Reviews

Junji Ito can terrify like no other. I have not encountered another artist that can elicit such strong feelings of terror or disgust. Ito's deceptively simple, black and white ink panels show the palpable fear behind a characters' eyes when they see something terrible or inexplicable. This fear is infectious, making you nervous to turn the page and see what horrors lie on the other side. Ito's monstrosities are deeply unsettling, uncanny valley creations, most often humans who change into something impossible and inhuman. It taps into the part of your brain that tells you "this is wrong; this cannot be."

The story of Uzumaki is quite simple - a town is afflicted by some kind of spiral curse - and the characters are quite thin. Most characters simply experience the events around them, with little to no hint of their inner thoughts. However, this often works in the book's favour, as I found the scariest chapters were the ones that could be self-contained: scary little campfire stories where a normal town is visited by an inexplicable horror. As the story continues, Uzumaki becomes a more all-encompassing cosmic horror, of the Lovecraftian variety. The scares are fewer as the story continues, but Ito still manages to sneak in some new way to unsettle you.

You will never look at a spiral the same way again

tunacullen's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

odinblindeye's review against another edition

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5.0

The first volume in this creepy trilogy. One of the few horror comic/manga that can really freak you out.

urbosa's review against another edition

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5.0

꩜ ꩜ ꩜

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