Uzumaki

Read Manga

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: The Spiral

Japanese: うずまき

More titles

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 3

Chapters: 19

Status: Finished

Published: Jan 12, 1998 to Aug 30, 1999

Genres: Drama, Horror, Supernatural

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Spirits

Authors: Itou, Junji (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.15¹ (scored by 140,243 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #517²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #31

Members: 248,491

Favorites: 15,622

Resources

Wikipedia

8.15

Ranked #517Popularity #31Members 248,491

MangaBig Comic SpiritsItou, Junji (Story & Art)

Add to My List

Volumes: /3

Chapters: /19

Uzumaki (3-in-1 Deluxe Edition)

$23.99

Read Sample

Edit
Synopsis

In the town of Kurouzu-cho, Kirie Goshima lives a fairly normal life with her family. As she walks to the train station one day to meet her boyfriend, Shuuichi Saito, she sees his father staring at a snail shell in an alley. Thinking nothing of it, she mentions the incident to Shuuichi, who says that his father has been acting weird lately. Shuuichi reveals his rising desire to leave the town with Kirie, saying that the town is infected with spirals.

But his father's obsession with the shape soon proves deadly, beginning a chain of horrific and unexplainable events that causes the residents of Kurouzu-cho to spiral into madness.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit
Background

Uzumaki was chosen by the American Library Association (ALA) as one of the Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2009.

The series was published in English as Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror by VIZ Media under the VIZ Signature imprint from October 16, 2007, to February 19, 2008, and as a hardcover 3-in-1 omnibus on October 15, 2013. It was also published in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica in May 2011; in Czech by Zoner Press; in Spanish by Planeta Cómic; and in Brazilian Portuguese by Conrad Editora from July 2006 to October 2006.

Edit

Related Entries

More characters
Characters

Saitou, Shuuichi

Main

Goshima, Kirie

Main

Kurotani, Azami

Supporting

Katayama, Tokuo

Supporting

Yamaguchi, Mitsuru

Supporting

Maruyama, Chie

Supporting

Saitou, Toshio

Supporting

Tsumura, Kazuki

Supporting

Wakabayashi

Supporting

Nakayama, Keiko

Supporting

Reviews

Dec 28, 2007

InformationGeek

Recommended

There are many horror mangas out there that try to make themselves scary. But often we just get a comic that’s more gory or disgusting than scary. Now there is Kazuo Umezu who really can write a horror story that’ll scare you. He is known as the godfather of horror manga, but there is another called Junji Ito called the master of horror manga who has wrote something just as terrifying as any scary movie, book, or comic out there. This story is called Uzumaki.

Story:

The story is simply starts us of quick with two main characters to get use to and ...

Open

Gift

Jan 5, 2010

xraffi

Mixed Feelings

While Uzumaki starts off strong with its truly creepy first few chapters, it then loses everything that made those chapters great and becomes neither scary nor interesting. With the first chapters, even though the events that take place could obviously never happen, the author succeeds in making them believable. This is not the case for the majority of what follows, the plots become ridiculous to the point where the entire manga just doesn't work anymore. What is perhaps the scariest part of the manga after the first few chapters doesn't even come from the deeper, more psychological horror that is intended, but rather something that ... feels overtly done before, people who become zombies at night and feast on the blood of others. It's more complicated than that, but instead of those complications being scary, as they're supposed to, it's just the drawings at that point.

There are some stories (the manga generally works in the fashion of telling interrelated stories every chapter, with each chapter having a closure, the exception being the last set of chapters, which is the manga at its best other than the beginning due to its continuity) that are not only ludicrous and completely separated from reality (as opposed to the beginning, which succeeds in seeming as more of an extension of reality, something that could actually happen, which is the root of it's creepiness that isn't present for the rest of the manga), but aren't even remotely scary on the most basic level. Marvel as... a blinding light causes select people to walk in circles! The horror! The overall story is interesting and unique, much different from your average example of horror, as the "evildoer" is something as ambiguous as a shape. Now, if done correctly, this could make for a chilling manga that would haunt some readers' sleep for weeks. However, once again, the beginning of the manga is the only section that comes anywhere near accomplishing this. Many of the stories are barely even related to spirals (the shape in question), the "zombie" story mentioned earlier in particular, which also lessens the blow, making the stories feel much less related to each other, and the spiral as well. This takes away the feeling of the spiral taking over the town, one of the main elements of horror that's meant to be present.

The characters here have absolutely no personality. At all. The vast majority of characters are just generally kindhearted people whose dialogue is the same as everyone elses'. The only exceptions: Shuichi, who becomes a recluse early on in the story, mumbling to himself about how the spiral is taking over. No, he's not interesting (probably more interesting than any other character though). Kirie's (the main character's) little brother, whose name doesn't come to me despite having just read the last few chapters (a sign of how forgettable the characters are?). He's whiny. That's it. The final exception are the "bad people," the people who become possessed by the spiral and have a mean disposition. But nothing else. Yes, they're all cruel, but they're all the same type of cruel. There is a subsection of "bad people," however, attention cravers. And that's the only thing setting them apart. And yes, like the others, they're all the same as each other. So let's sum the characters up: We have nice people. We have mean people. We have attention craving mean people. We have Shuichi. We have Kirie's little brother. The characters are another thing that takes away from the horror of the manga; if I was at all interested in the characters, all these terrible things happening to them would have a much greater impact.

Uzumaki is a unique idea that lost all its steam early on. We can at least be glad that we got to see it live up to its potential, for a few chapters anyway.

Open

Gift

Jun 3, 2022

QuantumCortex

Not Recommended

I heard so many good things about Uzumaki before finally deciding to read it.
I had high expectations for this book, but I was so disappointed.

All of the characters are unlikable, bland, irrational, or complete weirdoes. This ensures that no tension can ever be built, because I absolutely do not care what happens to any of them. The best example is a character towards the beginning of the story who becomes increasingly obsessed with spirals. His family becomes concerned and we watch him spiral into madness. Props for thematic storytelling. I was initially invested in this plot thread ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Unique Reads

by Gallium8

50 Entries · 7 Restacks

Jewels (2025)

by inazumera

25 Entries · 8 Restacks

Officially Licensed Manga [3 Volume]

by Weebookey

20 Entries · 69 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

Junji Ito's 'Uzumaki' Horror Manga Gets Anime Series

An anime adaptation of Junji Ito's supernatural horror manga Uzumaki (Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror) was announced at his Crunchyroll Expo panel on Friday. Hirosh...read more

Aug 30, 2019 6:05 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (72 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for October

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for October Week 1: October 2 - 8 Anime Releases Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Kaguya Hime no Koibito DVD Bis...read more

Oct 1, 2018 10:27 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (7 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Uzumaki Chapter 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) sifma - Dec 18, 2008	85 replies	by ImNotAnOtaku1 »» Dec 5, 11:20 AM
Poll: Uzumaki Chapter 19 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) sifma - Dec 18, 2008	141 replies	by unfeignerdy »» Sep 28, 2:12 PM
Happy birthday Itou-sensei!! tsubagakure - Jul 31	4 replies	by MeanMrMusician »» Aug 21, 2:43 AM
Poll: Uzumaki Chapter 5 Discussion sifma - Dec 18, 2008	48 replies	by borapsody »» Aug 19, 4:36 PM
Poll: Uzumaki Chapter 9 Discussion sifma - Dec 18, 2008	38 replies	by berserker12094 »» Jul 25, 10:13 AM

Uzumaki
Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

More featured articles
Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

UzumakiUzumaki: Spiral into Horror Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

More featured articlesRecent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Uzumaki
Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

More featured articles
Recent Featured Articles