“Tomie” Crafts an Antagonist That Allows Horror to Comment on Female Struggles

“Tomie” is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito centered around a beautiful young girl named Tomie Kawakami who has the power to seduce men with her beauty and bend them to her will, often driving them insane, causing them to murder or dismember her. Yet no matter how many times people kill Tomie, she inexplicably regenerates to wreak more havoc upon the world.

While “Tomie” can now be read as a single volume, it was initially meant to be a recurring set of stories that did not follow a chronological order. Understanding the progression of these stories is integral to understanding Tomie herself, as she is a cancer that transcends time and space. She is viewed as a muse, a monster, a motif, an object of desire, but never a real human. 

“Tomie” begins with her classmates mourning her after she was found dead following her disappearance during a field trip. As the teacher tells the class Tomie will never return, Tomie opens the door and steps out looking completely fine. Reiko, the narrator and Tomie’s best friend, later reveals that Tomie was having an affair with the teacher. Tomie’s boyfriend Yamamoto overheard Tomie telling their teacher that she was pregnant on a field trip and pushed her off a cliff in a fit of rage. The class and the teacher proceeded to dismember her body and dispose of all 42 pieces of her.

Rather than standing as a traditional origin story, the first chapter serves as a blueprint for all future “Tomie” chapters. Whether she is a vengeful spirit, demon, or skinwalker is left up to interpretation. This chapter introduces how people view Tomie. Women envy her beauty and men obsess over her. Even in later chapters such as “Painter” and “Hair,” people only value her body. In “Painter,” she’s a perfect muse and a masterpiece. In “Hair,” she’s a way for young girls to make themselves more beautiful. She perfectly embodies the fears of objectification. She can be cut up and replicated, but she cannot be owned or destroyed. A man even tries to sell parts of her flesh for profit in the chapter “Waterfall Basin.” Tomie cannot be captured by institutions that seek to control beauty, which is why she is always painted and photographed as her monstrous self. 

Tomie is selfish, vain, and hedonistic, often using her power to demand lavish gifts such as caviar, diamond jewelry, and extravagant articles of clothing.  She believes herself to be the most beautiful woman in the world and desires worship from all men, which is why she detests other women. When you read Tomie for the first time, it’s very easy to view Tomie herself as the true monster of these stories. After all, she is the strange, undead phenomenon that seemingly drives men to commit these horrific acts of violence. She’s selfish and taunting, often exploiting people’s deepest insecurities as seen in stories like “Photo” and “Morita Hospital.” We see her commit acts of cannibalism, demanding luxurious gifts no matter the cost, and targeting seemingly helpless people, even children. However, her most horrifying quality is her unpredictability, as readers are never given insight into her mind. Her true intentions, thoughts, and emotions remain unknown, thus making her seem more like a monster than a human girl. 

“Tomie” bears eerie similarities to many real-life situations, especially now as femicide rates increase and violence towards women continues to be trivialized by institutions. There is an inherent horror in the current commodification of women in today’s society that makes “Tomie” all the more terrifying. Her pain feels more real and understandable. That’s why Junji Ito keeps writing stories about her and why people remain fixated on the story. There is a Tomie in every woman who is hurt by a man.

Every time she relives being cut up and regenerates herself, she loses more of her humanity and becomes increasingly shallow. Each new Tomie lacks the complexity of the previous one. She no longer tries to cling to the image of a schoolgirl or to live a normal life. She must manipulate men for food, for love, and to help her heal from previous attacks on her life. Tomie feels no resentment towards those who hurt her and continues with her usual actions like a zombie because she is unable to give or receive love in a way that is not transactional and exploitative. Ultimately, “Tomie” becomes a story about a girl desperate to survive, and the cost of her survival is her humanity.

Isha Bhandari can be reached at ibhandari@wesleyan.edu.