TOMIE (1998)

There’s been a recent resurgence of interest in Tomie / 富江, the now iconic character created in the late-1980s by the maestro of manga horror, Junji Ito. So, this new Blu-ray presenting the first live-action film adaptation in its original HD format is a timely release from Arrow Video. It will surely appeal to dedicated followers of the supernatural schoolgirl and those yet to be seduced and maddened by her corrupting yet incorruptible beauty.

This year, the unlikely partnership between Tomie Kawakami and Kitty White (Hello Kitty) surprised and delighted fans of J-horror and kawaii culture alike. Pop-up stores across Tokyo selling merchandise designed by Junji Ito and featuring both fictional characters together could only be entered by ticketed lottery and even then, purchases were limited to one of each item per person. While, on the other side of the world, the anime series, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (2023) was streaming on Netflix, introducing the work of Ito along with the character of Tomie to an even broader audience. It’s a straightforward showcase of Ito’s stories that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Also, a new adaptation of the revered Uzumaki manga series has been airing in the Adult Swim slot on the Max streaming channel since September. It’s been a good year for Ito, already the oshi of many manga fans and recognised as the ‘Godfather of J-Horror’.

Since her first appearance in 1987, Tomie has become an iconic transmedia monster, particularly in Japan but, like a beautiful disease, she’s crossed borders to infect the world beyond. Tomie ranks among the unique monsters of horror, the only truly original addition to the pantheon since the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Mr Hyde, Cthulhu… though perhaps she has most in common with Oscar Wilde’s amoral creation, Dorian Gray, who hides a corrupt soul behind a veneer of beauty.

We’re never sure exactly what Tomie is. All we know is that her presence inspires the strongest emotions in those around her. Girls and women first admire and then hate her. Boys and men first desire her before, maddened by profound passions, must possess and finally murder her. Over the years, she’s become the focus of feminist treatises, psychological analysis, and academic debate around the cycle of violence perpetrated upon women by men.

One central and enduring ambiguity with Tomie is whether she has full control over what she does or if she’s simply a slave to a biological imperative. Being one of a kind, her only method of reproduction is by division. But what does it take to provoke a person into killing and dismembering her enough to allow this parthenogenesis to take place? The more pieces she ends up in, the more new versions of her grow. The added twist is that despite the resulting clones having a hivemind and sharing personality and memories, each considers the others to be at least an imposter and at worst, a parasitic abomination that must be eradicated.

This emphasises Tomie’s sense of self as an individual, intelligent being, which may be a recently evolved trait that emerged during the Meiji era. We are told that’s when the entity was first recorded by name along with the murders she inspired, and her first death. She has since been suffering for her beauty in a repeating cycle of death and rebirth.

Tomie, the character, is imbued with a sharp, selfish intellect which she applies to manipulate the behaviours of those around her, demonstrating her understanding of human intelligence and emotions. This makes her actions deliberate so, unlike a parasitic animal, she can be considered evil. However, certain parasitic wasps can manipulate the behaviour of their host similarly and we can’t assign evilness to wasps unless we anthropomorphise them with our human morality.

Tomie isn’t human and, at least to begin with, it’s only the humans around her that are incited by her presence to commit acts of extreme violence upon each other, inevitably culminating in the murder of Tomie by human hands. She may not be evil herself, though Tomie’s actions and perfectly pointed remarks inspire an evil of purely human origin as intellect caves in to desire-driven insanity. Therefore, culpability becomes a very complex matter which contributes to the lasting appeal of the character. Tomie has become a heroine for nihilists. She’s no more evil than a spider or shark but her pervasive aura brings out the darker desires in others and tips them over into malice and madness.

Junji Ito is interested in fear extrapolated from a social anxiety that most of us have felt at some point in our lives, rooted in the intense feelings of awakening passions when trying to pluck up the courage to talk to one’s secret crush. Those feelings can be intense and confusing. This is one of the reasons the setting for most of Tomie’s stories is high school and involves teenagers. Tomie may look like a high school girl, but she is a centuries-old entity that manipulates its prey by provoking uncontrollably intense desires that can never be sated.

The initial cult success of Tomie, the film, was propelled by the J-horror boom that followed Ringu (1998) and there are some clear parallels with Sadako Yamamura—except Tomie Kawakami isn’t a ghost. Both have long black hair which has been a dominant trope of the feminine supernatural since Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan (1964) drew the image from traditional Asian ghost stories. Both are victims and villains at the same time.

Director Ataru Oikawa has recounted how he was having trouble getting any of his scripts into production and decided he should take advantage of the new appetite for horror. He wanted to make a youth drama and realised that horror mixed very well with that genre. So, he asked a young girl in a bar what was hot in the horror manga scene, and she was enthused about Junji Ito and Tomie.

