Uzumaki is a three-part horror manga series published individually from 1998-9 by the mangaka Junji Ito, who is renowned for creating disturbing and powerful visuals. Uzumaki details the story of a town, Kurouzu-cho, which is possessed by the spiral symbol. While the concept may sound ridiculous, Junji Ito is able to turn the spiral, a mere shape, into a symbol of eldritch and cosmic horror beyond the scope of human understanding.
The protagonist of Uzumaki is Kirie Goshima, who attended Kurouzu High School, which was on a relatively high elevation that overlooked the town. Kirie’s father was a potter, and her family lived in the central district of the town. She has a boyfriend, Shuichi, and as she walked towards him to the train station, a tornado (with a spiral shape) briefly scared her. She saw Shuichi’s father, who was staring, unmoving, at a snail's shell attached to a wall (the snail, as expected, has a spiral). When she bumped into Shuichi, he told her that his father had been acting strange recently, as he spent all his time looking at objects which appeared as spirals. Shuichi tells Kirie that they should leave the town, as he has a bad feeling about the current situation. She dismisses him as being paranoid, but things go from bad to worse. Shuichi’s father eventually came to Kirie’s house, and he asked her father, Mr. Goshima, to create a bowl with a spiral shape. He agrees, and Shuichi reports that his father’s strange obsession with spirals has only increased in intensity. Shuichi’s mother eventually threw out his collection due to his obsession, and he became enraged, saying that he could express the spiral through his own body. His eyes then began moving around in a circular fashion, giving him the appearance of having spirals. Kirie eventually delivered the bowl Shuichi’s father ordered, and he told her that he didn't need it anymore, for he can call the spiral from within himself. He then proceeded to demonstrate, rolling out his tongue, which elongated and appeared to be that of a reptile. Furthermore, the tongue twisted into a spiral, and Kirie, upon seeing it, screamed in horror and escaped. A deliveryman then gave Shuichi’s father a circular storage unit. At his funeral, Shuichi told Kirie that his father rolled his entire body into a spiral and entered the container, which killed him. When Shuichi’s father was cremated, the smoke which emitted from the sky turned into a spiral. The spiral then transformed into the head of Shuichi’s father, which emitted a black substance from its mouth. Shuichi’s mother, upon seeing this, suffered a nervous breakdown. Taken to the hospital, she kept seeing spirals everywhere, and developed an immense phobia towards them. The phobia got so bad that she shaved her head to prevent her hair from looking like a spiral, cut the skin from her fingers and toes upon realizing they had spirals, and could barely function. Shuichi says that to her every spiral looks like his father, and whenever she looked into one, his father would look at her and ask her to join him in the spiral.
One night, while he was in the hospital, an insect (probably a centipede) crawled into her room, and it twisted into the form of a spiral. It informed her that there were spirals in her ears (the cochlea), and upon waking up, she became mad with anticipation and rushed to the doctor’s office to check whether her ears had spirals. Fortunately, the doctor took down his charts, and lied to her, saying that there were no spirals in her ears. The next night, Shuichi’s mother woke up; the liquid in her IV stand had begun moving into a vortex, giving it the appearance of a spiral. The face of Shuichi’s father appeared, and he notified her once more that there were spirals in her ears. Determined to get rid of his voice, she took out a scissor and gouged out the cochlea in her ears (this wasn’t shown, though, for obvious reasons). By destroying her ears, she had ruined both her sense of hearing and her sense of balance. She remained immobile, unable to move, and constantly felt like she was spinning. When she finally died, her body was cremated, where it became another spiral.
