Uzumaki
Uzumaki
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Uzumaki

"Spiral into horror."

7.0
Yr 2024
Status Ended
Animation Mystery Drama
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Series Brief

Overview

Kirie tries to escape from her town Kurouzu-cho, where the residents get obsessed with spirals due to an unexplained curse.

Critical Reception

What critics are saying

Score 68 /100

Critical response to Uzumaki was sharply divided between its highly anticipated premiere and the remainder of its run. Early reviews celebrated the premiere as a triumph, praising its bold monochrome aesthetic and hypnotic atmosphere that faithfully captured Junji Ito's iconic horror artwork.

However, full-season reviews were far more critical of the show's execution. Reviewers pointed out that condensing and remixing the original manga into a rapid-fire format created overwhelming pacing issues and narrative confusion, making it difficult to follow the escalating chaos.

Visual inconsistency was another major point of contention. While early episodes successfully blended animation styles, later installments were criticized for jerky, uncanny-valley movements and jarring animation quality shifts that diminished the surreal dread.

“Adapts a Junji Ito story into motion and makes it fun, silly, and horrifying.”

“beautifully illustrated, oddly mesmerizing, and deeply unnerving.”

“The combination of 2D, 3D, and rotoscoping is extremely effective at moments... but at other times, it gives the character’s movements a very uncanny valley quality.”

“Every scene is beautiful and shows the love that the team behind the anime has for the source material in the best way possible.”

Transmission Paths

Where to Watch

Spectrum On Demand
US
HBO Max
US
HBO Max Amazon Channel
US
Show 4 more
YouTube TV
US
Adult Swim
US
StackTV Amazon Channel
CA
fuboTV
CA
Why fans love it

This 2024 miniseries translates the surreal visuals of its graphic novel source material into a stark black and white aesthetic. By centering the animation on the recurring motif of the spiral, the horror becomes less about sudden shocks and more about a slow, psychological unraveling. The avant garde style emphasizes the atmosphere of a town succumbing to an inexplicable influence that defies simple logic or explanation.

The pacing mirrors the descent into obsession, effectively blending mystery with supernatural dread. Performances from actors including Uki Satake help ground the increasingly strange occurrences in the lives of residents who cannot turn away from the patterns consuming their reality. It functions as a grim exploration of fixation, where the environment itself acts as a primary antagonist in a battle against a relentless, rotating curse.

Production Board

Crew

Producer
Maki Terashima-Furuta Haruyasu Makino
Art Direction
Nguyen Duc Song An Phan Thi Toan Rie Oda Takeshi Sato
Graphic Novel
Junji Ito
Executive Producer
Jason DeMarco Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
Script
Aki Itami
Director
Taiki Nishimura Yuji Moriyama Hao Wu Shigeki Awai Kouichirou Sohtome Hiroshi Nagahama Daisuke Sato
Compositing Lead
Yoshihisa Ohyama
Associate Producer
Yoko Ueda
Editor
Itsuo Miyamoto
Other
Sawa Hiroko Umezaki
Animation Director
Hirokazu Sato Hiroshi Nagahama
Character Designer
Hirokazu Sato
Sound Director
Yasushi Nagura
Assistant Director
Akihiko Ota
3D Director
Hiroshi Nagahama
Storyboard Artist
Hiroshi Nagahama
Original Music Composer
Colin Stetson
Signal Match

Similarity

Where Uzumaki overlaps with other shows, and exactly what they have in common.

Keyword Cloud

Keywords

dementia supernatural miniseries black and white seinen anime psychological avant garde horror based on manga suspense
Technical Sheet

Details

First Aired
September 29, 2024
Status
Ended
Origin
US
TMDB Votes
171