21st Century Literature discussion

Adam Douglas Thompson cartoon from The New Yorker
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Welcome to the Uzumaki discussion!

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How to Read Manga
For those who haven't read any manga, just a friendly reminder you'll be reading right-to-left from turning pages to the order you read panels and speech bubbles.
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Uzumaki is Japanese for "spiral." More on spirals here and their symbolic meaning here.
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Let us know if you've read any Ito before or any other manga. Are you a fan of reading horror (in either text or graphic novel formats)?

LINKS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST (may contain spoilers)
- grape Japan's Interview with Junji Ito
- A Talk with Junji Ito (video)
- Uzumaki Wikipedia Page
- Bosphorus Review--Why You Should Read Uzumaki
- Weird Fiction Review--Deep Spiral, Dark Universe
- Why Manga Shouldn't Pretend to Be High Art
- Grotesque World--Junji Ito Art Book
- The Horrific Mechanations of Junji Ito's Uzumaki (definitely has spoilers but one of the best critical looks at horror and Ito I've seen thus far)
- Uzumaki Full-length Film (link courtesy of Whitney is post #2 below)
- Uzumaki Wiki

Oh, Boy! Looking forward to this, but won't have much time until this weekend. I've only read a couple of Ito's books, but loved them both (Fragments of Horror and The Dissolving Classroom).

I also saw the film based on Uzumaki, but that was many years ago. I recall it being more camp / humorous than scary. It's on YouTube if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY4UA...

Looking forward to reading the links and the discussion to follow!

Thanks to my children I've read Uzumaki, Gyo, Tomie, and 3-4 Junji Ito short story anthologies. I think Ito has a unique talent.

My kids also loved the manga series One Piece, Dr. Slump, Yotsuba, Hikkari no Go, and many others and I found them pretty interesting frankly.

I've also read MW and Apollo's Song, both by Osamu Tezuka, and they're both very strange. I haven't read his Astro Boy or Buddha series.

I wouldn't have read any of these without my children's interest but I'd say I'm a fan now of Junji Ito.

I picked up the book last week but haven't started reading yet. I've read graphic novels, but no manga, and no horror. It'll be a new adventure for me!

Sounds like we've got a good mix of experience. Like Lark, I have been introduced to a lot of manga series by son, but we actually end up reading different stuff most of the time (he's still trying to get me to read Tokyo Ghoul and Death Note---they're on my TBR list but you know how that goes if your the reading type to add a lot to your TBR list). Probably Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibus 1 (about a rogue samurai, single-fathering his young son while living on the road) and Akira, Vol. 1 were probably my first intro to manga (although that was in the late '80s/early '90s and they were re-oriented left-to-right for Western readers). Was very impressed with Tezuka's MW. Finally took the Ito plunge last year with his interpretation of Frankenstein (quite good, but it was the short stories that followed in that volume that really shone for me).

I don't tend to read a lot of horror, but a bit here and there. Will open up some new threads after posting this.

My son loves Manga and I have never tried to read any. He has quite a bit of the books by Ito including this one. I guess this is now a better time than ever to delve into one of his passions! Looking forward to it!

I am not a huge fan of horror in any medium, but I am a big fan of anime, it is one of the mediums I watch the most and have also read some manga. Akira, Death Note, Tezuka's Dororo are all among my favorites. Manga is still an underrated artistic form but I think there are so many great stories there.

I think this will be an interesting discussion, I am not familiar with Junji Ito but this seems to be a great time to dive into his crazy world.

The Uzumaki anime was set to be released in 2020. Here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDEQyK5ZH-E

Sounds like the pandemic has not impacted the production schedule too much, but I could not find a hard release date.

Thanks Marc for sharing the trailer! I hope they do release this anime this year. Although with only 4 episodes, I hope they can cover the entire manga. The music in the trailer was so good too! it matches the mood that I've been feeling while reading.

Jessica, my daughter, who is a fan of both Ito and of the composer hired to write the score, tells me that the music they used in the trailer is by the same composer but isn't the final score--it's from an album previously released, and is there as a placeholder.

I've been delighted by the number of us who wouldn't have read manga maybe on our own or without our children's encouragement. It's taken me a while to respect graphic novels as a genre.

Jessica, It does looks pretty cool. There's so much anime I haven't seen (I think I'm still on episode 2 of Attack on Titan, which my son turned me on to).

Lark, it's great to be able to share and discuss across generations. I always hear about how manga is respected in Japan, but I wish I had actual insight as to how it fits within that country's respect for art, text-based literature, etc.

Comic books and graphic novels seem like the potential "gateway drug" to reading for youth who are reluctant readers. Probably not an analogy the educational establishment wants to use... :o

Lark, that makes sense about the music. I have a feeling the animation in the trailer is the same way, just a placeholder for now. I mentioned my concerned about this in the other discussion thread. I'm still excited for the anime to come out.

I think it is great so many of us are reading this manga, thanks Marc for suggesting it for this month. I do believe there are so many great stories out there in graphic novels and manga that are worth our time.

Marc, I really enjoy watching anime and a lot of Japanese media and culture in general. I actually have been studying Japanese language for the past few years (it's not an easy task! but a fun hobby) and have learned to appreciate them more. Attack on Titan is one of my favorites! you should keep watching if you are liking it, it gets better and better, and the last season will air later this year, with the conclusion of the manga.

From what I understand from my Japanese friends, manga is still something only kids or teenagers read, but it is a huge industry out there in Japan and even other countries in southeast Asia, so their sales are very important, with also sales of merchandise and other events. And a lot of manga gets turned into dramas or TV shows, movies and so on, and that is how most adults would get to know them more.

A quite belated thank you for the Attack on Titan rec and window into manga, Jessica!

Stumbled upon this info yesterday:
Ito will be doing a live drawing for fans this Thursday, Aug. 13, streaming online:
https://comicbook.com/anime/news/junji-ito-uzumaki-live-drawing-commentary-viz-media/

Marc, you're welcome! The live drawing sounds cool, I will try to check it out. I was really impressed with his art style, it works really well for horror and it holds up really well.

Jessica wrote: "Marc, you're welcome! The live drawing sounds cool, I will try to check it out. I was really impressed with his art style, it works really well for horror and it holds up really well."

I'm quite taken with his art style and agree that it works quite well for horror. I think, in general, I'm not easily disturbed or upset, but Ito puts me on edge, elicits a gag reflex, etc. (in a good way!).