Soïchi is one of the emblematic characters of Junji Ito to whom he has dedicated several short stories. They are all collected in this collection published by Mangetsu. But how can a boy be so scary?
A demon in shorts 
Like most of the Japanese master's horror works, Soichi is organized around a series of independent short stories, but there are the same locations and most of the characters return to each story including the monster of the title. However, the devil here is a child. The mood is set in the first short story. Teenagers Yusuke and Michina spend holidays against their will with unknown relatives in the countryside. They find the son Kôichi of the same age and the youngest, the daughter Soyuri and the last Soïchi. The atmosphere between the four older ones is very joyful until the arrival of the youngest whose eccentricity and violence transforms the bucolic stay into a nightmare.
Initially, Soichi innocently does evil. He lets his instincts act without limit so that his family notices. His brother and sister sideline him because of his peculiarities. He constantly keeps nails in his mouth to treat his anemia. This exclusion pushes him to develop a sense of superiority.
Soïchi wears a college uniform, blue shorts and a banal white t-shirt but also a red cape like a childish disguise but also like Dracula. Over the course of the episodes, he evolves little, but his madness or his powers seem to strengthen. He does not always do evil, but his mere presence and then his deceptively sweet words incite others to violence. In the second novella, Soichi uses his nails like a vampire would suck blood. Further on, it pumps energy from an adult. He practices black magic and voodoo, but can be overtaken by his creations. Soïchi does not just follow a child but also his family and so the reader goes back to the source of evil before, in the last third of the book, to switch further into the future while little Soïchi has changed …
Soïchi and Ito 
Soïchi finds the gloomy paths of horror. Many characters are in a pivotal period in their lives. Yusûke will leave high school. Soïchi is in her last year of primary school and therefore a year of transition. Junji Ito finds in this volume his obsessions by marrying the everyday and the disturbing. However, unlike other short stories, Junji Ito does not go as far as absolute horror (like murder or destruction). Everything returns to normal at the end of the short story and the bad boy is punished. We can hypothesize that he is holding back because the characters concerned are children.
Turning the pages, the reader can find Junji Ito's drawing very precise and soft. It seems without roughness, but by very subtle changes it distills anxiety: a black shadow around the eyes, mismatched bangs, drops of sweat on the face … Dread is often transmitted through the face – which is where the reader makes a transfer. As these short stories were written at different times in Ito's career, his style can also be seen evolving.
The publisher Mangetsu brings together in one volume all the adventures of Soïchi. It also offers an exclusive cover designed by Junji Ito. This choice, but also the preface, the afterword and the quality of the paper illustrate how carefully the publisher takes care of the author's works. The preface by Marius Chapuis illuminates this new volume of Junji Ito's works with a dark glow.
Through this child set aside who takes revenge, Soïchi is a criticism of the exclusion of different people. The demon in shorts is not so evil and the various novels offer a look sometimes disturbing sometimes tender. Soïchi is also a trip to rural Japan, that of small towns too rarely highlighted in manga.
You can find on the site other chronicles on this magnificent collection of works by Junji Ito with Frankenstein and Ghost Zone.
