The Grotesque Tales of Junji Ito — Part 3: Uzumaki
This is part three of a series of blogs dedicated to the works of Junji Ito that I have read. The second part focused on my thoughts on the ‘Tomie’ collection, whilst this one will explore my thoughts and opinions on ‘Uzumaki’. A link for the ‘Tomie’ blog can be found below.
There are some mild SPOILERS from this point onwards as well as some potentially disturbing images. Consider this your warning folks!
Appearing in the weekly manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1998 to 1999 before being compiled into three bound volumes by Shogakukan and published from August 1998 to September 1999, ‘Uzumaki’ tells the story of the citizens of the coastal Kurōzu-cho, a fictional town which is plagued by a supernatural curse involving spirals. That is not a typo. The town is plagued by spirals. Not monsters, a phantom menace or some ruthless madman, but a shape. If you are new to Junji Ito’s work, you may be surprised that ‘Uzumaki’ is one of his more popular works. I was terribly confused by this as I was initially unsure how a mere shape would control a town and how anyone could make a well-respected horror story out of it.
After many readings since my purchase of this book, I would like to talk about why I think ‘Uzumaki’ is a particularly effective horror story and why you should not be dismayed by its strange premise.
Nothing is more comfortable than the repetition of routine. Day in day out we simple mortals do the same things every day, barely giving thought to our familiar tasks. It is part of human nature, giving us our place in the world. How do you react when a routine of yours is broken? How would you react when something is amiss? I’d imagine you would begin to question yourself how much of your life you actually control. Some may even lose their minds over it…if it was something important, or a series of smaller unfortunate events that built and built until you just couldn’t cope anymore, causing you to snap and act like quite the loony.
That may sound familiar as this definition of insanity brewing deep within the bowels of the mundane is a popular horror theme. ‘Uzumaki’ is no exception to such themes. Any attempts to understand, fight or flee from said insanity just draws you closer, delaying the inevitable and angering the beast. Despite clearly being one large narrative, you could read most of these chapters on their own and still get a fright on some level out of them. You could even miss what connects all of them, as all of these gruesome events are not really connected.
This is, of course, a lie. They are all connected by spiral!
Each chapter illustrates a more bizarre iteration of the curse of the spiral. It starts off with Shuichi Saito’s (one of the protagonists) father showing a fascination for the shape, squatting by a wall staring at a snail, who then becomes an obsessive collector of spirals who won’t even eat food that doesn’t have spirals and will not bath unless he has created a whirlpool in his bath. By the end of the chapter, he has somehow twisted his body into a grotesque shape that inevitably kills him. This is mirrored in the next chapter when Shuichi’s mother develops an unnatural fear of spirals, which results in her cutting off her hair and the pads of her fingers and toes for they contain spirals (which I personally found more horrifying than the some of the more ‘stereotypical’ examples of body horror found in this manga). Things become worse when she suspects that there maybe spirals within us, which there are, the cochlea. You can guess what she does next, but I won’t spoil that for you.
The spiral taints everyone and everything in the town, corrupting all of the citizens in the process. People become systemically insane, followed by natural disasters such as twisters and strange vortices that form when any boat attempts to leave or enter the town’s port. High school students have surreal quarrels about whose hair grants the most attention (Chapter 6, ‘Medusa’), star-crossed lovers literally become forever entwined (Chapter 5, ‘Twisted-Souls’) and even the usual celebratory occasion of childbirth is tarnished by this cosmic force (Chapters 10, ‘Mosquitos’ and 11 ‘Umbilical Cord’). Eventually, Shuichi and Kiri Goshima (the girlfriend of Shuichi and main protagonist) understand mere fragments of the spiral. Each chapter is part of a larger chain of events that is a piece of an ancient curse that has been with this town for possibly thousands of years (the actual time passed is never stated). The town and everyone who lives in it is doomed to be consumed by the spiral. The digression of the town and its inhabitants can be compared to quicksand. The quicker you fight it, the faster you will lose to the spiral.
I wish to remind you that the citizens of the coastal town of Kurōzu-co who attempt to fight, flee or understand the wrath of the spiral only draws them mad or closer to death. Its themes and setting are very similar to one of Lovecraft’s famous stories, which is ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’. Lovecraft is one of Junji Ito’s influences, so anyone who is familiar with Lovecraft’s works will find plenty to enjoy with this and many of Junji Ito’s stories.
