Back to BrainHomomcius's Profile BrainHomomcius's Profile

the first volume in the boogiepop series is probably one of that best books ive read in awhile. all the characters are well fleshed out, you could realistically put them into tropes but it would be a great disservice to them. the tone of that book of overall is dark, most of the story takes place at a secluded school in the mountains and that adds to it. along with the musical references to 80s bands like oingo boingo, prince and the npg. it gives off this tone that's very, boogiepop". In the authors note kouhei kodono speaks about what boogiepop means, combining niche topics, ... like the psychology of serial killers, beings from different dimensions and somewhat obscure music to be the "boogie" and the first person perspective, the inviting writing style thats easy to read, and teenage "forbidden" romances that attribute to the "pop" elements. i think thats the perfect way to describe boogiepop as a book.

I initially read uzumaki when I was in middle school, at the time I had never seen anything like it. The more I read various manga similar to it I started changing my opinion of it. Overall I think Uzumaki is a good example of Junji ito making a multi-volume story instead of short stories. I'd recommend it to someone who wanted to read his work for the first time. I think besides the art, the big stand out to me of Uzmaki is the tone. Uzmaki is a horror story but it has comedic elements to it. the full page illustrations, as technically and ... stylistically beautiful as they are, they have a bizarre almost funny look to them. a good thing to point out is if you don't like body horror, Uzumaki isn't the manga for you. it's filled with visceral imagery, I wouldn't say its "scary" but it borders more on repulsive and disgusting. kinda like looking at an infection. the thing I think worked best in Uzumaki is the theme of the spiral making itself present in all of the manga. the story is a downward spiral for the characters and the town they live in, based on the quality of full page drawings I'd give it a 10 but I decided to give it an 8 because junji's artwork on character expressions aren't the best in my opinion, you'll see a lot of the characters when they feel nervous or on edge he'll draw them from the side with furrowed brows and a single sweat drop. It just feels like it removes anything character specific to their reactions.