest, I actually like that title more than the official one!

Elizabeth DeVido

4y↑16

Lovely video as always! This story reminds me a lot of The Vegetarian by Han Kang, another Metamorphosis horror story about a woman gradually turning into a human plant.

Manti Core

4y↑2.8K

hereticsaint

Well said.

Filipe Gomes

@Pleasant Leech If I remember correctly the snail would keep growing no matter what, and it would ingest whatever she tried to eat as well. It became nigh impossible for her to eat.

Alan Hagerty

I really like this reading. I am a little hesitant to say it is a definite answer because ito made another "person turns into snail" story that is very... explicit in being a metaphor for lgbt people. The snail boys yeeted into the mountains together, its a long story.

Its worth noting that the snail got worse the more she fought to contain it. Though we never got any evidence to the contrary, she only stopped eating when her parents got involved and force feeding salt is usually not a good way to negotiate with slugs. Its still a valid interpretation due to this though it needs to be expanded upon to say.

babie bastard

This is an excellent way to explain how I felt about this thank you

babie bastard

This is an excellent way to explain how I felt about this thank you

106 More Replies...

Devin Thompson

4y↑6

I went into this video fully expecting you to go "it scary cause she turn into slug" but I was very pleasantly surprised. The conclusion and the way you build to it is particularly enlightened. Definitely worth subscribing

Caroline

4y↑5

I read this as a 12-year-old girl so I read it from the perspective of Rie and although I had understood the flaws in the parents, I never pinpointed what her sin was. Thanks for this.

nillawave

4y↑1

i feel as if the story was made purposefully to fit with many different situations so that the reader can personally relate no matter what.

LycheeLune

4y↑14

Yuuko becoming a shell is literally saying that she became a husk/she'll of her former self

L i s s e t t e

2y↑2

the music could not have married better when it comes to what is being said simultaneously. starting at that 15:19 mark—insanely hypnotic in an extremely pleasing way. Wow, chills, thank you.

Incredible work. I love this video so much. It’s amazing what art can do and say to us. When it comes to ideas and how they are expressed; Junji Ito’s works and Metamorphosis have always been close to my heart. you’ve done great work here.

Sil7en

4y↑3

I love that these stories are so good that they are open to many different interpretations. I honestly hadn't thought about the one in the video nor the ones in the comment section, but I find them super interesting and spot on just as mine. When I read The Metamorphosis (and later on Slug Girl) to me they felt like stories about the injustices of not just society, but of the world itself. Here you have these perfectly normal people who all of a sudden end up being transformed by something unknown and out of their control, something that they have to resign to because there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it, just like how we're placed in situations that makes us feel trapped and helpless, and that will cause others to judge us for something that we cannot control and that they don't understand.

Seven Proxies

2y↑1

I wonder about the significance of the salt to the story.

In Japanese culture, salt is traditionally viewed as something that can purify places from evil spirits. Which is why Sumo wrestlers rituallistically throw fistfuls of salt around the ring before a match.

I think Junji Ito is trying to say something with the salt that doesn't only stem from the fact that salt is an effective repellant against molluscs.

J.H

You presented an excellent video essay. You presented excellent explanations to the nuancess of Junji Ito Slug Girl that us laymen have missed.

Alex Speake

4y↑1

I swear each one of your videos is such a gem, the effort that goes into the artistry of the video plus the dissection of the essay matter is so wonderfully crafted, they're always such a treat to watch 🍬🍬

Sam

You know how in movies, the theme of karma is what sets the villain's story? Some of Junji Ito's story lacks these. Meaning that even in your normal day something terrifying and unstoppable might happen. Even if you're the kindest person you might turn into a disgusting creature. Even if you're just a bystander, you might get doused in disgusting puss or become stranded in a blood sucking village. I think that's what scares me the most.

Beetle Guard

This video premiered on the same day that someone very important to me left me, and I think about it often when I'm in the depths a depressive episode. Especially your words on Kafka's The Metamorphosis, "they just judge, reject, and eventually hate him for it; for being different in a way they don't understand and don't want to empathize with." Ouch.

Qotice

4y↑4

Omg your analysis of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is exactly how I saw the story after I read it. The only person who made time for Gregor to understand him was the maid who showed it was possible to communicate with him. Great video!!

