I might've just found one of my least favorite characters in all of fiction, which is saying a lot when considering how much media I have to consume for my job. Like other Junji Ito books I have covered, Soichi is a compilation of individual one-off chapters with their own beginning, middle, and end. However, while other compilations would have each chapter feature completely different settings, characters, and circumstances, Soichi centers around one small boy named…well, Soichi. Soichi is an odd eleven-year-old boy that mumbles to himself constantly and likes to suck on nails, often placing them in his mouth in a specific way to make it look like he has fangs. He claims to hate everybody around him, including his family, and has the bizarre ability to inflict curses.

Focusing on Soichi is one of the book's greatest strengths and weaknesses. As a strength, it's refreshing to see Junji Ito expand upon a singular concept, in this case, a child with seemingly endless demonic power. Ito's earlier works would often need longer to play with many of the creative ideas on display. Soichi feels like Ito is trying to do everything he can with this singular character by threading the needle between supernatural mystery and confirming his origins. The book doesn't explain how Soichi became proficient at executing curses or if he's a supernatural entity. One chapter goes a bit into the weird circumstances surrounding his birth, but many questions about Soichi are left open. The book is also very vague regarding what Soichi is capable of. You know he's responsible for almost every horrible or supernatural occurrence in the book, but you don't know how he does it. Some things are explained or alluded to, such as voodoo magic. However, there could be instances where entirely new characters are introduced to aid Soichi, and you're wondering if these characters are people that Soichi is controlling or if they're even people at all.

Soichi: Junji Ito Story Collection also has a lot of staples of Junji Ito imagery with characters that lean into the uncanny valley of being monstrous and humanoid. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and Ito must have had this image of fangs made out of nails stuck in his head for a while. That imagery is throughout the entire book and will stick inside readers' heads after the story ends, whether they want it to or not. Familiar images and motives can organically repeat themselves, creating a memorable collection of stories.

What isn't organic, though, is how the collection is paced. Many chapters will share locations and similar characters, but they are still structured similarly to many of Ito's other short stories. Do not go into this book assuming that there is any progressive narrative. While there are repeated characters and a vague sense that time is passing (I think all the stories take place over a year), there are hardly any instances where one story will narratively flow into another. Every chapter introduces a character that will act as the narrator for said chapter and then tell a story of how that character interacts with Soichi. Sometimes the narrator is just an observer, while other times, they are the victim of Soichi's supernatural abilities. However, almost every story ends in a very abrupt and unsatisfying way. Often the main supernatural issue will resolve itself in one way or another. Still, the chapter will end, sometimes accompanied by some vague voiceover to tidy things up.

The primary issue doesn't stem from the fact that there aren't long explanations about how things happen the way they do because, as I mentioned before, vagueness helps keep things engaging. This book has a recurring cast of characters that interact with Soichi, from family members to classmates, and the issue stems from the fact that aside from one character, no one seems to carry over any knowledge of what Soichi is doing to other stories. You could argue that the vagueness of the circumstances makes it hard for anyone to blame Soichi explicitly, especially when you consider how crazy some of these circumstances are. However, there are also numerous instances in the book where even if you don't have a definitive explanation, it's undeniable that Soichi did something or is, at the very least, at the center of the situation.

If a character goes into an attic to talk to Soichi and comes down looking like a weird animated puppet, why isn't anybody further questioning what Soichi did while they were up there and how that happened? When Soichi's brother catches him in a giant, black alien-looking suit after chasing a classmate through the forest, why is the tone only that Soichi just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar? When a loved one rises from the dead to build something for Soichi, why does that never come up again? I was waiting for the twist where the family was actually in on all the cruelty, but they are victims in just as many stories as others. Yet, when someone goes to the family in fear, much concern gets written off as Soichi being quirky and reclusive. The book really stretches the believability of how much Soichi legitimately gets away with. Sometimes a chapter will end with him getting some comeuppance, or karma will play a part in things. Still, narratively it's very unsatisfying that it never really feels like anybody learns from any of the situations in the book, whether it be Soichi or his victims.

This is where the book loses me a little bit, unfortunately. It feels like any of these chapters makes for a good, engaging one-off story, but when you try to read them all together, you start to see how some of the supernatural elements and character acting contradict each other. After a certain point, I start caring less and less about what's going on because it ultimately feels like none of it matters. I would rather read more compilations from Junji Ito with disconnected stories than something like this. It felt like Ito was trying to stick to his usual short story format while having all the short stories revolve around a similar idea, and it just didn't work. There may be other examples of his work where this is handled better, but for now, I'm left feeling very unsatisfied.