SOICHI'S BELOVED PET, by Junji Ito

[daniellau]

Soichi is back in mischievous young boy form, which means we're in for a lot of cruelty, slapstick and good times. And if that's not what you're into, I guarantee the next thing I post will be Soichi-free.

Here comes the second story of NEW VOICES IN THE DARK, which may as well be subtitled SOICHI GETS A CAT. As you follow this story towards the horrifying conclusion which has already formed itself in your mind, take a minute or two to stop and admire the expression Ito puts into these bloody cats. These illustrations are a real labour of love, and I can't help but feel that nobody could love cats that much without first making room by subtracting some of the love they should have for their fellow man.

Recommended for both cat people and non-cat people. Enjoy!












I just realised this makes a nice little vignette in and of itself. But if you want to be further amused and slightly horrified, you can get the rest on Google.

Comments welcome below.

Tags:
genre: horror, creator: junji ito, title: new voices in the dark

Comments

[icon_uk]

Is an explanation given for why this wretched little waste of carbon goes around shooting mouthfuls of nails at people and things?

Wow... talk about a sentence you never expected to have to write....

[crinos]

*Reads comic*

See, this is why we can't have nice things; Get a cat, that little tit turns it into an electric hell monster.

Seriously, if I was that kids parents, I'd just wait till he was asleep, grab a pillow, and do what needed to be done.

[daniellau]

I guess nobody likes Soichi but me?

Damn cat people ...

[icon_uk]

I'm by no means a "cat person", I'm much more of an "anti-malevolent little shit" person.

[baihu]

We had recent cat killer cases in Singapore. They string up the cats in nooses and flung them off the high-rise apartments. You'll forgive me if I don't share in any sort of sympathy for even a fictional cat killer.

[ashez2ashes]

Oh look, a budding serial killer.

[crinos]

You oughta see him as an adult, when he'd enslaved his entire family to work in his fucking haunted house and he has a cannibalistic son and a 12 foot tall monster wife.

Plus he looks like Lon Chaney when he's an adult.

Like I said above. Kill the fucker now, save everyone a lot of trouble.

[katzedecimal]

Poor kitty ;_;

The expressive detail on the kitty's face reminds me of Makoto Kobayashi's What's Michael? (which I highly recommend to cat-lovers.)

[espanolbot]

Boo! Leave the cat alone. :(

[geoffsebesta]

I believe this story has the highest wtf per minute of any Ito story I've seen yet.

[kamino_neko]

...

I can say I never saw that ending coming.

[magnetic_regina]

... spoilers please?

[kamino_neko]

Ok, after this, Soichi 'curses' his siblings...they each get a little static shock when he does that, but that's it. The main thrust is that he ends up making Colin evil, like himself - he eats random animals (including one thing that's LITERALLY all eyes and legs...freaky as fuck, that thing), tears up the house, bites people, etc. So, Soichi claims he's started liking Colin.

... And when Koichi tries to take him away, he's shocked - the electricity has returned. So he throws Colin, who falls in Soichi's lap...and shocks Soichi. Who throws him away, but he jumps back in his lap, shocking him more. Everyone runs out of the house, Soichi at their heels, cursing them for not helping him with Electric Colin (who he's still holding for some odd reason)...and Colin bites him (it's a big bite, that takes 3 whole panels)...which results in a lightning-like electric discharge.

Cue Soichi in hospital recovering from the 'lightning strike' (with one nail still in his mouth...) and everyone else back at home with Colin, who's back to normal.

Totally not making this up.

[silverzeo]

Did somebody called the cops? The kid was acting INSANE!