Charlie Maniac

When I read Slug Girl I couldn't help but thinking about one of these ghost stories. My first thought was that the girl was some kind of bully who would gossiping and lying all the time until she got cursed with a slug for a tongue. But I also like the theory that the slug is a metaphor for an illness or an eating disorder

feathero3

4y↑3

So I just read 5 of Junju Ito's stories
-Enigma of Amigara Fault
-Army of One
-Thing that drifted ashore
-Flesh-Colored Horror
-Slug Girl
I was one of those readers who just saw these as "disturbing stories for the sake of being disturbing." However after your video analysis's and reading some of the comments that expand on your interpretation, I'm starting to see how they could have deeper meaning. Maybe it's because the stories are from a different culture, but I'm really struggling to grasp the deeper meanings on my own.

Man can we chill? I want some fries

This video is an absolute masterpiece, the music and sound effects added so much to the experience.

Edía Paff

I like your reading, but I have to keep wondering if Junji himself really thinks about his stories that deeply. Maybe unconsciously, but I feel like he mostly thinks about a certain thing and then builds the story about that thing and the message in the end is always that you can't escape ever

Katie Whelan

4y↑4

The analysis was great to hear, but I appreciate the reference/shout out to Wandering Son at 21:43 ! It's underappreciated, so I'm glad to see someone mention it (even if indirectly) when discussing transphobia

Aidan Torvald

4y↑14

I'm a college literature instructor and I totally taught the Amigara fault in class. We even watched part of your video on it. :D

cartoon death noises

4y↑1

I want to read this, but I, like yuuko, have an intense fear of slugs(also because of an infestation in my childhood home). Like, the panels of her parents stomping out the slugs in the yard legitimately makes me so anxious and, obviously, the slug coming out of her mouth terrifies me... I understand it's a good story, but I just can't get through it...

jonathan b

Ragnar, this is one of your best video essays! Thank you for doing such a great work.

Dio brando.n

For me samsa waking up as the bug is like a physical representation of how people perceive others, and possibly themselves when it comes to mental illness and depression, while slug girl feels like the slug is more of a metaphor for people who have terminal illnesses like cancer, aids, etc. the giveaway for that is when the father suggests giving her salt because "slugs hate salt", like how people try making suggestions to people with terminal illnesses to change diets, try x supplement, or any other useless/ or harmful suggestion.

Noahs Arkhive

4y↑1

I made it through xwx*
I am always so intrigued by your junji ito videos because his stories seem really unique n creative n you show off their depth so nicely !
(But I have also massive issues with body horror - I'm again feeling quite nauseas from the slug girl pictures :"D But than to people like you I can enjoy the occasional junji ito story without having to read the whole thing myself :"""))) bless n thank you!)

Phantom Flower

4y↑5

I've never actually thought of a parallel between a junji Ito manga and a German novel. But hearing you explain is very interesting. Great video 😁

Mr. Rabbit

4y↑4

Thank you! I've been wanting a cover of this and you delivered!
Edit: Having fully watched it and you mentioned The Metamorphosis, one of my favorite stories, makes me like this video even more--again, thank you!!

Alex Lee

I like how an aspect of Japanese culture and thinking is that every person is related in a system and... Everyone is realizing a role. In the end, everything unbalanced gets balanced, sometimes in brutal ways.

Sarah B

4y↑1

It's so extreme and outlandish and yet it evokes such sympathy! I feel for her and she looks so sad. What an amazing artist.

Quetzal

4y↑619

Your editing is god like.

cræcker

first time ive seen a true 420 likes in the wild, and also the first time ive ever ruined it

Félix Joel De Jesús

Y cuando tu vas a sacar un video de junji ito, otro de horror cósmico también sirve

Rust Cohle

Quetzal!! ❤

Ali Bonner

3y↑2

13:51 is one of my favorites of this video. Just seeing all the things people say to those suffering from something they just don’t fully understand hurt. On the other hand seeing have you tried yoga made me think ‘yes thanks Karen.’

El Catrin C

3y↑1

Pero madre mía Willy ¿que haces aquí compañero?

4 More Replies...

궁예

4y↑58

More than anything, this reminded me of Harry Potter where Ron had to puke out slugs.

Timespent

4y↑2

This is the first time I've seen a manga analysis edited this way, and it works extremely well. I'm so impressed by all the little details you took the time to add, like pupils on the characters eyes shaking. Your videos just keep getting better and better, please never stop making them ❤

RebornFakeChannel

4y↑18

Would you mind doing a video of the Twin Victims? Your video about the Closer from Silent Hill 3 was really good and I think the Twin Victims more or less deserve the same recognition as Pyramid Head and the bubble head nurses.

Jennika Smith

4y↑1

I'm teaching Junji Ito in my First Year Writing class in the unit about visual arguments. I'm actually using your video for the class, so I found your comment about "I'd live for Junju Ito being taught in class" pretty funny. Since I'm teaching it in class, I thought I'd write you a comment and let you know. XD

ELIZABETH Santiago

4y↑2

junji ito's art is buried
with deep metaphor
that's why this should be studied more

Pleasant Leech

I swear after watching your Junji Ito videos I always come away with not only a different perspective on society but myself as a person.

