First page of the 2022 English print bonus story Strange Pavilion in Junji Ito's Black Pardox.
Strange Pavilion is a short story included at the end of Black Paradox.
Plot[]
In the future of 2105, people are queuing to see a genetic recreation of a cormorant, which has long since been extinct. They are told that cormorants were once used to catch fish. However, the "cormorant" in question is an enormous, mutated abomination which promptly demonstrates its fish-catching technique by swallowing two spectators whole. The staff member on-duty orders it to spit them back out, and it does so, but they begin to melt alive as they reach the ground. The spectators look on in horror as the narration notes that "the darkness of the world will continue for a while yet."
Trivia[]
- While the bird in the story is called a pelican in the translation, its features and the characters' dialogue indicate that it is actually meant to be a cormorant, a type of bird used to catch fish in ancient Japan.
- The final bonus chapter of Black Paradox English print in 2022 is officially titled and printed as "Strange Pavilion" but is often referred to as "Mystery Pavilion".