Reviews for Remina

well, this is one of manga will always be my reminder, to be cautious when press random when searching manga, as i thought nothing could be any better than this, this is pure nightmare, mate. so the story is kinda random stuff, well what can you expect , this story is mixing whatever human will be,if they're in the face of great unknown, because of that, it led to despair, that always occuring in this plot, until the end, that certainly nightmare. Cthulu monster certainly interesting stuff. character is kinda your usual , but the art to symbolize the nightmare, well,.. But overall, it's worth to read.

Minor spoilers ahead. I used to be a huge fan of Junji Ito's work - I sang his praises constantly on Tumblr and recommended him to many of my friends. Now, I see the fault in my actions. Jigokusei Remina - Hellstar Remina - is a work that feels ultimately pointless. Hellstar fits quite nicely into the Junji Ito mold - the female heroine watches the world collapse around her, and nearly everyone in the story dies. The work is so full of violence and death that I nearly felt sick reading it - not because I can't stand violence or death (hell, one of my favorite moviesis End of Evangelion) - but because everything in it feels pointless.

There is virtually no explanation for WHY the things in the story happen. They just happen, seemingly without any sort of reason. At least in Ito's other works - Uzumaki, for example - there is a REASON for what happens and the death that it entails. This reason is nowhere to be found in Hellstar. The planet Remina just comes and destroys everything for no reason. Millions, if not billions, of innocent people die for no reason. You watch them die - not only die, but struggle to live by doing everything they can, and then still die. The death in the story is dealt with so objectively that it is not fun to read. You feel nothing towards these people killed en masse; they are simply plot devices. Not only is it uncomfortable, but it is flat-out boring.

This kind of voyeurism can be enjoyable sometimes, sure, but in this work I found it totally off-putting and uncomfortable. Like I said, I felt that it was handled in a miserable way compared to usual Ito.

The main characters don't have enough time for real development - Remina stays the absolute same throughout the story, and every other twist can be seen from a mile away. The story feels so forced through these characters, your level of psychic distance from the fiction is astronomical.

The work is just boring, with its only redeeming qualities coming from Ito's art. The man has a real talent for drawing grotesque landscapes, may they be on Earth or on foreign locales, and his characters are expressive physically if not emotionally.

Pass on this and read Uzumaki instead, or some of his shorter-form collections. They have much more impact and depth than this misfire.

What a bizarre book. And not in the horrific way. The one thing I've learned in reading more of Junji Ito is that he is sincerely not a very strong storyteller. He is an artist first and foremost, one who absolute nails horror in a way that basically no other creative person on the planet quite can. The visuals and the concept of Remina is unparalleled. Evil planet comes into existence, seemingly in tandem with the birth of a young and now budding pop-idol who is boosted to fame due to the planet being named after her. When the planet decides to destroy all of existencethough, things don't go well for anyone involved.

Sounds awesome right? Here's the rub. Similar to Uzumaki, while Remina excels in concept and artistic representation, it completely flops in execution of its narrative. A lot of criticism I have seen of the novel is that there seems to be no purpose to any of the central premises of the story. The planet just exists, and it's doing all these terrible things? And why? No reason is given. I believe this is the strongest part of the story, however. Because it catches this intangible, Lovecraftian, nihilistic view of the world: sometimes horrific things happen for no reason, and there are no happy endings. That's the part I love about Remina.

The part I hate about Remina is literally all of the rest. Why does the entire global society suddenly become insane? Because plot! How does an evil cabal of witch hunters who seek Remina's death suddenly gain instant power over all humanity? Because someone needs to be the antagonist! Why do these people think that killing Remina will somehow stop the advance of the planet, with no evidence? Because it gives the main cast something to do! Why is Remina caught in a love triangle between the people trying to save her? Well, the story would be a lot shorter without that, and it gives a reason for people to betray her. So plot!

This is the issue: a concept is only good until the story gets rolling. If the concept is great, but the narrative is mediocre, then the entire story suffers. The most interesting parts - learning about the evil death planet, watching society collapse, empathizing with the protagonists - that falls to the wayside by brutalist depictions of random violence and basically people just acting kinda loopy.