Oikawa was suitably impressed with the story and began writing his own treatment. He immediately understood that the source material is so suited to its medium and Ito’s illustration style that any direct adaptation is bound to fall short in comparison. One solution is to attempt to be as faithful as possible—such as Netflix’s Maniac (2018) series. The Tomie segments Tomie: Photo and the related Long Hair in the Attic would be better entry points for those unfamiliar with Tomie and Ito’s extensive oeuvre because Oikawa has taken a risk and coloured the story with his own stylistic approach.

He consulted with Ito on developing a screen version, but all Tomie’s creator asked was that the film avoid excessive gore and jump scares, instead focusing on atmosphere and psychological relationships. He wanted creepy and unsettling rather than easy thrills.

The only other thing Ito insisted on was that he had a veto over casting the lead roles, and that Tomie must be played by Miho Kanno. Oikawa knew that correctly casting Tomie would be imperative and was happy to be handed this solution. However, the actress was reluctant to take on the role. She was already very successful after a few hit movies and starring in three popular television series: Iguana Girl / イグアナの娘 (1996), Good Person / いいひと。(1997), and Love Again /  ラブ・アゲイン (1998).

After a couple of months’ deliberation, she finally agreed and proved Ito to be correct in believing her to be the perfect Tomie. Although she only really features in the second half of the movie, she’s marvellous. Besides having enchanting looks, her meticulous performance relies on attention to each precisely measured gesture, counterbalanced with poise and often unnerving stillness. But it’s her voice that captures the character, working in tandem with her sometimes mask-like expressions to strike a perfect balance of childlike vulnerability with knowing manipulation.

Oikawa’s screenplay follows on from the events of Tomie’s first manga instalment, revisiting the key players and hinting at previous events through flashbacks, but following its own trajectory. The result is different enough, with an extrapolated script that takes the story into its own unique territories. This gives fans something new and worthwhile to ponder while avoiding easy frame-by-frame comparison and criticism.

The story picks up at the point when Tomie’s obsessed classmate, Yamamoto (Kenji Mizuhashi), is wandering the streets in a trance, carrying Tomie’s severed head in a bag. Seeking a place to care for Tomie as she regenerates, he rents a cheap apartment, unaware that Tsukiko (Mami Nakamura), who was once Tomie’s best friend lives above with her boyfriend, Yuuichi (Kôta Kusano).

Tsukiko has forgotten all about Tomie and is being treated for her amnesia by Dr Hosono (Yoriko Dôguchia), a psychologist and hypnotherapist. Tsukiko believes her memory loss is due to the trauma of a serious car crash in which her best friend was killed and all she can recall is being covered in someone’s blood. The significance of this is underplayed in the movie but it’s a very important detail, given that Tomie can regenerate from any body part or tissue containing her cells and DNA. This does have a bearing on a couple of plot points that will otherwise baffle the uninitiated.

Mami Nakamura is also brilliant in her second feature lead after the controversial Girl of Silence / ファザーファッカー (1995) in which she played a teenage victim of ongoing sexual abuse. Here, she’s completely convincing, right down to the perfectly managed micro-expressions that work with the regular use of extreme close-ups of her face. She delivers an intensely emotional and nuanced performance to match that of Kanno’s, and the film is supremely successful when they share screen time. Gradually, we see Tomie’s more human traits emerge as she emotionally mirrors Tsukiko. For a brief time, they seem in balance and there may even be a possibility of rekindling their friendship, but that balance soon tips as the sanity of Tsukiko and her circle of friends begins to unravel.

Initially, the manga allows only glimpses of Tomie to allow our imaginative fantasies of an ideal girl to take hold, but this is only strung out for a few pages. Oikawa takes an entirely different tack by denying us a good look at Tomie for most of the movie. A nice technique for building an enigma, and we’re expecting the reveal to be something ethereally beautiful or unexpectedly monstrous. Of course, Miho Kanno is very beautiful, but the point is that Tomie’s influence on those around her goes well beyond simple enchantment. One suspects there’s some sort of chemical or psychotropic emission at work.

The manga story of Tomie is told in short, sharp bites that get a lot over in relatively few pages. Dense and rich storytelling. Tomie, the movie, takes a more measured approach to its narrative. The imagery feels tamer than the manga, though the sicker aspects seem even more off-putting when associated with live actors. There are a few genuinely disturbing and creepy moments that remain way more affecting than the minimal gore. One of these is the juxtaposition of Yamamoto, the adolescent man-boy, with the infant, or larval, stages of Tomie’s development when she resembles a child.

Tomie is an ancient being with vampiric traits in the way she feeds off the emotions of others and can repeatedly rise from the dead. If one draws a parallel with Dracula, then Detective Harada (Tomorô Taguchi) would be her Van Helsing. He’s completely obsessed with solving the case of a schoolgirl’s disappearance and the circumstances in which it occurred, which resulted in the mass hysteria of a complete class, several suicides, missing persons, and the closure of the school. He’s convinced that the missing schoolgirl, Tomie Kawakami, was the cause and is something other than human.

