Itou Junji Kyoufu Manga Collection - Vol. 13 Ch. 1 - The Circus is here

[MangaDex]

 

[Meduchi]

The perfect amount of funny and creepy to make it one of Itou's great stories. I have to say though, guys in this universe are really dumb.

 

[crusaderchan]

frankly i felt like it just wasnt very good the magnus archives had a better circus so check that out if you want

 

[Vainfire]

I found it not so great to be honest. Circuses are known sources of creppy imagery (tm) for Junji Ito stories (just look at Gyo), and I have to say that this isn't a particularly scary, funny, or even charming take. The ringleader is a demon, people who join the circus die, and all the boys want to join the circus in order to woo this girl. Sure, whatever. It's a horror story that's not been told enough to be traditional but has been told enough to become derivative. Also, the iconography of the traveling circus isn't exactly native to Japan. Maybe that's the point, to make the events seem strange and unnatural, but it comes off either as forced or as carrying uncomfortably nativist implications.

 

[MongolianMango]

this one ended up more funny to me than scary
junji ito always has absurd premises, when they pay off they're horrifying and when they don't they end up like this