Survival horror titleDead by Daylightrecently announced an ultra-creepy collaboration with horror manga artist Junji Ito, creator of many infamously creepy manga in his decades of work. ThisDead by Daylightcollaboration, which will kick off in 2025, will feature eight skins, two Legendary and six Very Rare, which transform its Killers and Survivors into some of Ito’s most iconic characters and creatures. One of these is Tomie, perhaps the most famous character Junji Ito has ever created.
Tomie: A Beautiful But Terrifying Immortal Monster
On the surface, Tomie Kawakami appears like nothing more than an unusually beautiful young woman with black hair and a distinct beauty mark under her eye. But, in fact, she is an inhuman, immortal monster with an infinite potential for cruelty. Her origins are mysterious, but she seems to be a demonic,succubus-like creaturewho can either make people obsessed with her or drive them mad simply by spending enough time in her presence.
Tomie’sprimary powers include the ability to induce obsession in men and paranoid, terrified hysteria in women. Affected people will commit disturbing acts of violence, up to and including murder and cannibalism. A person who is targeted by Tomie, especially a woman, can potentially be transformed into another copy of Tomie, especially if they come in contact with her blood (such as via a transfusion.) Should Tomie herself die, she will simply regenerate; she is also capable of “budding” additional Tomies from her own body similar to a tumor reproducing.
Tomie Is One Of Junji Ito’s Most Frequently Appearing Characters
Junji Itointroduced the world to Tomie in 1987, when a series of short stories featuring her appeared in the magazineMonthly Halloween.Since the, he has produced a number of Tomie-centric anthologies; she has also made cameos in stories alongside some of his other iconic characters, such as the curse-loving child Souichi.
Tomie’s stories have been adapted into a series of live action films, a television drama calledTomie: Another Face,and a novel titledTomie: Replay.Episodes featuring Tomie also appeared in both the 2018 animated anthologyJunji Ito Collectionand its 2023 successorJunji Ito Maniac,which aired on Netflix. A Tomie series was also planned for the television platform Quibi, but its fate is ambiguous after Quibi’s shutdown in 2020.
Dead by Daylight’stake on Tomie, a Legendary skin for the KillerThe Spirit, primarily draws its inspiration from a short story entitledPainter. Painterappeared as a chapter in the second volume of the originalTomiemanga, and was later adapted into an episode segment inJunji Ito Collection.
InPainter,an artist named Mori becomes obsessed with Tomie, desiring to paint the perfect portrait of her. Eventually, he sees a photograph of her taken by a friend, and realizes that Tomie is a monster as he sees a second, terrifying face appearing from behind her outwardly beautiful one. Mori paints Tomie in this form, earning her wrath, causing him to kill her (as he does not know that she is immortal.) He chops her into pieces and, over time, each piece becomes a fully formed copy of the original Tomie. Mori is implied to have gone mad following his encounter with Tomie.
Dead by Daylight’sTomie skinsees her wearing the short white dress from that story, with two faces - one hideous, one beautiful - pointing in different directions. Unique audio lines included with the skin feature Tomie screaming, presumably a reference to her death by dismemberment at Mori’s hands. She is a creepy killer who Survivors will definitely find freaky as she chases after them when the Junji Ito collaboration comes toDead by Daylightin January 2025.
