Shortly after a wormhole is discovered in space, a killer planet (or a planet-sized alien) passes through it and starts bearing down on Earth - and of course it’s all a little girl’s fault! Ready for stoopid? Here’s another Junji Ito horror manga!
A story about a killer planet is always going to be goofy but, even accepting that, Remina is badly written and so coconuts as to be laughable. The dialogue is always awful, the plotting is child-like and one absurd thing happens after another until you don’t care about any of it.
Remina is the daughter of the scientist who discovered this killer planet and who subsequently names the planet after her. Then when the planet starts moving towards Earth, blowing up all the planets in our solar system along the way, seemingly everyone decides Remina is somehow calling this planet to her - based on nothing more than having the same name - and to appease the planet she has to die?!
It makes no sense and is just an excuse for the characters to run around screaming while Remina the planet sits patiently besides Earth (which doesn’t seem to have any effect on Earth’s gravitational pull, etc.) until the book nears its end and so gives the increasingly batty story a conclusion.
The characters are as lightly sketched out as possible. Remina herself couldn’t be less of a non-entity. She’s either blank-faced and silent or sobbing or screaming and yelling out names. Remina the planet is simply a plot device and is as mindless as any animal eating what it needs to in order to survive. There’s a mad guy, an evil rich guy, a heroic homeless guy, and a bad guy in a mask that looks like a Paul Pope character - and there’s nothing to any of them! Couldn’t tell you their names or why they’re behaving the way they are - they’re just inconsequential puppets.
Still, Ito is unquestionably a visionary storyteller and a fine artist, all of which can be seen in Remina. The art is skilful, memorable and really grabs your attention. The opening scene of Remina literally crucified while a horrible giant eye in the sky looks down is a helluva opener. The environs of Remina, once the ill-fated shuttle makes it to its surface, was interesting to see and the absolutely mental final act with the crowds chasing Remina and the homeless hero was amazingly drawn - and funny! And this is an original story - I’ve never read anything like it before.
Remina is the usual Junji Ito: a unique horror story with a blend of grotesque and beautiful art written and plotted so poorly it’s impossible to take even half-seriously. I didn’t care about any of the characters and their endless running didn’t make for compelling reading. Remina isn’t one of Ito’s better efforts.
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