By melding creative storylines with fantastic artwork, this first volume of Uzumaki starts the series off on a very strong note.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Junji Ito
Translated by: Yuki Oniki
What They Say
Terror in the Tradition of the Ring!
Kurozu-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 According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral, the hypnotic secret shape of the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 everything from seashells and whirlpools in water to the spiral marks on people’s bodies, the insane obsessions of Shuichi’s father and the voice from the cochlea in our inner ear. As the madness spreads, the inhabitants of Kurozu-cho are pulled ever deeper into a whirlpool from which there is no return!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kirie Goshima, resident of the small rural town of Kurozu-cho, has noticed a horrific and bizarre series of events begging to unfold, all of which incorporate the spiral pattern in some way. This realization begins when fellow high school student Shuichi Saito tells her of his father’s recently-discovered fixation with spirals, in the hopes of convincing her to run away from their hometown with him. As his father sinks further into reclusion, Shuichi begins noticing spirals “contaminating” the city: the shapes are unnaturally abundant throughout Kurozu-cho’s landscape, from its winding streets to the constant mini-cyclones.
Things take a turn for the worse when his father’s obsession leads to an untimely and horrible self-imposed death. During Mr. Saito’s funeral, the cremated remains spiral upwards into the sky, eventually settling into the town’s central pond. At this point, the spiral’s curse appears to be permanently cemented on the town: Shuichi’s mother develops a psychological obsession with purging her life of spirals, to the point that she removes her own hair and fingerprints in a vain attempt to rid herself of the memory of her late husband.
Before long, these supernatural events escape beyond the Saito family and begin affecting the town as a whole. To reveal too much of these stories’ plots would remove much of the surprise; but without giving too much away, Ito appears to be gradually incorporating a larger storyline into these otherwise-episodic chapters, as we observe Kirie’s ever-increasing determination to flee Kurozu-cho when the spiral curse passes from person to person.
If this first volume is any indicator, it’s easy to see why Uzumaki was bestowed with an Eisner Award nomination when originally released in 2002. This release really came as a pleasant surprise: though the basic plot outline sounds gimmicky, each of these five largely-episodic tales incorporates the underlying theme of the spiral curse without feeling stale or forced. Ito makes an interesting artistic choice by loosely tying these episodes together with an overarching story arc; this small touch really helps to hold this collection together as a coherent entity.
Despite being such a simple geometric shape, Ito manages to exploit the basic spiral shape in some pretty insidious ways. In keeping with the book’s theme, nearly every mundane object imaginable — skylines, plants, hair, etc. — is infused with an unnatural spiral pattern. Ito’s realistic drawing style fits extraordinarily well with this theme: by injecting spirals into things that shouldn’t ordinarily contain them, he lends his artwork an other-worldly, semi-grotesque feel without resorting to cheap blood and gore. Ito builds on top of this style with an uncanny sense of depth and dimension: spirals don’t just become part of an object’s texture, but rather twist, mold, sink into, and consume their hosts’ basic structure. The artwork even reveals hints of post-impressionistic influence, with backdrops that reference van Gogh’s Starry Night.
In Summary:
Ito’s well-honed artistic chops also play a significant part in why this volume works. Uzumaki’s scenery is simply dripping with atmosphere; the macabre events that unfold within Kurozu-cho’s borders feel all the more unnerving when contrasted against its small-town look and feel. As far as I’m concerned, Ito’s ability to construct an organic yet simultaneously ethereal tone by simply incorporating the basic spiral shape into everyday objects is quite impressive — and when the spirals start to take over Kurozu-cho’s inhabitants, it’s just downright creepy.
Though Uzumaki is neither a gory nor a particularly violent title, Izo knows exactly which notes to hit in order to visually and mentally unnerve the reader. People who find these sorts of titles unsettling may not want to pick this release up; but readers with the stomach to tolerate Ito’s often-disturbing imagery should try not to miss this release. Highly recommended.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 30th, 2007
MSRP: $9.99