This is compounded by the characterization of the central cast. The "damsel in distress" trope that many Ito stories rely on is back in full force. Remina is the main character, but lacks any agency in the story. She is thrust into pop-stardom against her will, even actively expressing she doesn't want this; she is targeted by literally the entire world for death; and for the majority of the plot, she is literally pulled around by the men in her life. At no point does Remina DO anything herself. She never has a heroic moment, she never fights back against the forces that intend to harm her; she's just kinda there, as the central protagonist, getting yanked around by literally everyone around her.

In a story about loss of control and agency, maybe you could rationalize that style of protagonist. Unfortunately, all the other characters are one-dimensional. Guess what the cowardly fanboy does? He acts cowardly and is a fanboy. Guess what the mature and brave guy does? He acts bravely and maturely. Guess what the defensive and obsessive guy does? Acts defensively and obsessively. If there were more nuance to the people surrounding Remina, maybe you could say that Remina lacking agency is fine. But the reality is that all the central characters in the story have no change throughout the story, and are little more than vehicles for Remina to get from one plot point to the next.

In short, man, Junji Ito is a very messy author. I can still sort of recommend this book, because at least it's short and to the point, rather than meandering and long such as Uzumaki. But I wish the story about an evil death planet had more to do with the evil death planet, rather than gratuitous violence of a helpless protagonist I can't relate to or empathize with.

TL;DR - Hellstar Remina is a good manga. Just know that it has some pretty gross imagery and a disturbing plot. Squeamish readers beware. If you've read an Itou Junji manga before, you know shit is getting real real up in here. Let me just state this: Hellstar Remina includes some crazy imagery that is not suited for everyone. Eldrich abominations and locations are in there. With that, let's go. There'll be some very slight spoilers in this text. You have been warned. Hellstar Remina's premise is incredibly simple. A professor predicts a wormhole to be present in the Hydra constellation. One day a planet iswitnessed passing through it, into our dimension. The professor receives the Nobel prize. He decides to name the star after his daughter, who is instantly propelled into a global celebrity. Some time after this, it's noticed that the planet is constantly moving - at times at the speed of light - and that stars around it seems to just disappear. Scientists are befuddled, especially when they notice that the star has changed its trajectory and is now headed towards Earth. Then shit gets crazy. The following panic makes some people just lay down and cry and some go on a wild chase after the people they hold responsible: Professor Oguro and his daughter Remina. All while the planet slows its pace and seems to now be slowly approaching our blue planet. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: The planet has eyes and mouths, and devours the damn moon in a quick bite.

It's an interesting notion that Itou puts out about celebrity: We're rather quick as a people to shine the spotlight on things we find curious and then put it on a pedestal. Remina has done nothing apparent to validate the gigantic fanbase and general following she gets and her decision to "enter the world of entertainment" is incredibly bizarre from our viewpoint, but is widely celebrated in the manga. Maybe the people are so starved for enjoyment that they cling on to anything new, or maybe its a symbol for the sheep we all become to the organisations that produce the products we consume. It's an interesting point to make.

Let me just restate: This manga is bonkers. Absolutely crazy. It's a look deep into the human psyche. How far will you go to save yourself with apocalypse knocking at the door? How far can people be driven by insane ideas, when reality is insane enough that they seem plausible? As much as Hellstar Remina is about a monster-planet from another dimension coming to Earth and killing the fuck out of everything in its way, it's also about people losing their morale values and becoming driven by mad ideas and basic needs. In the middle of global panic, a cult steps up and takes control of the numerous mobs in Japan. Their Mission? To kill the professor and his daughter. People follow these zealots with a burning passion and a wild hunt is on. It features some commentary on people using religion to get other people to follow their lead. It's also not pointed out as an evil, because hey, what if they're right? As crazy as it sounds, reality is more crazy now than ever before, so it's not plausibility isn't naught. People basically revert back to the dark ages and witch hunting. At times they even stop to find enjoyment in what they're doing, which is when they're seemingly pointed out as being of lesser morality than us readers. That said, they could also be so relieved at the ordeal soon being over and just letting go. However, not only religious craze is spotlighted when people lose their shit with apocalypse on the doorstep. There's a scene where a man tries to rape Remina, and she fights back. The scene is discovered and the man says "she was asking for it." Surely we're all shaking our heads at that comment, but it's accepted in the manga, because, hell, she's the cause of the apocalypse. If she can bring a killer-planet to us, why can't she ensnare men by sheer will? It's a different kind of horror to the jump-scares us horror fans find in most horror flicks nowadays. It's the realisation that anything goes when it comes to killing this girl when it's about staving off all our deaths. And we don't even know that her death will save us.

