Kyoufu no Juusou Layers of Fear is a new Junji Itohttps://anilist.co/staff/97410/JunjiIto short story to celebrate his 30 year anniversary of being in horror manga. Shiverhttps://anilist.co/manga/100758/ShiverJunjiItoSelectedStories/ and the Junji Ito Collection animehttps://anilist.co/anime/99940/JunjiItoCollection/ were also celebrations of the anniversary but unlike those Kyoufu no Juusou is completely brand new Junji Ito material. 440https://i.ur.com/eqm2dwE.png There was like an eight year period 20062014 where Junji Ito took a break from horror and like the Fragments of Horror collectionhttps://anilist.co/manga/82435/FragmentsofHorror/ was his return. But in the afterword of that collection Junji Ito said something along the lines of his editor came to him following the first story of that collection worried that he had lost his instincts for horror. The following stories of that collection are certainly an improvement over that first one but indeed it was kind of a very mixed Junji Ito collection. With that being said its hard to not consider Kyoufu no Juusou a glorious return to form. 440https://i.ur.com/CwMk4yh.png Several of my favorite standalone Junji Ito short stories are essentially just Junji Ito striking upon one neat sounding horror idea and just going fully into it. I mean thats basically what the entirety of Uzumakihttps://anilist.co/manga/30436/Uzumaki/ was. Spirals So when I saw the art of the layers of dirt shaped like a persons face I immediately brightened up. But of course the part about the archaeological discovery of a skull within this layered dirt is only the preamble of this story. Twenty one years later and following a somewhat grisly car accident a mother takes her younger daughter to the hospital because they crashed into a street sign and it tore off part of her face. The true horror of the story arises from that hospital visit... 440https://i.ur.com/MQPDBb9.png When I say this is a return to form Im not joking. This one shot was quite clearly made with the 30 year anniversary in mind. Not only is this in my opinion a very strong Junji Ito short story its got all of the trademarks that Junji Ito is known for in one package. A neat and interesting concept turned into a horror story. Like the whole thing where you cut a tree and then you can tell how old the tree is by like the rings in the stump but translated into human form? Thats wonderful and the moment that is established in the one shot I kind of tensed up because I could immediately see where the story was heading and of course Junji Ito dives right into it. 440https://i.ur.com/Onr4mCE.png But then theres of course the usual bouts of characters diving into insanity crazy gore and of course you cant go wrong with some body horror. As much as I love Junji Ito and like the variety thats scattered over all of his short stories very few of them have actually caused me to cringe out of disgust or feel sick. This one has definitely made its way into that selection of stories. I certainly admit theres a bit of bias here as I find the idea of ripping skin off especially horrifying but like with a bunch of other Junji Ito short stories theres usually a point where I think okay thats... thats enough but of course it just goes even further. 440https://i.ur.com/Hcki8wE.png Which... like in terms of horror thats perfect Its not just about shocking or disgusting the viewer Its about shocking or disgusting the viewer and making them think theres not something even worse coming And then BAM 440https://i.ur.com/DwKGVCd.png Kyoufu no Juusou is a fucking 10 out of 10 as far as Im concerned. Theres actually more than a couple of Junji Ito short stories Id probably give that score but unlike this those ones are all in their own collections with other stories. As a person who rapidly fell into the Junji Ito well after being exposed to the horrible but hilarious anime adaptation of Gyohttps://anilist.co/anime/10417/GYOTokyoFishAttack/ this felt like a cozy and warm return. I want to refrain from using the word nostalgic because I do genuinely think this story stands on its own perfectly but again the very first thing I thought of when I started it was Uzumaki. Its very strange to think that if things had played out differently and Junji Ito didnt submit Tomiehttps://anilist.co/manga/30912/Tomie/ he could have just went on being a dental technician. Instead... over thirty years of horror manga The fear never stops 500https://i.ur.com/WlYLVvy.png