Uzumaki

#The Legacy

Junji Ito has solidified his legacy in the manga world for years as (one of,if not) the best horror mangaka that has ever lived publishing countless classics from Gyo to Tomie and his most notable work Uzumaki to name a few from his vast collection of pure horror masterclass. There is nobody like him that can depict grotesque worlds like Gyo that explore themes of the consequences that are brought upon humanity from the environmental collapse and misuse by the government showcasing the great horrors that come from a futile chase of biowarfare from scientists that ends up going horribly wrong dooming humanity forever. Even his exaggerated depiction of the beauty in Tomie that leads into unhealthy desires and obsessions from others, her control and inevitably her manipulation of said desires just to play with people for fun and to pass time in her never ending suffering in an immortally cursed body. Uzumaki tackles many themes like love/obsession in our main cast or from the secret power haunting the city but the most prevalent ones being the inevitability and repetition of actions in the human nature from mere habits and mistakes we constantly make in our daily lives to the never ending cycle of historical mistakes that are inevitable of reoccurring like a terrifying spiral. People wont learn about other people's mistakes by simply studying about a historical book or listening to their friends rambling about something they regret doing but rather have to experience those mistakes firsthand to truly understand their meaning and true faults.

Ito's stories are influential and they manage to convey their overarching themes in usually a small portion of just under 20 chapters. Still i don't think the stories are less enjoyable as pure horror fun because they work that way too. The masterclass of Junji's works in just conveying the uneasy, unnerving and horrifying situations the characters are in is in a league of its own, from the brilliant use of the page turn jumpscare in a terrifying reveal or twist, to the gradual build-up of mystery around the "culprit" of the horrors and to the expressive reactions from characters to their distorted (and sometimes) surreal situations are all techniques Junji Ito has mastered throughout the years to give you a truly horrifying experience that sticks with you every time you finish one of his works.

#The Good
As a fan of his works for several years now it's painful to see most if not all of his adapted works turn out to be a lifeless disappointing mess every single time. This time around i wasn't completely hopeless for the Uzumaki anime but instead i got mesmerized by the atmosphere in the trailer, i loved the decision to keep it black and white with the eerie aesthetic of the original being untouched and finally the 5 year wait for just 4 episodes to be released meant that we were in for either another mess that got cut/pushed back or instead a refined masterpiece that would bring justice to all the other horrible adaptations prior to it. The release of the first episode was all we could ever ask for, the art style captured the tone of the original accompanied by pretty decent eerie tones as well as some pretty accurate voice acting to build up a story that hooked you in instantly, always having you ask and wonder what would pop out in the next scene, what exactly is the reason behind all of the chaos happening and slowly unfolding more and more with every little scene. You can clearly see the vibrant image coming to life and that's a feeling you get in even a simple opening scene like the one portrayed below with just a soft breeze swaying Kirie's hair as she enters Kurozu-cho.

The directing isn't one of its strongest points but at least it keeps the flow going without distracting you too much from the overall build-up and is used decently on reveals like the dad in the tub. The close-up from the mom's hand to wondering where the tub even came from and finally revealing the horror inside as she lifts the lid slowly includes some accurate "camera" work behind it and even though it doesn't revolutionize anything it is still fitting and by no means insulting to the original material.
As i am watching this episode i start to get invested again in the story, it has come to life in an amazing adaptation with every little detail that you had imagined while reading it being subverted and reaching even greater heights like the scene below:

There isn't much to say here other than i was in shock and complete awe from the great work portrayed here and there are plenty more instances where i was pleasantly surprised by how well they brought everything to life. Finishing the episode left me with a feeling of hope, finally we would be getting an amazing adaptation that uses the animation,sound,music and voice acting that the manga lacks to its greatest potential elevating the work of Junji Ito even further. And then...the 2nd episode dropped.

#The Bad, the Ugly, and Everything that went wrong

Saying i was disappointed would be an understatement, i knew the great highs this could reach but from the start you could tell the movement seemed off. From the little animations to even longer sequences and the infamous "punch" i slowly watched it crumble down to another failure of an adaptation.

The sound effects had died down and instead of highlighting the atmosphere sometimes they outright sound like they were made for a gag tv series instead (ex. Spring Guy sound effect). The editing had some minor problems in the first one but this time the chaotic cuts one after the other never left any breathing room for reveals and the more compact tense moments didn't receive the much required time to sink in with the viewer.
What i gather from the following clip is something that feels like a rushed unfinished product and i don't even have to show you the worst this has to offer.

What we got was a cluster of scenes added one after the other with some charisma of the direction in the first episode missing so why is that? Well i tried to find an explanation of this downfall and it seems like the episode 1 director was different from episode 2 onwards. A studio change from Fugaku to Akatsuki and a change in directors from Hiroshi Nagahama to Yuji Moriyama were probably the main reason this downfall in quality began in the first place. From what i gathered in forums without having any confirmation from the studio itself the 2nd studio changed a lot of the animators from episode 1 and alongside the change in direction without knowing any other possible problems like the precise time window and budget left in the production, its still a difficult task to continue someone else's vision with the same quality. Even so you don't always have to envision and replicate the same style that worked prior to you getting the job but perhaps you can sprinkle your own techniques and vision to make it rather interesting.

The time was originally there, 5 years in the making for 4 20-minute episodes is enough to polish an anime to perfection and even when the director (maybe studio) changes another time in the 4th episode we still get the most horrifying clip i witnessed in this anime or maybe the funniest one?
I will let you to decide for yourself:

A PNG of Shuichi falling down. In an artistic way symbolizing the fall off that started after episode 1.

This anime built a foundation worthy of a beautiful skyscraper resting above it, but it failed to lay any countermeasures against even the tiniest earthquake. As quickly as it was built, it crumbled down just as fast, and this time, it felt like a gut-wrenching punch to all the fans. The moment i finished watching this episode, i realized that it would be another failure added to the collection of awful adaptations that keep haunting Ito’s works.

Honestly the saddest thing is that the source material is so brilliant and terrifying, easily making it my favorite horror manga making the failure feel criminal. Instead of the unsettling atmosphere and twisted charm that made the manga unforgettable, we got a bizarre mess that barely resembles what made Uzumaki a horror classic.

The thing i despise the most in an anime adaptation is when it not only doesn't offer anything new or enhance the original, but also do a complete disservice of not even doing the bare minimum: faithfully adapting the original as a 1:1 which honestly, i would have been contempt with.

As much as I wanted to love it, I simply can’t bring myself to give this more than a 2.5/10.

It could very well be a curse from an unfinished manga he tried to publish years ago or an idea for a series that got axed, coming back to haunt him for the rest of his life. But whatever it may really be, I am sadly certain that we will never get an adaptation that does his original work any justice.