All this while the monstrous planet above is just looking on. Maybe approvingly. Maybe it's just observing us to see what happens when it shakes the world. By all accounts, it appears no more intelligent than a small child, poking our planet to see what happens. The few times we do get a peek at Remina's surface, it's terrifying beyond words.

The art is really good. It's not the best I've seen, but it's highly realistic most of the time, and very confusing at other times.

As for the characters, there's really only one to talk about, and there's not much to say. Remina is a young, shy and modest girl who is propelled into super-stardom just by existing and having a planet named after her. She seems to have difficulty with handling the attention given to her, and then the apocalypse happens. Her desperate struggle is certainly one you feel sympathy for, but there's not much exploring as far as character development goes. Remina is just another person. She just happens to be in the middle of a global witch hunt when mind-boggling coincidence has it a planet named after her arrives to kill Earth.

I highly enjoyed Hellstar Remina, and recommend it to people who enjoy horror and chaotic stories. As far as the ending goes - without spoiling it - I wasn't a big fan of it. The story feels unresolved to me.

To finish, let me just say again that this manga is not for everyone. It features very graphic violence, like torture and (attempted) rape, which could be a trigger for some. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it. Just know what madness you're opening yourself to.

Ahhh...another classic by Junji Ito himself. I've been waiting to read Jigokusei Remina when I was in a definite mood for some good gore/horror, and Junji can always satisfy my appetite for that. The story leans a lot toward syfy though, with flying cars, cell phone watches and such, which I've never been into that genre, but it being a piece by Junji Ito, I knew he would combine his usual grotesque style and syfy-ish feel into one perfectly. !!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!!! I'M SORRY BUT I FELT THE NEED TO SAY A FEW THINGS... I read a few discussions at the end andwas glad to realize I wasn't the only one who felt the same way about Remina the girl and Remina the planet - like there was a deep connection between the two and Planet Remina was either helping or saving her at times when she needed it. For example, the mob tied Remina to a crucifix and was just about to kill her when missiles were launched at Planet Remina and something backfired to cause hundreds of explosions only to upset Planet Remina to create an earthquake. like Remina was there the whole time, tied to the crucifix and still alive??? You can't tell me there was no connection between the two!! There were a few more scenes like that in the story so I think this was a sneaky move on Junji's part making us identify the correlation between Oguro Remina and Planet Remina without having to say it.

"Army of One" oneshot at the end was perfect. It tied into Jigokusei Remina's theme extremely well. I actually read it a long time ago not realizing it was a chapter in Remina until now and thought all this time that Natsuko was behind all the murders, (lol ya I know...) but after reading people's comments I think it was a sick, never-ending cycle of mass hysteria. How could one 20-something year-old-girl do all of that in one night without going unnoticed? And then the song. It was some hypnosis tool used to influence people to kill.

Ah well anyway, I definitely recommend Jigokusei Remina to anyone definitely into gore meets syfy! And the oneshot at the end has always been my favorite, so look forward to that, too!

Remina – Spoiler Free – Not Recommended TLDR Story – 2/10 – 2 x 0.275 = 0.55 Art – 8/10 – 8 x 0.2 = 1.6 Characters – 1/10 – 1 x 0.225 = 0.225 Enjoyment – 4/10 – 4 x 0.3 = 1.2 Total – 3,575 -> 4Story – 2/10

O Lord, where to begin: Remina is supposed to be a horror story, but it accomplishes nothing else than a humourous journey into a story ridden with plot holes, ridiculous ideas and leaps of faith – i.e., when the narrative bolsters its lack of coherency with a lack of vraisemblance. This is astounding in Remina: the story is only 250 pages long but accomplishes these leaps of faith throughout the entirety of the manga. Moreover, in a manga that is supposed to inspire terror, laughter was the most common reaction; and in a manga that is supposed to inspire horror, facepalms thrived. The ending is ridiculous and cracked me during some good, odd minutes. It is also foreseeable how some aspects of the narrative will play out. Even if Junji Ito tried to criticise idol culture – which I think he tries – the lack of vraisemblance is astounding.

