Two days after the second episode of Uzumaki released, executive producer Jason DeMarco posted an official statement on Bluesky before deleting it shortly after. In this statement, he says that the series was almost cancelled after "one or two people screwed them over" and they had three choices:

1. Cancel it
2. Finish episode 1, cancel the rest
3. Finish episode 1, cheap out on episodes 2-4

For I'll say 90% of everyone that watches this, that's a bridge too far. And they're justified in being upset. Uzumaki was announced way too early in development and could have gotten less blowback had it been announced in 2022 instead of 2019. But hell, even if it was announced this year, it was not only Adult Swim's first direct manga adaptation but an adaptation of what is considered Junji Ito's most well-known and beloved work. Junji Ito did not let anyone adapt the manga into an anime (there is a weak live-action movie adaptation) because he didn't think any of them could pull it off until Hiroshi Nagahama, director of Mushishi and The Flowers of Evil, called. The idea was that instead of making a straight adaptation of the manga, which after a while would have been monotonous, Nagahama would kind of combine all of the best chapters of the manga into one continuing narrative, with a few small changes. This, alongside Colin Stetson doing the music (something that was announced like a year after Hereditary), is pretty much all we knew up until it actually released.

I think Jason DeMarco's statement is important because, in my opinion, it completely recontextualizes Uzumaki. This isn't a scam funded by a company that should probably stop greenlighting projects after Lazarus/Rooster Fighter/a couple unannounced projects that have already started development, which I'm saying even as someone that's liked some of what they've put out (Shenmue, the FLCL sequels that aren't Grunge). This is an attempt to salvage what could've been a masterpiece.

And of course, this begs a philosophical question: is it better to cancel an unfinished series and take the L, or finish it knowing it will never live up to the original expectations?

The craziest part is that, if Jason DeMarco didn't say a thing, I think episodes 3 and 4 would have had better reception. Episode 2 is the only time the animation noticeably dips. Each episode is storyboarded by Hiroshi Nagahama, so it always feels like his version of Uzumaki. As a fan of the manga, this anime does a great job recreating what makes the manga so special. The feeling of everything slowly getting worse, the grotesque imagery, the human body contorting in physically impossible ways. It's all here. The highlight for me is Colin Stetson's score. He brought his A-game here.

Is Uzumaki's anime great? Yes, albeit barely. If the single appeal to you is the animation then uh yeah your mileage will vary. Just keep your expectations low. For me, animation isn't the singular appeal to me, it very rarely is, so I'm able to look past that (mostly because episodes 3 & 4 look way better than episode 2) and see this anime for what it is: the best Uzumaki adaptation we're ever gonna get.