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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Uzumaki GN 1
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blind_assassin
 Posts: 755 |
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Kunki Ito? Unfortunate typo there.
I like Uzumaki a lot. It's very Japanese in the way it does horror though. I'm not easily scared by much of anything but I do have an open mind so I chose this as my first step into horror manga. Some of it seemed kinda strange but I really do like it. Volume 2 is more conventional than the first but it's still quite odd. |
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I just started reading another series of his, Gyo.
They're both good and creepy in their own ways -- certainly not the best -- but Uzumaki was definitely much better than its movie adaption. That was wacky. 
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ichido reichan
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Dude, the hell are you talking about, I dunno what do you refer as "compelling edge" but to date this is the only horror manga that I take myself seriously, it's very crafty and very clever, along with "Berserk" this is the definite horror title to be read. the "eisner awards" are not given out for nothing, and no other manga title has been awarded, so go back and research more. |
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CitizenGeek
 Posts: 136 Location: Ireland |
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I think your review was very harsh. Uzumaki is a great work of horror, some of the images in the first volume will stay with you forever. As for the "compelling edge" you say Uzumaki lacks, well, I disagree there, too. Kirie Goshima's story is very engaging IMO.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18496 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Note that the word "nominated" used in advertising like this usually means the subject didn't actually win, and in this case it didn't. (And yes, I "went back and researched" on that.) Besides, I wouldn't be doing my job if I rated stuff based on how other people evaluated it rather than how I personally evaluate it. You guys are certainly free to think I'm wrong on this one, but I stand by my comments. Only a couple of the stories in this volume actually worked (in the horror sense) for me, hence the negative comment, and I've seen comic/manga horror done considerably better, hence the B overall rating. And really, be honest, wasn't the chapter about the hair more silly than scary? |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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I read all of Uzumaki when it was released flipped, and I enjoyed it, but some of the stories are fairly off....is the jack-in-the-box zombie in volume 1?
And the whole hospital arc in volume 2 doesn't even tie into the main spiral theme, and literally has no ending (Kirie runs away and that's the last you hear of it). There's also a major disconnect in volume 3 that indicates that Ito couldn't get things to where he wanted, and so just forced it. It also feels more like an anthology of unrelated tales than a series. Kirie's a strange girl given her resilience in the face of unrelenting horror. People die in front of her on several occasions and she just maintains her average life, going to school and all that. Her boyfriend, who sinks into a depression, is the normal one. Still, I'd recommend reading it...Kirie's a likable protagonist, it sometimes evokes an effective Lovecraftian air of incomprehensibility, and the ending's pretty good, even though it kinda reuses an idea from earlier in the series. |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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Wasn't one of the lines in there something like, "My hair wanted to stand out, so we went down to town..."? Uzumaki is more hilarious than scary. Ito has a pretty good imagination, and it's kind of fun to see what ridiculous scenario he'll script next (the "slow and steady does it" chapter in volume three is particularly amusing) but on the whole really fails to deliver substance in story and characterization, not to mention actual horror. Frankly, Dragon head and The Drifting Classroom are so much better examples of horror manga done right. Way more substance and they're actually somewhat "frightening." Hell; even Domu succeeds as a horror manga where Uzumaki (and subsequently Gyo) fail.
Ito's another one of those manga-ka who isn't proficient in keeping up with an on-going narrative but whose short stories are better. At least that's from what I've been told, not to mention the second short story at the back of Gyo volume two indicates. |
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CitizenGeek
Posts: 136 Location: Ireland |
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I suppose you do have a point. I guess Uzumaki is kind of hit-and-miss, but I did enjoy all of what I've read so far (vol. 1 and 2) regardless of whether it was scary or not. Besides, what with all the 'torture porn' like Hostel and Saw, most people have become entirely desensitised to horror, myself included, so I wasn't expecting to be scared, really. But the first chapter and especially the hospital chapter in vol. 2 were genuinely scary, so I'm impressed that Junji Ito managed to scare me at all, really. Upon reflection, I think you're analysis of the volume was right, actually! ^__^ |
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Gyo gets just ridiculous by the end; it's probably my least-favorite Ito manga. But I still think it's worth buying to get those two short-story gems at the end of Vol. 2--especially Enigma of Amigara Fault. I'll admit it: I'm a huge Junji Ito fan, and it's purely for aesthetics. When I pick up one of his comics, I could care less about story, plot, character development, etc. As long as I see drawings that creep me out I'm totally satisfied, and Ito consistently delivers. I'm a huge fan of Hideshi Hino and Suehiro Maruo for the same reasons. |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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That's the one! Couldn't remember the title of it. But it's that short that convinces me that Ito is potentially a pretty good short story cartoonist. I've been interested in Hideshi Hino and Suehiro Maruo for a while, but the copies of their few translated works are so damn hard to find or else too expensive for used copies. (Sadly, Comics Underground Japan is also in the same boat.) |
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Best review of Uzumaki I've seen. Its all style with little substance, and while that isn't necessarily a fault when writing horror (after all a B isn't a bad score at all) I think it keeps Uzumaki from truly fulfilling its potential.
But listen to Cloe: Gyo volume 2 is worth buying just for Enigma. Ito's style seems to suit short stories better where he can ignore characters and plotting (he weak points) and focus entirely on aesthetics and ideas. |
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driverstart
 Posts: 214 Location: America |
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I'm not a man to normally talk about reviews others do, but I figured I talk about this.
The story is defenitly made to feel like a bunch of short stories if not for everything being connected by the mysterious spiral and the two main characters. Otherwise this story would work just as well as a simple collection of short horror stories. You right that some of these don't really seem scary. The first two are mostly meant just to hook you and keep you focus on this story. The Scar works nicely as a good creepy story as well. Then the rest aren't really scary, but interesting. Medusa isn't at all scary, but the ending is rather distrubing. Overall, one volume is meant most likely just keep your attention. I just picked up volume 2 not that long ago. This one is meant to freak you out and just creep you out. Can't wait to get volume three and see this website review the last two volumes. |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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Sounds a lot like Museum of Terror to me. Which is about 1100 pages of short stories all losely connected by an underlying theme. And likewise, some of the stories are hit or miss. But as others have pointed out with some of his other works, there are some real gems to be found among them. Some genuinely creepy, emotionally and artistically intricate, high-impact tales. They just happen to be nestled inbetween some very mediocre stuff is all.
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I loved Museum of Terror (I actually think it's better than Uzumaki). It's only the first two volumes of MoT that feature connected stories though - volume 3 is all stand-alone short stories.
Somewhat. But I don't think Ito's stuff is supposed to be scary so much as it is creepy and unsettling in a Lovecraftian kind of a way. He doesn't always hit the nail on the head but when he gets it right - and he often does - it's far more effective than any run of the mill gore and splatter fest. I also find his stuff works far better one story at a time (as opposed to reading the entire volume at a single sitting as I do with most manga). |
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Cloe
Moderator
Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Is this that Tomie re-packaged release? If so, I have to agree that some of the short stories in Tomie really pack a powerful punch. I actually jumped when reading the story about the photographs for the first time, it scared me so much. |
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