Read for MAL's Manga Reading Challenge 2019 - Read a series you can finish in a day

Mutant fish, the scent of death, whales and sharks walking around on land, mad scientists, a creepy circus and tubes up a human's anus. You may be wondering what I'm babbling about, if you're not, then you're probably a fellow Itou fan.

Gyo is a story I had heard of as an Itou fan but had never paid much attention to. I knew it existed, I knew it was strange and screwed up, but I never really paid much heed to it before deciding to add it as one of my manga challenges.

This one is relatively hard to review as I'm pretty split between volumes one and two - in fact, the only thing that saved my rating from being slightly lower is the last one shot included in Gyo's publish.

Gyo starts off really well. It's strange, that's an unnerving and slightly comical sense as to "what the hell is happening" as the plot slowly emerges. Things are somewhat tense and I found myself biting my lip as I progressed through the first half of it. I found myself really in the mood for this and eagerly devoured the second half of the series.
The second volume is where I have some issues.
The plot seems to just divulge into how much craziness can Itou put into one series. Two of the characters don't even get a full ending and we're left wondering what happened to them. The horror art becomes somewhat repetitive and the same thing over and over again and to be honest, I found myself very let down. The ending frames were short and sweet and I enjoyed them but, truly, Itou left more questions open and it's left me very confused and not fully satisfied upon completion.

The first one shot in this, Daikokubashira Hiwa (The Sad Tale of the Principal Post), is just short and somewhat ridiculous. There's no real feeling of horror in it and after being confused about the ending to Gyo, having this one right after it when the whole purpose is a "how did this happen" probably wasn't a good move. I found it quite boring and meek, although I think Itou could have done more with this and increased what it is as a one-shot, I didn't enjoy it.

The second one-shot, however, Ashura no Dansou no Kai (The Enigma of Amigara Fault), really caught my attention. "The Mountain Holes", as a friend of mine calls this story, is one that had been recommended to me a few times and I had yet to have a chance to read it - I was extremely excited upon getting to the end of Daikokubashira Hiwa and finding this was the second one shot. This one is mysterious, with questions of how and why - most of which are answered, thankfully - and grotesque images that will likely haunt me when I close my eyes. Truthfully, Ashura no Dansou no Kai is the only reason this manga series didn't end up with a five. It's dark, disturbing and something about it really stuck with me after finishing it.

All in all, this probably isn't one of Itou's best works and is definitely my least favourite out of all I've read so far. It saddens me to say that, truly, but not all of his works are going to be for everyone. If you're new to Itou, I would recommend reading this one first; if you've already read most of his more popular works I would probably recommend skipping this - it pales in comparison to a lot of his works and left me confused and frustrated it didn't end better, unfortunately.

A wonderfully strange and creepy premise, but bad execution in the ending.