Art – 8/10

Junji Ito’s art is great; there is no denying it. In Remina there are panels of excellent quality that are truly awe-inspiring. This is Junji Ito’s most outstanding quality; and Remina is no exception. Although, it must be said that art here is only a beautiful façade to an otherwise lousy edifice.

Characters – 1/10

Remina is a short story, and thus, there is a short margin for character development. This is precisely what happens here. Characters are forgettable at best; most are plain stereotypes of mass hysteria, and we don’t empathise with them.

Enjoyment – 4/10

If this were a comedy manga, it would have been great. I really can’t state on much Remina is overrated. Overall, I most admit, it was a nice read: for the sole fact that it was over the top and funny, which was not it’s main objective; but, nevertheless, it short and pleasant… just not a horror story.

This is another good work by Junji Itto. The story of Remina is too creative. The main character experiences scary emotions, the event Remina clearly depicts the evil nature of humanity, faith and the primitive things of man have been exposed. The ending is reasonable, but the process of flying across the continents is quite funny and not too interesting. Actually I'm not a fan of the planet theme, the scale shown when the whole planet cannibalize another planet is too big, the characters are too small compared to the planet, so this performance is not too appealing. The attraction here is the confrontation between Reminaand the fanatics, who are too panicked to lose their human morality.

I like the way the characters develop in Remina, especially the identity of the beggar who helped Remina. It makes the story well done. The originality of Itto's creativity always amazes me.

If you are looking for a bizarre story with shocking events related to religion, then Remina is the right choice. Actually I'm a bit sorry that the political aspect is not mentioned much, the planet Remina is also pretty sketchy, just a giant monster and tentacles, I mean, I'm waiting for some kind of aliens on that planet.

The main character Remina is also just a young girl and goes around screaming in fear, from start to finish nothing else, although I expect her to be more proactive and brutal after what she's been through.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for Hellstar Remina and Uzumaki. You have been warned. Ito Junji is one of my favorite mangakas. His creative, fascinating, and horrifying drawings he painstakingly creates never fail to impress me. But Hellstar Remina is not one of his better works. In fact, it’s probably the worst out of all his manga that I’ve read. Story: Hellstar has a very simple premise we’ve all probably seen before. Humanity observes an imminent threat to their existence and everyone goes completely bonkers. Hellstar doesn’t have one of the more creative ideas though. I’ve read several stories about “living” planets or mystery planets crashing intoEarth. But if an unoriginal premise is executed well enough, it can still be good, right? Not in this case. I believe that a good cosmic horror story needs time to develop. It may be boring for some but for me, cosmic horror doesn’t have much of an impact unless I can see subtle growing unrest and terror, a strong sense of paranoia, and progressively worse things happening. Hellstar starts off with “haha we’ll be fine” and immediately jumps to “TIME TO BECOME A CULT AND SACRIFICE THE CHILDREN AAAHHHHH”. Because one guy suggested the planet Remina wouldn’t crash if they killed the person Remina. And apparently all of Japan heard and believed him. After that, the story is just Remina running away from the people that want to kill her until the story ends with Remina, some kids, and her new hobo friend in a bomb shelter where they have a year to live. The buildup was far too fast, nothing was scary, and the ending was underwhelming. Speaking of the ending, it was surprisingly lighthearted given the manga’s dark content. And that’s part of what frustrates me. Hellstar reminds me a lot of another of Ito’s works, Uzumaki. Unlike Uzumaki however, Hellstar doesn’t make “the end” seem believable and horrifying. The ones living in the bomb shelter will live a peaceful year and die in a comfortable place among people they care about. In Uzumaki, the town gets swallowed up into the spiral and it’s heavily implied that they’re still conscious. Even after all that suffering, the grand cosmic force wins in the end. Giving Hellstar a somewhat happy ending negates any fear that was built up in previous chapters because we know our leads are okay for now. Ultimately, Hellstar has no impact and is merely a weak imitation of Uzumaki.

