Manga adaptaiton by Fugaku
Streaming on Toonami on Saturdays 12:30 am EST and HBO Max

Premise

A small Japanese coastal town is haunted by the shape of the spiral. The shape seems to manifest in every facet of of the town, from whirlpools and ferns to spiral patterns appearing on peoples’ bodies. As the inhabitants of are drawn deeper into the mystery, the town is grotesquely transformed by the spiral’s curse.

Gee’s verdict: Top Marks for Ambition

They actually did it. They made an anime based on the works of Junji Ito that actually resembles his inimitable artstyle. On those merits alone, Uzumaki is worth checking out. It’s an impressive accomplishment and one worthy of praise.

The problem however, comes when you think about Uzumaki as a coherent adaptation of the original 1998 horror manga. While it’s not particularly long, wrapping up in a brisk but well paced 20 chapters, you already begin to feel the anime creaking at the seams as it attempts to cover a lot of material. This breakneck pace runs counter to the strength of Junji Ito’s horror, which is the slow creeping dread he masterfully builds before he hits you with stark and deeply upsetting imagery. As a result, Uzumaki looks the part, but doesn’t quite fit into the outfit of its new medium. Unfortunately I don’t necessarily see this situation improving, there’s a lot to cover, even if you excise the less narratively relevant chapters. And even if the anime did, I feel it would lose much of Ito’s quality as a master of building anticipation.

Personally, I think the strongest parts of Uzumaki are during that limbo period when the facade of mundane reality hasn’t quite broken. When the people of the town vainly attempt to live normal lives as very obviously horrible things are happening. While easy to write off as contrivance, I think about how easy it is to ignore disaster when it’s not happening directly in front of you. I think my fear is the Uzumaki anime may jettison those elements to focus on the core mystery of town. It would be a sensible decision considering the anime’s short runtime of four episodes, but a decision I would lament nonetheless.

As a result, I have a great deal of respect for the effort being made here. Translating Ito’s art into animation is a herculean task, one I’d never consider feasible. That it exists at all is a monument to the dedication of the people working on it, and I am happy to give it that accolade.