Uzumaki

I read Gyo and this within 28 hours and I need help xD

I found Gyo more “enjoyable” if that's a word you can use with art like this. But don't ask me which was more terrifying. I've never read or seen better horror, this is absolute madness. I don't think written word and my imagination can compare to this. Movies for some reason can't do it justice either. Manga/comic book is perfect for this and Ito is absolute madman. People compare him to Stephen King but that's not right. This is H.P. Lovecraft squared. King has never terrified me in this way. While he's a master of personal horror Ito is king (pun intended) of cosmic horror.

Masterpiece, only sold short by its abrupt ending.
There's so much to talk about in this particular omnibus (only the second horror manga I've ever read) - body horror, cannibalism, and so on - that you must read it to believe it. A small coastal town in Japan is cursed (hence the name, which means spiral in Japanese), and everything goes to hell. There are short stories on everything - such as mosquitoes (whose flying pattern is similar), snails (with the shape of their backs), and even tornadoes.
There's little to no characterization here, and I didn't know beforehand that this was a loose collection of short stories with a joining narrative, but that didn't detract from my immersion. There are the usual tropes here - a slightly unhinged deuteragonist with a gory past, the protagonist who's somehow not affected by the mania happening, and so on. Where Uzumaki shines is in creating a sense of helplessness - at no point do you feel that the characters are in control of what's happening, and this is different from the horror we're used to (the main character saving the day). I'd recommend this only for second-hand helplessness if nothing else.

Absolutely insane. A wild trip through the stirring imagination of Junji Ito. A horrific story of a town gone mad because the hypnotizing spirals. We watch Kirie navigate through the town, trying her best to escape. The art is so good here, Ito brings to life some truly creative and horrifying moments. This is my first Junji but I plan on reading his other works.

Cerita tentang Kota Kurouzu yang entah kenapa warganya sangat terobsesi dengan bentuk spiral. Banyak rasa yang aku alami waktu baca buku ini. Di antaranya: penasaran, aneh, takut, mual, dan jijik. Kejadian-kejadian yang melibatkan spiral sepanjang komik ini tidak selamanya dijelaskan secara jelas. Namun, justru itulah yang bikin aku penasaran buat baca sampai akhir. Aku betul-betul ingin tahu bakal seaneh apa lagi peristiwa spiral yang bakal terjadi di Kurouzu, dan memang makin ke belakang hal-hal yang terjadi makin tidak masuk akal.

Walaupun aku enggak biasa baca/nonton manga/komik/novel/film/cerita horor, Uzumaki ini seaneh dan semisterius itu sampai aku jadi berani melawan rasa takut yang biasanya aku rasakan kalau lihat hal-hal yang berbau horor. Hahaha. Tapi ini rasanya emang kekuatan dari cerita-ceritanya Junji Ito yang sangat di luar nalar. Waktu aku sebelumnya baca The Enigma of Amigara Fault, ada rasa ngeri dan risih yang sama, tapi akhirnya tetap kubaca sampai akhir semata-mata karena penasaran.

Banyak gambaran dan poin cerita (plot points) dari Junji Ito yang saking aneh, seram, dan menjijikkannya mungkin akan sulit aku lupakan (mungkin banyak pembaca juga mengalami hal yang sama). Pokoknya merinding banget deh bacanya, sampai harus sering ambil jeda dulu antar babnya.

this was okay! i didn't find the story super spooky, although a lot of the graphical horror was pretty cool. i wanted to be pulled in by the narrative, but found the breaks in between chapters really jarring, where the previous chapter might end with something really gruesome, but the following chapter didn't really......deal with the fall out of what happened, and i found that disappointing.

INCROYABLE

a literal masterpiece. made me shiver inside. 

every single storyline is so carefully crafted & sooooo twisted (pun intented), and lemme not get started with the art !!!!!!!!!!! 

everything is deeply disturbing & uncomfortable without leaning too much into violence and gore. like them little spiral plants ? so simple yet effective

LOVED IT

4 stars

Slightly overstayed its welcome in the final chapters, but overall it was great body horror, especially since you never knew what to expect, besides the spirals. The art is great and now I know where a lot of manga shock images on the Internet are from, hah. Even though I said that it dragged a bit at the end, it's still worth finishing, because the ending is very satisfying.
I would recommend it to you if you love seeing body horror or are looking for some fairly light-hearted horror.