Art: Of course, Remina the planet is extremely detailed and terrifying. The rest of the art is very solid too and as usual, all of Ito’s characters look “off”. However, there is very little truly disturbing imagery. Ito’s greatest strength is in drawing grotesque, immaculately detailed body horror and there is very little to found here. Remina is well drawn and closeups of them (as well as the pilot with the melted face) are impressive but none of the art is something I’d consider very scary.

Characters: None of the characters stand out. Remina is a pretty plain and average character, her father is a nice scientist, Remina has a lot of fans that claim they want to protect her but we all know they just want to get her in bed, and the evil cult members are evil cult members. That’s as far as any of them go. A good horror doesn’t necessarily need good characters depending on the type of story and if it carry the lack of good characters with other aspects but Hellstar is just further dragged down by characters with little to no personality. One thing I would like to mention is the leader of Remina’s fan club being revealed as one of the cultists in the masks. This is baffling. I suppose it’s done to show that anyone can be corrupted into thinking Remina is bad but the fact that there’s no further explanation just makes this seem like a confusing “twist” used purely for shock value.

Enjoyment: Hellstar was pretty short so I didn’t suffer much. And there was some ironic enjoyment to be found. “IT ATE THE FUCKING MOON!” comes to mind. For the most part, I was just bored and couldn’t get invested at all.

Final Verdict: Don’t waste your time. Just read Uzumaki instead. 4/10

Extra Note: The oneshot that came with this, Okuman Bocchi or Army of One, was actually really good and significantly better paced, better written, and scarier than Hellstar Remina. I'd suggest giving it a try.

This is my second manga from Junji Ito and sadly it's even worse than the first one. I'am still positive that Junji Ito has made some great mangas that I will eventually read. But this was not one of them. Story moves rather quickly but even despite of that the atmosphere was pretty haunting. At least in the first chapter. After that I was being way too distracted by the ridicoulous portrayal of human nature and borderline hysterically comedic moments towards the end. I don't know whenever it was Junji's intention to make me laugh. I genuinely believe that he was doing it on purpose.What's funnier is that people actually taking the ending seriously. Like not even some of the craziest shounen out there would dare to get this ridicoulous.

The only character which I liked was Mr. homeless man. He was funny, charming and even a little bit sassy which I appreciate. His introduction towards the end just goes to show that the ending was not supposed to be taken seriously. As for the rest of the cast they were pretty basic with little to no room for any developments.

Frankly, I don't care whenever Junji Ito wanted to comment on celebrity worship or the way we treat our planet. At least that's what it seemed like to me. It almost feels like I'am just pointlessly using my brain juice trying to undestand what Junji was exactly trying to say through his convoluted ways. While talking about those things we must subconsciously accept some "truths" regarding human nature that this story is trying to push onto us.

It is the end of the world and civilization is falling apart. We revert back to our old ancient ways and start thinking and acting primitive. Someone propouses a crazy idea as how to save the world which involves murdering and burning people alive. We all of course believe that person because now that the civilization has fallen we have once more become ruthless. As long as we can guarantee our survival it does not matter whenever we will commit terrible atroctites. In a matter of hours new religion is formed and a witch hunt can begin. If you look closely you can actually see that most of us are smiling and seem to be quite enjoying all this death and torture. Well of course we are having a good time. We no longer have to pretend that we are civilized and instead can relieve our basic needs. What a truly deep and insightful look into human nature and our own psyche.

Also what a load of bullshit.

