Uzumaki Episode 1 — Thirst for the Curse

The curse consumes all. After a long, agonizing wait, the Uzumaki adaptation is finally here. I came away from the first episode surprised and hopeful. The adaptation has some issues, namely in pacing and a noticeable gap in content trimmed from the main story. I will keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, only using preview material for my images. Let’s get sucked in.

Where Uzumaki Spirals Up

Uzumaki is the tale of a quiet Japanese town. The town and its citizens become cursed with an obsession with spirals. Our protagonists are Shuichi and Kirie, two high school students and the only sane people in town. Shuichi is deeply disturbed by his environment, begging Kirie to run away with him. He can sense the curse within people, but no one believes him until it’s too late. Kirie is a young, naive girl who means well and supports Shuichi. The first victim of the curse we see is Shuichi’s father. He amasses a collection of spiral objects and won’t eat or bathe without a spiral present. His descent into madness is portrayed beautifully with the art. I can’t imagine the effort spent to match Ito’s artwork with this level of detail. 

Beauty in the Madness

Uzumaki is elevated by the masterful choice of its monochromatic art style. While the Studio Deen adaptations of the same story opted for color, this one wisely stuck with black and white, allowing more detail and letting the viewer’s mind fill in the gaps. Meanwhile, the animation is a combination of three techniques. Looking through the credits, I see 3DCG, motion capture, and traditional animation. I’m speculating, but it looks as if the 3D is using motion capture and is then rotoscoped slightly. Humans in the series move in a way that’s slightly off. It adds to the uncanny tension of the series and reminds me of Flowers of Evil.  

Even as a fan of Ito’s work, some of these scenes got under my skin. The worst of which is when a character performs self-mutilation. My wife, who’s a horror nut, had to look away. It’s gruesome and disturbing on paper, but seeing and hearing it? Congratulations, guys. You managed to gross me out in the best way. Other iconic scenes from the manga feature and look as if the pages came to life. The production company needs to do more of his stories. I’d kill for Tomie, The Enigma of Amigara Fault, or Hellstar Remina.

Uzumaki’s Own Curse

While visually stunning, the first episode leaves some story on the cutting room floor. We don’t get to learn much about these characters, including our protagonists. For example, a crucial scare, arguably Uzumaki’s most famous one, involves a character with an almost supernatural ability to make men love her. When Shuichi first meets her, he senses the curse and feels repulsed. In the manga, her descent into madness due to his resistance unfolds over several pages and spans in-universe days. However, in this rushed adaptation, it occurs in barely two scenes. Although this could be attributed to the mystery, the pacing ultimately suffers.

An entire subplot about Shuichi’s mother, which took place in Chapter 2 of the manga, is nowhere to be seen in this episode. This is obviously a consequence of the series being shoved into a network time slot. Four 22-minute episodes won’t be enough to adapt 20 chapters of a manga like this. The allotted time for future episodes suggests an extension to 33 minutes for episodes two and three, so pacing should improve. However, I do wonder if the extra 20th chapter will be included.

A Promising Start

We get big scares and memorable scenes with the tradeoff of less time spent with the characters. This dampens the impact of some scenes and, consequently, leaves the first episode of Uzumaki feeling more like a “greatest hits” compilation than a cohesive whole. Although the manga gets pretty wild and has some fluff that can be cut, rearranging the story and cutting some of the intro moments was, unfortunately, the wrong move. However, I’m confident that, as the series progresses, the cuts won’t make as much of an impact, especially given how the original story unfolds.

Overall, the first episode is great, but this won’t be a 1:1 adaptation. There’s a lot to love here, and I’m enjoying Uzumaki for what it is. Even with the small issues, it mops the floor with Studio Deen’s anthologies. The artistry alone is masterful and you can feel the love for the source material in every frame. If you’re new to the works of Ito or a longtime fan, Uzumaki is shaping up to be something special. Any fan of horror anime should be watching it. So come, dear reader, and join us in the spiral.

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