For those fans of Junji Ito, it’s always a good day when one of his works becomes available outside of mangas and Internet memes, especially in the West. Though few of Ito’s works have made it to the West outside of dubbed Japanese live-action films, his horror manga Tomie will make the transition to live-action exclusively on the streaming service Quibi.
The Tomie series was created in 1987 and ended in 2000, with the full collection of stories only making it to the West in 2016. Quibi’s synopsis for the new series is as follows: “This is the story of what happens when a beautiful high school girl goes missing and pieces of her body are discovered scattered across a small town. But what starts out as a murder mystery turns into something even more horrific.”
Those familiar with the series will recognize the plot as belonging to a specific story within the Tomie mythos. But as the Tomie series doesn’t necessarily have an overarching plot, it’s hard to say whether or not the entire show will focus on one story at a time, or attempt to bring these stories together in order to create a cohesive plot. As all of the episodes are said to be under ten minutes, it seems more likely that the stories could be standalone, though Japan has proven there’s enough of Tomie to go around, with eight movies and a three-episode TV series under her belt.
Luckily, the series’ production team has plenty of experience in creating horror and suspense, with Alexandre Aja as series creator and executive producer, David Leslie-Johnson McGoldrick as writer and executive producer, and Hiroki Shirota as co-producer. Unfortunately, Quibi won’t be available for audiences to stream until April 2020. Until then, those interested in Tomie will have plenty of ways to get to know her until she makes it to the West.
Source: My Anime List