Kimchii Is Confuzzled

I watched the animated version of Slug girl, it randomly popped up on my FB and I was instantly facinated by it, I don't know why, but I'm happy to watch this video and learn more about it.

Anderson Dawn

3y↑1

I like that this story could have many different interpretations, like someone saying it’s like somebody dying fro a terminal illness. To me it’s like the parents tried so hard to save her life instead of accepting her fate and letting her die, that she became a literal husk of her former self. It’s like someone left in a vegetable state or a coma, unable to die, and being kept alive by grieving parents/family who can’t let go. The parents in this story would rather their daughter remain a shell carried by that slug in their garden, than end her suffering.

Adam El Kanboui

4y↑173

"Have you tried YOGA ?" best line

Logge1002

Incredible video. Thanks Ragnar for doing Ito justice ❤️❤️ would love to see more manga/anime videos

Alan Hagerty

Interesting read I kind of read it as a metaphor for puberty. If you replace fear of slugs with blood and remember these are young girls you can see the parallels. Body horror occasionally stands as a metaphor for puberty as that is a time everyone can relate too.

I do like your interpretation of becoming the other. The slug being kept hidden form the world, growing causing the user to push away from friends and family, and finally breaking out to all to see. One can see how mental illness or being in the closet can mirror this.

Child of an Old Dead God

4y↑1

Man, I feel this. I had no idea 'The Metamorphosis' was about that! Now I really want to read it.
As someone who has been depressed my whole life with other undiagnosed mental issues that were continually misunderstood and mistreated, if at all, it really hits home.
I'm 20 and still living with my mother, not in school because I couldn't pass fucking high school and I'm struggling to get my education sorted out. My depression and what have you just... constantly bogs me down and I feel useless. It's just me living with my mother and I feel like such a burden. I like working, doing house work! I don't mind a lot of it! But I can't even muster the energy or sometimes even remember to do simple tasks to take care of myself.
That mixed with my struggle to make meaningful connections with people and communicate effectively, leading to having no friends, really does make me feel like a leech. I already felt like a freak, a disgusting creature, now my current situation is just solidifying that fact. Wish we had the money to get help, for the both of us lol. But we can't. So I can't help but feel dammed to this life of wallowing with random spurts of action until something finally ends me.

M L

Just found your channel and I love it, the amount of work and dedication pays off. Thank you!

Veronica Sardo

Before i say anything about the video I just gotta say, junji ito has a way to always make me feel ill and i love that, also i think the video is pretty spot on i think the messege ito tried to send its a mix of the sexual repression and mental illness (wich sometimes tend to go hand by hand) sometimes people cant exist as themselves bc their minds cant procesos the fact that "yes i am gay and its okay" and the depression caused by social and internal repression eats you out from within

Chris Alpha

4y↑5

I'm currently closed up in my house due to corona virus. A video of yours, let alone one on my favourite manga artist is so refreshing! Thank you!

I Live To Fight

I find the story to most deeply resonate (for myself, at least, as a nonbinary aroace with mental illnesses) as a tale of ableism. The slug is hurting the girl, but rather than finding ways to work around it, they continue trying to destroy it, all to her obvious detriment. They make her undergo dangerous "treatments" that end up leaving her far worse off than she was before. Physically disabled people are often demonized and presented as villains or "scary", especially those of us who are in some way visibly deformed. We are also often isolated by our conditions and far too many are left reliant on dangerous, harmful people like the parents. When she can't eat, they don't find an alternative way to feed her, they let her starve and force the harmful salt down her throat. At no point do they actually try to improve her life. They don't want to save her, they want to kill the slug.

Rakesh Ware

This was the first time I ever felt abject fear and repulsion toward basically anything,I don't think I can forget this anytime soon.

Tin Huynh

I always come back to this video from time to time, thanks for making my fascination of horror since a young age so much more enjoyable with age

Critical Gaming Channel

Loved this story! My brother and I first started reading Junji Ito's works at the tail end of my high school years and the beginning half of his. Like many others, we were captivated by the storytelling and the out-of-this-world page turning body horror. Ito's writing and art, along with the works of Inio Asano, Kentaro Miura, and Hiroya Oku are pieces that continue to inspire our own works to this very day.

When we came across Slug Girl, man oh man, did that story touch our souls. Being raised in a Black and Latino community, things like religion and heteronormativity were heavily enforced and pretty much expected of everyone. As a guy, if you were even suspected to be gay, bi, into "girly things" or anything else considered "unmanly" or "effeminate" (i.e my nail polish), you were gonna have a bad time. Safe to say me, my brother, and most of our friends didn't quite live up to their expectations.

