Thursday 26 August 2010

Uzumaki by Ito Junji

Uzumaki, Spiral into Horror

Pages (Paperback): 208 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 2 edition
Released: October 16, 2007

Note: I'll be reviewing the entire series, which span between 3 books, but I'll be only posting the first book here.

Description: Koruzo-Cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral, the hypnotic secret shape of the world. It manifests itself in small ways: seashells, ferns, whirlpools in water, whirlwinds in air. And in large ways: the spiral marks on people's bodies, the insane obsessions of Shuichi's father, the voice from the cochlea in your inner ear. As the madness spreads, the inhabitants of Koruzo-Cho are pulled ever deeper, as if into a whirlpool from which there is no return...

Review: This is the third or fourth story I've read by Ito-san and what I love about his work is that he takes such a simple concept and makes it into something strange and horrifying. The artwork is detailed and crisp, and I loved seeing how different people were effected by the spirals. I don't think I'll ever look at spirals in the same way again.Great story and a great manga writer/artist. Read this!

Grade: 10 lines out of 10

4 comments:

  1. You've made me curious about the spirals!

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  2. This sounds really interesting and great artwork can make an intriguing story even more enjoyable!

    BTW, I love the idea of five line reviews! Great blog you have here!

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  3. Sounds very interesting! Strange cover but I kind of like it. Thanks for the review!

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  4. This one seems interesting.

    Also, I have given you One Lovely Blog Award

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