Uzumaki –review

Intro

Since I first discovered Junji Ito, I have wanted to read some of his work. A modern-day Lovecraft, but no shitty opinions about race, was a great selling point for me. So first, I tried to read his work online, but when the site was down (after I had to clean my computer), I decided it would be best to get manga the proper way. So Uzumaki is the first manga I have ever brought and is now the first I have read. And what a great introduction to horror manga it is! Uzumaki is an intelligent and deeply disturbing look into entropy and self-destruction.

Writing

In the first chapter, I was worried about the pacing; we go from creepy spirals manifesting in nature to the destruction of Shuichi's father. We barely get to know Shuichi's dad before he starts making spirals (literally) out of himself, And that kind of robs some of the horror from the first chapter; I think that if the first chapter was about the quiet arrival of spirals ending with Shuichi's dad displaying the obsession and chapter two dealing with that might have been better from a pacing standpoint. The story's episodic nature results in the pacing being stopped and start.

However, this issue is mitigated by the sheer mounting dread that permeates each chapter, even if the chapters themselves feel isolated. Ito knows how to build by spirals' quiet and pervasive build-up into everything. The first panel is an excellent example of this as Ito draws your attention to the curling grass, the swirls in the river, and this spiral is fucking everywhere.

I know people have complained about the lack of action or care for residents of Kurouzu-cho or even Kirie herself. I can understand this, but in the cosmic horror genre, when you are up against a cruel and ruthless entity. What can you do? Shuichi and Kirie's attempts at fighting against the spiral are ultimately useless and feeble. How can one fight against entropy? Of course, you can, but it will eventually be for nothing. More often than not, you are complicit in your self-destruction, such as Azami Kurotani, whose obsession with Shuichi leads to her self-destruction with the spiral. Or the kids who deliberately destroy buildings during the third act as they accept the spiral and the destruction of their lives.

Ito understands what makes horror great; he examines what makes us scared, the fear of helplessness, the knowledge that we are only a few choices away from embracing and speeding up our journey towards entropy and self-destruction.

Visuals

Junji Ito alternates between clear but modestly detailed frames and hyper-explicit and detailed frames, depending on the context. The more horrific the image, the more detailed and nightmarish the image. The juxtaposition between these two burns the image into your memory and is highly effective as a jump scare. Turning the page to see a tongue-twisting spiral is very effective at scaring you. I never thought books could have effective jump scares, but manga is different. Manga has the visual component to produce a silent jump scare which Ito flawlessly takes advantage of.

Conclusion

How do you deal with the constant impending march of entropy? Do you embrace your self-destruction? Do you fight it against all impossible odds? Or do you pretend nothing is wrong in the face of overwhelming evidence? These questions are not answered per se in Uzumaki but are brought up through the character's actions, and they are questions that haunt me even now. I will never look at a spiral similarly for a long time.

Nevertheless, Uzumaki is a brilliant piece of contemporary cosmic horror, despite some pacing issues. Junji Ito seems to understand that true horror exposes our worst fears on a personal and cultural level. I can't wait to read Tomie!

Acknowledgments

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