One fan of both anime and horror saw an opportunity here and created a spooky new visage in the Japanese style.

The latest adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel IT has become the highest grossing horror film on record across the world. The imagery of the menacing clown from the book and original film were already iconic horror images. I mean clowns in general have earned some creepy pedigree. They’ve already announced a sequel to this new film and it could usher in a new renaissance of horror entertainment. One fan of both anime and horror saw an opportunity here and created a spooky new visage in the Japanese style.

Mike Anderson’s artwork shows how well Pennywise the clown would fit in an spooky anime series. I’ll be honest: I don’t even like looking directly at it very much. Personally, horror movies hit me right where I live and I don’t love being creeped out, but there are plenty of people out there who disagree with me. I think actually this also shows us the untapped potential of Japanese adaptations of many of the works from Stephen King.
King actually listed the Japanese novel, Battle Royale, to his must-read book list of 2005. He called it “…an insanely entertaining pulp riff that combines Survivor with World Wrestling Entertainment. Or maybe Royale is just insane.”

I don’t know if Stephen King is a fan or regular consumer of anime or manga, but some similar themes do show up in his works. I mean the Dark Tower series already sounds like an anime and it might have worked out better as one than that live-action movie that bombed a couple months ago. Stories like Carrie and Firestarter are perfect for fans of dangerous anime women. Under the Dome really does sound like the premise to a manga about a bunch of people trapped in one city.

King has written over 56 novels and hundreds of short stories. When it comes to live-action entertainment, he is already one of the most often adapted authors in the world. This is a whole library of works out there waiting for fans of Japanese style or Japanese creators to bring their own interpretations into the world.

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Featured image: Twitter/@KevChelios