Library of Illusions by Junji Ito (Chapter 5 of New Voices in the Dark)

A video version of "Library of Illusions", written and illustrated by Junji Ito, excerpted from New Voices in the Dark. 31 pages of manga divided into around 120 images; approximately 4.5 hours worth of editing using Wondershare Filmora. Enjoy!

The incredible public domain music was created by Xenojam:
Cathedral by Xenojam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license
Angst by Xenojam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license
Cthonic by Xenojam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license
Aesotheric by Xenojam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license
Impazzire e Bruciare by Xenojam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license

[Bluesit]

You know, there's a point where you CALL someone. I think somewhere around the point where he started clawing his own face might have been it.

[pandaexpress]

How school expects us to spend our free time

[gwang]

I wonder how many gigabytes the memory capacity of that guy's brain is?
And whether the full collection of Junji Ito's works is part of his library?

[Brunoki]

This story is quite something. To me it seems like an allegory of the pleasure of reading in itself. Goro's self-created reflections of his parents were a mere projection from the books they read to him as a kid (something people tend to associate as well in their minds), books which he is afraid of forgetting, which led him to recite every word in _Hellskin_ in order to rid himself of the appearance of his father, keeping the memory of the book fresh so he never has to go back to it. However, when Goro memorized _Wintertime for Rene_, his mom's appearance vanished as well, indicating the felling of emptiness one feel after having finished a novel and knowing how it goes. After that, he decided to make sure everybook is learned by heart, never needing the paper copy again. What happens to him after that is that he becomes a shell of his former self, only being able to recite what he reads, but not able to think anymore, much to the likes of his father who, after years of treatment is still the same.


Also the end is Ito's version of the library of Alexandria lol

[agentmothman]

I know I shouldn't, but I _reeeally_ want that ability.

[peytonk]

Thank you for uploading these! I love junji ito's work so much and I always have a hard time finding them online. I cant really buy them at the moment either, this is greatly appreciated.🙌

[Yzarro]

When you roll high for intelligence, but not high enough.

[RellySmoove]

This embodies The most severe paranoia/Anxiety coupled with OCD combined.

[seqelli]

i calculated it and the whole library would take ~200 years to read...

[yhlee]

I'm surprised that he was able to do this everyday and still be able to have a wife who didnt find all this weird. 150, 000 within one day(86400 seconds) and still able to sleep.

[eatas]

Ah dang I thought the ending would be his dad re-writing all the books since he memorized them so everything would eventually repeat itself with someone else. Loved the scary drawing at the end but for junji ito this one was very tame.

[_-A.]

That is a loving woman, the man gone crazy and still was with him

[Angela-fxpl]

Psychotic illness/childhood abandonment

[jaeda]

you know what. if I had the ability to memorize a book, I'd still be taking nursing rn lmao

[Cris-qnii]

How cone she never thought of calling a doctor or even the authorities to pull him out of that mansion

[snowshower]

well, i was gonna go to barns and that.

[nitorishogiplayer]

So I'm kinda confused at the ending… so that was… Hellskin/his father?

[guavagudetama]

If I was Koko I would have just left lol

[imeverywhere]

The part of the aaaarrrgghhh is terrifying I can still hear it on my nightmares

[scornmaz]

Goro's father reminds me of Freaky Fred from Courage The Cowardly Dog