Uzumaki Anime Review: What Went Wrong with Junji Ito's Spiral Horror?

Uzumaki

“What Went Wrong with Junji Ito's Spiral Horror?”

Sometimes, it seems as though our friends and family are uttering nonsense without any apparent reason. But as time passes and we realize the reasoning behind their behavior, things become clearer, and we draw different conclusions. Perhaps they had actually made sense or they simply failed to understand things from our point of view. Either way, it’s never easy to fully get into another person’s shoes because we are all different people to begin with.

“Uzumaki,” also known as “Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror” or “The Spiral,” is a 4-episode TV anime series that aired from the 28th of September till the 19th of October in Fall 2024. It was produced by Production I.G. and brought to life by Studios Akatsuki and Fugaku. The main staff behind it include Terashima-Furuta Maki as Producer, Nagahama Hiroshi as Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, In-Between Animation, and Key Animation; Moriyama Yuuji also as Director; and Nagura Yasushi as Sound Director. It features the genres of avant-garde, drama, horror, and suspense, alongside the theme of psychology, being targeted at the Seinen demographic. Each episode runs for 28 minutes and earned a rating of R—17+ for its violence and profanity.

The anime is based on the manga series of the same name, which ran for a total of 3 volumes from the 12th of January 1998 till the 30th of August 1999. It is the work of legendary author and artist Itou Junji and got serialized in Big Comic Spirits. The American Library Association (ALA) chose this manga series as one of the Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens back in 2009. It was published in English via VIZ Media under the VIZ Signature imprint from the 16th of October 2007 till the 19th of February 2008, and in a hardcover 3-in-1 omnibus version on the 15th of October 2013. It was also published in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica, in Czech by Zoner Press, in Spanish by Planeta Cómic, and in Brazilian Portuguese by Conrad Editora as well.

The story takes place in a peculiar town named Kurouzu-cho, which is where protagonist Kirie Goshima leads a pretty normal life alongside her family. On another usual day in her life, she is walking to the train station to meet up with her boyfriend, Shuuichi Saito, but things slowly start to become strange when she sees his father eerily staring at a snail shell in an alley. She does not think much of it at the time but does mention it to her lover, who states that his own father had been acting weird lately too. This is followed by Shuuichi revealing his rising desire to leave the town alongside Kirie, and the main reason for doing so is “the town is infected with spirals.” As he feared, his father's obsession with the spiraling shape soon proves to be deadly, and it marks the beginning of a chain of horrific and unexplainable events that lead the residents of the otherwise normal town to spiral into complete and utter madness….

As many of you may have heard, the Uzumaki Manga is an absolute masterpiece in the horror and psychological genre. As such, I would highly recommend the manga to anyone looking for a good freak show, but the same cannot be said for this anime. Fans highly anticipated this and all we got was a series that butchered the original. Don't be fooled by the first episode's refreshing art style, as it quickly deteriorates, resulting in a drastic decline in quality. And if you’re a fan of the manga, there’s no way you’d like the changes they’ve done here. The major focus of the manga is simply obsession, about the obsessive nature of spirals, which possess a strange but almost natural and primal allure. These spirals are effectively used to convey fascination and madness in the tale, evolving into one of the best visual metaphors ever. Thus, the author manages to showcase how deep and dangerous such obsessions are on the human psyche and the way it spreads to those around us…

Keeping true to the source material, this anime starts off great, and even the finale can be considered decent. These brief moments serve as tangible evidence that even with Junji Ito-level complexity, some creative modifications can improve the original. However, the rest of the show amply demonstrates its shortcomings. The base story itself is complex and nerve-wracking, as it doesn’t give the audience clear answers or explanations. This is a plot that does not care about wrapping everything up neatly by the end, preferring to leave a bulk of the task to the audience’s imagination. This is what makes the unsettling nature of the tale linger with you long after you’ve finished the series. You will have just enough information to connect the thematic points, and the main mystery will remain intact.

The anime chooses to follow an episodic format, but their unwelcome efforts to streamline the story don’t do much good. This story was never for all audiences, so trying to make it something for the general public that focuses too much on immersion really ruins it. This is how the downright terrible pacing comes into play, trying to veer the tale in a non-functional direction; the author wanted to make you take a step back and think, but the anime tramples that very aim. Thus, what we have is a story so different in structure from the original that it simply cannot work for anyone.

In the character department, Kirie is a self-insert protagonist. There are many strange occurrences happening all around her, but she maintains a calm and detached demeanor through most of it. In her eyes, the town Kurouzu-cho has always been mildly strange, so her reactions to stuff are not as dramatic as you’d expect, and this is great as we get to witness the many horrors from a more grounded perspective. In the end, the true protagonist is the town itself, and the characters are nothing more than vehicles for the eerie spirals’ effects. So do not expect the typical character arcs or development here; such things serve no purpose in this tale.

In the manga, the true revolutionary department is Ito-sensei’s artwork. Every single piece portrays an unsettling horror artwork that has no right to be as mind-boggling as it is; it has a Lovecraftian vibe and I love it. But the artwork here strives to make the intangible tangible and none of it is explained, bringing with it an unmatched sense of dread. The anime tries to replicate Ito-sensei’s work by using a black-and-white color palette and even recreating some iconic moments on the small screen. This is done especially well in the first episode but by the onset of the second episode, the animation looks more cursed than the town; it’s not even passable! Alongside the terrible pacing, the animation is just abysmal and it even goes further to ruin some iconic moments from the manga by rushing through them. Mind you, it’s so bad that your experiences with the original manga would become tainted! Meanwhile, the backgrounds were well done, capturing the eeriness of the town quite accurately.

If I had to name one good thing about this anime, it would be the Sounds and Music department, particularly the OSTs. These pieces are just perfect for Uzumaki, blending in seamlessly and enhancing the vibe of the source material. Fun fact: This was handled by the same person who did “Hereditary,” so kudos to him for doing another fascinating job within the horror genre. The main theme for this show is "Doujouji no Kotoriuta (道成寺の小鳥歌)" by Uki Satake, which suits Uzumaki perfectly yet again; it is downright creepy and unnerving.

Overall, the Uzumaki anime is a complete disgrace to the source material and doesn’t come even close to doing it justice. Honestly, I felt this was more of an experiment on Ito-sensei’s work on TV, and they did do a decent job in the first episode at least. It is a fine example of what could have been if they had put in the time and effort to make this show at least a fraction of the original’s greatness. But they just had to take too many risks, resulting in horrible mistakes that make this show better left forgotten; do not watch it. In the meantime, I strongly recommend the Uzumaki Manga to anyone who is open to exploring the horror genre. It is a masterpiece that expertly merges the grotesque and philosophical horror in a way that makes it timeless. It’s not about cheap shock value; it's how the story weaves unsettling imagery to do a deep commentary on human nature and psyche, revolving around obsession and the unknown. The moments are chilling, while the resonant themes lying therein never fade and you will remember it for years….