In another story, Kirie made friends with a girl named Azami, who was rumoured to have a crescent shape on her forehead which gave her the ability to attract any boy. Azami told Kirie that she got it when she tried to impress a boy she liked when she was young by walking on the ropes. She fell and injured her head, giving herself the scar, and since then, she had been able to succeed in romance (though she dated no one - she attracted people only to ditch or ignore them). Azami, in truth, is one of many Tomies (long story short, an organism that looks like a girl and is able to attract any male, eventually causing them to brutally murder it, which is its method of reproduction - check out Junji Ito’s other work titled Tomie). Azami eventually met Shuichi, but, unlike the other boys, he wasn’t attracted to her. On the contrary, he became horrified, later telling Kirie that looking at her was like staring into a spiral due to the trance he seemed to be in. She repeatedly visited him, for she wasn’t used to being rejected by anyone. He, in turn, repeatedly denied her, and informed her that the crescent-shaped scar on her forehead had morphed into a spiral. When Kirie later saw Azami, she saw that the spiral had grown larger into an entire cavity which had consumed much of her forehead. Later, Azami tricked Shuichi into meeting her by manipulating one of her classmates, promising the latter that she would go out with him if he did the task. Kirie saw Azami beforehand, and saw that the spiral had increased drastically in size: it had devoured Azami’s right eye by sucking it in. Azami, upon seeing Shuichi, used the spiral to devour the person she had just manipulated - he was sucked into the spiral and promptly vanished. After he was gone, Azami’s body was also consumed, leaving not a trace behind.
Kirie’s father was the next to become obsessed with spirals, and his pottery all took the shapes of spirals. Upon closer examination, it was revealed that the pottery had the faces of all those who had been cremated recently, including Shuichi’s parents. Even worse, the clay for the pottery had been dug from Dragonfly Pond - during a cremation, the smoke would always enter the pond. Kirie’s father became increasingly obsessed, working long into the night to make more pottery, which involved taking even more clay from Dragonfly Pond. Kirie, upon sneaking into the kiln, saw that in the flames were various faces and spiral shapes that were writing in agony. For instance, Shuichi’s mother was begging to be released from the tortuous heat. Shuichi heard his mother’s pleas for help too, as he went into the building housing the kiln, where he confronted Mr. Goshima. He then used a brick to break the kiln open, and upon doing so, the various faces and objects immediately burst from the furnace, with the faces on them still complaining of the heat. The kiln burned to the ground, but Mr. Goshima’s obsession continued, though he no longer created pottery with faces on them.
In the next story, two young people were in love, but they were both living in poverty, and their parents loathed each other with a vengeful fury. Shuichi said that the spiral has contaminated their souls, and asked once more for Kirie to leave the town with him. She angrily refuses, and then sees the terrible conditions of both the young people, as their families loathed each other to the extent of physical violence (the girl’s older brother would frequently punch her boyfriend) and needlessly exchanging verbal insults. The two young people, desperate to be together, eventually saw the effects the spiral had on the town, as they saw two snakes tangled together in a spiral. They planned to elope, seeing the states of their families, but were prevented once again by their respective kin. Determined to not be separated, they twisted their bodies, which stretched their height. They then wrapped around each other like the two snakes they had seen before and thunderously thudded onto the ground - the only parts of their body which weren’t distorted were their faces. They then informed their families that they were never going to leave each other, and they slipped into the ocean, never to be seen again.
The next story involves Kirie’s hair, which made her seem like the mythical monster Medusa. One day, Kirie’s hair began growing rapidly, and it frequently displayed the symbol of the spiral. Upon trying to cut it off, she found herself unable to, for her hair actively resisted. Soon, her hair came to life, flowing into the air, writhing like snakes. It then became apparent that her hair had the power to hypnotize people, causing them to be fixated on it, as it lusted for attention and admiration. One of Kirie’s classmates told her after school that she wished that she was as popular and noticeable as Kirie. The next day, her hair also came to life. The two vie for attention, and Kirie’s classmate becomes enraged after Kirie refuses to quit, and tries to use her hair to strangle her. Shuichi intervenes by cutting off Kirie’s hair, and after separating her from it, realized that she was very tired and physically weak - her hair grew rapidly by consuming her energy. Kirie’s classmate then went into the town, displaying her hair for all to see. While she did receive a lot of attention, her hair quickly used up all the energy in her body, causing her to become emaciated like a skeleton. She then fell down, dead, but her hair remained alive, attaching itself to a telephone pole to show itself off for a few more hours.
