I first heard of this manga trilogy from the TV Tropes entry here; it intrigued me enough to buy the trilogy at the local bookstore AND to put the live-action film version, Spiral on my Netflix queue. [The film was definitely creepy, and up to a point was faithful to the manga, but it had to omit quite a bit of eeriness-buildup, and in the end I didn't find it as disturbing as the manga.]

By this point in the story, the weird spiral-themed goings-on in the village are more and more widely known; there are more deaths (often horribly spiral-themed), and at each new funeral, the cremation smoke forms new spirals.

Among the spiral-themed items in the story: snails. Early on in Volume One, a character was fascinated with them; in this volume, more people show a more in-depth fascination with snails, leading to some very disturbing sequences...

Then there's the lighthouse, which seems to be doing more than simply lighting the way for ships at sea. And a plague, spread by mosquitos (or is it?) - Shuichi tries to warn Kirie away from a possibly-infected relative, but Kirie doesn't believe him, something that seems odd because it's so obvious that things are terribly wrong. But part of the curse seems to be that the people can't quite summon the will to do much of anything about the various horrible happenings. [Poor Shuichi is looking more and more wild-eyed and haggard as time passes; he seems to be more aware of what's going on and somewhat more able to fight it, but it's wearing on him.]

By the end of this volume, a typhoon has struck - as if the village didn't have enough problems...

This is the second volume. The trilogy:

Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror, Vol. 1
Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Vol. 2
Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Vol. 3

I'm offering this three-book series for a bookray; see the journal entries for Volume One for details and mailing order.

The Uzumaki trilogy is on its way to BCer hyphen8 in Hawaii, to kick off the ray; hope you all enjoy it! [See Volume One for mailing order.]

Looks like suitably creepy October reading - I like the tone on tone covers.

Hey, is that a lump on your back? Eww.

This book is headed to California with its pals, along with the just-right custom mailing box.

Oh, I forgot to update these books when they arrived! I'm so sorry!

The plague of spirals has continued to spread across the small Japanese town of Kurozu-cho. Two teenagers, Kirie and Shuichi, are the only people who seem aware of the insidious nature of the spiral. Shuichi reacts by going into seclusion, while Kirie does her best to continue her normal routines. At school, the spiral effect is in full force. One of her classmates, an immature boy with a crush on Kirie, finds a truly gruesome way to display his love. Another boy, slow-witted Katayama, only comes to class when it rains. On his back, a spiral-shaped protuberance seems to be growing into a snail's shell. The town's lighthouse shoots a mysterious beam of light over the ocean, but there hasn't been a keeper working there in years. With mysterious bloodsuckers haunting the hospitals and a typhoon calling Kirie's name, everything's spiraling out of control!

By the end of the second volume of Uzumaki, something was definitely bothering me. Why doesn't Kirie leave??? At this point, she's very well aware that something is wrong with Kurozu-cho, but whenever something horrific happens she shrugs it off as indifferently as the rest of the town. Even Shuichi, who has known from the first chapter about the spirals, has stopped trying to talk Kirie into leaving. I assume that this is somehow an effect of the spiral phenomena; otherwise, every resident of the town would have run from the place screaming ages ago! As it is, she suffers from Dumb Horror Movie Heroine syndrome.

Of course, even if no one is smart enough to leave, the viewer cn still see how the recent events have changed the lives of the inhabitants of Kurozu-cho. For example, burials come back into fashion after the smoke from creations formed a spiral pattern in the sky. It's nice that the author included these little snippets of daily life; it really helps round out the story.

This is an addictive series if you're a fan of horror. The visual effects are very creative and Junji Ito manages to cram a lot of action into his short stories. It is very graphic, though – a storyline revolving around pregnancy is particularly violent and bloody.

sent on to AKSARAH!

Received!