Does anyone actually believe that in a case of a catastrophe we would all become like this ? What a gross oversimplification of humanity and history itself. Religious cults and such massive murderous, one could even say backwards, movements take time to form. Atrocities in which we wipe out or attempt to wipe out an entire groups of people don't happen overnight. It takes years, decades if not centuries of manipulation and villainization. Material conditions which lead to medieval persecutions by religious people did not happen overnight. There wasn't one scared guy that proposed something sadistic in hopes of saving the world and accidentally created a massive movement. In reality religious movements were deliberately manipulated by people in power in hopes of controlling the masses. This story took place in a matter of hours. None of the studies from sociology or psychology has any proof that this is how humans would act in crisis. Many studies that tried to prove that underneath the blanket of civilization, slumbers some sort of warmongering cavemen were proven to be staged. Even so, those staged studies had disastrous concequences on real world. Laws are being made in believe that humans are irrational. Our very system is built around that idea. It is the greatest lie that was ever told. These types of stories perpetuate these lies and I can't exactly say that I'am a fan of that. In big catastrophical events humans actually help each other more than you think. It's beautiful how much more sensitive we become during those moments. Of course media won't talk about that. They will talk about rioting, looting, raping and murdering that they don't even know if it happened. The guy in this story that proposed that they murder Remina to save the world should have gotten ignored. Our rationality and humanity is not that fragile. If the world was actually ending most people would be with their loved ones or they would be partying and having wild orgies. Of course few building would burn so what ? If you believe that rapes would be happening on every corner than you are wrong. It would happen there and there but most of the time those rapists would probably be beaten to death. These types of stories are dangerous. They become self fulfilling prophecies. People in power may mistreat us and use excuses about dangerous human nature. We believe them and after some time we start acting accordingly.

Remina is a planet-sized fiasco. All the potential it held of becoming an interesting sci-fi short story fades away in the first few pages, as our protagonist finds herself shot to stardom overnight just for having a planet named after her. Fanclubs are formed, all eyes are on her and all people talk about is her. It’s impossible to come to terms with the sheer unbelievability of it all. Soon after, the planet Remina starts moving towards Earth, and this is where the story begins to unfold (or fall apart) in the most absurd way possible. Everyone decides to blame Remina and her father for theplanet's actions and intent, pursuing them with hate and believing salvation would come from their (father and daughter's) deaths. A cult appears out of thin air and leads the hunt. The planet approaches and licks the Earth, sending it spinning round and round and allowing the survivors to fly over the fast-rotating lands and seas (Junji Ito must have some fixation with people being able to fly, since it also happens in Uzumaki).

This is, in essence, the "plot" of the book: Remina being pursued. The planet Remina itself is a mere MacGuffin. It serves no real purpose beyond being a threat and the cause of said pursuit. The supposed "happy ending" is the cherry on top of this planetary mess.

There are no real characters or great moments - there is only a most ludicrous plot and a few exceptional panels. (Let's not forget the predictable twists.)

It's unfortunate that the story didn't focus more on the erratic planet Remina itself, as the idea of a star and world-eating planet/creature was without a doubt the highlight of this manga (especially with Junji Ito's hand creating such impressive imagery as it did).

In conclusion, it was a lost opportunity. It should only be read (if at all) for the amusement it brings. It's laughable, though that certainly wasn't what the author intended it to be. At least it's short and doesn't overstay its welcome.

Well, what the hell can I even say about "Hellstar Remina"? It destroyed me. It absolutely destroyed me. I can safely say that, with all kinds of horror stuff I've read, with all the Junji Ito mangas I've read (counting his cat diary, cuz jees that's got some very creepy faces), this one will haunt me the most. The thought of the end of the world already scared me. Thanks to this manga, now it's paranoia. It takes the fear of the world ending and expands it. It's creepy, unsettling, scary, it's everything. Although the plot twists could be somewhat obvious, they still managed to get me. Especiallythe leader one.

Throughout the entire manga, you'll feel sorry for Remina. You'll feel really, really sorry. Thinking "Oh God, is she dead? Please don't let her be dead." and wishing everyone who's being mean to her would just die (well, at least one did, hint hint). There was never, not a single moment, in which I thought "Well Remina, you sure did eff up, didn't ya." or anything of the sort. It's heartbreaking to see her suffer for something she didn't do. Throughout the entire manga, You will. Feel sorry. For Remina.

It's also interesting the way the planet Remina was portrayed - almost if it's got a life of it's own and, the way I interpret it (probably spoilers ahead?), is trying to actually save Remina. It knows she's not responsible for any of this and, even with it's slightly-very-bloodthirsty "personality", it still wants to protect her. Thanks, Remina!

Also it's Junji Ito, the art is incredibly scary, oh God oh God.

