“Come join me in the Spiral”
Warning this review does contain spoilers.
Mannnn not even gone lie, I’m really hype to watch the anime for this story! I just finished watching the trailer (which was creepy as hell), and was super excited to start the Uzumaki manga. Ya’ll… I make it through the first chapter and couldn’t believe it’s about….Spirals?
Fucking SPIRALS. Which okay yeah, apparently Uzumaki means swirl in Japanese, but my dumbass didn’t know that at first! I really had to contemplate if I wanted to go any further. I also have to acknowledge the sheer TALENT a writer has to have, to make a horror story based around a pattern. And Ito did a spectacular job with incorporating the shape into the classic horror tropes we often see today in shows and movies.
What is this manga about?
So basically, all this crazy shit starts happening to residents in a small coastal town in Japan. We got hair battles going on, seventh grade stalkers, killer pregnant women, delusional pretty bitches, etc, etc. And spirals seem to play a major role in life or death (mostly death tho), with these residents. And that’s it. Thats literally the post.
Nah I’m playing, but each chapter is basically this Kirie chick, recounting the strange supernatural events that happen to her and those around her, as a result of these damn spirals. These entity of spirals, from what I read, tend to emit feelings of fear, anger, obsession, confusion and paranoia. This varied from person to person. For example, our very first case is Mr. Saito, who becomes so obsessed with spirals and spiral patterned objects, he actually dies from stuffing himself inside of a tub. But get this, dude’s body is literally stuffed in the shape of a spiral…
Ya’ll ever seen a body stuffed inside a Japanese tub? Like just imagine stuffing a real human body in that thing. I seen the picture of Mr. Saito and was like
I mean, the shock factor when looking at the illustrations really had my heart JUMPING. How did Ito manage to make death in relation to these spirals look so scary??? The talent, the skill set, the flair, his MIND. I love to see it.
So anyways, these ominous spirals begin to pretty much dominate the person’s life right, literally draining their physical energy in some cases, to the eventual point of death. I swear, after I would finish a chapter, I would just sit in silence and contemplate wtf I just read.
For a hot minute, I wondered if the whole town was on psychedelics because too many bizarre things were occurring. Nevertheless, I finished Uzumaki in a fairly short amount of time. Yes I watched happy cartoons after finishing it.
Things I did not like about the manga
For Uzumaki to be based on the entity of spirals, I wish there had been more in depth background, on why the spirals wreaked so much havoc upon the town residents. I had so many theories and questions. Where did it come from? Why was it haunting that town specifically? I know the row houses, and pond played a significant role. What really is the secret of the spiral? Why is it killing so many people? How is it that no one really noticed the spirals until something bad happened? Maybe I’m overthinking it a bit, (My Gemini mind at work) but I think they’re valid questions! Near the end there’s a fairly quick explanation, but I’m not sold. The backstory of the spiral seems rushed and thrown together in the last couple of chapters especially.
The ending could have been wayyyy better my goodness. It took this girl 16 chapters to realize she needed to get the fuck outta dodge, so the ending was very lackluster. How did she go from wanting to leave to basically giving up and staying? Ummm…
Really? That’s it? How anti-climatic first of all. How you gone play up the mystery of these spirals and give Kirie the resolve to leave the town, only for her to just accept her fate, and be with her crackhead boyfriend at the end? I just chalk it down to maybe Ito wanting to wrap the story up quickly? Idk.
Bro it really was fuck her brother at the end too! Sis said you know what, I’m laying with my man and thats that!
Still, I was confusion. Her sole reason, from chapter 16 forward, was to leave the town, so that she could save her brother. She ended up having to let him go, but claimed she would find him again. I find it weird that Kirie would just decide to stay under the pond and not have a care in the world for her brother’s life anymore but meh. Kinda shitty if you ask me though.
Was this manga actually scary?
Yes and no. No in the sense that these spirals were not terrifying. The mystery aspect of the story is a little predictable so I wasn’t surprised reading some chapters. But yes to the tragedies that occurred. The way the residents died definitely scared me (I’m a sensitive gal.) And Ito’s drawings were mad explicit. I’m both excited and scared to see certain chapters animated in the anime simply because the artwork is so good.
Should you read the Uzumaki Manga before the watching the Anime?
There’s really no reason to read the Uzumaki manga, but there’s no reason not to either. Honestly, I only read it because the trailer made me curious as to what the plot actually was (which there really is no solid storyline in my opinion). If you like horror/mystery, suspense, blood and gore, then go for it I say. It’s a very short read and you can probably finish in an under two hours or so. One thing to also note is you will have to read it left to right. I would for sure read it again, simply due to the fact that there were only 20 chapters, and they weren’t very long. Overall it was pretty good for a horror manga and I will be reading more works by Ito. Let me know if you guys have ever read the Uzumaki manga and your thoughts on it down below! Byeeeee
