I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Junji Ito is doing NFTs. The legendary horror manga artist has an NFT series coming out this November, all based around the Tomie series. So far, it's safe to say that fans aren't taking the news well, with many expressing their disappointment in Junji Ito for working on the collaboration. The NFTs are essentially a randomized mashup of Tomie panels, with various pieces of art from the original mange crammed into the token. And despite the horrific scenes depicted in Ito's work over the years, many believe this is the artist's scariest move yet - getting involved in an online gimmick that is often associated with art theft and scams. "Horror manga artist Junji Ito will release his first NFT series 'TOMIE by Junji Ito' in November", revealed anime-influenced NFT trader, Animeta, who is working with Ito on the project. "[We are] looking forward to a long-term cooperation with more original manga creators."As you might expect, fans aren't taking the news that well.
"Those little jpegs better be self-replicating malware so it can at least be true to Tomie's character as a malignant unkillable force," writes Twitter user @a_little_odd. "How sad that such a great artist is debasing themselves like this," agrees @BeedrillHive.
Some are willing to give Ito the benefit of the doubt, however. "You damn well know that his management team got convinced into the scam of NFTs," says user @prideful_ichor. "There's no fucking way Junji Ito knows wtf a nft actually is."
The Animeta Twitter account is yet to respond to the overwhelmingly negative reception. It's not clear if that will be enough to halt plans for the Tomie collection, or if the company will persist regardless. But in any case, it's the perfect Halloween scare from Ito - and 31 days early too.