Jung Ito is a good writer, but this is definitely not one of their best works. I like the cosmic horror he went through, plus the mass hysteria. However, one feature I liked in Uzumaki is the progression of events, which Remina doesn't have. There are parts that are even sillies, and my physics teacher cried when she saw some scenes. I was able to identify some erotic symbolism in the scene, which made it all the more disgusting, which made the experience better ksajjaakaj. Despite everything, it's a manga that you can read and appreciate a little of Jung Ito's style. in general it isOK.

Remina is cosmic horror in it's purist form. A Lovecraftian planet is here to devour our solar system. Not the planet, EVERYTHING! The art is beautiful, the perspective stunning and the sense of movement in the panels will cause you to flip the pages at the speed of light. It does have a flaw though. Unlike his other works there is a sense of hopelessness here. Remina is going to devour everything so no matter what the characters do or don't do it's sorta pointless. The manga does point your focus to the individuals, how fear turned correlation to causation leading to mass hysteria... but again from the veryfirst panel you are told this is all pointless.

I think this is the main issue I have with Remina, Junji often uses unstoppable cosmic horrors in his tales. Hell, Uzumaki is a prime example. There is always the illusion of escape, that dangling thread of hope though. Even if the characters don't make it that's fine. It's far more satisfying than an empty happy ending with no hope throughout the tale.

Even with that Remina is a tale you should read at least once. It's worth it.

ʚ . . And its namesake , his gorgeous daughter - Remina . . ɞ A word to describe this manga would be odd , however I can ' t say it ' s bad . Honestly , it met a few of my expectations but not beyond or completely at the very least . It was fairly short , being able to read it in less than an hour which is what I liked about it . I like short manga , && for a manga with 6 chapters, it was pretty good . Before I start my actual review , do note that Iwon ' t be talking about the extra after chapter 6 as it ' s not related , except in the overall section as a recommendation .

♡ ∿ Story — 7/10

A horror manga about an Eldritch abomination , planet Remina . When I read the first chapter , I didn ' t know what to expect or what will happen && boy was I in for a ride . To be honest , I didn ' t read the entire synopsis so I wasn ' t too sure what I was getting myself into . It was made by Junji Ito so I had a bit of faith in this manga && it ' s story . It was really short so not much could be fit into 6 chapters , which some were spent , boringly enough , (( spoiler warning )) running away from a bunch of people trying to kill remina && the homeless guy she involved (( spoiler ended )) . I can ' t say I wasn ' t entertained at all though , I genuinely did like it but I wish there was more than (( spoiler warning )) " damn , big eye ball planet uh oh we are doomed ! let ' s try to kill remina for no reason , oops we died instead " (( spoiler ended )) , it ' s just kinda , meh .

♡ ∿ Art — 9/10

The art reminded me of Tomie , so I was attracted immediately to this manga && surprise (( not so )) surprise , it was made by Junji Ito . Can ' t say I ' m disappointed though . I liked that every character ' s design was different && you could easily tell them apart && also remember them easily . It ' s the main thing I look for in a manga - diversity . . as in making recognizable characters that won ' t make you mistake their name with someone who coincidentally looks just like them .

♡ ∿ Characters — 6/10

The only character that ' s actually pretty interesting is the homeless guy who helped Remina (( spoiler warning )) get away from an entire army of angry people ( spoiler ended ) . If I ' m being completely honest . Remina was just kind of annoying && the other characters were just . . annoying .

♡ ∿ Enjoyment — 8/10

It ' s really interesting && I wish it had more chapters , maybe a second manga to show us ( spoiler warning ) what they do for 1 year in space && if maybe they live on a different planet or something (( spoiler ending )) . Either way , it ' s good ! I wish there was maybe more horror aspects though . . like , more gore .

♡ ∿ Overall — 8/10

I recommend this if you ' re into lovecraft , it ' s very short so it won ' t take a while to finish it . The extra is also worth reading , it ' s really good && it had a great plot twist , I really liked it && I wish there was a manga specifically for that extra .

Let's see, the story was predictable as anyone would consider if you read the synopsis, still a decent story though, but some subplots aren't just predictable but pointless. Ito's art is impeccable, it starts simple but becomes more and more impressive as the story goes on, the absurd plot and realistic art brings an odd sensation that ito mastered in Uzumaki and did a good job in Hellstar Remina as well. The characters are okay? Maybe? I don't know, they all seemed classic archetypes that we see in every horror story, a naive protagonist, the richs being cowards and always thinking about themselves, the scientistthat make a great discovery and some more, it's not a problem tho, but ito could've made a better job with the characters.

