Horror anime in general is a difficult genre to pull off, despite the medium’s limitless creative freedom and the rich source of material available. Among them, Junji Ito’s body of work is often mentioned as promising adaptation material, yet the resulting anime felt hollow rather than haunting. No matter how effective they were on the page, the anime adaptations struggle to convey the same fear and suspense.
Scariest Psychological Horror Manga
For manga readers looking to get deeply disturbed, these terrifying psychological horror mangas are perfect.
The same thing happened to Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, which had the potential to be a definitive horror anime but spiraled into a disappointing adaptation after the first episode. As it turned out, Uzumaki was also afflicted by the curse of spirals, spinning its massive potential into disappointment after just one episode.
Uzumaki’s First Episode Is Everything Fans Hoped For in a Horror Anime
An Unsettling and Brilliant Start to Uzumaki
Uzumaki is a horror anime that was nearly five years in the making, enduring delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, production challenges, and a desire to deliver a non-mediocre adaptation. First announced in 2019, fans were excited to see the cursed town of Kurouzo-cho come to life in anime form, anticipating the unsettling imagery that they love from the original manga series.
Fast-forward to September 29, 2024,Uzumaki’s first episode officially dropped on Toonami, earning a largely positive reception, with fans praising its genius use of black-and-white visuals, immersive sound design, and a faithful portrayal of Junji Ito’s spiraling horror at every turn. From the creepy death of Shuichi’s father to Azami’s transformation, it’s difficult to look away from the grotesque horror that unfolded in the first episode.
Uzumaki’s debut episode also proved that the long-awaited horror series has the potential to bring the manga’s signature horror and tension on screen for the first time. Compared to the mediocre adaptations of Junji Ito’s other works, Uzumaki delivered the first episode as a gripping introduction that stands on its own. If only the series maintained the same level of quality for the rest of the episodes, it would have been a horror anime that fans would remember for years to come. It isn’t perfect, but it sets a high bar.
Uzumaki Spirals Into Failure in Its Last Three Episodes
Uzumaki’s Final Episodes Underperform Compared to Its Promising Start
While Uzumaki’s first episode was a strong prelude to Junji Ito’s spiral-themed horror, the last three episodes fell flat with no real build-up, tension, suspense, psychological horror, or lasting impression that fans expected to see. Worse, the animation at times looked goofy and inconsistent, leaving viewers questioning why the series took nearly five years to produce. Some characters looked like they came out of a children’s doodle, moving awkwardly like stop-motion puppets that made it difficult to take the horror seriously.
That’s not all, as the remaining episodes of Uzumaki had an obvious lack of direction, leaving underdeveloped horror elements. The scene continuity suffered tremendously from rushed pacing and uneven flow, making the story feel disjointed. At one moment, Kirie is being bullied by Kyoko, and at the very next, she and Shuichi are suddenly running to help star-crossed lovers escape from their angry parents. These jarring transitions made it incredibly difficult to follow the plot.
This town is being contaminated with spirals. —Shuichi Saito
In defense of the producers, Director Hiroshi Nagahama envisioned Uzumaki with a pacing designed to “reflect the motion of the spiral,” yet that ambitious vision couldn’t save the last three episodes of Uzumaki at all. Instead of evoking the inescapable tension of Junji Ito’s work, the concluding episodes of the anime left fans frustrated as it went into a downward spiral of quality.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Uzumaki Deserves a Better Anime Adaptation
Uzumaki Needs More Episodes
The Uzumaki manga has a total of 20 chapters, while the Uzumaki anime adaptation is a short series with only four episodes. In this comparison, it’s easy to see why the Uzumaki anime failed horribly in its concluding episodes. While the debut episode adapted almost two chapters, the rest of the episodes crammed in the remaining content, sacrificing everything good in the manga.
If only Uzumaki received 8 to 10 episodes or had even been greenlit as a 12-episode anime, it could have paced the story properly instead of getting a chaotic story with an unsatisfying climax and ending. As much as fans hoped for a definitive horror anime, Uzumaki’s flaws and limitations turned the experience into a missed opportunity.