Didn't mean to ramble there, but when those points were touched on in this video, it just really hit close to home.

MagusBurro

This stuff is awesome! I would want to read this gem as I don't think there has been a story quite like "The Metamorphosis" with its strong sense of alienation and silent despair. Junji Ito is probably our modern Kafka-Lovecraft artist. His adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was delightful. Great video and love your other stuff.

D T

4y↑3

With the Silent Hill(s) franchise being confirmed by Sony, Kojima and Konami, I sure hope Junji Ito will be called in it's making

Seven Proxies

2y↑1

Janus

4y↑1

its always has to definitively say what an artists work is about, but i think this interpretation is really interesting and even if it isnt what the author might have intended, it shows that a lot of art can be interpreted in very personal ways that can resonate with a lot of people. thank you for sharing this interpretation, even as someone who suffered from the things that cause isolation etc. i didnt really read into it much when i first read this manga.

Nuggs ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

3y↑2

Even if you don't agree with it...he make a great point about being different, it difficult in this world where all you want is love and acceptance ✨😔

Laniakea S

4y↑1

When it comes to Junji Ito's stories it's all about allegories.
One of my favourite stories is Layers of Fear.
To me it's the story of an overendulging narcissistic mother and her two daughters: one - golden child, the other - is black sheep.
And about the whole broken family pattern when overcaring could be a terrible abuse. Even worse than neglect.

Big Scrungus

4y↑21

RagnarRox makes a new Juji Ito video, oh hell yeah! I love this type of content

Winston Pham

The sound editing really shows the feeling with the panels, really shows your imagination in real audio form

Fey

Marvelous video! This is an interesting interpretation, and I can see the amount of thought you've put into it. It's amazing how art can really become whatever we need it to be, to have it resonate with us and teach us.

iOrigami

What also comes to mind, is 'Why I'm Afraid Of Bees' by R. L. Stine. About a boy getting turned into a bee. That stuff shook me.

Marina

I haven't finished watching yet but I thought I heard the slug girl story was inspired by a trendy way of speaking/dialect that young girls would try. Kind of soft and slow, not pronouncing consonants as hard. But just the starting inspiration doesnt need to mean much towards the end result and meaning.
Reminds me maybe of mari from aqours, nozomi from the gen before, and kotori has a short story where she said she had a dream she was a snail.
Also the sleepy girl in gen 3

elleofmusic

I really appreciate you seeing the messages there and making this excellent video. One thing I'd like to add however is that those stories also very deeply remind me of my experience with the slow but devastating onset of chronic illness leading to disability, and the way people respond to someone going through it. Fear, disgust, even hatred, for the burden you've become, for the blatant toll it takes on your mental state, for how it kicks you out of normativity and into a way of life commonly labeled as parasitic. They try to cure you with harmful, ineffective logic and treatment, they avoid you, take away your agency, and refuse to adapt to your needs. Your emotional and physical suffering, from your condition and the death of the life you wanted- no one sees that because your very existence as someone who was normal but for inexplicable reasons now is hopelessly "broken" terrifies them. They know deep down that it could happen to any of them, that there's no way to prevent or avoid it, nothing you did to deserve it, but if they don't believe that's the case, they have to confront that fear every time they see the state you're in.

TheArnoldification

4y↑7

The slug transformation specifically is what causes her distress. I don't understand how this is allegorical to societal norms concerning gender as discomfort with these people is rooted in how others perceive them (or refuse to see them) rather than their own identity.

SuperJohn1011

4y↑1

I like this reading of metamorphosis for sure. The reading my existentialism course had of kafka’s work focused on how one values the self. The protagonists dedicated his entire life putting his family first himself second, and how he measured his value on his ability to provide for his family. But when he Came down with something that made him no longer capable of providing for his family he and his family has lost all perception of worth he held. The overall findings we had on this perspective was essentially that you must value yourself intrinsically and have a measured amount of selfish behavior or else you risk falling into the same despair.

Arcus Lux

4y↑1

I've reread this along with Junji Ito's other works, and its still as scary and creepy like the first time I've read them and its amazing.

Vl4d21

Incredible material. You've put so much work into this video and, as always, it is a blast to watch it and listen to you. Thank you Ragnar.

Sara Fontanini

it does say a lot that our protagonist, the 'normal' everyman whose expereinces the horror, ultimately rejects her cousin despite previously caring for her and thus wasn't there to help her and act as a third voice in her fate.

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