I don't know if you'll like it, the art and pace are good and totally worth to read if you liked Ito's previous works, it's hard to tell if everyone will like it, I can see why people like and hate it, I feel like the Story ended with a bittersweet flavour, don't know if it was the best choice of final parts to put in a story like that. Read it, have your own opinion.

I very much enjoy Junji Ito's work and slowly reading more and more of his manga's. Remina was quite an interesting mix of horror and sci fi and Junji Ito's art style really adds into it. Junji Ito's portrayal of humans obsessions and anger is really incredible and quite disturbing. I tended to forget that I was reading about a horrifying planet but was quite distracted with just how messed up humans can me in the story. However, I personally wasn't latched onto it as much as his other manga, "Uzumaki." I feel Remina is worth a try, but for me it's not really a favoriteor something I was glued onto.

Frankly, I was a little scared to pick up this book, considering the reviews that friends and critiques have given this. But, after reading it, I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it. For a horror about an unknown extraterrestrial being, I found it bone-chilling. Some shots made my blood go cold and curl up from how disgusting/horrifying it was. Though, in retrospect, the characters and some of the plot felt basic and bland. I think most of this manga strives from its imagery and horror through circumstances. Regardless, I believe everyone should at least give this book a shot; it was verywell worth my work breaks to read.

The Master of Horror Strikes! Junoji Ito simply manages to make us fear the doom of a planet. This work, despite focusing on the fear of an unknown planet, mainly addresses what people think and decide to do amidst the madness of the possibility of extinction. I don't think it's completely unrealistic (the demon planet part, yes, lol). I mean, it's perfectly possible for humanity to have these absurd reactions due to the fear of annihilation. The plot is very well constructed, involving astronomy, politics, and extremist religion, with a suffocating ending, lol. Anyway, my rating of 7 was decided because among Junji Ito's works, this onewas somewhat "weaker," but make no mistake, it's still a very interesting read. I recommend it to fans of the master of horror.

=================================================================================================================Versão em Português=====================================

O mestre do Horror ataca!

Simplesmente Junji Ito conseguindo fazer a gente ter medo da desgraça de um planeta. Essa obra apesar de ter como foco o medo de um planeta desconhecido, aborda principalmente o que as pessoas pensam e decidem fazer em meio a loucura da possiblidade de extinção, não acho que é algo totalmente fora da realidade (a parte do planeta demônio sim kkk), digo, é perfeitamente possivel a humanidade ter essas reações absurdas por conta do medo da aniquilação. A trama é muito bem construída, envolve astronomia, politica e religião extremista, com um final sufocante rs.

Enfim, minha nota 7 foi decidida pois entre as obras do Junji Ito essa daqui foi algo mais "fraco", mas não se engane, ainda é algo muito interessante de se ler. Recomendo para quem é fã do mestre do horror.

Here is my take after reading 6 chapters of the world eating Jigokusei Remina (Hellstar Remina) by Junji Itou. Every time I want to read something to refresh myself from reading heavy manga titles, I always end up picking a Junji Itou story. But you may ask, how does reading a horror manga in any way refreshing? Well, that's where I start talking about his short manga Jigokusei Remina... A story about an astronomer who discovers a new star that shows fascinating characteristics out of the ordinary, being that it literally devours nearby stars. That particular star was named Remina, which was her daughter's name. The start andher daughter showed uncanny similarities that are beyond the realm of coincidence.

After naming the star Remina, strange things started to happen for both the star and Remina that eventually causes chaos in the universe.

As always, the art of Junji Itou is definitely tailor-made for the horror genre which holds all the craziness that his story tells to us readers.

Although this time, the characters are not that strong and memorable for me unlike his popular works: Gyo, Uzumaki, and Tomie. But they are enough to move the narrative forward.

And this is where the refreshing part comes, each of Junji Itou's works keeps you unaware and clueless of each phenomenon that happens to the characters of his story which makes it really interesting to read.

With that said, I would give Jigokusei Remina 8 stars out of 10.