Alley

Plot Summary 

This is a horror short story collection created by the famous Junji Itō. These ten short stories range from light psychological horror to terrifying body horror that will make you question the mysterious and the mundane. From a man whose wife starts floating into the sky to a cigarette made from a strangely growing tobacco, each story has something to offer. Just make sure not to read them too late at night or look too closely at the dark and striking illustrations. 

Critical Evaluation 

After reading Alley, I had a conversation with my partner about horror and what defines the genre. I have a history of hating horror when I was younger, mostly because my father and sister loved it, and when I would try to watch those movies filled with zombies and demons with them, I was far too young to be able to differentiate the reality of the dangers that the monsters posed. For me, monster stories with jumpscares were what horror was. They were the things that caused me to keep my lights on a night and surround myself with my toys as protection. Around high school, I started to open myself to the genre more, but with half-opened eyes or with constant reminders of the unreality of it. Watching videogame playthroughs of Five Nights at Freddy’s and Amnesia satisfied something within me, but I was never able to handle playing them myself. I then began to watch more horror movies with my friends, and the monster-centric ones still were the most haunting to me, while the psychological thrillers like Get Out or Black Swan (with the exception of body horror) never bothered me. 

Because of this, I thought that reading horror wouldn’t be interesting, as there was no visual for me to be frightened by. Even graphic novels didn’t seem scary because how could a book that I control the pace of produce a jumpscare? Junji Itō’s stories, however, brought me back to the desire to look at it with half-open eyes and skip quickly past the worst parts. It unnerved me and disturbed me, but it was because there were stories that played on fears that I already had and exaggerated them. The fear of being watched and being gaslit were on display in “Town of No Roads,” the fear of nature overtaking the body was taken to an extreme in “Mold,” and the fear of my vanity and horror at ugliness put a mirror to myself in “Memories.” Itō captures the essence of horror in his pages by taking fears or insecurities you already have and taking them to the extreme. 

A large part of the horror that Itō invokes is through his linework and slow reveals. People that are “infected” or that you should be wary of slowly gain more detail and lines to their face; smiles get bigger and more unnerving; something in the corner of the page suddenly gets darker and more prominent. Part of this style plays into horror tropes of age, ugliness, and disability making people terrifying, but they also show how things can get scarier the closer you get to them and the more you know. Itō slowly reveals information both through the narrative and through the art, letting the reader begin to decipher what is so unnerving and horrifying about the situation. By involving the reader, he draws us in and forces us to engage with these ideas, no matter how much we want to just observe them through our fingers or behind a blanket. While I never jumped out of my skin, these stories burrowed their way in, making me wish I could forget them. 

Creative Use for a Library Program 

Create Your Own Monster. Junji Itō’s works are filled with terrifyingly creative monsters, taking mundane objects, people, or experiences and turning them into deeply horrifying creations. He typically doesn’t rely on preestablished monsters that make up the cast of familiar horror creatures like vampires, werewolves, or the undead. Instead, his creativity plays with the everyday, making the concepts even more horrifying. His work would be a great impetus for a program where teens can imagine, design, and create their own monsters. Since Itō has so many short stories, the program could even begin with reading a few of them as inspiration. 

The program could be visual with the use of drawing, collage work, or digital drawing methods, or it could be purely written, depending on the interest and skills of the teen. It would also be a great way to get local artists or authors involved in the library, as they could help lead the program!

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation

Junji Itō’s works have been challenged before, mostly due to their darker themes and horror elements. Similar to the “naked butt test,” there are certain images that are much more horrific and traumatic when visually depicted instead of being written down. There are also some depictions of violence and murder in the collection, though it is mostly talked about and takes place off the page. While reading these stories could cause distress or nightmares for the reader, there are many readers who love and revel in these types of stories. Having them visualized in the manga format just adds a new dimension of terror that books cannot reproduce. These books should, therefore, be available for those who wish to read them.

Reason for Inclusion 

This is an older book, originally published in 2011, but Junji Itō is famous for his horror stories, and since Alley was only translated and published in English last year, it means that his works once again have an opportunity to reach a new audience. Despite their short length, these stories are full of terrifying concepts: confronting daily fears and creating new ones in the reader. If there is a trend in young adult literature towards more horror, including Itō in the collection is a must.