Hideshi Hino-sensei and his Tropes

carcharion

Now I'm going to discuss about one of Japan's horror mangakas, Hideshi Hino.

Hideshi Hino is probably one of the classics, since he predates Junji Ito by a decade or more. His works are often inspired by his upbringing during the post-WWII Japan, so many of them are quasi-biography. Besides his apparent obsession with gore and Hell, he also has several ongoing tropes that were used several times in his works. Among them are:

1. Dirty sewers/trenches

Probably from his experience living in squalid and dirty environment during his childhood, and Japan's lack of environmental concern during the massive post-WWII re-industrialization , his works often portray hellishly dirty sewers littered with trash, animal corpses, and even dead fetuses.

The pics are from Panorama of Hell and Bug Boy

2. A decrepit house in an industrial complex

Hino-sensei's family lived next to an industrial slaughterhouse where his father worked. Some characters are often shown collecting nasty body parts of the slaughtered animals

The pics are from Panorama of Hell and Mystic Mandala

2. Consuming animals alive

I don't know if this was inspired by his childhood or just his twisted idea. Some of the characters are shown eating animals alive, which often failed to make me sick, only making me hungrier

The pics are from The Two Sisters and Mystic Mandala