Uzumaki is a great Junji Ito adaptation, but it has one major flaw that could ruin it

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Uzumaki Episode 1!Uzumaki has proven to be a great adaptation of Junji Itos history, but there is a noticeable flaw that could ruin it. After years of delays, the first episode of Uzumaki Has finally premiered, and it’s off to a roaring start. This is by far the best animated Junji Ito adaptation because it perfectly mimics his black-and-white style in animation. However, when you look at how the story is adapted, there is a glaring flaw that spells trouble for the anime’s future.

Episode 1 of Uzumaki is kept to a concise 24 minutes. However, due to Uzumaki’s Overall miniseries with a small four-episode count, cats are destined to properly adapt such a massive graphic novel. The problem is, when you watch this episode, it’s clear that the series has bitten off more than it can chew. The pacing feels incredibly fast as it speeds through the slow tone of the original story to get to the more iconic moments in the manga. While it’s great to see moments like Azami’s eye swirl around the spiral overtaking her head animated for the first time, it doesn’t feel quite as impressive.

Uzumaki needs to slow down for the anime to really succeed

His brisk pace goes against what made the original story scary

The reason why Junji Ito is Uzumaki Was such a success among fans is because of how the story took its time to introduce the viewers to his world and slowly distort it into something terrible. The anime adaptation, on the other hand, doesn’t offer the same benefits. It moves at such a fast pace due to its short number of episodes that it is difficult to take the time to embrace what is being shown on the screen. The miniseries moves too fast for its own good, and it threatens to derail the overall narrative just to get to the graphic novel’s more gruesome images.

For example, Azami’s development being consumed by her scar in the manga is personally slowed down to show how the city of Kurouzu-cho is corrupting her over time. However, in the anime, she hardly has any time to be right on screen or for her story to play out. Instead, it competes with other stories, such as part one of “The Spiral Obsession,” half of part two when Shuichi’s mother is put in the hospital, and even the beginning of “The Snail,” which is a tale that does not . Arriving until much later in the manga. Azami’s story isn’t given any time to breathe, which makes the revelation of her consumption by the curse not as horrifying as the imagery suggests.

Sacrificing the slower pace of the manga makes Uzumaki less terrifying

Junji Ito’s iconic artwork isn’t as powerful without a solid build-up

The biggest reason why the fast pace of the anime adaptation of Uzumaki Is problem is how much it misses the point of what makes Junji Ito’s work so scary. While its disturbing artwork excels as some of the best horror pictures in the medium, its stories all benefit from proper setup and payoff. For example, the reason his short story “Marionette Mansion” is pure nightmare fuel is not because of the slain corpses dangling by puppet strings, but rather the invisible make-up shown when the main character’s sister allows herself to be tied to them. and be controlled. .

The slower moments make the shocking images have a greater impact when it happens. While it’s great to see some of Uzumakis most iconic images brought to life, it just isn’t as meaningful when the anime speeds towards them without taking its time. It is an unnecessary sacrifice that takes away what was made Uzumaki So scary in the first place. In fact, it can be argued that while the Junji Ito Collection And Junji Ito Maniac Anthologies aren’t that animated, they match the pacing better than that UzumakiMaking them more compelling stories.

The Uzumaki anime learns all the wrong lessons from the live action film

A short runtime is the first Uzumaki Adaptation failed

The worst part of this glaring issue with the anime is how it ultimately overlooked the issue of Junji Ito’s story when it was first adapted. Two decades ago, director Akihiro Higuchi attempted a live action adaptation of UzumakiWhich ultimately faced negative reviews from critics. It’s a weird Lovecraftian-style film that does the best it can within the limitations of the medium, but The main problem was the incredibly short runtime at only 90 minutes. The Uzumaki Anime faces the same issue with only four episodes at about 24-28 minutes each, and although it is visually more faithful to the graphic novel, it is hardly longer than the live action film.

There is hope for Uzumaki’s grand finale

The last half of the anime needs to be dedicated Uzumakis third act

While the Uzumaki Anime is incredibly rushed so far after only one episode, there is still hope for the series when it comes to the climax of the story. Although most of the manga can be viewed independently due to being more of a loosely-connected anthology, The final third is when everything comes together in a grand finale that sees Kurouzu-cho fall to the center of the chaotic spiral.

If Uzumaki Wants to stick the landing, it needs to devote the last two episodes to this segment. Although this would mean that the second episode would be just as rushed as the first, the last two episodes would have the space to slow down. One episode is not enough to contain the big themes of the last third of the storySo taking the last half of the miniseries to go right into the original run of the manga would rightfully give viewers a chance to see what lies at the center of Ito’s spiraling story.

generally, Uzumaki was always going to face an uphill battle due to the sheer size and depth of the original manga. There is so much that connects each story to one another that makes it such a masterful piece of horror storytelling. There is no way that everything can be contained in a few episodes. Uzumaki is still a great adaptation of Junji Itos story overall, because it reflects his style perfectly, but this major flaw is hard to overlook, because the anime puts more emphasis on the style over the substance of the story.

Watch Uzumaki Now on Max!