‘Uzumaki’, A Whirlwind of Darkness

Told in uncanny pen strokes, Japanese horror icon Junji Ito’s Uzumaki manifests a baffling curse that haunts a small town. The three-volume manga series from the 90s follows high-schooler Kirie through supernatural events taking place in Kurouzu-cho, as citizens become obsessed, paranoid, and contorted by the inexplicable power of the ‘spiral’. Junji Ito’s own illustrations and narrations magnify the unsettling nature of an evil whose logic cannot be comprehended.

As the cult series remains applauded as his magnum opus and an undeniable classic of all Japanese horror, an anime adaptation of Uzumaki—produced by Adult Swim and directed by Hiroshi Nagahama—is currently in the works. 

Spiralling with fear

Junji Ito’s Uzumaki appeared as a serial in seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1998 to 1999. It was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2003, and placed in the Young Adult Library Services Association’s list of the ‘Top 10 Graphic Novels for Teens’ in 2009. Inspired by a Lovecraftian imagination, the cosmic terrors he expresses are visionary—in Uzumaki, it is the mere symbol of a spiral that makes an abstract, demented effect. Though not ‘aesthetically pleasing’ in a traditional sense, his pictures have an eerie beauty whose details disorientate us in the natural world. Inspired by the everyday, Junji Ito’s unique brand of horror has narrative twists that stun readers at the turn of a page.

While Uzumaki saw a live-action adaptation in 2000 by Akihiro Higuchi, also known as Higuchinsky, the announcement of an animated series by Adult Swim has caused much anticipation. As it did to the entire anime industry in Japan, the pandemic’s extensive effect caused its production to be prologued indefinitely, but glimpses of a teaser video reveal the series will be faithful to Junji Ito’s own twisted, black-and-white art style.

Uzumaki (1998-1999), a manga by Junji Ito published by Viz Media.