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pascalibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Really fun to read. Kind of dragged at 500 pages but picked up soon after. Extremely cool artwork.
froschgefuehle's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
brightandfree's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Gore, Medical trauma, Violence, Death, and Murder
mallorieh's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Uzumaki, is a force, and entity, unknown to the town of Kurouzu-cho. The story follows the life of Kirie and Shuichi, who live in the town with this curse, and who will be stuck there forever. This book starts off with the father of Shuichi, who begins to become obsessed with the pattern of a spiral, and as his obsession grew, it not only transformed his mind but body as well. This was a common occurrence for anyone seeking information about this entity, or attempting to flee from it. Everyone in this town was trapped there. This book conveyed so much grief, dread, and sadness, knowing the inevitable was going to happen, death by the spiral. As the spiral began to consume the town, more and more people were infected and the entire town were transfixed and began morphing, upping the stakes each and every chapter, building the intensity. As dark and as macabre as this book was, there was so much beauty inside of it, the drawings alone are distinct and gruesome enough to intrigue you. Junji illustrates so much passion and detail in each and every panel with just black and white drawings. Simple but very effective!
courtnaahh's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
ddryden825's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Found the structure of the story to be incredibly repetitive, as the chapters generally become focused on introducing something new that becomes “part of the spiral”.
Despite this, I was always intrigued to find out what new disturbing image lurked on the next page. Plus those final chapters and ending were absolutely worth the middle stretch being a bit of a slog.
Too long, but definitely worth the read!
Despite this, I was always intrigued to find out what new disturbing image lurked on the next page. Plus those final chapters and ending were absolutely worth the middle stretch being a bit of a slog.
Too long, but definitely worth the read!
katxh's review against another edition
5.0
That has got to be one of the most disturbing things I have ever read in my life. Holy Shit.
tristansreadingmania's review against another edition
4.0
SPIRAL INTO MADNESS
“I saw it myself now. His eyes were spinning around and around…separately."
Among storytellers of whatever stripe, conventional wisdom dictates that there are two genres which you have to work the hardest at to perfect: comedy and horror (the kind that evokes dread, not the one that assaults you with cheap jump-scares). Both are very specific responses to elicit from your audience, and enormously tough to pull off.
It shouldn't come as a surprise then that horror comics rarely succeed in unsettling me to my core. Unlike some of its cinematic counterparts - which naturally greatly benefit from the use of sound and music- there always seems to be a frustrating disconnect, an invisible barrier erected between what’s pictured on the page and the mind that is targeted to be affected.
This is not what happened while I, as in a trance, was thumbing through Junji Ito’s epic Uzumaki, in all likelihood the most genuinely disturbing, iconographically nightmarish piece of sequential art I have thus far come across (believe it or not, the pictures shown here are relatively tame compared to the fevered phantasmogaria this manga is brimming with).
Formerly a placid Japanese coastal town, Kurôzu-cho has fallen prey to a series of strange, seemingly unexplainable occurrences, all somehow having to do with spiral patterns. They pop up in the unlikeliest of places, while infiltrating, taking over, contaminating, even mutating human bodies, and slowly but surely its inhabitants one by one succumb to its mysterious spell. Some turn obsessed and go mad (one woman after learning that a part of the inner ear, the cochlea, has a spiral shape hysterically stabs herself there with a pair of scissors), literally turn into snails or find their bodies twisting themselves into a coil. Other, highly inventive, yet disagreeable fates await the rest.
This premise (secluded village, odd happenings, ensuing madness and hopelessness) does remind one vaguely of a certain early 20th century American horror writer, and the comparison isn't at all a trite one to make. To be sure, it has a distinct whiff of the Lovecraftian to it, especially as a hinting at a deeper horror - on the cosmic scale - is never far away.
Yet even though Ito has taken some noticable cues from one of the acknowledged masters of the weird, he had the good sense - and artistic flair - to make it wholly his own, delivering a new horror to the modern world. Utilising an episodic structure for his storytelling, with our protagonist Kirie each time witnessing a strange event, he takes us through the various stages of the infection, slowly ramping up its severity, right until the inescapable bleakness of its conclusion.
Some suspension of disbelief is required of course ( it's highly doubtful the villagers would have stuck around that long, if they hadn't committed mass-suicide under the direction of some Japanese Jim Jones first), but in this genre, that just comes with the territory.
