CW: Horror, Body Horror, Mental Breakdown, Obsessive Compulsions, Family Difficulty, Bereavement, Suicide, Hospitalisation

Gloriously ridiculous and ridiculously creepy horror comic about a small town plagued by spirals with each chapter playing out a new bizarre nightmare.

A teenage couple whose families and everyone around them become ensnared in malignant maelstrom, along with the town, act as the throughline and connection to the whirlwind of events. Imagine a Japanese Twin Peaks town hypnotised by spirals with freaky Twilight Zone happenings with a young Mulder who desperately wants to get away (from, like, page one!) and Scully that is skeptical and the resistant to leaving because reasons.

The art and writing are classic Junji Ito stark black and white imbued with so much strange depth and mindbending horrific imagery, and stories that might not seriously scare, but absolutely worm their way under your skin until you are wonderfully creeped out. It is undeniably silly and in anyone else's hands it would just be ludicrous, but Ito has a unique ability to truly commit to the bit and tear right through laughable into a place of goose flesh and shudders.

If it wasn't for elements that, while I don't believe they are intentional or with malice, are somewhat misogynistic and classist this would be perfection. Unfortunately, this is 90s horror and it's hard to get away from the harmful tropes and stereotypes. Thankfully the level is incredibly minor, especially compared to a lot of media at the time, but it's important to acknowledge them.

I absolutely cannot wait to devour more of this series and Ito's work. I really hope the upcoming Netflix show isn't painfully, Death Note movie, levels of bad. ( )

Who knew spirals could be so scary? Junji Ito has made sure I'll never see them in quite the same way again.
There's deeply disturbing artwork in this book, and the individual stories are just bizarre. I'll try another volume to see what happens next, but I don't know if I'll stick with it to the end. Looks like it's a pretty short series, so maybe I will.
The Afterward was my favorite, with the author drawing himself as one of the characters, becoming more and more obsessed with spirals. That bit of goofiness after all the horror was a nice way to end the book, and it reminded me why I developed such a fondness for him when reading Junji Ito's Cat Diary. ( )

This review was originally written for my blog over at http://turnthepage.travel.blog/2019/04/23/uzumaki-1-by-junji-ito/

This is a horror manga which is the first book of a series. It tells multiple intertwining stories. The main focus of this book is a small Japanese village which is cursed by spirals. It sounds strange, it is strange, but it is the good kind of strange.

The main people in the manga are a group of school friends, and each chapter shifts to a different protagonist out of the group and tells their story of an experience they have had with this curse. The curse starts off with a person becoming interested in spirals, as in the shape. This interest quickly blossoms into an obsession which eventually leads to their death. My favourite chapter was the second one.

This entire manga is well drawn and very detailed. It is surprisingly creepy, and as is the case with most manga it can easily be read within an hour. I look forward to reading the rest of this series and I highly recommend this manga to any horror fans.

I give this 4/5 stars. ( )

"Uzumaki" has a strong beginning, a middle, and an end. That may not sound like much, but it's Ito's work after all, which is saying a lot.

Ito takes everyday objects and turns them into pure horror. Spirals, a rather simple pattern that appears in both nature and man-made objects, is converted into a source of terror, both physically and emotionally.

The first two stories are the absolute best, capturing and conveying the horror of obsession. While the first focuses on body horror, the second beautifully captures the gothic kind. This results in a wonderful see-saw of emotions in the readers; it's something I've seen very few authors, especially in manga, do, and it must be applauded.

Ito also expertly crafts stories about phobias centered around the body. Saying more would be akin to providing spoilers, so I'll refrain. You should read the stories.

Ito balances cosmic and body horror brilliantly, especially in the way he answers the question of who's more evil. While there is unseen and unexplained evil at the core of the town, it's the people who end up doing horrific things unprovoked. It is what truly drives the stories forward, making them more horrific than they should be.

"Uzumaki" is a brilliant read throughout. It goes a bit off the rails at some points, but the genius is consistent enough to make this an excellent read.
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JOIN ME IN THE SPIRAL!

this manga was deeply disturbing...............i can't wait to read vol 2. ( )