Today I logged into Tumblr to see that my main page, Junji Ito Index, has been deleted by Tumblr. Really the punctuation on the end of an era.
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Back in around 2010 when I started it, Junji Ito was still fairly obscure and it was difficult to find all his (few) translated works online in one spot. I dedicated too many hours to compiling links, downloading pages one by one, and even spent years with Slug Chicks cleaning, typesetting, and editing new scanlations. I was able to host a few giveaways out of pocket for the couple new releases/reprints, and commissioned artists for custom shirts and stickers since there was no merch.
Here we are in 2023. Manga hosting sites have come and gone. Links changing too frequently to keep up with. But more surprisingly, he really began to blow up! Suddenly there were more new official releases than I could do giveaways for. I never imagined that there would be too much Junji Ito merch for me to choose from. Every manga/comic site announces news about him. The Wiki is probably more up to date than ever.
It's a bittersweet feeling, but the index was outdated anyways. It was my labor of love for so long it's hard to let go, but I can't possibly be upset that one of my favorite creators has gained this amount of recognition and success overseas. I hope that at least a few people were able to find the site useful while it lasted.
- Stay weird