I for one applaud Junji Ito for this expertly crafted masterpiece, and consider it to be more than worthy of inclusion in the Hall of Fame of the weird. If the patently bizarre and transgressive holds even the tiniest shred of appeal for you, I very much urge giving this collection a look.
Just remember to turn your attention away from the page once in a while, if you please. It tends to set its claws into you...
Hmmm... Now what's with that spider in the corner back there? It's moving around so fast, going into spirals, spinning spirals, ever more spirals, unending SPIRALS...
“I saw it myself now. His eyes were spinning around and around…separately."
Among storytellers of whatever stripe, conventional wisdom dictates that there are two genres which you have to work the hardest at to perfect: comedy and horror (the kind that evokes dread, not the one that assaults you with cheap jump-scares). Both are very specific responses to elicit from your audience, and enormously tough to pull off.
It shouldn't come as a surprise then that horror comics rarely succeed in unsettling me to my core. Unlike some of its cinematic counterparts - which naturally greatly benefit from the use of sound and music- there always seems to be a frustrating disconnect, an invisible barrier erected between what’s pictured on the page and the mind that is targeted to be affected.
This is not what happened while I, as in a trance, was thumbing through Junji Ito’s epic Uzumaki, in all likelihood the most genuinely disturbing, iconographically nightmarish piece of sequential art I have thus far come across (believe it or not, the pictures shown here are relatively tame compared to the fevered phantasmogaria this manga is brimming with).
Formerly a placid Japanese coastal town, Kurôzu-cho has fallen prey to a series of strange, seemingly unexplainable occurrences, all somehow having to do with spiral patterns. They pop up in the unlikeliest of places, while infiltrating, taking over, contaminating, even mutating human bodies, and slowly but surely its inhabitants one by one succumb to its mysterious spell. Some turn obsessed and go mad (one woman after learning that a part of the inner ear, the cochlea, has a spiral shape hysterically stabs herself there with a pair of scissors), literally turn into snails or find their bodies twisting themselves into a coil. Other, highly inventive, yet disagreeable fates await the rest.
This premise (secluded village, odd happenings, ensuing madness and hopelessness) does remind one vaguely of a certain early 20th century American horror writer, and the comparison isn't at all a trite one to make. To be sure, it has a distinct whiff of the Lovecraftian to it, especially as a hinting at a deeper horror - on the cosmic scale - is never far away.
Yet even though Ito has taken some noticable cues from one of the acknowledged masters of the weird, he had the good sense - and artistic flair - to make it wholly his own, delivering a new horror to the modern world. Utilising an episodic structure for his storytelling, with our protagonist Kirie each time witnessing a strange event, he takes us through the various stages of the infection, slowly ramping up its severity, right until the inescapable bleakness of its conclusion.
Some suspension of disbelief is required of course ( it's highly doubtful the villagers would have stuck around that long, if they hadn't committed mass-suicide under the direction of some Japanese Jim Jones first), but in this genre, that just comes with the territory.
I for one applaud Junji Ito for this expertly crafted masterpiece, and consider it to be more than worthy of inclusion in the Hall of Fame of the weird. If the patently bizarre and transgressive holds even the tiniest shred of appeal for you, I very much urge giving this collection a look.
Just remember to turn your attention away from the page once in a while, if you please. It tends to set its claws into you...
Hmmm... Now what's with that spider in the corner back there? It's moving around so fast, going into spirals, spinning spirals, ever more spirals, unending SPIRALS...
brokebookmt's review against another edition
4.0
Spiral. Spirals. Spiraling.
Junji Ito has done it again. The art, the plot, the body horror, the spiral imagery...I am terrified and disgusted.
Imagine living in a neighborhood cursed by spirals. Every horrifying aspect of this story is made scarier with the terrors of the human psyche and the puzzling nature of the supernatural. Love this whole collection. The stories were all different scary aspects of the spiral curse, but the whole book was interconnected and very cohesive.
4.75 ⭐️
Junji Ito has done it again. The art, the plot, the body horror, the spiral imagery...I am terrified and disgusted.
Imagine living in a neighborhood cursed by spirals. Every horrifying aspect of this story is made scarier with the terrors of the human psyche and the puzzling nature of the supernatural. Love this whole collection. The stories were all different scary aspects of the spiral curse, but the whole book was interconnected and very cohesive.
4.75 ⭐️