Uzumaki Review

Uzumaki

Rating: Instant Fav

Themes/Genres:   Horror, Supernatural, Spirals

Main Characters:   Kirie Goshima, Shuichi Saito

Developer/Publisher/Writer/Artist/etc: Junji Ito; Big Comic Spirits/Viz Media

Overview:

There are horror ‘well knowns’ and there are horror ‘dear god never touch this genre again’, but then every once in a while, once every blue moon, we get the rare horror ‘holy shit give me more now’.  Japan has produced a lot of really great horror over the years and the most infamous horror artist among them… is Junji Ito.  His style is unique and disturbing and his storytelling is top tier.  If you’re ever on the hunt for the best of the best of horror manga, look no further than anything done by Junji Ito.  Anything he touches is guaranteed ultra-creepiness.  Imagine if he’d helped work on something equally notorious for its spooks in another genre… like say… a Silent Hill game.  *coughcough*FuckYouKonami*coughcough*.

But one of the most well-known pieces is the three-arc story of Uzumaki.  It’s most people’s first introduction to Junji Ito’s work, even when they don’t know the artist, most people recognize the artwork, and it’s one I’ve read several times over and absolutely adore.

One of the most widely recognized panels in the series

Summary:

Kurozuchou is a town cursed by the Spiral, manifesting in everything around it from the shape of the grass to whirlwinds to little whirlpools in streams.  While only Shuichi is able to notice because he goes to school in a different town and started noticing how abnormal his hometown was compared to others, the entire town is soon sucked into the curse.  Starting in small manifestations with odd behaviors, including Shuichi's own father, the town's curse quickly escalates until escape is impossible.

Characters:

Kirie and Shuichi are both decently likeable characters with relatively realistic reactions to all the strange events going on in their town.   There's a certain uniqueness to Ito characters that both captures basic human simplicity in a strange world, but also have a subtle strangeness, themselves.  Their very human reactions to the strange events around them drastically contrast the off-putting nature of the story and while the characters are believably every day in nature, they also have just that slight bit of off-ness that gives it a distinctly Ito-y feel to them.

Shuichi and Kirie: the main focuses of the story

Plot:

While the concept is entirely supernatural, the writing pulls you in enough that, instead of questioning the likelihood of the story actually happening, you instead focus on the events within the story and the character reactions.  While it's outlandish and unbelievable, it keeps the characters, themselves, grounded in enough reality to keep the focus on the story.  The human element is human enough that the supernatural element doesn't need to be questioned.  The story is masterfully paced in order to create the perfect amount of suspense and tension without making any of its more self-contained stories over-long.

Art Style:

Junji Ito has one of the most recognizably 'him' art styles in manga.  The monster designs are outrageously creepy and off putting while the human characters look relatively normal in comparison.  The art is detailed and expressive, each person looks unique, and the backgrounds are beautiful in the creepiest ways.  He obviously puts a lot of thought into the world around the characters and it shows up in every detail.  The imagery from Uzumaki is just mind-blowing and inspirational in its concepts.

A melted bulb in a lighthouse... that still emits a dangerous, swirling light

Ending:

In the weirdest way possible, it's both extremely unexpected… but also gives you the proper 'holy shit wtf' feeling that good horror should.  It ties up its ends but also has such an insane conclusion to it all that it leaves you plenty to think about.  It builds up and builds up and even though you’re fully expecting shit to go down, you can never guess what the answer actually is.  It’s a perfect ending with just the right kind of buildup to it.

Final Thoughts:

I fucking love this manga.  It's creepy, it's outlandish and unexpected, and it’s such a unique experience that deserves all the praise it gets.  Junji Ito is extremely well-known for his horror over in Japan and I can see exactly why, his work is brilliant and I'm glad I was able to read these books.  It makes me want to hunt down more of his work, for sure.  I’ve since tracked down a couple more of his mangas, Tomie and Mimi’s Ghost Stories and while I haven’t finished Ghost Stories yet, I loved Tomie as much as I loved Uzumaki.  Ito’s work is amazing and I adore everything I’ve seen from him so far.  I couldn’t recommend his work enough.

(Side Note: I highly suggest picking up the actual manga for Uzumaki, if you can, because the end of book additions are hilarious)