The spiral into madness: Junji Ito’s art style in Uzumaki explained

Junji Ito is widely recognized as one of the most talented manga artists in the horror genre. His most popular work, Uzumaki, is a story about a town cursed by spirals. The horror part of this story is not its premise but the artwork. The haunting nature of Uzumaki is owed not merely to its story, but to the deliberate visual architecture Ito uses to turn the ordinary into something monstrous.

To understand his work, it is important to break it down into several parts. On paper, a spiral seems innocuous, even beautiful. But Ito doesn’t just make it a symbol; he transforms it into an entity. His genius lies in introducing the spiral subtly, gradually turning it into something terrifying. Ito’s genius lies in how he transforms this shape into an omnipresent antagonist.

The spiral manifests in increasingly grotesque ways: people twisting into spirals until their bones snap, eyes rolling back endlessly, and bodies coiling into impossible positions. The narrative becomes more disturbing the deeper you go, like descending into a vortex that tightens with each chapter.

Moreover, he has proved that horror does not always mean supernatural entities or gore. It's about the perversion of the natural human form. His hyper-detailed linework captures pores, folds, scars, veins, and every uncomfortable aspect of flesh in high fidelity. He invites the reader to get uncomfortably close.

Another aspect he considers while drawing is, Junji Ito often avoids traditional black fills and instead relies on tightly packed lines. Rather, he would use cross-hatching to create shadows and mood. This technique works better because the artwork creates a kind of tension, as though it’s alive and squirming.

One of the most distinct characteristics of Junji Ito is how he draws eyes. The stare of a character in Ito’s work can do more damage than a jump scare ever could. Also, it is not just the eyes; the character overall feels distant and unreliable.

This emotional distance makes readers uncomfortable, drawing them deeper into the horror. Therefore, we end up being further reeled into this world. This nuanced attention to horror is what gives Uzumaki its deeply disturbing tone.

Reading Junji Ito’s Uzumaki is like going down the rabbit hole of horror

As someone who’s read Uzumaki multiple times, I can say it’s one of the few horror experiences that makes my skin crawl. His work makes me feel scared because it makes me uncomfortable after reading.

But the best part is that Junji Ito takes his time to introduce the element of horror, and it is continuous. It is like a slow-acting poison. His quiet panels lull you into a rhythm, and then suddenly we are hit with a grotesque splash page of a contorted body or spiral-warped eye.

Where other horror manga or Western horror comics might lean on gore or shock value, Junji Ito is patient. He lets the spiral grow, literally and metaphorically, until it consumes everything. And his artwork becomes more disturbing, more suffocating, with each chapter. It’s almost like you’re descending into madness with the characters, one panel at a time.

And the fact that Ito does most of his art traditionally, using pen and ink, astounds me. Ultimately, reading Uzumaki feels like a curse. Not because it scares you in a conventional sense, but because it stays with you.

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In conclusion, Junji Ito’s Uzumaki is a visual masterclass in psychological horror. For fans like me who enjoy his work, this is not just a horror manga, it is a visual hallucination that compels its reader to go deeper into the story as if it wants you to keep reading it. And if you’ve ever read it, I’m willing to bet you’ve never looked at a spiral the same way again.

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