It’s not just the town of Kurouzu-cho; your wallet is also about to spiral into horror as UNIQLO has just dropped the first look at their new Uzumaki collab. The Japanese fashion brand is notorious for enticing anime fans like us into buying new merch, with past collaborations including One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, SPY X FAMILY, and more. Now, UNIQLO is tackling horror with their latest line, and it’s terrifyingly good.
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Uzumaki was written and drawn by horror manga legend Junji Ito. The manga follows Kirie and Shuichi, two school students who notice strange goings-on in their town. Shuichi’s father becomes fascinated with spiral shapes and eventually takes his life to become one with the spirals. The entire town then descends into chaos as men turn into spiral-shelled snails, the only tunnel leading out of town spirals around itself, and the entire structure of the town is remolded into a spiral. Uzumaki is beautiful, bizarre, and terrifying.
UNIQLO’s Uzumaki Merch is Horrifyingly Beautiful
UNIQLO’s new merch brings many of Junji Ito’s classic panels to life. Per the official UNIQLO website, two t-shirts have been revealed. The white crew neck t-shirts feature front and back prints with Ito’s artwork. One t-shirt features the main character, Kirie, drawn in a manga panel, along with the block for the sixth chapter of the book, “Makigami” (which is translated to “Medusa” in the English-language version). The back of the t-shirt features a faded print with Kirie’s spiraled hair growing out of control.
The second t-shirt features a more subtle design on the front. The book’s title is written in a stylized font, in a semi-spiral to embody the story’s theme. However, flipping over to the back of the shirt reveals a beautiful color print. Kirie’s hair spirals down in a square panel, with Shuichi and other characters placed inside the circles.
[RELATED: Was the Downfall of Uzumaki David Zaslav’s Fault? Let’s Discuss]
UNIQLO’s New Line Includes Berserk and Parasyte
Junji Ito’s Uzumaki is just one part of the new UNIQLO anime line. In addition to the most lauded body-horror manga of all time, the collab features the best grim-dark fantasy manga (Berserk) and one of the best sci-fi horror manga (Parasyte).
The Berserk and Parasyte lines were announced over the past few weeks. Like Uzumaki, fans have seen only two t-shirt designs so far. The first Berserk shirt features the iconic image of Guts in his Berserker armor, with the Dragon Slayer sword on his shoulder. The second shirt features Femto in the center, with the members of the God Hand quintet on separate panels behind them.
Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte collab features more muted designs. The first t-shirt shows Migi, Shinichi Izumi’s parasite, coming out of the school student’s hand. On the back, Migi is more relaxed, holding a pencil. The second shirt is the most colorful of the new UNIQLO range and depicts various versions of Migi. The new UNIQLO anime range is currently scheduled to release in mid-February.
H/T: UNIQLO Japan on X
