Ice Cream Bus

[cyberghostface]

You know the drill, right to left.



The ice cream man takes the kids on the bus. The new neighbor, Sanohara, asks what's going on. Every Saturday the bus comes to take the kids around the neighborhood while they eat their ice cream.




The son is upset that he's not allowed to eat the ice cream and throws a tantrum.




Next week the father tells his son that his mother called and he can go live with her if he wants to. At that moment, the ice cream bus comes and the father finally relents.




The son has a great time, saying they went to a mountain of ice cream. Soon all the son eats nothing but ice cream and the father gets concerned. He later asks the ice cream man if he could ride along with the kids but adults aren't allowed on.

Comments

[espanolbot]

Hm, isn't there an episode of Masters of Horror, called I Scream for Eye Cream, that has pretty much the same plot?

[crinos]

Kinda, it was a ghostly ice cream salesman who gave the children of the kids who murdered him (They were pushed to it by a sociopath) ice cream shaped like their parents, and when they ate it the parents turned to ice cream and melted.

[greenmask]

Junji Ito is just SO GOOD at what he does. I didnt recognize his art from the cover though! I just clicked cos I liked it.

[janegray]

To be honest, I'm not sure how this is horror. To me, this is less scary, or even shocking, and more just weird and sad :/

At least the "this is my hole!" story had a helping of genuinely creepy claustrophobia.

[lucky_gamble]

Still better than Baskin Robbins 32 flavors (calorie-wise)

[ardat_lili]

At this point, I'm conditioned. "Ice Cream Bus! That sounds nice! ...by Junji Ito. Oh God. Oh--oh God." "Sunshine and Puppies," by Junji Ito. "Cuddly Rainbows," by Junji Ito. "The Adorable Cottage Where Nothing Bad Ever Happens," by Junji Ito. I just brace for the trauma and body horror.

[ardat_lili]

It's like wondering what perfectly innocuous thing I see every day Stephen Moffat will make horrifying next. Water: check. Statues: check. The dark: check. Birdsong: check. Cracks in the wall: check. Forgetting what I'm doing for a moment: check check check.

[shadowpsykie]

Birdsong?

don't forget, its not JUST the statues... don't look, you are dead. look at them too long... YOU BECOME ONE.

next he will make you terrified of air :D

[skemono]

...I now yearn--nay, crave--for Junji Ito to write all of those.

I guess instead of him writing about sunshine and puppies, I will have to content myself with him writing about cats.

[cleome45]

Those cat illustrations are fabulous, though I didn't click far enough to see if they end up killing and eating the author. :p

[thanekos]

And "The Bloody Man's House Of Pain", by Junji Ito.. the light heartwarming story of a girl and boy.

[crinos]

Reminds me of the "children'ss books by Ernest Borgnine" skit on MST3k.

[blackruzsa]

Kittens! by Junji Ito.

[endis_ni]

There ought to be a term for "mental seatbelts" because whenever I see Junji Ito's art I mentally buckle up and wait for things to get messed up.

[shadowpsykie]

OMG Why would you post another one so soon?!?!

[mishalak]

Evil, duh! It is like why Dr. Narbon killed dave.

"Why did you kill Dave?"
"I had a death ray."

[shadowpsykie]

@_@

[cypherfdp]

The most horrifying part is how sticky and gross it must be with all that melted ice cream.

And, oh god, those kids are licking each other and who knows where they've been and ewwwww

[rainspirit]

They've been to the ice cream truck.

Is where they've been. :(

[silverzeo]

Is there one where they actually EXPLAIN all this weird-@$$ rather than making into a disturbingly detailed Goosebumps story... I mean... two middle school girls licking themselves/ each other with smiles... do we REALLY need that image? The huge puddle of metal children getting cannibalized was enough...

[nezchan]

"Explanation" and "Junji Ito" are not terms that go well together.

[silverzeo]

Okay, granted, asking to know MORE what's going on for nightmare fuel is like digging deeper in a can of worms... but it's like Zoidberg's shell house burned down underwater by Bender's cigar that he somehow lighted underwater, except REALLY makes you more questionings rather than just laugh...

What was the guy's goal? Was it like a Pied Piper thing? The parents took the ice-cream man's money when they're kids so know he takes their kids?

This reminds me a story I read back in grade school, where this one family finds this one other family odd, ducking inside their house when there is just one cloud in the sky, but somehow got to know them and went to a carnival together, and the odd family ate nothing but cotton candy by the truck full; but then it started to ran, and there was nothing left of them but sugar puddles and clothes....

[cypherfdp]

.. but it's like Zoidberg's shell house burned down underwater by Bender's cigar that he somehow lighted underwater, except REALLY makes you more questionings rather than just laugh..."

Actually, that is pretty funny.

[silverzeo]

I know, that was funny, but THIS manga just makes me ask more about the whole situation...

[espanolbot]

If it's based in that spirally universe thing, then it could be that the town these stories are set in are just a magnet for bad vibes and creatures, like Sunnydale, Gotham City, Crystal Cove and Royston Vasey.

[md84]

Except in those places it's actually possible for the good guys to win. Sometimes.

[lissa_quon]

Oh wow - I remember that story. Of the family made of sugar.

Though that had more hinting and build up to it than this which is just "ice cream truck=ice cream children"

[gamerguy]

"Rain, Rain, Go Away" by Isaac Asimov

[silverzeo]

PS... this story is just about HALF as creepy as "Merlin's Shop of Wonder"...

[katya]

I love these. I'm a horror fiend. I just wish they were creepier. The first couple I saw posted were genuinely thrilling. The ones lately have been a bit weird and twisted but not so freaky.

[lascoden]

I like how the guy is completely unfazed by the two kids, who are melting, licking each other on the street. He just walks by, and the look on his face is just "..huh.." Even the the pile of melted ice-cream on the stairs doesn't get more then "Well, that's not normally there".

[espanolbot]

If this stuff all happens in the same place like I thought, then it could be that he's just numb to all the creepy by this point.

[md84]

Moving to Silent Hill would be a step up.

[cleome45]

Or in denial. :/

[md84]

Moral #1: Don't eat too much ice cream (because you'll turn into irresistible ice cream and you and your friends will eat each other to death)

Moral #2: Don't ride in a stranger's bus (or he'll keep feeding you the ice cream that turns you into ice cream)

Moral #3: Junji Ito's head is a scary, scary place.

[kraesil]

First two, yeah.

Third one, DEFINITELY. Seriously.. This one not so much, but the post before this with Junji Ito was the head-caterpillar thingy... Now THAT was scary.