October - Issue 2

Uzumaki is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito. It was published in Big Comic Spirits from 1998 to 1999. It was officially translated into English by Viz Media, and it is available on their website to read. The author is known for writing horror mangas and some of his notable works are Tomie and Gyo. The manga depicts bodily horror, which includes grotesque deformation of people into spirals, humans changing into animals, and destruction of the human body. It also portrays vampirism and cannibalism, although not in the traditional sense. The manga has been adapted into a live-action film and an anime is in the works and is slated to release in October 2022.

Uzumaki is set in a fictional city of Kurouzu-cho, a normal city at first glance which is slowly consumed by seemingly disconnected horrible events, except they all involve spirals, hence the name of the manga. The city is bordered by sea and mountains on two sides.

The story is told from the point of view of high-school teenager Kirie Goshima who finds herself constantly tangled in different horrors involving people in her surroundings, with one thing in common: they all involve spirals. This starts with the obsession of her boyfriend’s father with spirals. There are only 19 chapters in the manga, but each chapter is densely packed with story. Different aspects of the spiral curse are explored in each chapter and its effects become progressively worse with chapters. The reasons for these supernatural events are beyond the comprehension of humans in the manga and hence that of the reader. This gives the author leeway to explain the disconnected events just as the effects of curse, but still there are some occurrences which don’t make sense even with this assumption. This might leave a bad taste in your mouth if you are the kind of person who doesn’t like loose plot threads, but with that mystery, it also leaves you with a sense of curiosity to wonder about it. For me it invoked mixed feelings, first feeling let down and later, an acceptance that humans weren’t simply far enough to comprehend it, and other endings might have been a bit out of place.

The characters are nothing out of ordinary. They are people as you would expect from real life; not even the POV character has any special abilities. Only one of the characters is able to sense danger and has ominous feelings about the city — Kirie’s boyfriend — but it is strictly limited to bad vibes. In this story, none of the characters are consequential, they are just vessels to explore the different effects of the curse. This shows in the plot clearly as no other aspects of characters are explored apart from their involvement in the incident of spiral curse. As such, there is negligible connection with the characters. The bad side of this is it makes the events less impactful as you aren’t able to sympathise with the characters, but at the same time it spares you from being sad while you are horrified.

The art is detailed and the panelling is superb. You can breeze through the manga without any hiccups. One could say that the author has a knack for drawing horror. The art is enough to send a chill down your spine and it boosts the impact of unfolding events even further. You should know by the genre of the manga itself, but if you are repulsed by grotesque art, you might want to stay away from this manga as it leverages that to its full extent. Do note, however, that doing this will deprive you the experience of admittedly one of the best manga in this genre.

There is no other way to put it - if you are not averse to the horror genre and haven’t read Uzumaki till now, dive in. It can be read completely in one sitting, and you will have a great time.

Seraph of the End

This anime offers one of the best amalgamations of thrill, action and mystery. In a post-apocalyptic world taken over by vampires, the few humans who escaped colonization desperately fight the vampires with the help of demons to revive human civilization. This anime shows us how a boy battles the vampires on the front lines with his friends with a near impossible goal to find his friend who he separated from while escaping the vampires. The dark and dull artwork with an exceptional animation greatly enhances the appeal of this show. The story is well paced, dedicating adequate time for character development and plot buildup. If you like a military theme with thrill, this show is meant for you.

HighSchool of the Dead

A virus outbreak caused the downfall of humanity, zombifying the majority and leaving the survivors in a world filled with chaos and the horror of the undead. With nowhere to go and nothing to rely on, a group of highschoolers kills their way through a world devoid of hope in search for a safe haven, where the undead aren’t their only enemy along the road. This anime offers a fair deal of fanservice, being labeled as an ecchi, so I’d warn you beforehand to avoid this show if you aren’t a man of culture. The animation and artwork is great, which becomes even better at the most senseless of moments. If you like action, gore and dark themes, this anime will keep you gripped to your seats until the very end.

Code Geass

A genius of strategy embarks on a path of revenge after chancing upon the power of kings, called geass. Becoming a significant leader as the masked Zero in the Japanese revolt against their oppressor, the Empire of Britannia, Lelouch employs his genius battle tactics to force his enemies to suffer one loss after another, all the while fighting with his own inner demons. The artstyle is not the best but the anime more than makes up for it with its animation quality. The storyline is very interesting with a lot of military action and thrill to offer. Even if you are not good with mecha anime, this anime is still worth giving a try. To those who enjoy strategy and mind games, this is a must watch.

Gleipnir

Finding himself with the ability to transform into a monster, Shuuichi is terrified of his own existence, confused how he came to wield such abilities. His chance encounter with a girl pushes his life into a death game against other people wielding strange supernatural abilities, all the while trying to find the answer to his condition. The truth being more complicated and severe, an adventure beyond anything he could’ve imagined beings where his only options are to accomplish the reason why he came to wield such powers, or die struggling. Good animation with equally good artwork; the story being as gripping as the strangeness of its name, this anime is good for those seeking something thrilling to watch.

Girlfriend, Girlfriend

Two words are enough to describe this anime: absolute cringe. With a stupid, dense yet dedicated protagonist, we get to see his ventures as he openly two-times with his girlfriend while the three hides their peculiar relationship from their peers and try their hardest to progress in their romactic endeavours. The protagonist is so gallantly stupid that you'll feel like digging a hole to hide yourself in it on watching this anime even if you are alone. It's so purely cringy that it's hilarious.

Death Note

Stumbling upon the death note, for a means of time pass of a death god, Light embarks on a mission to cleanse the world of all the criminals by directly sentencing them to death, taking the laws in his hand. We follow this anti-hero through his quest to make the world a better place, where he uses the death note without restraint all the while trying his best to avoid being caught as the mastermind behind all the mysterious deaths caused by the death note. With dark artwork and music that splendidly compliment the theme of this anime, adding to its thrill and mystery, this anime delivers to you one of the best battles of wits as well as unending suspense until the very last minute of this anime.

