Why Junji Ito’s latest is already a critical hit explained

Adult Swim’s adaptation of Junji Ito Famous horror manga Uzumaki will debut on Saturday, September 28th, and it has already excelled. From the time of writing, USZumaki: Spiraling into horror Got a perfect 100% score on Rotten tomatoes Over five different reviews. Critics have praised many aspects of Uzumakis adaptation, including its faithfulness to the source, its novel monochrome color palette and its flawless duplication of the manga’s atmosphere.

This stellar accomplishment is sure to come as a relief to fans of Junji Ito’s unique brand of surreal and macabre horror. Uzumaki Centers around a small coastal town whose obsession with spirals devolves into mass hysteria in an all-consuming nightmare, and Adult Swim’s highly anticipated Uzumaki Adaptation was subject to several setbacks and delays. The wait is paid off, however, with a beautiful series that is ready to be not only one of the best adaptations of Junji Ito’s work, but one of the best psychological horror anime writ large.

Why critics are giving such high praise to Junji Ito’s new Uzumaki anime

Reviewers have praised Uzumaki on several fronts

Sitting high in Junji Ito’s prolific body of work as one of his most enduring works, Uzumakis adaptation has been promised since 2021. The sheer extent of the wait generated an almost unmeatable level of anticipation and hype, but according to critics, the heavy load was met after all. Part of the appeal is from Uzumaki yourself, what IGN’s Matt Jones describes like:

A unique read that is gritty and tense and yet balanced with pockets of camp silliness. […A] Work that includes sick deformations of bodies, and, inexplicably, a chapter about how sometimes your new haircut can be a little too sexy.

Gentle attention and sensitivity to the spirit of Uzumaki Lays the foundations for an adaptation, which is, in every sense, truly evocation of the source material. Additionally, critics have widely praised the adaptation’s sound design and visual language. Per Gizmodo’s Isaiah Colbert:

Adult swimming’s handling of Uzumaki was downright inspired by his novel idea of ​​making the show entirely black and white, his mesmerizing use of motion capture and his blend of 3D and 2D animation. In what can only be described as rotoscope meets director Akira Kurosawa’s signature noir visual flair, Uzumaki‘s animation casts a spell as intoxicating as the spiral itself, whether it’s the surreal swirl of its ever-shifting macabre Midnight in Paris-esque sky, the fascinating sway and bounce of his characters’ hair and expressive mannerisms, or the disturbing extreme close-ups when his figure descends into madness.

The primary point of conflict with critics so far Uzumaki’s Pacing. Uzumaki is structured as an anthology horror tale, nominally centered around two main characters but branching out beyond their individual stories. Many Junji Ito fans feared that the Uzumaki The four episodes of adaptation would not be enough because of the density of the source material. Critics have echoed that sentiment, saying the first episode feels a little rushed, but not without praising the adaptation’s elegant threading. UzumakiIt’s many stories. This minor point hardly detracted from their review, with all agreeing that this is Junji Ito’s best adaptation yet.

What sets Uzumaki apart from Junji Ito’s other anime adaptations

Uzumaki Is leagues better than other ITO anime because it knows it’s an anime

Implementing Junji Ito’s trademark interplay of absurdity with macabre objectification proved to be a difficult challenge. Uzumaki had such a bleak history because of Adult Swim, Drive Studio, and Production IG’s insistence that the tone, meticulous line-work, and monochrome contrast of Junji Ito’s manga be mirrored in the adaptation. Critics have pointed out that this is approachable, acknowledging its massive departure from previous ITO adaptations:

[Previous] Ito anime adaptations have failed to meet expectations in the past, thanks in part to their dogmatic fixation on being a one-to-one recreation of Ito’s manga panels. […] What’s more, their desaturated colors not only siphoned what life was left of their visual presentation, but also nullified its terror by adding too much visual noise that ultimately distracted them from their execution.

(Isaiah Colbert, Gizmodo)

Drive went to great lengths to evoke the manga’s aesthetic by using a black-and-white color scheme that matched the original ink illustrations and by including character designs that were virtually identical to the source material. There’s a reason why most anime adaptations change how characters look: detailed designs that work well on the page become a total headache when they need to be recreated multiple times per second to make things move.

(Elijah Gonzales, Pulp Magazine)

Adult Swim’s adaptation deploys a wide range of approaches and avoids strict imitation of Ito’s original work. Critics appreciate that the adaptation recognizes the distinction of anime from manga as two very different media, with the distinguishing features of animation and audiovisual potential. By flawlessly capturing the visual and narrative appeal of Ito’s sprawling story in its own environment, Uzumaki has received a unique adaptation that, by all accounts, finally does justice to Junji Ito’s legacy.