About

Uzumaki (eng: Spiral) is a horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito. The series depicts several vignettes centered around a town hypnotized with the shape of a spiral, with the obsession often leading to grotesque and horrifying ends. The series has been adapted into a feature film and an anime adaptation produced by Adult Swim. In October 2024, discussions about the sudden dip in the animation quality of the Uzumaki anime made the rounds online, inspiring memes.

History

Uzumaki published as a serial in Big Comic Spirits from August 29th, 1998 to September 30th, 1999.^[1][2] Omnibus editions with the entire story were published starting in 2000. Memorable stories in the series include that of a man who becomes so obsessed with spirals he turns into one himself, a girl whose hair becomes voluminous with massive spirals, the townspeople turning into snails, and a girl whose face becomes a spiral (panels shown below).

Adaptations

Two video game adaptations and a live-action film adaptation of Uzumaki were released in Japan in 2000. The film was met with lukewarm reviews, as critics praised the atmosphere and bizarreness of the visuals but lamented the film's lack of dread and feeling of horror.^[4]

Anime Adaptation

On August 28th, 2019, Adult Swim published a teaser for an Uzumaki anime series which featured a black-and-white art style that appeared faithful to the manga and a soundtrack by Colin Stetson. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic caused a lengthy delay in the production of the series. On June 15th, 2021, director Hiroshi Nagahama announced that the series would be delayed to October 2022, and shared a second teaser clip from the anime.

Anime Release

The Uzumaki anime finally released in September of 2024 after a five-year development period. While the first episode was generally well-received, the second episode saw a much-discussed dip in animation quality, leading to viral discussions on social media.

Online Presence

Uzumaki has been praised as one of the best horror manga ever published,^[3] and has been a common reference point in memes; for example, Woman Yelling At A Cat and Sailor Moon Redraw edits have been made using Uzumaki imagery (shown below).

Search Interest

External References