Uzumaki.... a manga that's between the ooooooo and the eeeeeeewwwwwww!

I managed to read Uzumaki today. For the uninitiated, it's a Japanese horror manga by Junji Ito and tells the story of a town obsessed with spirals. Let me be honest with you..... it was good. It was so disgusting that it was good. There are times when the macabre becomes a tad bit hilarious.... like when you have people able to produce whirlwinds by just flapping their hands and so, have rival gangs that unleash twisters on each other. But all in all, it was a pretty good attempt.

The thing is... I'm not scared. I suspect if fear was what the author intended the reader to feel. I feel this strange eerie sense of creepiness crawling inside me. It's not fear but rather the sensation you have when you see a really long slimy wet fat gray worm crawling in the muddy ground right after a rain. Now, I seriously have nothing against worms, they can't help it if they look the way they do. But still.... you know what I mean.
I can recall this feeling especially when that slow school boy becomes a snail and starts crawling up the school wall. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww....... I mean, what else would you feel if you saw a six foot long snail coming at you? I just pulled up my toes here!

So, has the manga gotten me scared of spirals? Hmmm.... I've been looking up the polar equations of different spirals after reading it. So, I guess not. :) Ah well, atleast now I'll clear one part of any math exam involving questions about spirals! :P

BLEACH!!!!!

Yes! Yes!! YES!!!!! I've finally read Bleach! And I should say.... WOW! THAT'S JUST AWESOME!

Ahem... I am raving about the world famous Japanese Manga series 'Bleach' by Kubo Taito. And if anyone's wondering what it's about, it's about a teenage boy who stumbles upon a secret world and suddenly... he finds himself responsible for some really serious turn of events. The summary sounds a little cliched doesn't it? Well... so did I. But boy! Was I wrong!

I thought Bleach wouldn't be that different from DragonBallz... I have nothing against DragonBallz. But I somehow feel that it has too many 'guyish' things. Bleach has its fair share of fights (and awesome ones at that), but Taito-san has given just as much importance on building complex psyches for his characters. And its interesting to note that here, not everything that 'looks' evil is actually so. And not everything that looks 'nice and harmless' is what it seems.

And furthermore! There isn't much what you'd call 'mush' in it! It focuses more on Friendship and I've been dying for a series that's like Bleach! It's not completely 'Shonen' (guy stuff) or 'shoujo' (girly stuff)! Strikes a really nice balance between the two!
いゝです,帯人-さん!

Right now, I'm going through the anime episodes of the series. And Hmm... not bad at all! No wonder Bleach is the second most famous anime (Darn that Naruto!).

You can get free online episodes of Bleach HERE.
And the Manga can be read (scanslation) HERE.

I hope you guys enjoy Bleach! I sure did!