The concept of a protagonist struggling against some primordial force underlined by an atmosphere of dread and paranoia are key elements that pretty much sum up ever Lovecraftian story. The conclusion of ‘Uzumaki’ is very much a homage to ‘The Call of Cthulu’ mythos, as well as the general idea that the protagonists of Lovecraft's tales usually succumb to whatever madness is presented to them. The influences and inspiration are found in all of Junji Ito’s works, but none are as direct and obvious as ‘Uzumaki’. Its success in Japan was huge, introducing Japan to Lovecraft. You can see that in the ‘Silent Hill’ and Soulborne franchises (‘Demon’s Souls’ and ‘Bloodborne’ in particular) for example. There was a film adaptation of the film as well, which I have not seen, but I have heard it is not very good so I will probably avoid it for now.
I do have one complaint about this manga that I don’t particularly wish to ignore and I am not sure who to blame, Junji Ito or Viz Media (the publishers of the version of ‘Uzumaki’ I own). Some female nipples are blacked out in one of the chapters that distract heavily from the panel in question. Now, I must emphasise I am NOT the sort of to get off on illustrated titties of any sort, but I find this particular form of censoring most bizarre, especially as this is a manga filled with all sorts of disgusting body horror. I don’t know if this is found any other publications of this work, hence my unsureness in my criticism.
The Afterword & Lost Chapter
The version of ‘Uzumaki’ I own contains a lost chapter called ‘Galaxies’ that focuses on the discovery of a new galaxy that turns astronomer Torino mad as he wants ownership of its discovery. Other new galaxies begin to pop up and grant the power for the townsfolk to see and communicate each other telepathically. Its conclusion is, again, very Lovecraftian as Torino demands all of these special wavelengths the galaxies are giving off, which is too much for him to physically cope with, causing him to explode. As interesting as this chapter is, I can understand why this chapter was omitted, as the spiral is only supposed to affect the town, and with the threat coming from the stars, it would take the reader out of the intended experience. That, and the Lovecraftian influences may have been too obvious if it was included. Those are my opinions, however, as I’m sure they differ wildly from Junji Ito’s. Maybe they don’t? Time may never tell…
The chapter is found right at the end of the book, but if I were to speculate where it would have initially been placed, it would obviously have to be before ‘Medusa’, which is chapter 5, as Kirie still has long hair and loses most of it at the end of the chapter. This would obviously mean it would be somewhere between chapters 3 & 5 (‘The Scar’, ‘The Firing Effect’ & ‘Twisted Souls’ respectively). Given Shuchi’s mental state in these chapters, I would imagine it would have been placed between ‘The Scar’ and ‘The Firing Effect’. Again, I could be totally wrong with that as that is my own speculation.
This publication also contains a six-page skit as the afterword. It is about Junji Ito’s own obsession with the spiral and the intense amount of studying and researching ‘to find the secrets of this enigmatic shape’. I found side-splitting hilarious within the context of just finishing ‘Uzumaki’ for the first time. I still find it rather humorous, as the art style is more caricature and simplified than what I had experienced up until that point. Despite it being a rather silly nonsensical story, this there is a level of seriousness that adds to the humour. I enjoyed it.
Coda
Junji Ito’s horror involves ‘taking something normal and looking at it backwards’ and the spiral is no different. Something I have noticed with other anime and manga is that spirals are used in the cheeks in characters to represent warmth (I could not name any examples, shame on me). Whether this was intentional or not I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this was the case as it truly is a fascinating shape found within nature. Outside of nature, it is seen as a mathematical sequence known as ‘The Fibonacci Sequence’. I won’t waffle on about the maths too much, but Leonardo Pisano Bigollo Fibonacci (say that 10 times faster) says it appears all around us. I knew it only as a device that soundtrack composers can use to enhance drama and emotion, but with some brief research, I can say that it is honestly around us. It builds our subjective understanding of aesthetics. The distribution of lines, shapes, forms according to this sequence is called ‘The Golden Ratio’, which has been proven to be pleasing to us. The Fibonacci Sequence can also be found in the spirals of a tornado, the division of branches and roots of plants, shells on snails, honeycomb distribution, the arms of our galaxy, the cochlea within our ear, the list goes on!
Death, madness and despair await us all, pulling us in the downward spiral our pitiful existence. It is a fate we all share, which is why I believe that with all of this in mind, the spiral may not be as unusual as a choice as an antagonist as it would first seem. We are one with the spiral, and the spiral is one with us.
The next blog in this Junji Ito series will focus on my thoughts and opinions about ‘Gyo’ and the two short stories found at the end of the Viz Media publication I own.
Is ‘Uzumaki’ you’re favourite Junji Ito story? If so, why? If not, what is your favourite Junji Ito story? Have you seen the live-action film? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
Let’s start a conversation, people!
