Tomie (Series)

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Background

Tomie is a Japanese horror manga series created by Junji Ito, his first published work, which he initially submitted to the shōjo magazine Monthly Halloween in 1987. This debut earned Ito the prestigious Kazuo Umezu Award. The manga has since inspired multiple adaptations, including a nine-part live-action film series, an anthology television series in 1999, and a streaming TV show that was in development for Quibi before the platform shut down.

Plot

Main Story
The story revolves around Tomie Kawakami, a mysterious and captivatingly beautiful woman with sleek black hair and a beauty mark beneath her left eye. Tomie possesses a supernatural power that compels men to fall deeply in love with her, often driving them to jealousy and violent extremes. Her manipulation extends beyond men, as women also become affected by her presence, sometimes falling into insanity. Despite her many deaths at the hands of those she manipulates, Tomie always regenerates, perpetuating a cycle of horror as her curse spreads to new victims. Her origins are left unclear, though hints suggest she has existed long before the events in the series.

The manga presents various characters who encounter Tomie, each facing different outcomes as they confront her many grotesque forms. Tomie’s regenerative abilities are a central aspect of her curse: she can heal from severe injuries and even create new versions of herself from severed limbs, organs, or her spilled blood. Exposure to radiation accelerates her regeneration, and her cells can even transform someone into a Tomie through an organ transplant. Dismembering her body only results in more copies, and her very hair can burrow into victims’ brains, taking control of them before eventually killing them as the hair grows inside their bodies.

Tomie's regeneration is driven by cannibalism and assimilation, and her clones often become competitive, with some versions seeking to destroy one another. Although her immortality makes her nearly unstoppable, fire—if it completely carbonizes her body—remains the only known method to destroy her permanently.

Other Story Arcs
In a prequel arc, it is revealed that a baby can grow into a Tomie through a blood injection, and if a Tomie has not yet created copies of herself, she can age naturally. One subplot follows a man, disfigured by a Tomie in his past, who seeks revenge by injecting Tomie blood into a baby girl named Ayaka, hoping to make her grow old and unattractive. After encasing Ayaka in cement, the man and Ayaka's sister wait years, only to discover that Tomie had escaped, leaving only the eerie sound of wind echoing through the hollow block.

An exclusive arc released with the DVD of The Junji Ito Collection, titled Tomie: Takeover, features a body-switching man who encounters Tomie and struggles to manage her powers. Additionally, a crossover arc with Souichi Tsujii titled Souichi Possessed was released in 2018. This story features a younger Tomie and hints at a larger confrontation between her and Souichi, as Tomie seeks an introduction to his mischievous older brother, Koichi.

These stories expand the Tomie universe, showcasing her terrifying ability to regenerate and manipulate those around her while introducing new characters and situations that deepen the horror she brings into people's lives.

General Information

Official Date

• Manga: 1987-2000
• Television Drama: December 26, 1999

Company:

• Manga: Asahi Sonorama (Publisher), Monthly Halloween, Nemuki (Magazine)
• Television Drama: Daiei (Studio), NA: Adness Entertainment (Licensors), Kansai TV (Original Network)

Creators:

• Manga: Junji Ito
• Television Drama: Toshirō Inomata (Director), Shotaro Oikawa (Writer)
• Novel: Fumihiko Iino (Writer), Asahi Sonorama (Publisher)

Genre: Horror, Psychological Horrror, Supernatural

Cosmology: Universe

Number of Series: 3 (A manga, television drama series, and novel)

Number of Volumes: 3 volumes

Number of Episodes: 3 episodes

Status: Ongoing (Tomie still gets updates, with Jung Ito writing a new one-shot chapter for Tomie that was published around April 12, 2024)

Sales: Unknown

Reception: Junji Ito won the 1989 Kazuo Umezu Prize for his work on Tomie, which has since garnered a devoted cult following and continues to be praised by both fans and critics alike. The series remains an iconic work in horror manga, celebrated for its unique blend of psychological terror and grotesque imagery.

Power of the Verse

Tomie features mainly a standard human series, Tomie herself is physically on the level of a standard human and instead wields supernatural abilities such as, Empathic Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Madness Manipulation, Fragrance Manipulation, etcetera.

Knowledgeable Members

• GiverOfThePeace

Characters

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  Tomie Kawakami