Gyo

Fisherman find an odd fish in their nets, but it scurries away back into the ocean. Tadashi and his girlfriend Kaori arrive at his uncle's beach home to have a relaxing vacation with swimming and scuba diving. It doesn't go as planned when they find a horrible smelling fish with crab-like legs walk out of the water and attack them. Tadashi seals it in a bag and leaves it outside, but it escapes. They return to Tokyo, find that same fish, and discover that it's not an isolated problem.

Gyo is another installment of surreal horror from Junji Ito. Tadashi and Kaori become entrenched and almost haunted by this disgusting walking fish problem. Their relationship before the incident isn't really seen, but it grows more and more strained as the fish follow them and invade Japan. Tadashi is a typical young man, but Kaori is reduced to a flat, annoying character. This was the most disappointing aspect of the story. Literally 90% of her dialogue is complaining about the rotten smell coming from the fish, screaming at Tadashi, or being jealous whenever he's around any other women. The difference between their characters is troubling especially what later happens to Kaori.

The problem starts with one walking fish that floats to Tokyo in its sealed bag. Soon Okinawa is completely innundated by wakling ocean life of all kinds. Sharks, octopi, squid, and all manner of fish are walking around, attacking people. Then it spreads to Tokyo and all of Japan. Tadashi's uncle discovers that the legs are actually machinery that latches onto the creature working in conjuction with a contagion that makes them release gas from all orifices. The machinery hooks tubing into those orifices, making the creatures gas power the legs. The fish are actually dead from their time on land and the machinery turns to humans once the fish are useless, bloating them with the contagion and turning them into automatons.

Gyo has many of the staples of Ito horror, but it's the weakest of his stories for me. The disease apparently starts to produce its own machinery and that's why basically all the fish in the sea have legs. This concept tries to be scientific and it's ludicruous. I prefer when he stays in the supernatural that doesn't need explanation. This technology is defunct and left over from World War II, commenting on the Japanese involvement during the war and its effect on the world. It doesn't make the concept any more coherent or less absurd. Though it all, Gyo is a compelling read that has some of the most memorable, gross, and absurd horror I've ever seen.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins