Uzumaki

This is my first review, so please bear with me.

Uzumaki was one of the very first manga I ever read, as well as my introduction to the horror genre, this manga is somewhat precious to me. Uzumaki is narrated by the main character, a somewhat one-dimensional student named Kirie, who lives in Kurozu village. It tells the story of a town and the weird occurrences that keep happening to it's residents.

Story: Uzumaki is a collection of short stories that all share one common theme: spirals. Each story stands by itself as creepy story, but read the whole series and you will find that all of the stories help build suspense as the entire town is slowly succumbs to the oddities of the spiral. I found the plot original and easy to follow, although towards the end it can get complicated. A very creepy, at time gruesome, horror stories.

Art: I'm not an art critic, but I found the art was quite good. It was scary without being TOO gore-y (although my standards of what is and isn't gore aren't like many others). I found that it helped elaborate the story at many times and really the manga achieve it's creepiness.

Characters: The characters were most certainly not the highlight of this manga, but they weren't horrible either. I found the main character, Kirie Goshima, defenseless at most times and didn't do much to help the ongoing situation. Shuichi Saito seemed to be the voice of reason throughout these stories, and was also the first one to become aware of the damage the spiral was causing. His character has a very rough time throughout this story, but still keeps a stronger head on his shoulders than Kirie. There are many other minor character throughout this story, but let's just say they don't live long. Overall the characters are simply average, but that's okay because they aren't the strong point of this story.

Enjoyment: As a huge horror fan, I really enjoyed this manga. I finished it in one sitting, and was let hanging after every chapter, wanting to find out what was happening to this town. I'd re-read it a few times, and it still holds a special place in my library.

Overall: Overall, this is one of, if not, my favourite manga. It is genuinely scary and leaves you guessing until the climatic conclusion. I'd recommend it to anyone, even if you aren't necessarily a "horror fan", I'm only certain you'll be able to find something you enjoy in it.

Back Of The Book Quote

"Kurozu-cho, A small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by person but a pattern: Uzumaki, the spiral- the hypnotic secret shape of the world. It manifests itself in everything from seashells and whirlpools in water to the spiral marks on people's bodies, the insane obsessions of Shuichi's father and the voice from the cochlea in our inner ear. As madness spreads, the inhabitants of Kurozu-cho pulled ever deeper into a whirlpools of no return!"

My Thoughts.

First off this is a great manga written by Junji Ito he also did the art for the manga.
What first got me into this 3 volume series was when I saw the movie Spiral a few years back on IFC ( I think ) after that I didn't think much of it then when I was shopping for Manga I spotted it I grab the first two vols. Anyway I was pulled in instantly the storyline is so odd you can't look away you have to keep reading just to see what happens next. People start turning into Spiral Snails, Hair that gets taken in by the Uzumaki, Cannibalism and much more. If you do decide to buy this Manga I suggest buying all 3 volumes at once because it drove me nuts having to wait just another two weeks for the last volume that ends in a slight cliffhanger but hopefully that's means we will get another volume or spin-off of this great horror manga.
As for the movie based on this manga it is slightly low budget and has cheesy effects but still fun to watch, and takes place mid way thru volume 1 of the manga.

Published By Viz Media
Volumes 1-3 Rated Older Teen For Violence and disturbing images.
Volume 2 has Mature Content.
Cost $9.99 USA and 11.99 Can
Manga is in right to left format


My Ratings

Art: 10 out of 10.
Artwork never seems to cheapen and does a great job of shocking you when it comes to the gory horror.

Story: 8 out of 10.
Has much as the story kept me on edge and had me hooked til the end I still wish there was more. Should have been at least a 6 volume series.

Price: 9 out of 10.
Same price as most Manga's at $9.99


Overall: 5 out of 5.
I highly recommend this manga to those of you that love horror, crazy stories and manga that just makes you think of the simple things around you.

I guarantee that this manga will not be what you expect it to be, and I mean that in a positive way. If you like stories with a clear sense of closure to everything, this is not for you. A lot is not explicitly explained, and that's what I loved about it. I liked that each chapter could be read individually and still be interesting, and yet each chapter built off of the previous ones in a unique way. It wasn't so much that there was a clear cut story, but each piece gave you a different kind of insight into the situation itself. The thing I loved most was that the story began in a relatively normal town that was a little strange, but by the end, everything became completely chaotic and terrifying. That's why it's important to keep reading if you're bored with it at first; a lot of changes occur throughout the story.

If you're into the macabre, you'll find the images intriguing. A lot of human disfigurement goes on, which is interesting to look at, though at times very terrifying. Like I said earlier, it's interesting to watch everything go from a little strange to completely horrifying, on a storyline level as well as from a visual perspective.

Read this if you want to be freaked out and have your mind scrambled!

If you're a fan of horror manga then do not hesitate to read Uzumaki...Horrifying ,disturbing and creepy until the end it will catch your interest from the beginning and most likely you won't be able to put it down until the end.

Story: 9
One of the best horror stories I have ever read...Unique and captivating..The pacing never felt slow and I personally found the ending satisfying too

Art:10
I am not a specialist but I could realize that the art was brilliant

Character:6
None of the characters was really developed and there weren't any interesting personalities either but the manga was not supposed to focus on the characters anyway..It was all about the story,the events and the horror and not about character development....Personally I found the main characters likeable but none of them was really interesting or memorable...The side characters were ok too but again nothing particularly interesting

Enjoyment:10
What can I say? As a big fan of horror stories I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end...It made me want to read more stories from this author

Overall: 8

Uzumaki would seem to be a strange first manga to read - it's not the most mainstream of manga, and it's not necessarily the most accessible, either.

But when you're lucky enough to have a partner that understands your unique taste in entertainment, recommendations such as this one just fall in the lap.

Uzumaki is weird, and occasionally horrific and disturbing, but at other times laugh-out-loud funny. It's the kind of manga with such a unique artistic vision that you really wish they didn't make a film from the base material, and you REALLY hope the American film studios never discover its existence.

As is typical of 'horror' - Uzumaki has all kinds of plot holes that are sometimes difficult to overcome, and can pull down the whole experience. At the same time, and like a good horror text, Uzumaki is also a page turner of the highest standard, and you'll find yourself flying through the entire series in no time at all.

While it would be difficult to recommend Uzumaki to newcomers myself, I also consider it the kind of manga that any long-standing fan of the form should read. Even non-horror fans can enjoy this one, because its vision is second to none.

Most of the mana consisted of stories that could have been told as one-shots with an uzumaki (spiral) theme. As long as there is a spiral in the story in any way, shape or form, it seems to be fair game (to the point of pointlessness?) You could easily skip several of the chapters and not be confused in the main story which starts in the first couple chapters of volume 1 but doesn't really take off till volume 3. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed almost all the chapters, and although I didn't find any of it truly scary, there were a lot of fun, orginal ideas, sometimes just plain gross. Yes, there was lots of gross. The main characters weren't all that interesting, but who reads horror for the characters. Shuichi was great though. Everytime I saw him I wanted to laugh :P He was the greatest boyfriend ever!

Uzumaki - 8/10
Uzumaki is a great manga classic that even had a live-action movie adaption, while the movie was kinda of meh, I think the manga is truly timeless due to it's genre, which is Horror, and the way it utilizes horror elements to connect to the reader. The artwork has a definite style and has a great amount of detail throughout all the pages, speaking of which it's only 653 pages long, including afterwords and the lost chapter. The Story is quite good, although first 10 or so chapters feel very disconnected from each other as if being separate stories just with the same cast of characters, which is a good thing in some ways, as it provides variety and keeps you interested, but is also a bad thing since it creates inconsistencies with the town becoming full of mysteries yet no one believes anything that is slightly not normal. The stories themselves need a bit more atmosphere and tension to them, but this really depends on your taste of horror. If you like atmospheric horror like Silent Hill and stuff with it's own unique world, then you probably won't like this very much, maybe you will enjoy the last 10 chapters which I will talk about later. But if you like sort of more of a creepypasta-esque approach to horror, (chapter 3,5,6,7,8,10) which is less so atmospheric, but more actually creepy much more relatable to real life and very bizarre in their scares and stories, this was certainly my favorite part, and if you like this kind of stuff, then this manga is for you although I think this manga is worth checking out to everyone just thanks to the artwork and the amount of "weird" this manga has. Now the last 7 chapters were way less horror and much more of a conclusion to the story, and generally more story, like the first two chapters, except well, not very scary or entertaining.
The ending, in my opinion was way too stretched out with very little substance added to the story or any horror provided, aside from the whole concept of why were the horrors happening, which wasn't so entertaining, and I'd rather have a much less clear explanation of it or something more mysterious and vague rather than an explanation the characters pulled out of their asses, at least it was no happy end and it made sense within the story.

i really liked uzumaki and i'm really excited about reading junji itos other manga. the art was 100% my type and the "horror" was just right for me. it's weird-scary, not as scary as watching a scary horror movie. i even think that junji ito had a humoristic view on this manga and that drawing it was big fun and many laughs. the only thing that bothered me was that since the first chapter the main character kirie knew that something strange and dangerous was going on in the city but still every time something strange happened (and that was lots of times!) she was surprised and shocked like she didn't even have a clue. but i guess that's an element you find in lots of horror art.
definitely recommending it for everyone who likes weird stuff

Uzumaki is a good choice for you if you're for a short manga that is sort of disturbing, but keep in mind that it falls short in a bunch of areas.

I'd like to start off by saying that Uzumaki has a great start, its early chapters are really good & they often display how obsessiveness can be a very toxic thing, chapters out of which you can draw out some interesting conclusions like, being obsessed with someone else will drag you into your own world with someone you don't even like, or being obsessed with a pattern can be the end of you and so on. But then the story starts falling short, with the author seemingly trying to continue it banking on the shock factor alone and it changes from something interesting and creepy, in an intriguing way, to just something disturbing, in a really goofy way. What seemed to originally be about obsessiveness now continues as "look at how fucking edgy these spirals are." I won't go into detail into how they're goofy since the factor of not knowing what's ahead plays well in the horror genre.

Then you've got the characters which, as most other things from the horror genre often don't make sense. The main character is this girl that keeps refusing to leave the town because, nah, everything's normal, even though she's seen enough for her to be able to realize that nothing in the town is normal. Hell, the art draws spirals fucking everywhere and her boyfriend points it out to her almost every chapter, but nah lets stay here, the mosquitoes are nice and the snails are cute. Her boyfriend not bailing makes sense since you could say he might be obsessed with her in a way as a means to the plot but she is just... there to be the victim of it all, I guess? The characters are pretty unrealistic, but yo, horror. The only person with some sort of realism is the boyfriend which I suppose you could make it into him going insane and dreaming up these scenarios or I don't know but that's cliche as fuck so, your choice.

Speaking of the art, it is pretty decent, the author takes his time to draw spirals and some pretty disturbing imagery, maybe not memorable, but still creepy. I'd say that is good for how the manga is written.

So if you really enjoy kinda disturbing imagery this manga could be good for you, but don't expect TOO much from the plot. It becomes really edgy and it scaring you after one point goes out of question since it becomes far too goofy for that. I do have to admit that I have a high tolerance for supposedly scary shit, so maybe you would be scared by it, but I'm sure the goofiness of it will calm you down by the end. It's a short series, so if you're looking for something you want to read rather fast, you will be able to. I was sorta dissapointed myself that there wasn't more thought put into it since it started off as quite promising and ended up falling short of that in the end.

Seriously I read this two times to try and understand why people hail this as Uzumaki's best work. Can't see it.

Story: 4/10. Starts out really good. Atmosphere is set up, the tension is palpable, and the threat feels really real. The first third of this manga is amazing in this regard. After that, it falls off to goofy and comical levels and all tension is just obliterated. Was never scared reading this manga past the midpoint.

Story: 7/10. Decent when it needs to be, otherwise pretty plain and static.

Character: 5/10. Majorly forgettable.

Enjoyment: 4/10. Would be way higher if we just consider the first third of this series, when things were actually being built well, but considering the goofy comedy this thing became, was sorely disappointed.

Overall: 4/10. Itou should stick to short stories, I think the problem with this manga is he couldn't keep the suspense and creepy-factor maintained for such a long run, compared to a 1 or 2 chapter story.

Manga and anime do not scare me easily. Disturb me in some cases with grotesque imagery and copious amounts of gore, yes, but nothing that would constitute in giving me nightmares. I've found the medium as something that I would always gain enjoyment from no matter the genre. I would spend my time with a work, ponder on it for a while, and leave it at that. Rinse and repeat. That is, until I came across Junji Ito's Uzumaki.

The manga is brief, as it is only 19 chapters long with one extra story, but it drags the reader through so much. The manga's first two chapters set the stage for all the events that are to follow: a man's obsession with all things spiral-shaped, smoke that forms a spiral when it reaches the sky, the protagonist's boyfriend becoming paranoid over the mysterious activities that have been occurring in the small, sea-side town where the story is set, and so on. Once the main points of the story are established, Ito assumes that the reader is aware of the basics and takes a completely episodic approach with his storytelling until the last few chapters. Each chapter is dedicated to one object that is associated with spirals, notably snails and curly hair. He sometimes cuts corners with this concept, though, and dedicates chapters to mosquitoes and lighthouses (Apparently, his excuse for this is that they move around in spiral shapes). What the reader doesn't realize, though, is that this is all build-up for the conclusion of the story, making this one of the most depressing manga I have ever read. I won't say much to avoid spoiling you, but the spiral concept of the story becomes all the more encompassing. Part of the horror that comes from this story is obsession and giving in to that obsession. It comes from watching the gradual downfall of a once peaceful town that has its daily life completely transformed (no pun intended...oops) by the psychological breakdowns of its townspeople. It comes from some of the characters' realization of what is going on, screaming in fear that they don't want to die, and knowing that they not only do not have any control over the situation, but that they know that they will never be the same again. I could go on, but my point is that the horror in this is completely psychological, but this is not Perfect Blue we're talking about. The terror in this is slow and painful, making the story all the more engrossing and terrifying.

Another major part of the story's appeal is Ito's unique drawing style. You could probably read the manga just for the artwork and still gain some enjoyment from that...that is, if you don't suddenly close your book in shock. It's one thing to read in text what is going on and another to see it. The artwork magnifies the reader's imagination hundredfold and presents possibly the only way to visually express everything that Kirie, the protagonist, is experiencing. Some of the scarier images include Shuichi's father rolling up his tongue into a spiral, half-human/snail hybrids, an army of pregnant women with blood-stained drills, and the lost souls that are the townspeople of Kurozu-cho who have resigned to the fate of "becoming one with the spiral", so to speak. That's not even half of the grotesqueness that the art has to offer. Some of the less scary art, such as the spiral-shaped grass and amusingly-spiraled hair, are cool to look at, but at the later points in the chapters, those only serve as distractions from the horror contained within the story. My favorite aspect of the art, however, is the fact that some of the worst images are usually hidden as two-page spreads beneath some of more harmless panels on the previous page. It's almost as if Ito is daring the reader to look on to the next page. One prominent example can be found in the "moon scar" chapter, and you'll know what I mean once you read it. That sort of suspense made the manga all the more thrilling to read. The art is not only creative and nice to look at, but adds its own layer of horror to the story.

I feel bad for the characters in the story. I really do. By the end of the manga, they almost become completely different people. Even Kirie, who seems to consistently remain pure and untainted by the spiral's allure, has trouble facing some of the greater moral choices that she has to make during the story. She is always exposed to some kind of human flaw that is caused by the spiral's influence, such as vanity and lack of motivation. Because of how consistent Kirie remains through all of this, she seems almost like a Mary Sue character. Normally, this can be harmful to character development, and it is in some cases, but in the world of Uzumaki, her innocence is a virtue. She is spared from experiencing the same kind of insanity and corruption as her peers, and yet she has to witness everything first hand. At the same time, it seems like that that is her form of corruption, watching her family, significant other, and the people of her home gleefully give in to the madness surrounding them. Although that is not a form of character growth in the most traditional sense, the characters are growing based on the events happening to them rather than conjuring some kind of growth based on dialogue and interaction. Uzumaki has a very isolated form of character development that occurs in the foreground due to the highly-detailed story elements that take center stage.

Before I finish, I would like to state that this is a review for a manga that I read last, for the first time, in June 2011. The story, imagery, and overall package that this manga contains has stuck with me since. I still get chills from this manga whenever I get flashbacks to it. I might have even experienced a few nightmares from this story a short while after reading it, but my memory of that is a little hazy. Leave it to Junji Ito to take some of the most insignificant things that we take for granted and enlarge them into things to avoid with dread and disgust. If you are looking for some great Lovecraftian horror to sink your teeth into for Halloween, or anytime for that matter, look no further than this manga. Just be weary of any escargot on the menu next time you eat at a fancy restaurant.

Just one word : astounding. Junji Itois one amazing mangaka.
He manages to take any topic ever, from stinks to swirls, and makes them into a fantastic horror manga.
Though, like Gyo, the storyline is somewhat hard to follow. The plot seems to love to twist and turn.
Otherwise, it is a amazing manga.
After reading this, you will never look at spirals, pregnant women, and snails the same way again.

While putting down the scores for this Review, I put down 10 for story and yet 1 for Enjoyment. This simple setence will make you know how I feel about Uzumaki.

Uzumaki is about a cursed town which strange events happen that center around spirals...and that's about as far as I can go without confusing you into a complete recluse. Sure I could mention the snail people and the man who bend himself into a spiral in the first chapter, but then again I would be ruining all the best points now.

The Story above is probably a unique in it's way to draw you deeper and deeper in. The first and second volume are almost like building blocks for the spiral that will draw you in at the third volume.
However, once you get to the end, you will instantly feel...what's the word I am looking for?
Oh yeah, Utterly disapointed!
To say I grew at least attached to the people of the town was understatement, I honestly wished that they would get things back to normal...but here's a spoiler for ya.
They Don't. They all die at the end, turned into stone and wrapped around each other in spirals, waiting for the next sucker to decide "Lets built a Town here!".

==============Segway here=============
But then again, my disappointment could be from Japanese unique horror storytelling.
Whenever you watch American Horror, don't you sort of root for the monster instead of the main hero? Sure you do! Because you don't feel connected to the Hero in any way. He keeps doing incredibly stupid things for no reason other then to waste our time for a hour and a half.
However, When you watch Japanese Horror, You will get sucked in and will be constantly rooting for the Hero's, because they are normal people fighting against what use to be normal people! Ghost in Japan usually are people who died horribly in the hands of evil people, so they become ghosts and haunt others for all eternity, trapping anyone that comes close to the same fate.

And that's what happens in Uzumaki. Anyone who enters the town is doomed to be trapped into the town...trapped for all enternity in a endless torture!
*sigh*
Thats what a true horror story is. Not the threat of Death, but the threat of PAIN.
================================

The Art is okay, not too special or anything like that. Except when things are put into a spiral...it suddenly becomes weird and unfocused, feeling nasuating and truly wondering when it will end.

Overall, this is a good read if your in the mood for something scary and horrible.
However, if your in a down ridden deppression with anxiety about death and blindness...you should go watch naruto instead.

Well, that´s pretty scary. You would never think before it how spirals can be so creepy, and after you read spirals will never be the same (and look like they´re everywhere). Well, you could know that it was good before reding; after all, that´s Junji ito, he´s brilliant.
But i really didn´t aprecciate the characters; They´re a little false. And what´s the problem with Kirie? That´s just like, corpses and dead people everywhere and she is still calm. The same for her brother, he´s too jerk.
The art is pretty good, and it can really scare you. In some parts there are super disgusting thinks and the art help the frighten effect. I like it.
Ultimately, it´s pretty good. But it´s not the better... it´s good and soooo scary, but, i don´t know, it´s not the best. But i really recommend it! But if you are easily scared or have stomach problems, it´s better for you read Kobato or something like that. Seriously, it´s disgusting. But if you don´t have it... It´s a good history, at all.

I'll never be able to look at spiral shaped objects the same way again...

I stumbled upon this manga while browsing through horror/gory manga. I thought "3 volumes? Eh, why not?" I can say that I definitely wasn't disappointed.

Story -7
The manga doesn't have the most linear story, as it is more of a collection of small stories, each revolving around the concept/theme of a spiral or vortex. There's a chapter or two that have almost nothing to do with the task at hand, but are just there for entertainment. Think of these stories as those kind of stories someone would tell at a campfire or a sleepover. Though when you really observe the stories, some are really good at telling a simple story/theme with a powerful moral, just in a very dark, twisted way.

Art - 10
Hooooolyyy crap. I swear I can get nightmares from the art alone. Junji Ito has got to be one of my new favorite artists. It doesn't help that the most disturbing images tend to be the biggest panel on the spread or even cover the entire 2-page spread. The style of the environment and the occasional gore is awe-inspiring. Being an artist (in training), the art in Uzumaki has definitely inspired me.

Character - 6
There is little to no character development in this manga. The main character, Kirie, and her controlling boyfriend, Shuichi, aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, though not completely unlikable. Kirie can barely defend for herself and relies on overly conscious Shuichi (and a pinch of luck) to get out of near death experiences. There are a handful of minor characters, but let's just say they don't last long enough to talk about.

Enjoyment - 9
I love horror, so I definitely enjoyed Uzumaki for what it was, despite how borderline stupid some parts are. I laughed, I was terrified, I was amazed, I was even dumbfounded. Uzumaki definitely gives me my horror fix. If only it was longer, the manga ended before I could REALLY enjoy it.

Overall - 8
This is a cool, quick read for anyone who's a fan of the horror series. It's one of the only things I've read/played/watched that's actually scared me. But whether you may find Uzumaki terrifying or silly, it's an overall entertaining manga.

Junji Itou is one of the best mangakas in the horror industry, and i think this is his best work in my opinion.

Story: 8/10
I believe the story is amazing as instead of ghosts, vampires and zombies. He manages to make SPIRALS scary, I MEAN LIKE HOW. He also really brings the fear of the unknown to life and can truly captivate the readers attention.

Art: 9/10
Junji Ito's art style really accentuate the horrors of this manga, his art style truly shows the horrors of a mere spiral.

Character:6/10
I think character is probably the worst part of this manga, but it doesn't mean its bad, the development doesn't really shine through as most of the characters just experience events and move forward to finding out the truth.

Enjoyment: 10/10
This manga was a blast to walk through, the manga shows the many horrors of the town, Kurouzu-cho. Each scare shows the fear of the unknown that dwells in each of us, which seriously makes this manga scary and exciting

Overall: 9/10

It has so much spirals, that one of them created a hole in the script. Uzumaki is a disappointing work, with an interesting beginning, but that, ironically, falls into the spiral of ruin with stupid decisions and characters.

Throughout the manga, it loses strength and manages to put a spiral in the most pathetic things possible, making horror lose its essence. It becomes an episodic with no effect, no mark, just a sample and pattern of spirals; in the beginning, things happen and mark the plot, but soon, its effects are momentary.

With a protagonist who abuses of a disgusting plot armor without any motivation, its other protagonist who is someone lucid in the face of the situation is the character that constantly decays, it doesn't make sense. The others characters are just really bland and flat, they're there just to die in some disguting or gory way but it doesn't have nearly any effect because i don't care about a character who's not properly characterized. Its ending and last chapters were chaotic, megalomaniacal and very poorly made.

The art is good, specially when talking about the actual horror scenes, spirals are really detailed and reactions are very well drawn, despite being very exagerated sometimes and turning it into something very silly. But when not doing that, it's really boring, lacks in variation of designs and does not pay off its flaws.

For me, Uzumaki is a really overrated manga with more gore elements than an actual scary horror manga.

I'm absolutely a fan of horror mangas. I don't find them scary at all I instead appreciate the detailed art over getting scared and nightmares. I'm not in favour of watching live action horror movies or shows though but I'm fine withe anime.

Story- 7
The manga consists of short stories revolving around the two main characters in this small town where a frequent spiral symbol appears. The story isn't really scary or frighting but the victims that fall to be consumed by the spiral are left in a pitiful and sympathetic state. Although the chapters consists of short chapters the story progresses well to the core of the story. The constant motif of the spiral appears throughout the manga. The only message that haunted me after reading this manga or the moral I perceived from the relevance of the spirals: is that the finite turns of the spiral is like a cycle. Like a cycle that moves to spin indefinitely is similar to the cycle of life, and how one continues to move on.

Art- 10
I honestly loved the grotesque drawings of the demented forms that fall victims of the spiral. Although, it's scary for some I truly appreciated the fine and detailed art that Ito did. Furthermore, I love how distinct his art is, similar to how one can tell his or her favourite singer, I can distinguish Ito's art from other horror artists. The amount of detail drawn to illustrate the character's frightened faces and the distorted bodies left me to think how this author can come up with these disgusting and frightening yet remarkable poses. Surely, these drawings will haunt some people in their dreams.

Character- 7
There was very little character development since the story consisted of short stories. The major character perhaps are like-able, both with unique personalities and flaws. Despite their flaws of either being too naive and the other too self conscious, the pair complements each other which helps the story to move forward. If it wasn't due to the naivety and self-consciousness of these characters the mystery of the spiral will forever remain undiscovered *spoiler* and HA! the continuous cycle of the spiral will be disturbed *spoiler ends*. The rest are recurring characters and the sad but understandably the victims appears once.

Enjoyment- 9
Reading manga I needed to finish it quickly as I was intrigued by the creepy little spirals. But the ending wasn't magnificent but it served it's purpose for being a horror manga as it left me creeped out. It's a good short read.

