TV Tokyo has unveiled a teaser video, key visual, and additional details for Strange -Itō Junji no Yoru mo Nemurenu Kimyō na Hanashi- (Strange -Junji Ito’s Strange Stories for Sleepless Nights-), a live-action omnibus series adapting 13 manga stories by horror master Junji Ito. The series title is an apparent nod to the original name of Asahi Shimbun’s Nemuki+ magazine — Nemurenu Yoru no Kimyō Na Hanashi — where many of Ito’s works were first published.
Theme Songs and World Premiere
South Korean girl group IVE performs the opening theme “Jigsaw,” while 10CM — now a solo project by South Korean singer-songwriter Jeong-yeol Kwon — handles the ending theme “The Darkest Night.”
The series premieres in TV Tokyo’s “Drama 24” block on July 3 at 24:12 (effectively July 4 at 12:12 a.m.), with BS TV Tokyo broadcasting beginning July 12.
Anime Expo 2026 in Los Angeles will host a special screening of the first two episodes — “The Mansion of Phantom Pain” and “Lovesickness” (Part 1) — on July 3 at 6:45 p.m. local time (July 4 at 10:45 a.m. JST). Because only episode 1 will have aired in Japan by then, the Anime Expo screening constitutes the world premiere of episode 2. The event lists the series under the English titles “Junji Ito Masterpiece Collection” and “Junji Ito Masterpieces.”
Adapted Stories
The 13 stories adapted for the series are: “Lovesickness,” “The Mansion of Phantom Pain,” “The Rib Woman,” “The Bully,” “Face Thief,” “A Father’s Love,” “Memory,” “In Old Records,” “Penpal,” “Further Tales of Oshikiri,” “Earthbound,” and “Tomio: Red Turtleneck.” Nearly all have English-language releases; “In Old Records” is the exception, though it appeared in the Junji Ito “Collection” anime.
Cast
- Episode 1 “The Mansion of Phantom Pain” — Nijirō Murakami as Koseki
- Episodes 2, 8, 10 “Lovesickness” (three parts) — Kanata Hosoda as Ryusuke Fukuda
- Episode 3 “The Bully” — Yōko Maki as Kuriko
- Episode 4 “Earthbound” — Wan Marui as Yui Asano
- Episode 5 “A Father’s Love” — Manato Sakamoto as Tsukasa Orihara
- Episode 5 “A Father’s Love” — Yoshizumi Ishihara as Endō
- Episode 6 “Tomio: Red Turtleneck” — Rairu Sugita as Tomio
- Episode 6 “Memory” — Riho Nakamura as Rie
- Episode 7 “In Old Records” — Hina Higuchi as Nakayama
- Episode 7 “Face Thief” — Nanami Yamazaki as Yumi Machida
- Episode 9 “The Rib Woman” — Nagisa Saitō as Yuri
- Episode 11 “Further Tales of Oshikiri” (also drawing from “Penpal”) — Jun Saitō as Tōru Oshikiri
- Episode 12 “Lingering Farewell” — Yuri Tsunematsu as Akiko
Staff
The series is directed by Atsuhiro Yamada, Yūta Shimotsu, and Ryōta Kondō. Scripts are overseen by Daisuke Hosaka (Sadako 3D 2, BELA: Humanoid Monster), with Tatsurō Inamoto (Trigun Stampede, Pluto, Supernatural: The Anime Series) also contributing as a scriptwriter.
Related Projects
Pan-Asian studio Through the Lens Entertainment and horror brand Fangoria Studios are co-producing films based on Ito’s “The Mystery of the Haunted House” Parts 1 and 2, and “Bloodsucking Darkness.”
On the anime front, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre launched globally on Netflix in January 2024, and the four-episode Uzumaki anime mini-series premiered on Toonami in September 2024.
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