Junji Ito's UZUMAKI: Episode 4 Reaction & Manga Review!
Added 2024-10-26 13:00:05 +0000 UTC*SPIRALING TO THE FINALE HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
We reach the chaotic conclusion and spiral into the center of the madness in this town and things do NOT go as planned for our characters! In true horror story fashion, there are shocks, heartbreak, and a larger than life antagonist that humanity may not be able to handle!
Plus, I decide to dive into the manga after the episode to talk about the differences between the manga and the anime, so strap in! I hope you enjoy the discussion!
LINK TO PIP REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/FbhsiYqNWSh25kiApeKgCs?
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
Ahhh, thank you so much! I’m glad I was able to get the manga review in with this one! And dipping my toes into the horror anime/manga genre was a lot of fun! I’m sure that there will be other series to look at (especially for Halloween) in the future! HA, and I understand not ranting about the fandoms; I got that out of my system last week, but I completely am with you! I think that this manga and anime do a great job of focusing on Real World areas of horror and how people can spiral into chaos when structure and control are no longer an option or guaranteed. I appreciated Ito going into all of those themes as well, and how they form a LITERAL spiral and cycle. I also appreciate the anime for staying as close to the manga as they could, both in content and style! I also love in horror a little ambiguity and I think for this work, it’s very effective! Leaving us literally…spiraling…to figure it all out! And YES! Hhahahaha, I might skip the cinnamon rolls too for a while! ;) Thank you so much for the comment and kind words!
Romaniablack
2024-10-31 16:19:54 +0000 UTCThis was a ride, that’s for sure! And yes, Episode 3 was the scream-worthy one, but this one definitely made everything settle into your bones and was really sad and skin-crawling! And ahhh, YES! Once you see the spirals in this series, you start to notice them EVERYWHERE! The madness continues! I was pleasantly surprised with the ending - the horrific romanticism of Kirie and Shuichi ending up together, but at least they can somewhat rest in peace, perhaps, even if they’re part of the curse for the “next generation.” But yes, watching Shuichi reach his fever pitch was really sad, since he was the one warning everyone from the start. The saddest to me was the little brother - he was turned into a snail and has to wonder around all alone, without his sister and parents. 🙁That part probably gutted me the most! But yes, the theme of structure and control and when those aren’t present things LITERALLY spiral into chaos. And it shows the darkest parts of people that do what they think is necessary to survive, even at the cost of others. I’m not sure if they scrambled things to get certain “iconic” parts out of the way first, especially since Azami’s part comes a bit later in the manga? That’s my only reasoning, especially if there were budget issues with the production later on. Ooohhh, I can SO see the Death Note connection! But yes, the discomfort and reality that history repeats itself is…horrifically REAL. And yes, the fact that the tech doesn’t change…VERY creepy, indeed! Thank you so much for the kind words and following along with me! I really enjoyed this little spooky addition for October and am glad I dipped my toes into the horror manga/anime waters!
Romaniablack
2024-10-31 16:13:43 +0000 UTCDon’t feel bad - this month has been MADNESS in terms of being busy! I love that Ito has done SO many horror stories! And yes, the spirals - once you start to notice them, they are EVERYWHERE. Like the “faces” in trees; my friend in college pointed it out and I started seeing little faces in so many designs and patterns. >.< I have heard the Uzumaki movie is…not great. But I love that there are so many horror references that “bounce” off of one another - thank you for the links as well! And YES, Prions, thank you! I thought of the relation to Mad Cow, as well. That is insane and so sad about your husband’s professor! You know, it’s funny, because that has seemingly been a theme with a lot of horror writers; they’re so sweet and positive - I guess they just channel all that sinister/bad miasma into their writing! Thank you for the link! I’m going to save it to my “watch list” right now! I love that you have this “lost media” collection, but that publishers are also starting to recognize and rerelease such works; I felt that way about Unico! I appreciate all the recommendations as well! It’s good to know there are some good gems out there! Thank you for all of that and the kind words and comment!