Overall- 8.25
Nothing really serious but still looking for a good horror manga to read then Uzamaki is the book for you. There really isn't any major story and character development but if you want to see and appreciate good illustrated pictures, this manga is for you.

If you're a horror fan looking for something new to pick up that's entertaining and actually unsettling, this is for you, even if you're not a big fan of manga. If you want a story or character driven narrative with careful attention to its lore, you may want to look somewhere else.

To begin, this is a very disturbing manga. I've seen a lot of horror from every medium and this is one of the few stories that has actually gotten under my skin. Some of these images are flat out disgusting, and they will haunt you. If you feel uncomfortable easily, this is not for you.

The setup is simple, a small coastal town where strange things happen. It's an easy to recognize story that makes you feel like you're reading a good old fashioned ghost story. The lead two characters are the classic combination of the skeptic who takes a questionably long time to accept the happenings and her boyfriend who quickly recognizes that something supernatural is occurring.

For most of the manga, each chapter plays out like a self-contained story, with the previous events being referenced to show just how much terrible stuff has happened, but not being too important for enjoying the chapter. You'll know within a few chapters if this is for you. The situations typically play out like Lovecraft stories, with the lead character acting as a witness to the horror, and this works to create a fantastic series of tales for anyone who wants small but potent doses of horror.

This is until the third volume, where a continuous plot emerges and carries on to the end. I would consider this manga a masterpiece if not for the chapters spent on setting up the world rather than on the psychological, unsettling short tales that preceded them. It largely redeems itself in the last two chapters, but not because of the plot or characters.

Without doubt, the most effective part of this manga is the art. Everything that isn't covered in shadows looks like it has been drained of colour. Everything in the town looks like it's decayed, including most of the inhabitants. Nothing looks healthy except the main characters, and that doesn't last long. Everything works to make you uncomfortable: details from the smile that's just too big for its face or the eyes that are just too small. Also, the spirals. The word 'spiral' and the actual thing will lose all meaning to you by the time you finish this. It works for the most part, the spirals add to the atmosphere where nothing is straightforward.

If you can't get behind those details or begin to get desensitized to the hundreds if not thousands of little spirals, you'll notice the major images. Every chapter has a few: some panels are gorgeous in a Lovecraftian sort of way, and others, more memorably, will shock you. With each chapter, the reader has a lot of opportunity to figure out what exactly is going to happen, but even if you figure it out, you won't be prepared for what you see. Everything builds up in each chapter to a main-image shocker that cues the climax. These are the heart of the manga, I found myself waiting in each chapter for that one image that would embed itself in my mind. Each chapter, for the first two volumes, got more and more intense, each setup creepier and each payoff more disturbing.

With all of this in mind, it's easy to complain about the characters who remain in the town after the first few events. However, I found that actually added something to the atmosphere. The characters become more and more disconnected to the bizarre happenings. The residents of the town get used to the hell they live in, they become jaded to the sheer horror that surrounds them, and it is deeply unsettling to watch them descend into madness in different ways and at different paces.

In conclusion, reading this manga is like having a nightmare. It's creative, it's a wild ride, it will stick with you, and it will entertain you if you're a fan of this kind of thing. If you want an atmosphere like classic Silent Hill, setups made to excite and fright, and images that will test how much you can stomach, check this out. It's a twisted, disturbing, and entertaining experience you won't easily forget.

My friend came to school one day wearing a Junji Ito hoodie that scared me looking at it. I was planning on buying it because it was scary but I wanted to know the context behind them. That same friend told me that this was one of his scariest works and I get scared easily so I was expecting some bed-wetting shit. The first chapter had me in and when I read the "Honey, come join me in the spiral" I felt scared. The art work is really good which is really the only thing Junji Ito has going for him. Narratively, the story was ass juice and my dick had never been so flad. It was just a bunch of random events involving a spiral until the ending happened. The guy with the glasses knew so much without much of an explanation on why and it's stupid he didn't even TRY leave the moment the events happened. The female main character is a fucking brainlet, only trying to leave towards the end when it's too late. This manga had a lot of potential but it just flops. Everyone gives this manga a lot of hype but it's boring. The artwork was really the only good part about it. I tried his other manga but they all are the same: Some curse happens > messed up body parts > then finally the main characters discover something ancient was the cause of everything.