Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror by Junji Ito

22 reviews

bohboh's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Uzumaki by Junji Ito is a whirlwind horror read that picks up spectacularly in tension, terror, and mystery the further you probe into it. Every issue is just so imaginative and unique. Very rarely was I ever able to figure out what would happen next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Child death, Blood, Pregnancy, Animal death, Gore, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Cursing, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

kia_y_k's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, Cannibalism, and Medical content

bibyabs's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Dementia, Gore, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Cannibalism, and Confinement

natcrash's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really liked it, but wouldn't reread due to its length. The main topic of the book is the spiral, but the main focus shifts from chapter to chapter, eventually coming together around the middle of the book. 

I couldn't really connect with the characters a lot. I like how Shuichi's character changed due to the events of the first and second chapter. Kirie, the main character, I felt like she wasn't really there for the first half of the book, as the events start to really affect her later and we then see how the events affect her.

I don't know what I was expecting for the ending,

but I really wished that Kirie and Shuichi would have escaped Kurouzu-Cho. I think that was the point, though, to show how the entire town was consumed by the spiral and no one could escape it, in the end. I just like happy endings, to be honest.

Despite all of this, I still really liked the book. I found it entertaining and captivating. The art style is beautiful and the expressions are on point. I loved how everything was connected, and even though things don't make a lot of sense, it was a fun read. 

I can read manga and graphic novels in a short period of time, but i was still surprised that i was able to read this almost in one sitting/less than 24 hours (took a break to sleep and continued the next day).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content

Moderate: Bullying and Stalking

Minor: Grief and Toxic friendship

There is a lot of gory/graphic imagery, including: - blood - body horror - child death - injuries - (attempted?) murder - medical content. Bullying occurs once, but since the bullying is so brutal I placed it at moderate.

lames's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Vomit, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Death of parent

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

loved this - not quite as much as the tomie series, but still. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if shuichi was the protagonist - I just didn’t care about kirie quite as much as him. I loved his characterization much more and I think this story from his perspective would be very compelling.

I wasn’t scared of uzumaki but that’s more telling about me than it is about ito. the story was certainly creepy as hell but I just never get scared of supernatural or unrealistic horror. anything realistic (or more realistic sci-fi or fantasy even… like the invisible man film really scared me even though the science doesn’t exist) will get me. so I definitely wasn’t disappointed by my lack of fear, it’s very normal to me. the story was definitely creepy though. I would love to pick ito’s brain — what on earth is going on in there?

artistically, ito really excels in body horror & conveying emotion/story through the eyes. the panels containing one or both of those elements are my favorite and have definitely stuck with me.  I also think people ignore his comedy when praising him, like of course he is clearly a master of horror but he’s also quite funny if you pay attention!

a little thing that I really enjoyed throughout reading was the little tiny spirals in the background of panels. they’re unnoticeable if you’re not looking, but from the beginning there are spirals in the blades of grass and wood grain - it’s really some fantastic subtle storytelling on ito’s part. as an artist I really loved that attention to detail.

finally, I loved how the story itself was also a spiral… you don’t realize it at first, but when it hits you… damn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

thereaderfriend's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Truly a scary, gory book! This book had me all tensed up as I was reading it and had to take breaks bc it was so unsettling. Really liked it but didn't like how some characters seemingly learned plot details that were important from thin air. Also had weird pacing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Animal death, Car accident, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Animal cruelty

ririissoamazing's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Genocide, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Miscarriage, and Medical content

art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child death, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Cannibalism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Pregnancy

ollie_again's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

The art is immaculate, but the story is kind of eh... Junji Ito is amazing at creating gross terrifying scenarios, but there is not much coherence or satisfying conclusion. After reading Gyo and Uzumaki I feel like even though I'm easily grossed out and body horror is not a type of thing I actively look for, after few shocking moments you can get used to Ito's style and the horror is not as impactful.

So there is the shock by gore, but not shock by the narrative itself because there is not much to grab in terms of storytelling. I think that Junji Ito could reach the full potential with someone else's writing because he's definitely a master in his drawing, and he can match his f-up imagination with an artistic skill, there's just something missing to push the story to the finish line.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury