Tomie is one of what I’d consider Junji Ito’s three big stories: Tomie, Gyo, and Uzumaki. Tomie is the longest, and probably has the most variety. It concerns the title character, Tomie, a malevolent and supernatural young woman of incredible beauty that drives men insane, eventually to the point that they cut her to pieces. That last part is inevitable, every incarnation of Tomie eventually dies a horrible death, but it doesn’t really matter because she always comes back. What’s more, if she’s cut into pieces, each piece will come back as an individual Tomie. In spite of this, no two Tomie’s are allied, and in fact they will work to kill each other, insisting there can only be one real Tomie due to her incredible vanity and narcissism. Within the confines of the story, this is probably the only thing that keeps humanity safe, as united Tomies could run roughshod over the entire planet should they feel the need, such is their power.
I think the variety is what makes this story so incredible. Much like with Uzumaki, my favorite of Junji Ito’s works, you’d think the conceit eventually grows old. It doesn’t. It starts with a fiasco during a high school trip, where Tomie’s narcissism causes her to bring about much of her own demise (a recurring theme). From there, the high school trend continues, until we have one of our first major Tomie splits where she becomes multiple people. The story takes on a different tone then, with a variety of Tomies showing up across Japan: frozen mountains, cult meetings, art galleries… the story really comes into its own once Tomie can flex, so to speak, and the strength of the story builds and builds until the final resolution, which I won’t spoil but does feel like an appropriate ending, as much as there can be one for a character like this.
One small concern with this work is that even though it is only adults-only from the violence, there is an element of fetish to all of this. It’s not overt, but if you find that upsetting I would encourage you to consider it before you read the work. Otherwise, I recommend the hell out of this, as well as Gyo and the incomparable Uzumaki.