Uzumaki - fin.
I've been familiar with Uzumaki's rep for years, but never really got around to it for one reason or another. Better late than never, or something. Anyway, the absolute best thing about Uzumaki is its capricious nature, and how hilariously extreme it gets. Seemingly everyone and everything in this little town can go from quiet to absurdly cruel and utterly insane, with this turn sometimes happening all on one page. Ito just loves to flip this switch and wild out, like a guy eating off a plate made from the mud of a lake his parents ashes winded up in, or another guy running out in the street only to be promptly wrapped around a car's front tire. This is some crazy stuff, and Ito's "uh, the body ain't supposed to twist like that" gross-out art is fantastic and nicely detailed. My favorite chapter is, of course, Mosquitoes. It dealing with pregnant women, I was preparing for the worst, but instead there's a swerve and the story ends up even nastier. The bloodied ghoul faces, the drilled out bodies, the 'squee / schlrp / glug' sound notes. This was so fucked up and I loved it.
The final stretch drops the episodic chapters for the story to all come together, but it doesn't quite work as well, at least initially. There's a human vs. human element that isn't terribly interesting, nor is it creepy. It is also little hard to care about some of these tragedies happening all around the main character, Kirie, because she has, like, zero personality. She is supposed to care but you barely even see it. At only 20 chapters, I'd rather get some good body-horror stories going than fleshing Kirie out though, so I guess this is a w/e complaint. And the final third of the manga eventually picks back up too: the snail eating bit with the hungry friend was easily the most disgusting part of the story, and the ending was a good, bittersweet conclusion with some wonderful, trippy art.
I gave this an 8 out of 10 on my MAL. I read VIZ's 3-in-1 hardcover version and was pretty content with it. Can't comment on how accurate the translation was, but the dialogue never felt stilted or dry or anything. Will definitely check out more of Ito's stuff down the road, but Solanin's up next on my list.
