AUTUMN VS. UZUMAKI

Uzumaki by Junji Ito is a Sobering Tale of Heartbreaking Inevitability

TITLE: Uzumaki

AUTHOR: Junji Ito

EDITION: 3-in-1 Deluxe Edition (includes volumes 1-3)

GENRE: Cosmic Horror Manga

PAGES: 648

FORMAT: Ebook

PRICE: $18.99

Though there are many themes one could discuss when drawing from a source as rich and complex as Ito’s Manga Uzumaki, the theme I would like to explore in this blog is that of dark inevitability, or, in other words, the concept of doom.

The main characters Kirie and her boyfriend Suichi are at the mercy of spirals taking over their hometown Kurouzu-cho. The spirals have no clear source yet they are linked to a mysterious pond in the town. The spirals are the inevitable force that come to warp, if not totally destroy, the town at various points throughout history.

We can see this dark inevitability by the ways in which the spirals infect the townspeople. The spirals enter either bodies through food, insect bites, psychic possession as well as through their own unborn children, babies turning into creatures within the womb that can only be satisfied by the blood of the living. People are turned into creatures that look and behave like zombies, their food being other townsfolk who have mysteriously ‘spiraled’ into snails, losing their humanity and becoming food for the cannibals who used to be their friends and neighbors. There seems to be no escape. Either one becomes food for the humans-turned-spiral-monsters or one becomes one of the monsters themselves.

And what of attempting to escape, flee the town and the terrifying spirals? That brings me to my second point. Kurouzu-cho, when under the grip of the spiral force, is inescapable, the town itself turning into a spiral.

When mysterious hurricanes attack the town, Kirie, Suichi, and their families are forced into quickly made wooden longhouses. These longhouses are also destroyed, typically by the townspeople turned into spiraled predators. The only sensible strategy for Kiri and Suichi seems to be to try to escape Kurouzu-cho altogether. They do just that, taking Kirie’s young brother with them. During their travels, the young boy slowly morphs into a snail as well, showing Kirie that no matter how far they go, the spirals still have them. When they return home to Kurouzu-cho, pulled by the same inevitable force, they see that the longhouses themselves have been rebuilt into a spiral structure, centered around the mysterious Dragon Fly Pond. The ‘full circle’ ending further highlights this concept of doom, the dark inevitability that hangs over them like a death shroud.

If I have one complaint about Uzumaki, it is that the spirals are never really explained nor do we know why it is that this town seems to be the only place affected by them. At the same time, though, that is the nature of Cosmic Horror. The ‘monsters’, the ‘darkness’ are rarely explained. It is up to us as the readers to try to decipher their meaning and motivations which is what makes Uzumaki such a great work to tackle like this.

If you like Uzumaki, I recommend Tomie, also by Junji Ito.

Autumn Leaves is a Canadian author and poet. Her poem “Siren’s Song” was published when she was 15. Autumn is in love with the dark and has an affinity for all things horrific and disturbing. Autumn is also an avid horror reader and book reviewer. Her favorite author is Jack Ketchum. She lives with her children and army of fur babies on a small island off the coast of Maine.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.