I do not know if Alan would have actually read anything by Junji Ito, but I feel like Ito's work would have at least been on his radar (my logic for how he'd know about manga (also /points at barry))

omg
Omg,

"girl" manga... seems misogynistic to put it that way, says alan's internal voice

cannot wait to see what sort of can of genre worms this opens

Oh my gosh........

I’m ready

omfg