UNIQLO & horror manga legend Junji Ito spiral into first-ever line of T-shirts

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Images: UNIQLO Japan / UNIQLO UT

 

UNIQLO is spiraling into horror with a new collaboration bound to send a chill down your spine—and sleeve. For the first time, the Japanese everyday fashion brand has partnered with the legendary horror manga artist Junji Ito, translating his eerie creations onto a line of graphic T-shirts. The latest drop turns motifs from the notable Uzumaki comics into wearable art.

 

The tees form Ito’s share of the series, each capturing elements of the unsettling world of Uzumaki.

 

https://www.instagram.com/uniqlo.ut/p/DC5VSqpPfZO/?img_index=1

 

In the first piece, you’ll find the series’ protagonist, Kirie Goshima, along with the chapter title block for the sixth chapter, Makigami (known as Medusa in English). This version evokes the hair-raising horrors that Kirie faces as the curse tightens its grip on the town.

Image: UNIQLO UT

Images: UNIQLO Japan

 

The second version takes a more understated approach on the front, with just the title “Uzumaki” in a stylized font. Flip it around, though, and you’ll find a colorful rendering of Kirie along with other characters and all 19 chapter titles displayed on the back.

Images: UNIQLO Japan

 

Uzumaki is one of Ito’s most celebrated works, originally published between 1998 and 1999. Set in the fictional town of Kurouzu-cho, the story revolves around an eerie obsession with spirals that spreads like a curse through the community. The protagonist, Kirie Goshima, and her boyfriend Shuichi Saito, find themselves helpless as the entire town falls under the spirals’ influence, leading to grotesque transformations and increasingly bizarre psychological torments. Ito’s ability to create an atmosphere that is both haunting and enthralling has earned Uzumaki a lasting place in horror manga history.

 

The manga’s influence continues to swirl outward, with Adult Swim recently adapting the story into a four-episode anime series this September. While the quality of art in the adaptation wasn’t always perfect, the series aimed to maintain the source material's distinctive atmosphere of psychological dread that has made Ito's work so influential in the horror manga genre.

 

The Uzumaki T-shirts are set to hit stores around the world in mid-February, priced at 1,990 yen (about $13) in Japan.

 

 

• https://soranews24.com/2024/11/28/uniqlo-announces-first-ever-collaboration-with-horror-manga-master-junji-ito【photos】/ 
• https://ground.news/article/uniqlo-announces-first-ever-collaboration-with-horror-manga-master-junji-itophotos