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A review by covfeefer
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
challenging
dark
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? Yes
4.5
When it comes to horror, the medium plays a really important role in how effective it is. Horror movies mostly feel dull to me. Horror books generally bore me. Horror games, now that, ahh is actually really terrifying!
But I'm not here to talk about games. There is one medium for the horror that I hadn't explored until now. The worlds of comics/graphic novels and manga.
The thing with horror for me is, it doesn't scare me with jumpscares or scary looking monsters. What truly scares me is when it gets uncomfortable, unsettling, unnerving. And this one, it had me, right from its first issue! Junji Ito's brilliant writing about a little town slowly haunted by the spiral shape (yes, a spiral) And the shape is unavoidable. Fingerprints, hair, water, the spiralling shape is just about everywhere when you start noticing it.
And it truly gets unsettling as we see people obsess, fear, go mad, distort their bodies and transfigure all for the simple hypnotising shape of a spiral. There are no scary monsters here, nothing familiar to point and be scared about. What makes it scary is it's all with normal people of a city, people like you and me, twisted by the curse of the city. Their situation could've been happening to us (in a world like that) and their actions could've been ours. Add to that the artworks and it makes for something genuinely unsettling.
Also, the eighth issue has continued to stick in my mind for almost two weeks now. I keep having thoughts about that happening to me and that, truly, is uncomfortable. So, as far as horror goes, Uzumaki definitely wins for me. My only disappointment was that it's ending didn't feel like an ending at all. The bonus issue after didn't make that any better either. But everything until the ending was absolutely great, and if you're looking to feel uneasy, Junji Ito will not fail you.
But I'm not here to talk about games. There is one medium for the horror that I hadn't explored until now. The worlds of comics/graphic novels and manga.
The thing with horror for me is, it doesn't scare me with jumpscares or scary looking monsters. What truly scares me is when it gets uncomfortable, unsettling, unnerving. And this one, it had me, right from its first issue! Junji Ito's brilliant writing about a little town slowly haunted by the spiral shape (yes, a spiral) And the shape is unavoidable. Fingerprints, hair, water, the spiralling shape is just about everywhere when you start noticing it.
And it truly gets unsettling as we see people obsess, fear, go mad, distort their bodies and transfigure all for the simple hypnotising shape of a spiral. There are no scary monsters here, nothing familiar to point and be scared about. What makes it scary is it's all with normal people of a city, people like you and me, twisted by the curse of the city. Their situation could've been happening to us (in a world like that) and their actions could've been ours. Add to that the artworks and it makes for something genuinely unsettling.
Also, the eighth issue has continued to stick in my mind for almost two weeks now. I keep having thoughts about that happening to me and that, truly, is uncomfortable. So, as far as horror goes, Uzumaki definitely wins for me. My only disappointment was that it's ending didn't feel like an ending at all. The bonus issue after didn't make that any better either. But everything until the ending was absolutely great, and if you're looking to feel uneasy, Junji Ito will not fail you.