The last time Junji Ito’s work was animated by a Western studio, it wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t match up to the terror of his original stories. Nevertheless, animators persisted, and Production I.G. and Adult Swim’s attempt is a mini-series adaptation of the three volume manga Uzumaki. Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror is a peculiar horror series, one that may not be downright terrifying with its small-town tale, but it’s much scarier than other Western adaptations with its faithfulness to Ito’s black-and-white intricate line work. There’s probably no other way to depict this particular story– after all, it’s all about spirals– but director Hiroshi Nagahama adds dizzying movement and composer Colin Stetson adds eerie extended techniques that match the terror Kirie and Shuichi share as they struggle against the neverending spiral spell that takes over their town.
"What Uzumaki never loses is the core idea that the human body is a malleable, spongy thing, available to absorb both kindness, compassion, and good energy and malevolence, evil, and brutality."
— Roxana Hadadi
Kirie tries to escape from her town Kurouzu-cho, where the residents get obsessed with spirals due to an unexplained curse.
The town of Kurouzu-cho slowly goes insane by obsession or by paranoia over a series of spiral shapes.
I love how faithful the series is to the art because the contrast between the lines and space emphasizes the movement of the hair, shadows, and highlights, and always makes each item feel like it’s just ready to transform into a spiral.
Finally, a Western Junji Ito adaptation that isn’t allergic to black and white!
