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

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first episode of Uzumaki!Uzumaki turned out to be a great adaptation Junji Itostory, but there is a noticeable flaw that could ruin it. After years of delays, the first episode Uzumaki it finally premiered and things got off to a roaring start. This is Junji Ito's best animated adaptation to date as it perfectly imitates his black and white animation style. However, when looking at how the narrative is adapted, there is a clear flaw that poses problems for the future of the anime.

Episode 1 Uzumaki lasts a brief 24 minutes. However, due to Uzumaki Overall a miniseries containing a small number of four episodes, cuts were inevitable to properly adapt such a massive graphic novel. The problem is that when watching this episode, it's clear that the show 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 manga's most iconic moments.. While it's nice to see moments like Azami's gaze swirling around her head in animation for the first time, it doesn't feel all that impressive.

Uzumaki needs to slow down for the anime to really succeed

Its fast pace goes against what was scary about the original story

The reason why Junji Ito Uzumaki Such success among fans is due to the fact that the story took the time to introduce viewers to its world and gradually turn it into something terrible. On the other hand, the anime adaptation does not offer the same benefits. Due to the small number of episodes, it moves at such a fast pace that it is difficult to find time to process what is being shown on screen. The miniseries moves too quickly for its own good and threatens to derail the overall narrative just to get to the scarier imagery from the graphic novel.

For example, in the manga, the plot of Azami being consumed by her scar is deliberately slow to show how the city of Kuruzu-cho corrupts her over time. However, in the anime, she is given almost no time to properly appear on screen or develop her story. Instead, it competes with other storylines such as the first part of "Spiral Obsession", half of the second part when Shuichi's mother ends up in the hospital, and even the beginning of "Snail", a story that makes no sense. will appear much later in the manga. There's no time to breathe in Azami's story, so the reveal of her demise from the curse isn't as gruesome as the imagery suggests.

Sacrificing the slow pace of the manga makes Uzumaki less intimidating

Junji Ito's famous works of art are not as strong without thorough assembly

The main reason why the fast pace of the anime adaptation Uzumaki The problem is how much it misses what makes Junji Ito's work so scary. While his unsettling artwork is considered some of the best horror imagery in the horror genre, all of his stories benefit from the right direction and payoff. For example, the reason his story "The Puppet Mansion" is pure nightmare fuel is not because of the murdered corpse hanging from the puppet strings, but because of the supernatural build-up shown when the protagonist's sister allows herself to be tied to them and controlled. .

These slower moments make the shocking imagery have more of an impact when it happens. Although it's nice to see some of Uzumakithe most iconic tropes are brought to life, it just doesn't mean as much when the anime rushes towards them without rushing. It's an unnecessary sacrifice that takes away from what was done Uzumaki so scary at first. In fact, it can be argued that although Junji Ito Collection And Junji Ito Maniac anthologies are not as well animated, they match the pacing better than Uzumakimaking them more compelling narratives.

Anime Uzumaki Learns All the Wrong Lessons from the Live-Action Movie

Short lead time is why the first Uzumaki Adaptation failed

The worst thing about this glaring problem with the anime is that it ultimately overlooked the problem that Junji Ito's story had when it was first adapted. Two decades ago, director Akihiro Higuchi attempted to film Uzumakiwhich ultimately received negative reviews from critics. It's a quirky, Lovecraftian film that did the best it could within the constraints of the medium, but The main problem it faced was its incredibly short running time of just 90 minutes.. Uzumaki The anime faces the same problem: there are only four episodes of 24-28 minutes each, and while it is visually more faithful to the graphic novel, it is barely longer than the live-action film.

There is hope for Uzumaki's grand finale

The final half of the anime needs to be dedicated UzumakiThird act

While Uzumaki The anime was incredibly rushed after just one episode, but the series still has hope when it comes to the story's climax. While most of the manga can be viewed independently as it is more of a loosely connected anthology, the last third is when everything comes together in a grand finale in which Kuruzu-cho falls into the center of a chaotic spiral.

If Uzumaki wants to add a landing page, he needs to devote the last two episodes to this segment. While this will mean that the second episode will be as fast-paced as the first, there will be an opportunity to slow down in the final two episodes. One episode is not enough to contain the grand themes of the last third of the story.So if the last half of the miniseries follows the manga's original pace, it will give viewers a chance to see what lies at the center of Ito's developing story.

General, Uzumaki always had to face an uphill battle due to the sheer size and depth of the original manga. There are so many things that tie together each story that makes it such a masterful piece of horror. It's impossible to fit all this into just a few episodes. Uzumaki is still a great adaptation Junji ItoThe story as a whole as it reflects his style perfectly, but it's a major flaw that's hard to overlook since the anime focuses more on style than story content.

Look Uzumaki now on Max!