Junji Ito’s adaptation maintains its level, even with unstable preparation

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the entire Uzumaki miniseriesWhile Uzumaki undeniably had an unstable preparation, the Junji Ito the adaptation officially managed to maintain the level. Adult Swim’s long-awaited adaptation of Uzumaki officially came to an end after four short episodes. Since its announcement in 2019, the anime has been hyped by fans of the horror mangaka, with each new trailer being more promising than the last. While the overall series ended up incredibly mixed with some choppy buildup, it’s a relief to say it ended strong.

For those who haven’t seen the most talked about anime of the spooky season yet, Uzumaki is a miniseries based on Junji Ito’s masterful graphic novel that follows Kirie and Shuichi in the city of Kurouzu-cho. For the most part, their lives have been quite normal until they begin to notice a strange recurrence of spiral shapes appearing throughout the city. Soon, they realize that their hometown is actually cursed by the bizarre form, driving the townspeople mad as the mystery behind the curse grows. It’s a strange story that has become one of Junji Ito’s most acclaimed works, and for the most part, the anime manages to recapture what made it such a compelling read.

Uzumaki nails the tone of Junji Ito’s horror masterpiece

The story benefits from being told entirely in black and white

One of the biggest criticisms of Junji Ito’s previous adaptations was the bizarre choice to color their stories into their respective anime. Junji Ito Collection and Junji Ito Maniac both moved away from the black and white style when adapting several short stories. Although both programs, with Manic in particular ended up being a mixed bag, watching them through the lens of a Junji Ito fan makes it clear that their stories weren’t meant to be told in color. The strange happenings in Uzumaki needs the limitations of black and white to highlight the constricting feeling of the curse in Kurouzu-cho.

Fortunately, the Uzumaki the anime ended up being told in black and white, and the difference in quality between it and Ito’s previous adaptations is night and day. The atmosphere is incredibly eerie, with the lack of color adding to the dread of the story. Some of the anime’s most notable scenes actually achieve a limited scope, highlighting the terror that lurks in the shadows. The spinning spiral in the middle of Azami’s head, for example, looks absolutely terrifying in black and white. Additionally, when Typhoon 1 hits Kurouzu-cho, voiced by Junji Ito himself in a cameo, the use of black and white makes the storm itself seem otherworldly as it unleashes destruction on the city.

Uzumaki takes risks to expand Junji Ito’s story

Certain choices allow the iconic manga to grow in the anime medium

Another major highlight in Uzumaki that’s how many chances animators and animation directors take to not only be faithful to Ito’s story, but also expand on it when adapting it. One of the most ingenious choices made in the middle episodes of the miniseries was the decision to give the impression of the film’s degradation whenever the curse became more apparent. For example, in adapting Twisted Soulsphotos become noticeably grainier with spots and lines appearing as Kazunori and Yoriko twist to avoid being separated by their families. It’s an incredibly cool animation choice that highlights the horror of Ito’s story that the mangaka could never recreate on the page.

The biggest change made to the story by far is an original post-credits scene that shows the story’s aftermath with two new characters, Satoshi and Eri, taking Shuichi and Kirie’s place in a newly reconstructed Kurouzu-cho. This brief scene completely redefined Junji Ito’s story because of how much this expands the manga’s pre-established lore about Kurouzu-cho’s fate. This implies that not only will the city suffer the curse every 100 years, but it will also be repeated ad nauseam without any changes to how the story unfolds, cementing that the city is doomed to never learn from the past in order to escape it.

Declining animation quality and pacing issues keep Uzumaki from being a perfect adaptation

The series needed more time to finish

Waiting for Uzumaki gave fans a lot of hope in the overall quality of the show due to how long it took to finally premiere. However, as the miniseries continued, it became clear that the anime needed more time to get it right. The most controversial aspect came in the form of the series’ animation. While the first episode lived up to the hype, the second episode notably featured a quality downgrade that highlighted issues that plagued the anime’s production. Until UzumakiThe executive producer sympathized with fans, saying he understood why fans would be furious about animation’s notable decline.

The other biggest problem with the series was the pacing issues. Uzumaki is limited to just four half-hour episodes to adapt a massive comic book. While some of the more notable story segments were beautifully reconstructed, the anime overall always seemed to be rushing through the chapters to ensure everything was included. This was felt more with the adaptation of the story Jack-in-the-Boxwhich was drastically shortened and had its climax completely destroyed, only to be briefly brought back for a ten second resolution at the end of episode 3.

Uzumaki’s ending ends the series on a high note

Despite a bumpy road, the ending was perfect

The final episode of Uzumaki combines the last volume of the manga, which is the most connected part of the original story. Because of this, it feels tighter and smoother in pace compared to its three predecessors. Additionally, it had the longest running time of the three, at over 30 minutes. This gave the series a chance to properly explore the manga’s chaotic final scenes. while the spiral envelops Kurouzu-cho. It’s certainly not as well animated as the first episode, but its writing is much stronger because it’s forced to follow Junji Ito’s plot rather than splicing different chapters together at random points. Additionally, the final scene with Kirie and Shuichi trapped in the Spiral City beneath the city is beautifully crafted.

Even with your flaws, Uzumaki is still easily the best adaptation of Junji Ito’s work to date. It perfectly hits the tone of the mangaka’s work and, even with choppy animation and pacing, it’s still a faithful and fun version of the horror masterpiece. Hopefully, future adaptations of Ito’s work will look to this anime to learn from past mistakes and appropriately adapt his work. However, until then, Uzumaki will reign supreme as the shining example of how to adapt Junji Itowork.