Mizuno Junko’s Gothic Kawaii Illustrations

Tokyo-based manga artist Mizuno Junko combines colorful cartoon characters that you’d expect to see in a children’s book with dark and terror-fused imagery. The Gothic kawaii or kawaii noir style also looks psychedelic, with washed-out pastels and smiling damsels in distress. By combining these different styles, it seems like Junko is experimenting with the stories she’s telling in the pieces. They definitely beg for interpretation.