Earlier this fall, the anime fandom turned its eye to Junji Ito as the master of horror returned to television. His hit story Uzumaki was brought to life with an anime ordered by Adult Swim and Production I.G. After a long production period, Uzumaki went live to great fanfare as many horror buffs heralded the anime as Ito’s latest hit. That tune, however, changed as Uzumaki‘s animation took a major hit in subsequent weeks. And with its final episode now live, we are sad to say Uzumaki failed to reclaim the high peaks that its first episode reached.
If you did not realize, the final episode of Uzumaki recently, and it was there fans watched as Ito’s iconic tale whimpered to a close. Not only did Uzumaki set a fast pace with the finale that left netizens dumbfounded, but its animation was hard to take in. As you can see below, the last episode of Uzumaki was loaded with stilted animation, and some it could have been done using PowerPoint.
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THE RISE AND FALL OF UZUMAKI
The brief rise and heavy fall of Uzumaki is one that anime fans never wanted to see. Junji Ito is a master of his craft, and for decades, he has been releasing some of the best horror stories in the world. When people relate Ito to Stephen King, well – the comparison is warranted. The two men are incredible storytellers with an eye for unsettling tales. For Ito, it is not just his writing but his art that imbues his work with such unease. So when Uzumaki was announced, fans were incredibly hopeful the anime would succeed.
Sadly, that dream was not realize. The first episode of Uzumaki was nothing short of perfection save for some tiny pacing issues; However, that all turned around within a week. The second episode of Uzumaki was dubbed a hot mess by fans given its laughable decline in animation. This continued with Uzumaki episode three, and finally, the anime wrapped with a disappointing finale.
As for why Uzumaki ran into so much trouble, the answer is not simple. For one, Adult Swim executive Jason DeMarco stressed COVID-19 impacted the production of the anime. The show was hit with a long delay due to the pandemic, and in that time, the anime industry’s staffing crisis only got worse. By the time Studio Drive and Studio Akatsuki began work on Uzumaki, things had reached critical mass behind the scenes. The situation was held together long enough for episode one to be finished as intended, but the same could not be said for the other episodes.
“The options were A) not finish it, air nothing & call it a loss, B) Just finish Ep. 1 & leave it incomplete or C) run all 4, warts & all,” DeMarco shared on social media after Uzumaki’s maligned animation went public. As you can see, the team chose the third option and let Uzumaki set forward all four episodes. But of course, fans are now questioning that logic. A longer delay could have given the anime staff more time to perfect Uzumaki, but such a choice requires time and money. There is no telling how much of those Adult Swim had for the anime, so in the end, it was best to cut losses and bring Uzumaki to life as is.
IS JUNJI ITO UNDER AN ANIME CURSE?
In the wake of Uzumaki‘s downfall, fans are desperate for answers that address how the situation came to light. Henry Thurlow, an animator on One Piece, tried to share their own understanding of the problem. His message put the blame on the anime industry’s crunch culture and the lack of understanding Western execs have about anime production.
“I’m truly not sure who’s to blame. Of course artists need time & resources to do great things. If that was taken from IG it’s terrible. It does seem though that IG recently (unlike its glory days) endlessly delays their projects. They go year after year completing very little. TO BE CLEAR. I love IG. I’m nostalgic for the days where IG, Madhouse, & 4C were at the top & always outdoing each other. All 3 though seem to have lost their ability to consistently & on-time turn out powerhouse work. It takes them forever to do just a little now,” Thurlow shared.
“As for the Uzumaki production, at the end of the day it’s almost certainly some western producer’s fault. “This is taking too long so force some other studio to finish it I don’t care what it looks like.” I’d bet everything I have that’s how it went down. Again & again these western-produced anime have problems because the western producers are fucking trash. Kawajiri’s last few anime, the unreleased AvP anime, now Uzumaki. Again & again I see western producers screw over the artists & anime studios here & it’s infuriating.”
Uzumaki had high expectations from fans, but in the end, a series of behind-the-scenes stumbles put the anime on the wrong track. For now, Ito fans will have to wait for the horror master to get an anime of the same caliber of his art. They watch the first episode of Uzumaki on repeat to see what that kind of project might look like. And someday if we are lucky, Ito will get the full-blown anime adaptation that he deserves.
What do you make of Uzumaki‘s rise and fall? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.