Manga

Hah, I would not want to dissuade anyone from reading it. It had a lot of genuinely creepy things in it. The art was great of course, I loved the overall idea of the story. Lighthouse was great. Liked the time dilation. The finale was good. But I felt things in the compilations were more fleshed out than Uzumaki, even though Uzumaki was a full story. It jumped between the 2 MCs, but I don't feel I ever really got to know anyone enough to get super invested in them beyond just hoping they escaped.

Then you got chapters like The House for example. The town is already beyond screwed up, so they move into a new house. At this point, you know both the house and the other people in it are going to be creepy. My initial hunch one which resident was the creepy one was right, before meeting the second resident, but upon meeting them, that all but confirmed it for me, and then it was finally confirmed. There wasn't any surprise, and it just ended up feeling like filler. What eventually went on with the houses was very good, but the initial house chapter I didn't feel was really necessary to set that up.

I really liked the title story from Shivers with the artifact and what it did to the neighbors and such. I feel Uzumaki felt like a really drawn out version of the same story, but with the town instead of the artifact. Shivers did it 80% as good in 10% of the pages. Again, no hate at all to Uzumaki, and I think had I read Uzumaki first, I would not have the same opinion. Shivers just felt like an abridged version, and I think that had me too prepared for what would happen in Uzumaki.

I came to Ito based on comparisons to it being a Lovecraftian-type universe, and I don't feel that's quite accurate. The vibe is the same of being in a twisted world, but Lovecraft stories feel more tied together, where one specific type of dark force is controlling everything that goes on. Ito feels more like many separate and unrelated forces are doing things or as if they are all taking part in different parts of a multiverse, as we actually see conclusive endings to many of the stories. I feel at this point having read this much, I have a better idea of what to expect moving forward, which will help my appreciation as well.

I generally find anthologies enjoyable, as you get little tastes of thoughts from a creator you like, but it feels like their more eclectic thoughts. They're stories that they can't get out of their heads so they have to write them down, but they're not enough of an idea to make a whole long story out of. That means there's typically an open ending or plot points left unexplained or parts of the story universe underexplained, and then you can work on in your own head after finishing the stories.

I'll get those 2 on my reading list, thanks!