One Great Panel: Gyo

Just a shark coming to hang out.

See, I told you I had three One Great Panels in a row. I’ve been staring at this one off and on since I made that proclamation, because I don’t actually have that much to say about it. It speaks so much for itself.

Also, it dawned on me this is my first One Great Panel from Junji Ito, which I find astonishing. I read Soichi before I had MangaCraft though, so a revisit is in the cards. I know that guy has some great panels. And by “that guy” I mean Soichi himself.

Anyway, this One Great Panel is from Junji Ito’s Gyo, which was once described to me as “it’s just fish with legs, man,” and, like, sure. That’s true. It really is just fish with legs. But it’s also sharks with legs. And is there anything better than that?

Coming in hot.

Context: Throughout the opening chapters of Gyo, various fish have been coming onto the beach and harassing humans. Just regular fish, obviously dead because they’re fish. But they have legs and they’re really annoying, spreading disease, all that good stuff. Everything changes right here. Everything changes. Right. Here.

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As always, I want to start with just taking the panel as it is, without context. I mean, just look at it. For so long, anyone afraid of sharks could just be told, “well don’t go into the water.” It’s a foolproof defense. How scary can sharks be if you can avoid them so easily?

This defeats that notion, because that shark is like a jet ski, zooming his way towards a beach with no sign of slowing down. And the body language of the beachgoers is pretty clear. A mixture of confusion, fear, and disbelief.

And let me just pause a minute to linger on that use of body language. We do not see any faces here, and yet Junji Ito still absolutely captures with crystal clarity exactly how afraid and unsure these poor folks are. Just through body tension and blocking.

Now to focus on the main event—that shark. What’s so great about him/her, is in this context, we can’t see what exactly is so different about this shark. We can’t see legs (yet), we can only see the hint of the gas tubes that the mechanical legs hook into the fish (spoiler), but even that is easily missed because, well, it’s a shark coming up out of the water. It’s distracting.

Even still though, there is a dose of subtlety in the panel because there’s still some degree of deniability that the shark will actually be a threat on solid ground. It’s just so unnatural to see, and there’s nothing immediately declaring it abnormal. Can it really come onto the beach? (Yes.)

Not just that, but the action lines and the sharpness of the waves it’s creating tell us how fast it’s moving, but it also creates an almost urchin-like pin cushion around the shark that add to the threat level. Even though we know it’s water, it looks so sharp as to add to the danger this fish is towing along. Almost like it’s not just the shark that’s attacking, but the very water it comes from and the air its entering, all coming at the reader at once.

And, to add to that, the legs that have taken these fish over (which we can’t see here, but have seen previously) do happen to be about as sharp as that water is looking. More than a few people have been killed by those sharp legs, and the water and motion here could be interpreted as a harbinger of that additional threat.

Okay, let’s talk context for a second. This panel is the ultimate “up the stakes” panel, because stinky fish stalking folks is one thing, but great white sharks charging onto beaches? That’s a whole new level of danger.

This is the first time we see the shark. It goes on to make several more wholesome appearances. Notably, chasing Tadashi (our hero) through his home, as well as appearing outside his window like a peeping Tom. All that is well and good, but the first time is the time when you set the stakes, and this is exactly that.

Seeing this shark, the question becomes, “well what else can happen?” Our imaginations run wild and all of it is followed through on, because it’s Junji Ito and he’s a master of following through on the stakes of horror.

Additionally, this is a point of no return. Up until this point, the stalker fish weren't that widespread, and there were still some holdouts of people who didn’t believe it was really happening. But sharks? Sharks change everything. (Just ask Sharknado.) It’s no longer possible to deny what’s happening, it’s no longer possible to look away. It is a full-blown problem for everyone. Particularly people afraid of sharks.

And here I said I didn’t have much to say about the panel.