Written works are often horrific because of how much liberty is granted to the reader’s imagination. However, mangas are an example of how hand-drawn imagery can really add to an otherwise basic story, especially one aiming to be as strange and paranormal as Ito’s 1998 work, Uzumaki.
The story focuses on how a curse, one that drives people to become obsessed with spirals and anything that features them (such as a snail shell), begins to corrupt a seemingly normal coastal town, essentially consuming it.
Events are mainly told from the perspective of Kirie and Shuichi, a high school couple, as this mania begins to take over the town. As fate would have it, it starts with Shuichi’s parents. At first, it remains intriguing and vague, making the madness and fatalities of Shuichi’s parents appear as an isolated case of madness, rather than a result of some external force. It soon becomes apparent that the entire town is changing around them, and all sense of normalcy is slipping away.
It’s at this point where I strongly recommend that anyone interested to pick up Uzumaki do so. Whilst the characters and story are not overly deep, simply remaining serviceable and still enjoyable, the painstaking amount of detail given to each panel of grotesque and abstract imagery make the manga what it is: an experience.
Understandably, it is designed to be a horror manga, boasting plenty of gore, body disfigurement, and supernatural occurrences. The way in which the town seems to normalise the increasingly bizarre events highlights the power of the curse also make it a partly absurdist work. Even those like Shuichi, who remain vigilant and want to flee the town, are still trapped by the curse’s paradoxical effects and are gradually entranced by it.
For this reason, the ending is dramatic and sombre. The nightmarish events, mass death, and the destruction of the town are contrasted by an isolating and numbing sensation of fleetingness. Inevitably, Kirie and Shuichi will have to accept their fate and learn to submit to the spiral, just as everyone they’ve ever known has.
With a story that isn’t as heavy on character or realism, it does mean that the appreciation can be more easily directed towards the artistry and creativity of the author. If you won’t take my recommendation to read it, then at least search up a few panels of Ito’s incredibly detailed and pattern-filled artwork. I’m sure you will see why the manga, despite it’s rather short length, is highly praised.
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