One Outs

Toua Tokuichi, a pitcher, accepts to join a national team upon losing a bet of ‘one outs’ to the star slugger of that team with the latter’s hope that Toua could lead them to the championship title. With his actual pitching skills being subpar to the standard of competition, he uses his ruthless genius to thoroughly decimate his opponents. Deeming him to be a threat to his income, the owner of the team decides to drop him, when the latter proposes a bet that for each out, he gets 5 million yen, while for each run he expends, he pays 50 million yen. With such high stakes on the line, will Toua still be able to continue his streak as the ace of his team while everyone around him tries everything to make him lose? Even though the animation and artwork is subpar, this anime is sure to give you a lot of kicks in each episode, keeping you thoroughly entertained.

Mirai Nikki

Forced into a battle royale with 11 other people, with a future diary being the only thing to rely on, Yukiteru Amano must find and kill the other 11 participants to survive, with the reward being the designation of the new god of time and space. With unexpected twists and turns, where the knowledge of the future is everyone’s greatest weapon as well as their greatest weakness, this anime delivers you a blend of suspense, thrill and action. The characters, their methods and actions and the circumstances will send chills crawling up your spine. It’s kill or be killed. With dark themed artwork and music, this show offers some great suspense and thrill, keeping you engrossed throughout the show.

Brief Summary

Tokyo Ghoul is a dark fantasy anime adaptation of the manga made by Ishida Sui, and the TV anime was produced by Studio Pierrot. There are also some horror elements. The main character of the story is Kaneki Ken, an ordinary college student, and his life changes when he meets a girl at the café. Little did he know that she is actually a Ghoul, a carnivorous species only able to feed on humans and even other ghouls too, and during the night, he is attacked and almost got killed and eaten by her. He was saved by an emergency operation, when a ghoul’s organs were transplanted into his body. Basically, he became a half-human half-human, or, as many people called him, the One-Eyed Ghoul. His struggle and the tragedies start as he enters the ghoul world.

Characters

Here is where Tokyo Ghoul suffers from the most and ultimately hinders enjoyment of the show. The show has a lot of side characters. A new character is introduced maybe every 1 to 2 episodes and none of these characters get enough screen time and character development. The fault of this is partly due to its 1-cour situation, but it’s also because of the mini-plot format of the show. A new character is introduced who interacts with Kaneki in some way before being pushed to the side-lines a couple of episodes later and a new character takes the stage. There is barely any exposition for the side characters and the way they were simply dumped. The main characters themselves are regrettably 2-dimensional. Kaneki’s initial panic with his newfound situation was acceptable at first but he never grew out of his timidness despite the abundant characters and small setting he was confined to. Unfortunately, the lack of development for the side characters also meant Kaneki’s character development also suffered as a result. Kaneki himself always seems to be in helpless situations which he can’t get out of. This is definitely one of the major setbacks of the show.

Art & Animation

The animation is slick and smooth. The (very few) fights and battles are nice to watch. The weapons, quninque and kagune, were an interesting concept for the show and there were enough different types to show off. The show tended to lean towards more vivid colours in its art style and wasn’t afraid to use its full range of colours which I thought was a good decision for the show to make. The characters themselves are distinct from one another in their art design and colour and I particularly liked how a character’s colour was associated with their personality. It’s a welcome change from other anime where characters look way too similar to one another. The OP and ED sequences were great to watch and is one of the few shows where I don’t skip its sequences. I especially like the theme of contrast and reflection used in the OP.

Music

Tokyo Ghoul’s sound direction is perfect. Overall effects in fight scenes were synced well and so was background noise. Each character had their own defined voice and the voice acting complimented well with the art and colour style. That is to say, their voices were a little more on the melodramatic side. But it was used to good effect in presenting their own personalities and character. The OP and ED are both fantastic and fit well into the tone of the show, or rather the tone the show was trying to show.

Enjoyment

I’ll admit to enjoying it enough. It wasn’t anything special in the end but it’s a decent show to watch if you’re looking for something to pass the time. If you were expecting any level of depth then you definitely won’t find it here. The show had a lot of potential in presenting the different aspects and perspectives between ghouls and humans and failed to capitalize. Unfortunately, in the end the show is average at best. It wasn’t the fault of the staff entirely as it could have benefited from more episodes, but the adaptation of the source material was mismanaged. For all its visual style it could not save the show from its muddled storytelling.

Ratings

Erased is a 12-episode anime which features 29-year old manga artist Satoru Fujinuma as the protagonist with a mysterious time travel power. This power/phenomenon is invoked whenever there is some sort of death that he can prevent. To do so, Satoru is sent a few minutes back where he figures out what he needs to do and prevents the unfortunate incident. However, when someone close to him gets murdered and he is falsely accused to be the murderer, the phenomenon is invoked and he is sent back 18 years in time. He figures that the murder must be related to the abduction and murder of one of his classmates during that time. Watch as he tries to uncover the truth behind these heinous crimes.

Erased is a suspense-thriller whose plot is intriguing and which will keep you at the edge of your seat at all times. This anime was released in 2016 and quickly rose up in popularity and is even called one of the best anime of the decade. There is not much character development as much as there is character building, since the main characters are elementary schoolers. While the anime focuses on mainly the thriller part, a lot of warm and heart touching moments also show up. There are people who have heavily criticized it for a certain part(which I won't be telling here), but this anime is definitely worth a try. Since, the entire story completes in 12 episodes, saying anything more just might spoil the enjoyment, so I recommend you watch it yourself.