Uzumaki

by Junji Ito
2013, Viz Media
Hardcover, 648 pages, $32.00 CAD

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Good: Art, Appropriately Disturbing
Bad: Campy, Ridiculous Horror, Insubstantial

I had heard of Junji Ito and seen some of his strange artwork before, but I had never really gotten the chance to read any of his manga. As seems to be the case most recently, I came upon Uzumaki by chance while frequenting a local market. The book was recommended by a bookshop owner, so I decided to pick it up. It’s a hefty volume, containing all chapters from the original run of the manga, including the bonus extra chapter Galaxies. I think that Uzumaki lives up to what made Ito infamous—that is, his incredibly detailed and disturbing line art illustrations portraying often horrific distortions of nature, with specific focus on corrupting human bodies in terrifying ways. More than the writing or overall narrative, I believe Ito’s artistic talents are what define Uzumaki as something worth reading, if such a thing is of interest to potential readers.

I have personally never really been a fan of the horror genre. Funnily enough, I think Uzumaki is the perfect example of why that is. I can imagine horror genre fans finding pleasure in the deformation of reality—in seeing what is normal being twisted into the surreal and being morbidly fascinated by it. Perhaps this is enough for some people, but not for me, and there’s really little else of substance in Uzumaki. Characters are either stupid or incredibly passive, with the worst offender being the protagonist Kirie. Most chapters are based around a single premise, with only a few of these chapters really contributing to the overarching narrative. There are elements here and there that impact the overall plot, but it’s obvious that Ito was focused solely on exploring his weird ideas, instead of wanting to write a coherent narrative spanning multiple chapters. I won’t go into detail about each story, but suffice it to say I often found the premise in almost every one of them ridiculous and as campy as horror can be, from people turning in large snails to corpses springing out of coffins. And through it all, no one acts like human beings. Granted, it’s explained that everyone in the town of Kurozu-Cho is being influenced by “the spirals”, but I think Ito is asking too much from the reader here. I know there are one or two stories that held my interest throughout, but even as I write this, I would not be able to recall what happened or what the premises for these stories were. As with most horror, there’s no substance to the writing or the plot, with all the focus being placed solely on macabre.

It probably does not help that Ito’s art style falls short of being appealing. I know that may sound strange considering the subject matter, but I don’t want to confuse “appeal” with “beauty”. Ito has created some equally beautiful works of art, as well as some terrifyingly ugly pieces that made me squirm just looking at them. I expect horror to be ugly in that sense; beauty can be frightening as well, but more often than not we attribute horror with ugliness. What I have issue with is his character designs and the acting of said characters. Almost every character reminded me more of porcelain dolls than people, with stiff movements to match their lackluster personalities. It may seem equally strange to criticize the movement of people in a static medium like manga, but when there is so much energy in Ito’s line work and so much going on around these characters, it’s frustrating to see them simply standing around with a wide-eyed stare. It’s just such a huge contrast to some of the beautifully detailed line art that it only helps to exacerbate how unlikeable these characters are.

Unappealing character designs

Disturbing, but beautiful

I think what I’m most disappointed by is the ending of Uzumaki, beginning with the destruction of the town up to the main antagonist’s victory, as much as there is a win-loss scenario and an antagonist. The frequent tonal shifts and the lack of structure sapped any kind of tension I may have experienced, once again making it difficult for me to care about any of the characters. I was rather apathetic to the fact that all the characters die at the end, which should speak to how little impact they had on me.

I wish I could say that Uzumaki is a great manga, but I think it has only reinforced my disinclination towards horror stories. Most of the chapters are stand-alone stories that rely on the shock value of their premises to entertain, transforming them—in my mind at least—into pure camp. I even laughed out loud at some of the situations Ito put his characters through—it just became so ridiculous sometimes. Though, if you’re a fan of this kind of thing, I don’t think you can go wrong with Uzumaki. It has all the trappings of what I assume is good horror, and if the popularity of its imagery online is any indication, others seem to agree it’s worth reading. The art alone is something worth admiring, as long as you can stomach some of the nastier pieces Ito’s mind was able to conjure.