‘Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales Of The Macabre’ Episode 12: Recap And Ending, Explained

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The finale episode “Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre” Season 1, titled “Whispering Woman,” is a story featuring a person with Dependent Personality Disorder. Mayumi suffers from this disorder, where she gets so anxious about even the basic decisions, she has to make that she needs somebody to continuously decide for her and also give her clear instructions to function. Her endless questions had caused many other attendants to resign because they could not keep up. Her father, the President, had hired maids as well as other attendants to help Mayumi. However, all of them left after a while. Perplexed with the situation, he had kept the position of an attendant open for some breakthrough. Mitsu Uchida was that breakthrough. She had applied for the job and had shown up at Mayumi’s house for the interview. The President took her to Mayumi’s room to let her assess the situation and think for herself if she could cope with the work.

In the manga, the President clearly explained Mayumi’s condition, and he listed the cause of her condition as her mother’s premature death. The anime picks up from their visit to Mayumi’s room, and Mitsu at first is taken aback by Mayumi’s condition, but she quickly gets used to it as she starts to give clear instructions. In the first month of her work, Mitsu helped Mayumi take strolls and had already greatly improved her mental situation. Mayumi, as she received clear instructions on how to function and how to go about her day from Mitsu, had stopped asking questions and had started focusing on getting better. The President had thought the situation to be unbelievable, so he had asked Yamaoka, his assistant, for a quick background check on Mitsu. As Mitsu had tirelessly worked for the month, the President, while thanking her for her work, noticed the bruise on her face. He had told Mitsu to take a day off and rest for the day; however, Mitsu refused. She continued to show up to work.

Two months had passed, and Mitsu had an unwavering zeal for her work, even though her health had deteriorated exponentially as she had become Mayumi’s shadow, constantly whispering instructions to her politely. Yamaoka had also shown up with the background check, as the President had requested. The President now felt a little guilty for ordering the search; however, he was intrigued about Mitsu’s situation. He discovered that Mitsu had a tumultuous life at her home. She was in a live-in relationship with her boyfriend, Ryochi Aga. Aga was a freeloader who took Mitsu’s hard-earned money, and he abused her as well. Meanwhile, before Yamaoka could tell the President about the information, Mitsu led Mayumi to the President’s room, where Mayumi gifted him a flower she picked up from the garden. The President was very joyful as his daughter was well on her path to recovery. Yamaoka, after Mitsu and Mayumi had left, informed the President about his employer’s situation, which he turned a blind eye to.

The President reasoned with Yamaoka that if they saved Mitsu from her boyfriend, then she would not need to work and would leave the job. The President could not have his daughter’s condition worsen after she had just shown such promise and could have an independent life. However, after a few days, Mitsu passed away due to the various injuries inflicted on her by her boyfriend. Her mental condition and her health had deteriorated a lot; therefore, she succumbed easily to her wounds. Ryuchi Aga was put on the wanted list as he had run from the situation. The President was anxious after he heard the news as he feared for his daughter. But, to his surprise, Mayumi had not suffered at all and instead had become more independent. The President had found out that although Mitsu had ceased to exist, her soul hadn’t stopped whispering to Mayumi, helping her lead a better life. She then taught Mayumi to wield a knife as he taught her how to stab somebody precisely. With her instructions, Mayumi successfully murdered Ryoichi Aga, taking revenge for Mitsu. She returned home covered in blood, ecstatic about killing Aga as she told her appalled father about it.

The story talks about dependent personality disorder, which is caused by anxiety. Mayumi suffered from the trauma of her Mother’s death, and she could not recover from it. She had stopped her basic functioning and constantly needed to be told what to do. Mitsu, on the other hand, suffered from domestic violence and found solace in her job. Her calm personality and eerie patience had helped her help Mayumi. The story also talks about how humans turn a blind eye to a situation where the person clearly knows that the other person is in trouble; however, the other person’s situation suits the purpose of their needs. As long as Mitsu was meeting his requirements, the President did not do anything to help Mitsu’s situation. This made Mitsu use his daughter for revenge, as she had already said to Mayumi to not worry about her leaving Mayumi alone. The story also brings up the topic of abuse and violence, which makes it more real. Junji-Ito puts forward the perils of women suffering from domestic violence and how most perish from that. Mitsu had to wait for her death to get her revenge; this made it much darker than it really was. This is because, if it was anybody else who had killed Aga other than Mayumi, they would be in jail by now under charges of manslaughter. 

The second story of “Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre” Episode 12, “Souichi’s Beloved Pet,” is a continuation of the universe of Souichi from the story “Four x Four Walls” and goes into more detail about Souichi’s day-to-day life. The story introduces Sayuri, who spotted a kitten while on her way home. She picked up the kitten and took it home with her, where she introduced the cat to her family. Kouichi and their parents were overjoyed and allowed Sayuri to keep the cat. She named the cat Coron and loved to play with it. Coron was a very friendly cat, however, similar to how their parents were indifferent to Souichi. Souichi also fell in love with the cat and at first wanted to pet it; however, due to his strange disposition, the cat evaded his responses. Souichi had introduced himself to the cat with a mouthful of nails; Coron, terrified of him, turned tail and ran. In the manga, as Coron tries to leave Souichi, Souichi spits nails at it, making Coron fearful of him. The anime picked up from when Souichi got upset and used a rope to discipline Coron into listening to him. Kouichi had come just in time to save Coron and had foiled Souichi’s plans. He was instead injured, as Coron had clawed at his face, and his Mother had to patch him up. Kouichi was adamant and wanted their parents to admonish Souichi, as he could have killed Coron; however, their parents let him get away with it due to their guilt at not being able to connect with him. Souichi left to return to his room as he contemplated cursing the cat. Souichi was a very commendable curser, and his curse had started taking shape as Coron started changing.

Souichi repeatedly called Coron “Garon,” and as his curse was slowly changing Coron into a feral cat, Coron has now hunted down weird creatures and eaten them as well. He started with a snake, and it ended with him bringing home a weird spider. Kouichi kept Coron at home and also made sure all of the entrances that could let Coron slip out and return with an even worse creature were closed. As their parents returned home, Coron started projecting fur everywhere in the rooms, which made everybody sneeze. Kouichi went in search of Coron along with Sayuri and found Coron in Souichi’s hands as he wore a mask while stroking Coron’s fur. Sayuri tried coaxing Coron toward her; however, Coron’s hissing made her upset, and she left the room in tears. Kouichi tried but had to leave the room as well because Coron started projecting electricity. Souichi got electrocuted and had to be hospitalized while Coron returned to itself after projecting the curse out of its body. Although the curse hadn’t all left, it could still change after being a playful kitten for a while.

Souichi’s position in the family is really sad, as his parents do not scold him or correct his behavior even after Kouichi’s insistence. Souichi had little to no positive upbringing, and that made him different from his siblings, which is why he did not know how to treat a pet. He wanted to play with the cat, too; however, Coron’s rejections made him feel even more unwanted, and he could not take that. Thus, Souichi set out to make the cat like him; the only way he knew to achieve this was through curses, as his family had not taught him how to carefully handle cats or any other pet for that matter. He did get punished for his actions later through the counter effects of the curse he put on Coron, but his parents either remained indifferent to what he did or simply coddled him.


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Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She has a keen interest in graphic designing, reading, and photography. Her insatiable appetite for cinema and pop culture enticed her to work as a content writer. She is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma focused in Animation & VFX to explore a new dimension in her career.

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