SPOILER ALERT
I WILL BE SUMMARIZING THE ENTIRE STORY, SO IF YOU WANT TO READ IT YOURSELF BEFORE GOING FURTHER IN, CLICK HERE.
SUMMARY:
The comic begins with two friends listening to a mysterious record containing the most beautiful song they had ever heard. When one asks for a copy, the other refuses to give her one, and won't even tell her where he bought it so she can get her own copy. After a heated argument, she leaves, vowing to never return again. When her friend finds out that she stole the record from her, a chase ensues, ending in the friend's head being bashed with a rock. Her friend is dead, and she hides the body under a tarp in an alleyway. After saying a quick prayer of forgiveness over the body, it starts singing something. Figuring that she wasn't dead, the girl goes home with the record.
Unfortunately, she could not find a record player anywhere, no matter how hard she looked. Her need to listen to the strange song became obsessive, until she finally found a second-hand record shop. When she goes in and asks them to play the record, the owner recognises the cover immediately as one that wasn't for sale in the store. The only one in the entire world that he prized more than anything, even his own life. After he tries to take it back, she runs out of the store.
Being pursued by the owner, she ducks into a jazz cafe to hide. Finding out that they had a record player in the building, they allow her to play it there. One of the cafe's patrons recoginses the song almost immediately as the mysterious "Scat Singing of Paula Bell", a record that was recorded after the singer died. Once she was a no-name club singer with great talent, and she got a record deal. The first day in the studio, she was hit by a car and was horribly wounded. She demanded to be taken into the studio. She died under her microphone, but a few minutes later she began singing. In a hurry, they turned on the recording equipment to catch what they could. They all cut their own copies of it and never released it to the public.
The girl thanks them for the information and leaves. One of the patrons, the one who told her the story of the record, follows her home. While getting home as quickly as she could, she runs into the owner of the record store as well. Ducking into a nearby alleyway, she tries to escape. On the way up the wall, she falls and cracks her head on the pavement. The man from the cafe picks up the record, and a few minutes later the girl's dead body starts singing.
Singing the song from another world.
REVIEW
By far, this is one of my favorite Junji Ito stories. Just unsettling enough to give me the willies, but not enough to keep me up at night. Plus, the subject matter is one of great interest to me, as the idea of a mysterious record that makes anyone who listens to it obsess over it is really neat. So all in all, this story gets the verdict of:
COOL
SUMMARY:
The comic begins with two friends listening to a mysterious record containing the most beautiful song they had ever heard. When one asks for a copy, the other refuses to give her one, and won't even tell her where he bought it so she can get her own copy. After a heated argument, she leaves, vowing to never return again. When her friend finds out that she stole the record from her, a chase ensues, ending in the friend's head being bashed with a rock. Her friend is dead, and she hides the body under a tarp in an alleyway. After saying a quick prayer of forgiveness over the body, it starts singing something. Figuring that she wasn't dead, the girl goes home with the record.
Unfortunately, she could not find a record player anywhere, no matter how hard she looked. Her need to listen to the strange song became obsessive, until she finally found a second-hand record shop. When she goes in and asks them to play the record, the owner recognises the cover immediately as one that wasn't for sale in the store. The only one in the entire world that he prized more than anything, even his own life. After he tries to take it back, she runs out of the store.
Being pursued by the owner, she ducks into a jazz cafe to hide. Finding out that they had a record player in the building, they allow her to play it there. One of the cafe's patrons recoginses the song almost immediately as the mysterious "Scat Singing of Paula Bell", a record that was recorded after the singer died. Once she was a no-name club singer with great talent, and she got a record deal. The first day in the studio, she was hit by a car and was horribly wounded. She demanded to be taken into the studio. She died under her microphone, but a few minutes later she began singing. In a hurry, they turned on the recording equipment to catch what they could. They all cut their own copies of it and never released it to the public.
The girl thanks them for the information and leaves. One of the patrons, the one who told her the story of the record, follows her home. While getting home as quickly as she could, she runs into the owner of the record store as well. Ducking into a nearby alleyway, she tries to escape. On the way up the wall, she falls and cracks her head on the pavement. The man from the cafe picks up the record, and a few minutes later the girl's dead body starts singing.
Singing the song from another world.
REVIEW
By far, this is one of my favorite Junji Ito stories. Just unsettling enough to give me the willies, but not enough to keep me up at night. Plus, the subject matter is one of great interest to me, as the idea of a mysterious record that makes anyone who listens to it obsess over it is really neat. So all in all, this story gets the verdict of:
COOL
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