Hellstar Remina



An astronomer in a Japanese observatory, peering into his telescope one night, becomes the first person to witness a planet emerging from a wormhole. He names the planet after his daughter, Remina, and both become world-famous thanks to the unprecedented discovery. However, things take a turn for the worse when the planet enters a collision course with Earth... and the stars along the way seem to be disappearing...

A single-volume manga by Junji Ito. Like the rest of his works, it's filled to the brim with plenty of Body Horror, Eldritch Abominations, and general High Octane Nightmare Fuel.

This manga contains examples of:
"Cultist:"
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Mostly averted.
 * An Aesop: Surprisingly enough for a Junji Ito story, it ends with a clear and uplifting one.
 * Apocalypse How:
 * Artistic License Physics: At one point, the earth is spun around so fast that the stars blur in the sky like the hyperspace lines in Star Wars. Aside from everyone not instantly dying from this, there is even a scene where a huge group of people are able to use the centrifugal force to fly through the air all the way around the earth and back, and some of them even survive falling back to the ground.
 * If the rest of the Earth moves with you, you're not going to die from a little spinning. But if only the earth is spinning, and the air isn't, then...
 * Ass in a Lion Skin: Played deadly serious.
 * Attempted Rape: the airtight room, claiming she'll be protected in there...and then tries to rape her. When she fights him off, he claims she came on to him, and Remina is thrown back to the mob.
 * Badass Bystander: The Hobo. Oh so, so much.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Goda gets a moment of this when he  Then Mood Whiplash kicks in again.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Technically a downer, but it's strangely uplifting...
 * It's uplifting because there's still hope. They're still alive, which means there's at least a chance for a better future, even if it would take a miracle.
 * Body Horror: Don't take your helmet off on Planet Remina.
 * Broken Bird: Remina falls a bit into this, especially after
 * Burn the Witch: One of the many attempts to kill Remina.
 * But What About the Astronauts?: Inverted. The bases on Mars and the Moon are the first to go.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Clothing Damage: By the end of the story, Remina has just enough of her dress left to cover all the important bits.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mineichi. He's happy to sponsor Remina to boost his popularity, but he's just as happy to
 * Cosmic Horror Story: Without doubt.
 * Crucified Hero Shot: Remina, her father and the hobo are all tied to a cross so they can be sacrificed.
 * Dead Line News: An anchorman is reporting on the situation with planet Remina and the riots all over the world. Just after mentioning that an angry mob is hunting down Remina, he is attacked by two Malevolent Masked Men.

"Ikeuchi: MY EYES MET WITH REMINA'S!"
 * Death World: The planet's surface, a toxic jungle of aggressive alien flora, a horrifically caustic atmosphere, and strange figures looming out of the fog...
 * Dirty Coward: Kunhiro Mineichi.
 * Dying Like Animals: Mostly Chickens and Lemmings.
 * Eldritch Abomination / Eldritch Location: Remina. The planet, not the girl.
 * Explosive Decompression:
 * Go Mad From the Revelation: Ikeuchi the astronomer, once he realizes just what Remina is.

"Bum: They get you, they don't, don't mean a thing to them. They'd never stop with you now that they got a taste for it."
 * Guilt by Coincidence: Remina, who was born on the same day the planet emerged from the wormhole. This leads the public to believe she and her father are responsible for its appearance.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * How We Got Here: The manga begins with Remina tied to a cross, surrounded by a huge crowd and a couple of shadowy figures who want to kill her, while two monstrous eyes watch the scene from the sky.
 * Humans Are Bastards: For the most part, anyway. Panicking at the thought of the coming apocalypse, the populace direct their anger towards Remina and her father,
 * Perhaps somewhat justified in that the angry masses were being egged on by te cultists, but otherwise yes - this trope is played fairly straight.


 * Informed Ability: Remina (the person) becomes famous because of her association with Planet Remina. She (reluctantly) uses the fame to become a famous idol. It's never made clear what she does beyond standing on a stage/in front of cameras and looking pretty. It's possible people are paying to see precisely that, making her career An Aesop about the inanity of fandom, or something.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Goda claims he'll save Remina's life, even if she loved Yasumi instead.
 * Jerkass: Kunhiro, who is clearly only tolerated by Remina and her friends because he's got the resources to help them out..
 * Left Hanging: As is common in both Cosmic Horror Stories and Junji Ito's,
 * Macross Missile Massacre / Nuke'Em: The military fires a few dozen nuclear warheads at Planet Remina's tongue.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: The cultists, with their black cloaks and hoods similar to those of the Ku Klux Klan.
 * More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Planet Remina. Behold.
 * Negative Space Wedgie: Planet Remina came to our region of space through a wormhole, therefore proving the phenomenon's existence. Not that such a breakthrough in astrophysics actually helps anyone...
 * Oh Crap: The astronomers' reaction every time Planet Remina eats something.
 * Our Wormholes Are Different: Planet Remina came from Another Dimension through one of them. And if the title is an actual description...
 * Planet Eater: Obviously.
 * The Reveal: The tenacious cultist is, and the hobo is
 * Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere:
 * Shout-Out: That's no moon!
 * So Beautiful It's a Curse: The other cause of poor Remina's many problems.
 * Taking the Bullet:  to
 * That's No Moon: See Shout-Out, above.
 * The Stars Are Going Out: The first clue about Planet Remina's true nature is when astronomers notice that the surrounding stars "disappear".
 * Torches and Pitchforks: And knives and fire axes and the occasional gun.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: The story takes place in "July 20XX".
 * What the Hell, Townspeople?: The entire planet turns against a teenaged girl, whom they'd previously adored, just because she shares a name with the planet that's going to eat them.
 * Equally odd is that she became a country-wide sensation just because the new planet was given her name. These people are very easily amused...
 * Whole-Plot Reference: To When Worlds Collide, although in this case the giant planet about to destroy Earth and the planet that the rocket ships plan to escape to are one and the same.
 * Witch Hunt: Invoked by the
 * Yandere: