Horror manga master Junji Ito has another television adaptation of his works on the way, with the mysterious Junji Ito Crimson announced at Paris' Japan Expo 2025 yesterday.
Aside from a title reveal, it was confirmed that Junji Ito Crimson will adapt a number of Ito's new and old stories, comes with the concept of “monsters”, and will stream on anime site Crunchyroll with a theme song, “Karasuagehaโ (seen below) performed by prolific musician Yumi Matsutoya. No other details, such as director, cast or release date, have been set.
Here's what Ito had to say of the mysterious Crimson in a statement:
Currently, an anime called Junji Itoโs Crimson based on my original work is being made. Just hearing this title makes me excited and my expectations rise. I have heard that they will select from my old and new short stories to be animated, especially those that can fully utilize the deep red color like blood.
Given the gruesome nature of Ito's work, it's hard to narrow down just which of his many stories could make full use of the color red. Perhaps Kakashi, the haunted scarecrow story that featured a distinctive red dress in Norio Tsuruta's 2001 live-action adaptation, or Tomio: Red Turtleneck, which speaks for itself. It's also worth noting that Tomie can be seen in the music video for “Karasuagehaโ, so perhaps we'll see a new take on the iconic succubus.
Ito's work has been adapted for both film and television numerous times to varying levels of success – 2018's Junji Ito Collection and 2023's Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre adapted a number of the artist's most iconic works in episodic form, including Tomie, Long Dream, Hanging Balloons and Sลichi. Adult Swim's much-anticipated Uzumaki anime of 2024 received praise for its first episode, but quickly left fans cold as the animation quality steeply dropped off in later episodes. Due to the surrealist and often Lovecraftian nature of his drawings, Ito's stories are notoriously hard to adapt to the moving image. Will Junji Ito Crimson fare any better than its predecessors?
Whatever the case, we're excited to learn more about the mysterious Crimson. For more Japanese horror news, here's everything you need to know about the upcoming Silent Hill f.
