Junji Ito’s Most Powerful Story wasn’t just great, it finally made me believe the horror lord hype

Warning: Potential spoilers for Uzumaki

Junji Ito is one of the biggest, most prominent figures in horror, with classic manga titles like Tommy And UzumakiThe last of which received an anime adaptation that debuted in September 2024. Being an avid horror fan myself, Junji Ito’s name was constantly brought to my attention long before I started reading manga. And as I continued to enter the medium, I made sure to give Uzumaki Give it a try, expect my mind to be blown. Once I finished, I could only think one thought: That it’s just alright.

To be honest, I just don’t get it. The art is some of the best I’ve come across to date, and although the monstrously deformed horrors are effectively unsettling, something just isn’t coming across to me. I’m going to read Tommy And I felt largely the same about him as I did Uzumaki; Great, unsettling art to which I felt a little distant, like I just couldn’t relate to it. After largely walking away from Junji Ito’s work, I decided to revisit Uzumaki When the upcoming anime is announced. And then it clicked.

Maybe it has something to do with becoming more familiar with the medium of manga, or maybe the lowered expectations removed the fog from my eyes; whatever the reason, I understood why Junji Ito was heralded as a titan of the genre. Not only did Uzumaki Convincing me of the artist’s greatness, it moved him in a remarkable way.

Uzumaki is Junji Ito’s quirky magnum opus

Although strange, Uzumaki is an undeniable masterpiece

There was something that distracted me during my first read through UzumakiAnd there was a big reason why I couldn’t really relate to the story. Uzumaki It’s really funny. From the ambiguity of the antagonist of the series, a spiral, to the unusual premises that lead to conflict throughout, I often have a hard time suspending disbelief in order to dive into the narrative.

It wasn’t until my return to the story that I realized that the trademark weirdness only shielded me from what many of these stories were communicating. As all good horror does, Uzumaki Hides the meat of its stories under the surface of its ongoing events. With a touch of masterful writing by Junji Ito, the overarching story is connected by a collection of terrifying substories touching on different themes and subjects.

The spiral finds its way into often mundane, normal events, as if to signal the social fallout that seemingly unimportant daily events can perpetuate. Whether it is in the classroom, the streets of a small country town or the maternity ward of a hospital, the spiral will manifest itself and Doom whoever gets caught in his way. And it wasn’t until I returned to what I believed to be UzumakiIt’s a strange story that I understood the gravity of Junji Ito’s magnum opus.

‘Medusa’ tells a powerful tale of losing oneself to social influences

Although one of Uzumaki’s strangest stories, Medusa is the most powerful

The spiral in itself played a big role in which I could not get a grasp Uzumaki. visually, It’s a fantastic motif that Junji Ito consistently uses to create unnerving illustrations. On the same note, it was just too unusual for me to really be afraid of it in any meaningful way. And when I found the sixth chapter of the story, called “Medusa”, having it appear in the hair of the characters until they have a follicle-fueled showdown almost lost me at its stupidity.

On my next read, the chapter landed differently, and I finally started to make sense of what the story was doing. It’s still an extremely stupid assumption, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others are also put off by how strange “Medusa” is. But somehow, through his absurdity, Junji Ito manages to say what could be Uzumakis most powerful story In his sixth chapter. In the pursuit of attention, Kirie’s classmate, Kyoko Sekino, loses herself to the hair she was obsessed with, until there is nothing left of her.

The image of a withered, disheveled Sekino, her hair feeding the life from her body, haunts me long after I’ve finished the story. It’s easy to get caught up in the tired, endless search for attention, and it’s even easier to lose yourself in it completely. Junji Ito’s portrayal of teenagers who become so fixated on superficial details, to the point that it saps the very life force of the body, is harrowing, Despite the strange premise in which the message lies.

The ambiguity of the spiral only makes it more terrifying

Although I was never truly won over during my initial read-through UzumakiI was still faced with a heavy, unnerving feeling as I approached the end. The spiral itself didn’t scare me, it was just a pattern after all; An antagonist with no feeling, no motive to pin down. Of course, it took far too long for me to realize that this ambiguous nature was exactly why the spiral was so terrifying.

His appearance throughout the story didn’t make me jump out of my seat, or even get confused, like a cheap jump scare in a bad scary movie. rather, The spiral brings with it a dizzying sense of dread. As the story progresses and so many horrifying events occur, it trains the reader to associate it with the horrific event. UzumakiIts horror is found in the fear of what may happen when the spiral appears, just as it is found in what happens throughout the pages of the story.

The anticipated Uzumaki Anime will very likely draw new eyes to this work, and the series deserves all the praise it gets. Admittedly, I’m now a little ashamed that I ever called Junji Ito’s work into question. If his sick body horror or haunting creature designs weren’t enough to convince me, they probably should have been, his writing over Uzumaki Cemented his place among my favorite authors to have ever drawn manga. When it comes to horror, there can be no one better in the middle.