Tomie is A Bad Victim In The Best Way

Presently known as the "King of Horror Manga," Japanese artist Junji Ito captivated his fans including myself, with his 1980s anthology Tomie, which revolves around the brutal murder and dismemberment of a young girl whose spirit reincarnates and multiplies long after death. I stumbled upon Tomie at an inappropriate age I'll admit. Still, I couldn't stop reading because of how intriguing the narrative surrounding a transgressive succubus, who ruins the lives of men was.

If you're familiar with Junji Ito's work, you've probably heard of Uzumaki, his most famous horror manga, leading me to Tomie which at the time, I was too young to fully understand in context and the deeper meanings behind Tomie and the callous tormentation of men. Still, growing up in a mostly male-dominated community as a woman, I gained more insight after re-contextualizing Tomie's experiences and her cycle of abuse with men and society at large. Without spoiling too much of Tomie, as I think you should definitely read his material at least once, should also approach this work with caution due to its graphic depictions of gore and violence. However, I believe Tomie tells an interesting story, not only about how victims of abuse can fall into a cyclical pattern after trauma but also about how her story personifies the perspective of how victims can often be perceived by their abusers or bystanders who struggle to comprehend such traumatic experiences.

The first story takes place after the death of a young girl. Through flashbacks, we learn that during a school field trip, Tomie is indirectly killed by her teacher, who is antagonized by her over their relationship after she claims he got her pregnant. We're never shown if her pregnancy claim is true, though Tomie’s teacher admits to sleeping with her, practically grooming her, and then ignoring her attempts to reconcile in front of the whole class. Tomie tragically falls off a cliff, and instead of calling the police, the teacher convinces the entire class to dismember Tomie’s body into 42 pieces and hide it at their homes.

The next day, Tomie appears in class as if nothing happened, showing no grudges or outward resentment toward any of her classmates. It is later revealed that the 42 pieces of Tomie incarnate into 42 separate versions of her, and whenever she is killed or separated, she regenerates her entire body. Each story in Tomie introduces new characters who encounter Tomie in different forms. These forms are often strange, disturbing, horrifying and even at times, humorous.

A key part of the story is Tomie’s incredible ability to heal and regenerate, no matter how much harm is done to her. This is connected to her body’s disturbing ability to cannibalize and absorb itself. When she’s injured, whether by cuts, burns, or dismemberment, she recovers quickly, often in ways that seem impossible for a normal person. What makes Tomie truly terrifying is that she can reproduce herself in unnatural ways.

Her ability to regenerate, combined with her unsettling forms and resilience, makes her nearly impossible to kill. The chapters continue to follow a patterned narrative, showcasing a femme fatale Tomie who primarily targets men, driving them insane before they dismember her again, though she always comes back, time after time, moving on to the next victim. I wanted to self-examine Tomie’s purpose in all the forthcoming chapters, especially after a more surface-level depiction of her character arc as one of the less "evil" figures in the anthology. This isn’t to say that her actions of torment are in any way justified, but rather that all the other characters are equally or more horrible than Tomie herself.

Despite the narcissistic and somewhat sadistic nature of Tomie's character throughout the consecutive chapters, it's important to note that before her death, she was only 15 years old. At this age, being taken advantage of by your teacher and then having your body dismembered by your classmates, or so-called friends without any repercussions is tragic. What's even more disturbing is that the blame is placed on Tomie for being a promiscuous woman who "got what she deserved." Even after her reincarnation, Tomie’s body continues to be viewed as something that belongs to others, taken advantage of and discarded.

Regardless of the lack of agency over her body, either in life or death, Tomie can endure unimaginable violence from those around her, who inevitably excuse their behaviour by claiming she is "asking for it" due to her manipulative nature. Tomie doesn’t even harbour resentment toward her past abusers; instead, she only seeks to understand why her spirit is stuck in perpetual purgatory.

This leads me to believe that Tomie embodies survival itself. To continue living, she is forced to rely on her beauty and charisma, which in turn, made me admire her persistence and her effortless adaptation to her environment. I can't claim that Tomie, at least in this context, isn't completely blameless as she can be self-indulgent and sociopathic at times. However, these traits seem to be survival mechanisms, ways to protect her sanity and give herself a brief reprieve before she is inevitably killed again by the next abuser. In the first chapter, Tomie appears more childish and of average beauty, but after her rebirth, she transforms into a gorgeous femme fatale with an almost ethereal allure. It’s as if she’s been crafted for the male gaze, yet at the same time, they despise her because she refuses to behave the way they expect.

Tomie becomes something they want but can't have, perpetuating a narrative of “It’s her fault I killed her because she wasn’t what I wanted her to be.” Tomie was moulded into that image, and once she returned, she unleashed the very version of herself that they had created. She became the embodiment of the evil they projected onto her, and she’s forced to live out the story they wrote for her, over and over, whether she wants to or not.

Throughout several chapters, Tomie's affliction to those around her becomes numb and disdained. I think that's why many of the interactions she has with her classmates and subsequent abusers are mocked and used as comedic devices. This level of desensitization to cycles of violence is the reason that I find Tomie to be a recontextualized depiction of a sexual assault victim but in a troubling way.

This victim is not grounded in reality, but rather in a distorted projection by the public. She is a woman who wears the "wrong" clothes, acts provocatively, and exploits men’s weaknesses to provoke violent behaviour they might not normally engage in. While there are glimpses of the true victim in Tomie, through her terror and survival instincts, these moments are quickly overshadowed by the version of Tomie that fits the narrative.

There are so many versions of Tomie because there are so many women who become victims, unable to come to terms or reconcile with their trauma. In this case, Tomie is a manifestation of vengeance, bound by a recurring curse that haunts her abusers time and time again. We often want to talk about the "perfect" victim when it comes to abuse, making it easier to deflect blame, understand the situation and move forward. But Tomie challenges this misconception, inevitably taking the form of a monster who holds a mirror to our face.