Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
this book was AMAZING Kirie and Sinchi's (i probs spelled names wrong sorry if i did) relationship was SOO cute and didn't take up too much of the storyline/plot. It was creppy and made you squirm after every chapter. Cant wait to edit this manga
challenging
dark
mysterious
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:
Complicated
dark
fast-paced
ive been thinking about this graphic novel since i finished it like 10 years ago
this was such a fucked up little story. i don’t think i will ever look at spirals quite the same ever again - and i shall definitely have to read more of junji ito
Junji Ito is a master of horror. His work always has these interesting ideas that always nail the uncanny valley. Simple ideas suddenly become disturbing and strangely profound in his work, supported by an art style that masterfully expresses gruesome, frightening, unsettling things perfectly and a story telling style that seeks to examine the nature of fear.
Uzumaki is a horror story that centers around the idea of spirals (Uzumaki itself is literally the word for spiral in Japanese). On its own, this hardly seems like a terrifying thing. What's there to fear about spirals? What could be so deadly about being afraid or obsessed or paranoid about spirals? Yet, this story manages to be everything I could want in a horror story.
As with all manga reviews, this covers the entire series and will likely contain spoilers.
The story focuses on a small, seemingly normal Japanese town and on a teenage couple, Kirie and Shuichi, who start to notice that the residents of their small town are behaving oddly, raving about spirals, acting paranoid about them, and realize that something is horribly wrong when the spiral obsession turns deadly and gruesome.
I remember vividly that one character knows there's something bad about spirals and tries to get rid of anything resembling the pattern, only to realize that there's a spiral inside them in the form of the cochlea (a vital organ for hearing that's pretty deep in the head and in both ears), so they stab and mutilate themselves to remove it, resulting in their death.
The story is not overly complex--at first focusing on the pair realizing the spiral obsession exists, then watching in horror as it begins to consume their town, transforming people, killing them, driving them mad, and finally attempting to escape the town and what they call "the curse of the spiral."--but there's some surprising depth to it.
For example, the spiral is believed to hold some greater significance than anyone in the town is ever able to realize (Ito himself only surmises that the spiral is representative of infinity, but offers no definitive answer), which we see when our protagonists try to escape, only to find that not only can they not leave, time itself is warped by the spiral, quickening the further out they go and being stopped at its center, acting as a final barrier they cannot cross because that means that, within the spiral, the curse has always been happening and will always continue to happen in its warped timeline.
Anyone familiar with Ito's work can guess that his taste for horror doesn't usually run like most other stories do; the protagonists are not special chosen ones who somehow rise up to defeat the unbeatable, there is no shiny happy ending at the end of it all, but its not necessarily something that's as terrible and horrific as possible; a lot of endings are simply about the resignation that there are bad things and we have to accept it.
Part of the reason why his horror sticks so effectively is because it has a stark sort of realization that most people are the unnamed extras in the background who get swept away by disaster, the side characters who immediately succumb to tragedy, the masses who, by definition, cannot be special chosen ones who survive or save the day, that some ills in the world are eternal and unbeatable, that perhaps there is no answer.
Despite Kirie and Shuichi having more awareness of the spiral obsession and its curse, they're still just teenagers resisting something that, they come to find out, has perpetually repeated this exact cycle of horror countless times. It's always stuck with me how, instead of them somehow defeating the spiral, the two of them accept what they cannot change and succumb to it.
The scene where the the two of them embrace and accept their fates is oddly powerful and strikes a chord because it's rare to see a story that says "now is a time to lay down your arms and accept."
Since this manga is so short, I definitely recommend it to any fans of horror!
Uzumaki is a horror story that centers around the idea of spirals (Uzumaki itself is literally the word for spiral in Japanese). On its own, this hardly seems like a terrifying thing. What's there to fear about spirals? What could be so deadly about being afraid or obsessed or paranoid about spirals? Yet, this story manages to be everything I could want in a horror story.
As with all manga reviews, this covers the entire series and will likely contain spoilers.
The story focuses on a small, seemingly normal Japanese town and on a teenage couple, Kirie and Shuichi, who start to notice that the residents of their small town are behaving oddly, raving about spirals, acting paranoid about them, and realize that something is horribly wrong when the spiral obsession turns deadly and gruesome.
I remember vividly that one character knows there's something bad about spirals and tries to get rid of anything resembling the pattern, only to realize that there's a spiral inside them in the form of the cochlea (a vital organ for hearing that's pretty deep in the head and in both ears), so they stab and mutilate themselves to remove it, resulting in their death.
The story is not overly complex--at first focusing on the pair realizing the spiral obsession exists, then watching in horror as it begins to consume their town, transforming people, killing them, driving them mad, and finally attempting to escape the town and what they call "the curse of the spiral."--but there's some surprising depth to it.
For example, the spiral is believed to hold some greater significance than anyone in the town is ever able to realize (Ito himself only surmises that the spiral is representative of infinity, but offers no definitive answer), which we see when our protagonists try to escape, only to find that not only can they not leave, time itself is warped by the spiral, quickening the further out they go and being stopped at its center, acting as a final barrier they cannot cross because that means that, within the spiral, the curse has always been happening and will always continue to happen in its warped timeline.
Anyone familiar with Ito's work can guess that his taste for horror doesn't usually run like most other stories do; the protagonists are not special chosen ones who somehow rise up to defeat the unbeatable, there is no shiny happy ending at the end of it all, but its not necessarily something that's as terrible and horrific as possible; a lot of endings are simply about the resignation that there are bad things and we have to accept it.
Part of the reason why his horror sticks so effectively is because it has a stark sort of realization that most people are the unnamed extras in the background who get swept away by disaster, the side characters who immediately succumb to tragedy, the masses who, by definition, cannot be special chosen ones who survive or save the day, that some ills in the world are eternal and unbeatable, that perhaps there is no answer.
Despite Kirie and Shuichi having more awareness of the spiral obsession and its curse, they're still just teenagers resisting something that, they come to find out, has perpetually repeated this exact cycle of horror countless times. It's always stuck with me how, instead of them somehow defeating the spiral, the two of them accept what they cannot change and succumb to it.
The scene where the the two of them embrace and accept their fates is oddly powerful and strikes a chord because it's rare to see a story that says "now is a time to lay down your arms and accept."
Since this manga is so short, I definitely recommend it to any fans of horror!
The first chapter legitimately scared me and messed me up for that entire day. Just very gross, sad stuff. But since then, it's lightened up a lot? I feel like the quantity of horror in this story really helps numb you to the actual fears/anxieties at play, and you come around really just enjoying the creativity of Ito's imagery. Excited to read more!
Wow! What an amazing read. The illustrations are absolutely SICK in the best way possible. I was genuinely unsettled by this.