The Darkest Story I've Ever Read

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Junji Ito is funny cause his stories are usually "look at this horrific eldritch concept and look how hopeless humanity is in facing it" but the other like 20% of the time he's just like "dude what if someone was living in your chair wouldn't that be fucked up?"

“If you don’t go to art school in the 1930’s you either become an alcoholic or hitler” that got me. Hooo boy this book is a nightmare but thank you for reading it for us

Yoshiko: Is attacked in the worst way possible Yozo, watching and doing nothing: “I am the victim here.”

Wendigoon throwing in random jabs like calling Yozo a sad e-boy is incredible at temporarily lifting the opressive atmosphere and helping me make it through this story.

"He was a good boy, an angel" That sounds like a post-mortem platitude to me. A haunting final line for a haunting novel. Even in death people around Yozo weren't honest about him.

Funny, this video can serve as a good reminder: sometimes the best form of horror isn't a scary monster, a spooky ghost, or a unknowable alien force, but rather the best horror is the reminder of just how dark reality really is, and how tragic life can be due to the actions or inactions of a single individual.

As someone who’s dealt with increasingly severe depression my entire life (currently 31) I relate to this story a lot. I’ve always felt a massive disconnect between myself and others, like I’m an alien in a person suit, or like there’s a thick pane of glass between me and the rest of humanity.

This story makes me think of psychopathy. Not the serial-killer type you see in movies, but the real people with the disorder. The fear of people, the lack of connection, the feeling of isolation, the constant mask so people don’t see them as different, the dulled/missing positive emotions, not seeing the point in many societal concepts that seem to grip others so. It’s all there. At the very beginning I thought Yozo might have unknowingly been a different creature, some sort of skinwalker or alien. But as the story progressed and I saw how he navigated this strange world, I realized that this wasn’t true, despite how Yozo might have felt. He was human. He wasn’t alone.

i was at a book store and picked this book up to get a look at the cover, and a worker came over to me and said “don’t read that if you’re depressed” and told me it’s essentially a suicide note. i thought it was done kafka-esque philosophy book so i’m grateful that worker informed me it’s not lol

I remember my professor saying this about the book when we had our literature class "This doesn't feel like a story, Its more like someone saying goodbye to you and the world" And after learning about the author i can see why he felt that way

I 100% understood this whole entire story. Right away. When he was saying he never felt “human”. The things that happened to him. The way he looked at society and thought everything was pointless. Thinking everyone is a monster. Never letting anyone get to know you ever. Never being happy or unhappy. Always going along with suggestions. Addiction. Drawing that horrific self portrait. I will admit that life isn’t so bleak anymore. I think everything is beautiful and people can be ok lol. But it wasn’t always like this. I’m 21 but feel 60. Hell, I feel 100 years old and life is just getting started. I feel like my life has been “normal”. But it really hasn’t. I know my life has been farrrr from normal but hearing Wendigoon call this story “tragic” made me feel something. But I’ve never heard a story that I’ve felt so deeply. I felt every word of this story. Obviously not the more specific parts. But the emotions. As for the question about the last line, I think it was a bit of both. That is how people talk about you sometimes. But also you want to hope that you can be something better.

Double suicide was actually a really popular thing in Japan. It wasn't, like, expected, but couples doing the Romeo and Juliet weren't uncommon. They were tragic tales that were good headlines. It had an entire name, shinjū, and it mainly happened with prostitues who fell in love with one of their clients. Proving your love to someone is hard when you have to do that to every man you see, especially in Japan where prostitution was the full-on girlfriend experience.

Yozo talks about how scary people are, doing things only to satisfy their own emotions and how scary they are to him, but he is exactly that. Everything he does is for his own emotions. He takes advantage or nice people and justifies it by saying humans are animals. He is just as much the animal he describes, controlled so much by his own fear.

The most ironic part about all of this is Junji Ito himself. The guy comes off as super soft spoken and polite, you’d never think he could create such haunting pieces. On the other hand though, perhaps that is why he understands No Longer Human the best. Who knows.

I read Osamu Dazai’s book when i was 11 and very suicidal and that book was what made me feel like i wasnt alone and it was such a comfort that i brought it with me everywhere i went and read it probably more than 50 times maybe even more. I still own that exact same copy from years ago and its so filled with my writings from ebery single time i read the book.. now its one of my most precious belongings

The anime Bungo Stray Dogs introduced me to both Dazai and Dostoevsky who have now become my favorite authors. No Longer Human in particular is probably my favorite book of all time, I never get tired of reading it. The way that Dazai describes Oba Yozo’s life and his feelings is so moving and entrancing and, unfortunately, relatable. I love to see people talking about it and would love to see more people talk about Dazais other works.

That last paragraph about Yozo being "an angel" reminds me a lot of how when tragedies happen like suicide or malevolent things like mass shootings, people often say that the victim or perpetrator was "such a good/nice/happy person!". It makes me think both about how little we often know about the inner thoughts of the people around us, and how those who feel badly about themselves don't realize the impact they have on those around them.

I love how all junji ito stories are the most horrific beyond human understanding things and then there's just that one where there's just a little guy who lives in a chair

Sad as it is, I don't think this story isn't that uncommon or unfamiliar to those who live like this their whole lives.