Uzumaki

**Score: 8/10 — Very Good, Not Perfect**

I read *Uzumaki* a long time ago, back when I was much younger, and I still remember how hard it was to put the manga down. Because of that, I went into this anime knowing something important from the start: Junji Ito’s work is meant to be read. His horror lives in stillness, page turns, and staring at panels longer than you want to. Animation can’t fully recreate that—and it never will.

Keeping that in mind, I honestly think this anime did a **very good job** with something that’s basically impossible to adapt.

What mattered most to me is that the ... **story survived**. The structure is there. The slow collapse is there. The ending is there. It doesn’t explain itself, it doesn’t comfort you, and it doesn’t try to make sense of the spiral. When it ended, I was left with that same lingering, uneasy feeling I remember from the manga—and that’s exactly what *Uzumaki* is supposed to do.

I understand some of the complaints. The first episode looks incredible, and the animation doesn’t stay at that exact peak the entire time. That’s real, and it’s why this is an **8 and not a 9** for me. But I don’t agree that the show “falls apart” after that. The story stays intact, the tone stays consistent, and the atmosphere—especially the music and sound—does a lot of the heavy lifting.

A lot of criticism also seems to come from people wanting the anime to make them feel exactly how the manga did years ago. That just isn’t realistic. Manga and anime are different mediums. What matters is whether the adaptation understood what *Uzumaki* is—and I think it did.

I even binge-watched it, even though people say you shouldn’t, and it still worked for me. There were moments where I just sat there after an episode ended, letting it sink in. That says a lot.

This isn’t a perfect anime, and it was never going to be. But it’s thoughtful, respectful, and effective. For something that’s meant to be read, I think this adaptation did about as well as it possibly could—and I’m glad it exists.

The basic idea is terrifying and original. The obsession with spirals as a curse gradually invading an entire city—bodies, minds, environment—is a powerful and unsettling concept, very well executed.

• The horrific atmosphere, blending body horror, psychological horror, and cosmic horror, is precisely what makes the work memorable. The grotesque, disturbing aspects often leave us feeling like we're walking a tightrope between fascination and disgust.

• For the anime adaptation: the black and white visuals are quite effective—they recall the manga's style and reinforce the sinister atmosphere.

• A few striking scenes remain effective: when the horror erupts, the mix of sounds, movements, and disturbing images can truly ... create a feeling of dread.

The narrative (especially in the anime) is sometimes too compressed: a manga spanning several hundred pages has been adapted into very few episodes, resulting in a very fast pace—sometimes too fast. This reduces the gradual build-up of fear, thus diminishing the horror's impact.

• Similarly, some events, characters, or traumas don't always seem to have significant consequences for the characters. After horrific traumas, the reactions are sometimes weak or inconsistent.

• The anime adaptation loses some of the depth and underlying unease that are the manga's strength: when everything moves too quickly, certain metaphors or the psychological breakdown aspect lose their effectiveness.

• The shock and gore effect can become repetitive: for sensitive viewers or readers, it can descend into macabre nonsense—the narrative interest can be diluted in favor of the horror spectacle.

You will just waste your time watching this anime.
Better read the manga.

The production experienced delays and changes in animation studios. One theory suggests the initial studio spent most of the budget on the first episode, necessitating a studio change for the remaining episodes.
Reading the manga is better because of the character designs , it is anime with a simple horror story and is not that interesting there are better choices in horror anime.

Here's a breakdown of the issues:

Initial Promise and Quality:
The first episode was praised for its animation and accurate depiction of the manga.
...
Deteriorating Quality:
Subsequent episodes saw a significant decline in animation quality, with some describing it as "sloppy" and "lazy".

Pacing Issues:
The anime's pacing was also criticized, with some viewers feeling that the story was rushed and key plot points were omitted, diminishing the unsettling atmosphere of the manga.