Romaniablack
2024-10-31 16:08:19 +0000 UTCLoved the reaction & discussion, as well as the manga review! Thank you for giving this series a chance, especially since the horror genre is not something you seem to seek out, and for sticking with it. 🥰 I hope you give other horror series, or new series, a chance when you are interested. These made for some excellent and extra high-energy reactions! 😂 If I started ranting about fandoms catastrophising, and the insipid hyperbole in discourse around any content, we would be here all day – so I won’t! So many more themes becoming clearer in this episode – maybe a focus on natural disasters and their impacts on communities, as well as, how people try (or don’t) to deal with this. Like the ceramicist just wanting to ‘get back to his pottery’ while devastation is all around him. People’s threshold for when they will turn on another person getting lower and lower (that escargot wasn’t right!). People being lured into safety for profit (disaster profiteering + anything to do with human crushes is really disturbing to watch). Also, some more environmentalist themes – for-profit (and knowing) development on unsuitable land. Perpetuating the cycle of disaster and opportunism. Overall, I really enjoyed the series, the discussions and reading through comments for this one. Visually it is unique – which I always find delightful. I think Ito fully subscribes to the idea that when an author leaves certain blanks – however the audience fills them in - will likely be more visceral and disturbing than anything which could be laid out in front of them. For this one, I think the journey was fascinating and the conclusion abrupt, though much like movement towards the centre of a spiral, I guess. Amazing that this whole thing seems to have been born out of him contemplating a shape! You know, next time I’m at the bakery, I might forego the delicious cinnamon roll. 😂 Looking forward to whatever comes next! 💙
Sunspots
2024-10-29 12:39:18 +0000 UTCWell, this was quite the ending. One thing I really liked about this episode is that while this didn't have me screaming, as the previous episode did, it did *really well* into setting a very unsettling and disturbing, crawling feeling under my skin through the whole thing. To the point that after I finished it, I went to watch another show, and there was a folded hose, and I kid you not, I got jump scared because it was a spiral and I had to remind myself that spirals are not inherently evil *lol* I think it'll be a little while before I see spirals the same. I don't know what I was expecting for the finale, but I don't think it was this, in a good way! Kirie and Shuichi ending up intertwined for all eternity *is* horrifically romantic but also so devastating for them. Especially considering that the spiral will happen again and now, the two of them who resisted the spiral as much as they could, are going to be a part of the curse and infect everyone with the spiral madness. I hadn't thought about the spiraling effect of disasters, but I like that. People do descend into anarchy, at one level or another, when all structure is taken away, and we saw most of those forms through the episode, with people becoming selfish and cruel in their quest to survive and others taking advantage of the chaos to commit crime. Seeing Shuichi that gone was hard, though. I've not read a lot of the manga yet, but the couple of chapters I have read have made me wonder why the anime decided to scramble the order of events as they did. I mean, I can sort of understand putting the most unsettling things in the first episode to capture everyone's attention, but why continue after? As you mentioned, the anime adapted the manga pretty faithfully, after all. Regardless, I liked the addition of the cycle starting again. In a way, it reminded me of the ending of Death Note, which was a fun little detail; and in the other hand, it added to the discomforting feeling, I think, because we don't get a respite from it all. We are told centuries must have happened since the events of the show took place, so that the world at large could forget about it, and yet the technology we see is the same, and we are seeing everything a new. It was very creepy. Considering how little horror I consume, this was a super fun show for October, and it was a ton of fun to talk about it with you every week.
Alexandra Q
2024-10-28 01:27:05 +0000 UTCI didn’t get around to re reading the manga this week! 😅 yeah, this followed the manga for the most part. For some reason, I couldn’t remember the ending. The Lost Chaper reminds me of another Ito story called Remina. I kinda think it’s funny that the new galaxy is in a spiral, there happen to be many spiral galaxies. Heck, we inhabit on currently! There are a few things in this series that remind me of other things. The light house/ tunnel remind me of the scifi series “ the Southern Reach” by Jeff VanderMeer. There are a movie based on one of the books “ Annihilation “ in it, there is a “lighthouse “ that is also a tunnel. https://youtu.be/22n8EvqMai4?si=U6AqH9mYG19zA_rI I love the movie even though it is very different than the books. There is also a movie version of Uzemaki that you can watch on YouTube. I must warn you, it is, kinda like every other live action based on manga and anime. It doesn’t go well! One other live action movie based on a Junji Ito movie that I actually own is Tomie. That one is a bit better. Prions! These are proteins in tissues that when consumed will cause diseases. I immediately think of mad cow disease, which can be transmitted to humans. My husband had a professor that actually died of this disease. I believe he visited England during an outbreak and that is how he contracted it. Basically ate an infected piece of beef. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001379.htm#:~:text=Causes&text=Kuru%20is%20a%20very%20rare,part%20of%20a%20funeral%20ritual. I have to say, for a horror mangaka, Junji Ito is such a sweetheart and an overall positive person. I saw an interview with him and Urasawa meeting up at a cat cafe. It was just such a cozy video! https://youtu.be/_0ZtMuCDlck?si=8YLaYNsJDqAOdD0Z it’s a long video but worth a watch! For another throwback horror mangaka, Hideshi Hino is the author of such classics as Bug Boy, Black Cat, and Hell baby. This author is kinda hard to find, but I have a very small collection built up. I believe they are reprinting them slowly. The artwork is very different and a bit stylized, and gruesome. The other manga I want to mention here is Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show by Suehiro Maruo. Now, I got this manga years ago. Is it brutal? Yes! It is a horror manga. For some reason, I never was repulsed by it because it was horror. My copy was published in 1992. I probably bought it a year or two after it was published. This title went on to become notorious for becoming an anime that has been banned in Japan. The anime is called Midori. I have many other wonderful horror stories from many mangaka. Loved your reaction as always!
Moominkomet
2024-10-26 14:48:02 +0000 UTC
