So basically a lot of weird shit is happening and it is all because of the spiral, which is a mythical entity who just wants to build "something". Don't think too hard about it, most of the fun and uniqueness comes from the fact that it is fucking bizarre and unsettling.
But I do have some problems with the...
It is poorly thought out, almost improvised. It's not like the creepy things get progressively stranger and worse until it collapses, it's a fucking rollercoaster where in one chapter a guy turns into a snail and then turns a classmate into a snail and then they breed despite being both males and the next day Kirie (the protagonist) acts like nothing happened. It relies a little too much on contrivance, the characters are all way too dumb and don't act like actual human beings.
I think this problem could have been easily solved by making it an anthology series instead of having fix characters.
Like having the concept of a protagonist removed, and the things in each chapter happen to different people, so some people can actually die or run away from the town before shit goes down. Kirie could even be introduced in the last chapters when it's already impossible for you to escape the town.
It would've also made for a great excuse for not paying any attention to the...
Which are all just forgettable and shallow. They don't have a real personality, and they don't need one, because Uzumaki isn't about the characters at all. But maintaining the same characters for the entirety of the series, and not giving away a single trait of their personality is just bad writing. It gets to the point where the characters are borderline schizofrenic, and do just whatever the plot needs them to do. Again, relying on contrivances.
The visuals, the concepts, it's so fucking unsettling, uncanny, bizarre, it's marvelous, really. At one point I really just started to wonder if Junji Ito is actually mentally ill and hallucinates with this kind of shit. I can't start to imagine from where the fuck he gets his ideas, but it instigated a reaction in my mind that almost nothing else could reproduce. The moment that guy literally broke all his bones and turned into a spiral in, like, the first fucking chapter, I knew this manga was fucking nuts.
Not even close to being bad, generic, or boring, but it could've been more polished if Junji Ito spent more time thinking about the story he was trying to tell and less time about whatever schizofrenic shit happens in this manga. Good read, recomend it.
Specially if you're an author/writer, this works as a wonderful inspiration.
12.5 out of 14 users liked this review