Even though he never personally met her, it seems that the mere concept of Tomie is already affecting him, and his main motivation is to track her down just to experience being in her presence. Tomorô Taguchi will be familiar to anyone with an interest in the cult cinema of Japan from Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s trilogy, Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992), and Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009). Here, he plays a policeman traumatised by what he has seen, so powerfully affected by the strange case that he no longer wants to solve it, he wants to become part of it. Becoming more like an unhinged Renfield than a dedicated Van Helsing.

One of the methods that Oikawa employs to evoke the creeping unease that Ito had requested is a restriction of the colour palette. This adds a dreamlike, otherworldly atmosphere as scenes are saturated by a colour temperature that progresses from warm pink to green, implying a developing sickness. Colour also provides a subtle narrative link that ties Tsukiko’s arc together. There is the recurring use of yellow detailing in many of the frames, her bike, the railings outside the local convenience store, the hypnotic pulse lamp used by Dr Hosono, and Tomie’s eyes before she assumes fully human form.

Another method is the excellent sound design that utilises a score of insistent sounds with a rhythm like a subdued ringtone, along with the pervasive noise of rain and dripping taps. The score was composed by Hiroshi Futami and Toshihiro Kimura, but the spaced-out “Robby’s Song” by World Famous is deployed at key moments to great, unsettling effect.

The ending of the movie baffled some and disappointed others. Admittedly, it’s bewildering, and even for those familiar with the manga, it takes a while to settle in after some consideration and perhaps a closer rewatch. It’s certainly not talking down to its audience and finishes on a puzzle that can only be solved with some prior knowledge of how Tomie functions on a cellular level. I shall say no more. (Fans of the Tomie manga will, probably, understand.)

The film works far better when viewed in tandem with its prequel, Tomie: Beginning (2005), and it’s a real missed opportunity that it wasn’t included in this package. Perhaps it could be paired with Ataru Oikawa’s other Tomie movie, Tomie: Revenge (2005), as both have succinct run times that would make them less suitable for a solo release and perfect for a double-bill box set. But hey, a three-film box set would have been something highly appropriate that fans would have snapped up. Sadly, another missed opportunity.

Though not everyone will, I enjoy the quieter, dreamier vibe of Ataru Oikawa’s three movies and appreciate how he exposed different facets and brought some new feels to Tomie’s character. But I’d still love to see an entry into the canon from a fearless director with sentiments more aligned with the original manga. Either Takashi Miike or Kiyoshi Kurosawa would be a dream come true, especially if Junji Ito collaborated on the script and storyboarding.

In mid-2020, a limited Tomie series was announced by Quibi, with an impressive talent line-up, but by the end of the year, that streaming service had dissolved. The screen rights are in limbo as a result, and there has been no news of the project being picked up since.

JAPAN | 1998 | 95 MINUTES | 1.85:1 | COLOUR | JAPANESE

Limited Edition Blu-ray Special Features:

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation.
• Original lossless 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio.
• Optional English subtitles.
• Brand new audio commentary by critic and Japanese cinema expert Amber T. Engaging and thought-provoking, with plenty of background to contextualise the film within the historical framework of J-Horror. The resonance with Sadako in Ringu is briefly discussed, along with less obvious parallels with other films that explore connections between memory and identity, amnesia and loss of self. Junji Ito’s original manga is compared with the live-action adaptation, and there’s welcome information about the cast, including other notable appearances. Amber applies astute analysis throughout, discussing technical aspects along with the psychological ones, such as assigning symbolic meaning to the coded colour-grading of key scenes. The commentary leans a little heavily on some academic feminist theory here and there, which can seem rather tenuous, but encourages deeper, deliberate consideration of the rich subtexts. This is a top-rate and worthy commentary that genuinely enhances subsequent viewings.
• ‘It’s a Girl’s World’, a brand new 35-minute interview with director Ataru Oikawa.
• ‘Scream Queen’, a brand new 16-minute interview with actress Mami Nakamura.
• ‘From Manga to Screen’, a brand new 13-minute interview with producer Mikihiko Hirata.
• Archival Making Of 28-minute documentary. Including brief contributions from Junji Ito, Ataru Oikawa, and all the key cast with some excellent behind-the-scenes clips including Miho Kanno’s make-up and prosthetics sessions and an omitted scene involving a mystery package of hair being delivered to Tsukiko.
• Trailer.
• Image gallery.
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Zack Davisson and Eugene Thacker.
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck.

Cast & Crew

director: Ataru Oikawa.
writer: Ataru Oikawa (based on the manga by Junji Ito).
starring: Miho Kanno, Mami Nakamura, Yoriko Dôguchi & Tomorô Taguchi.