The next story involved Mitsuru, a teenager who was nicknamed “Jack-in-the-box” for his annoying habit of jumping out unexpectedly to scare people. It became known that he liked Kirie, but she, like everyone, was exasperated by his antics. When he gave her a present, she refused to open it, and told him that she wasn’t interested. Upon hearing this, Mitsuru decided to impress her, and he ran into the open street and jumped in front of a car, yelling that his love for her would stop it from running him over. As expected, the car ran him over, killing and mutilating him - his body was jammed in the front wheel and had to be removed via blowtorch. Kirie attended the closed-casket funeral, and felt immensely guilty over his death. She then opened the present which Mitsuru gave her, and saw that it was a jack-in-the-box. It then came to life, developing an ominous appearance, and told her that she was responsible for Mitsuru’s death. She told Shuichi about it, and they went to check on his grave. Shuichi said that he might be a vampire, and even brought the classical combination of hammer and stake. Upon opening the grave, they immediately smelled the vile, putrid stench of decay. To their horror, the mangled corpse of Mitsuru (which was stitched together) came to life, and it began chasing them by jumping extremely high in the air. But due to its rotten nature, it began falling apart. Eventually, its entire lower section was gone, and Kirie and Shuichi were alarmed to see a metal spiral emerge, which explained the height of his jumping. The corpse eventually fell apart entirely, and Shuichi commented that the metal spiral was the automobile suspension spring from the wheel of the car which struck and killed him - it was never removed from his body.
In the next story, one of Kirie’s classmates became a snail over a long period of time. The person bullying him also became a snail, which led to both of them being sealed into the same cage together. They then proceeded to mate, seeing that snails are hermaphrodites. They eventually escaped, and a teacher eventually located some of their eggs. He destroyed them, saying that they were unnatural, causing his body to come into contact with the fluids. Some time later, he turned into a snail as well. The next tale involves a lighthouse that was emitting large amounts of light and energy despite not being able to, seeing that there was no staff charged with its maintenance. Even more concerningly, the few people who mustered the courage to enter the lighthouse never came out. When some children, including Kirie’s brother, went to investigate, Kirie followed behind them shortly. She came across a few charred bodies, and upon coming to the top, found that the lens of the lightbulb, due to overheating, looked like a spiral. She asked the boys why they didn't leave, and they said that the spiral had immobilized them. Upon getting them to their feet, she saw that the sun was setting, and came to the realization that upon sundown, the lightbulb would perform its “function” by giving off tremendous amounts of illumination. However, judging by the looks of the charred corpses below, it could be assumed that the lighthouse would give off so much energy that anything in it would be burned to a crisp. She ordered the boys to leave, and while they were sprinting down the stairs, the sun set. Kirie’s hypothesis was shown to be correct, for the lighthouse came to life, sending flames rushing down the stairs. One of the boys didn't make it out, for he tripped on the stairs and was consumed by flames. The rest, however, survived, though with injuries.
Mosquito attacks then began happening to pregnant women, including Kirie’s cousin. Unexplained murders also took place, and Kirie woke up one night to strange noises. Upon investigating, she saw that the pregnant women acted like mosquitoes during the night - they murdered and drank the blood of other patients to nourish their young. Kirie was spotted, but used the bug spray Shuichi had brought earlier in his visit to the hospital to fend them off. The pregnant women eventually gave birth, and their children seemed to be perfectly fine. However, the children had strange physical symptoms - their stomachs were engorged. Furthermore, not long after they were born, strange, tasty mushrooms began appearing, and those who ate it became addicted fairly quickly due to its great taste. Kirie eventually came across the babies, and she heard them speaking - they had the intelligence of an adult human, and they wanted to be put back into the womb. Upon becoming excited, a large plant burst from one of their midsections, which explained the source of the mushrooms. When Kirie went to investigate, she found that her cousin had her baby sewn back into herself. The doctor then grabbed her and forced her towards her cousin, who was craving blood. Fortunately for her, her cousin attacked the doctor prior to her, and she managed to escape the hospital. Soon after, there was a massive hurricane. The hurricane tried to get Kirie, and it eventually succeeded. It soon came across Dragonfly Pond and funnelled itself into the lake, disappearing altogether. Kirie and Shuichi were later pulled out from the lake, relatively unharmed. Having no house, they moved into an abandoned row-house. Their neighbor, Mr. Wakabayashi, told them that their neighbors had some kind of strange disease, and true enough, the old woman and her son who lived next door were discovered to have had a skin infection which caused spikes and warts to jut out from every part of their body (this infection killed the son). Kirie’s family also began exhibiting symptoms, but they weren’t as severe as that of their previous neighbors. Mr. Wakabayashi, however, had a very extreme case, causing him to resemble a porcupine. The infection caused him to lose most of his sanity, and, after devouring a rat, he tried to attack Kirie. Kirie’s mother intercepted his attack by impaling him in the neck with a spike by throwing it, effectively killing him.
