If you're a regular reader of Tanemura's work, be it Full Moon or Gentleman's Alliance, you don't want to miss this opportunity to read her first published work. If you're still not sure about shojo manga, or whether it might be for you, this is a real gem of a book to find out whether you'll like it or not with a minimal investment. Whatever your story, I*O*N is well worth checking out, but fair warning you might actually find yourself enjoying shojo manga before you're done.

At the end of the day, it's nice to have two books out there that serve your interests if you're a Street Fighter fan. Whichever one you choose, there's a lot to enjoy in either book. I found that of the two, though, if hard-pressed to choose one or the other, I'd have to spend my money on this particular book. I enjoyed the artwork more, the storyline wasn't quite as convoluted as that of SVC Chaos, and the buck less in price didn't hurt, either. Ultimately, the decision as to which series you choose to follow (if indeed you choose to follow either) is entirely up to you.

Ito's artwork instantly invites comparison to manga horror master Kazuo Umezu, and with little surprise. One of his first stories won a magazine's Kazuo Umezu award (Umezu himself was one of the judges). As I'm devouring not only Uzumaki but also Ito's Museum of Horror series (featuring his equally popular Tomie stories), I find it fun to compare it to the Umezu books I currently own (the Scary Book series as well as the ongoing publication of his classic The Drifting Classroom. ) They have very similar styles, and it's easy to see Umezu's influence on Ito's work. I would put it to any fan of this series to check out some of Umezu's work, if you haven't already. And be prepared to lose a lot of sleep…a lot of sleep.

Ellis is spot-on in his assessment. Horror movies, as a rule, never bothered me. I enjoy them, but the idea of a maniac killer with a machete, while scary, doesn't really terrify me. It's the disturbing books and movies that always scared me more than anything. The idea of a society like Orwell's 1984, the pagan cults of The Wicker Man (forget the Nicholas Cage remake, see the original), and now the spiral curse that haunts the village of Kurozu-cho in Uzumaki…these are the types of things that give me nightmares. I'm not going to say a thing about how this book ends, because you owe it to yourself to start from the beginning and pick this one up, particularly if you're new to Japanese horror and think Ringu was the best it ever had to offer.