Kurouzu-cho then quickly descended into insanity, for random tornadoes reigned supreme, and any sound that was produced would cause massive winds (save for those produced in the row-houses - the row-houses were the only things in Kurouzu-cho which were immune to the winds). Furthermore, while it was possible to enter the town, it was impossible to leave. A reporter who entered the town with two others was the sole survivor of a car crash caused by a tornado, and when encountering Kirie and the narrator, told them that when she tried to go back through the tunnel, she was unsuccessful, for the tunnel itself became a spiral. Three delinquents caused trouble for the people who sought refuge in the row houses, but they were blown away by the wind. Eventually, Kirie, Shuichi, and her family were forced out of the row-house because of overcrowding, and they came across a gang who were eating the snails which were once human. They offered them some meat, but were refused. After getting into an argument, both parties fought, ending with the gang being sucked into Dragonfly pond. Upon proceeding, they found that Kirie’s brother was transforming into a snail. They went with some strangers to the outside of the town, and were relieved to see ships coming to rescue them. Unfortunately, the ocean became a whirlpool and then sucked them in. When they went to the outside of the town, they found that there was no way to leave, confirming their hunch, and some of the people travelling with Kirie started to go insane - they began to enjoy eating snail meat and became ravenous. Eventually, they gave in to the spiral, as their bodies became spirals. Kirie’s brother completed his transformation into a snail and went down a cliff into the unknown. Kirie, upon returning with Shuichi to the town, found that they had been gone for years - the farther one is from the center of the spiral/town, the quicker time passes. At that point, most of the inhabitants of the town had become spirals, and were permanently enclosed in row-houses which also appeared as a spiral (the townspeople expanded them greatly over the years). Shuichi, Kirie, and the reporter went to Dragonfly pond to find Kirie’s parents, only to have the reporter be grabbed by people who had become spirals. She was assimilated with the others, and all the people in the rowhouses disappeared, seeing that they have become one.
When Kirie and Shuichi went to Dragonfly Pond, they saw that all the water was gone, and underneath the pond was the cause of the curse - a massive stairwell, which appeared to be very ancient, stretched down into the earth. Shuichi and Kirie proceeded to go down, seeing that there was no other option, only to be grabbed by a person who had become a spiral. He proceeded to beg Kirie to take him down, as there was supposed to be something wonderful at the bottom. Upon her refusal, he became aggressive and bit Kirie. Shuichi tried to defend her, only to fall down into the depths when the man who had become a spiral entangled himself around him. Kirie eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and saw a massive city constructed of spirals at the bottom of a large cavern. Although she was well above the city, when she jumped off, she was gently carried to the bottom by a wind. She observes that the city is extremely large and ancient, and it has some kind of a supernatural power, as it is still building itself without human architects. Furthermore, the ground was covered with everyone who had fallen in from Kurouzu-cho; all of them had become spirals and were gazing, unblinking, at the light produced by the city. Kirie found her parents among the people who were no longer moving, and then she came across Shuichi. Shuichi told her that the city had existed for a long time, and would occasionally be able to extend its influence to the outside world to continue its expansion. He said that he no longer has the strength to go on, and Kirie decides to stay with him. As they embraced, their bodies changed into spirals, and they remained like that for the rest of their existence - they were at the center of the spiral/town, which caused time to slow down to such a degree that it was virtually nonexistent for them. The opening to the subterranean city then shut itself, and Kirie remarked that eventually, a new town will be built over Kurouzu-cho. And soon, the spiral would awaken once more.
Personal thoughts:
Uzumaki by Junji Ito is an unnerving, imaginative, powerful read. The visuals, to say the least, are both stunning and disturbing, clearly illustrating Junji Ito’s skill. The plot itself is also creative, attesting to the strength of Junji Ito’s imagination. One of the few issues I have with the book is that the dialogue is very simplistic; however, I do acknowledge that from another angle, that isn’t even a problem, for basic dialogue could help illustrate the horror of a situation efficiently by avoiding bombastic language altogether. I highly recommend Uzumaki to anyone interested in horror, manga, disturbing visuals, and shocking plots.
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