Fans of horror manga were super excited for the anime adaptation of Junji Ito's Uzumaki. It had been a long wait, but the first episode did not disappoint, leaving fans ready to dive into the world of spirals! Unfortunately, things took a major turn for the worse...
A Disappointing Second Episode
The second episode of Uzumaki: Spiral Into The Horror was a major let-down. This new anime, set to air in Fall 2024, brought together everyone who is a Junji Ito fan! Even with the delays this was highly anticipated!
It completely went off the rails. The first episode did a fantastic job and showed off some great visuals, animation that was smooth and the details were spot-on. It even stayed incredibly close to the original Manga panels. However, things crashed after the initial success, with a massive drop in quality! The change caused a big outcry!
Viral Criticism
There were plenty of complaints flooding social media about this major drop in the animation! One post on X by @AwestruckVox was huge, getting 6 million views! Lots of frustrated fans felt strongly that the change from episode 1 to episode 2 was a mistake! And, it quickly turned viral!
Fans found there was very little detail, at least when it was compared to episode 1. They called out all the stuff that they missed out on, especially the issues with faces, bodies and character movement which looked off and even made viewers concerned!
The Production Breakdown
It turns out, the change in animation style was the result of a big change in the crew, explained by AnimeNewsNetwork! Things got really chaotic as the producers explained the production process of the show got pretty screwed up. The studio responsible, Phoenix Animation Holdings (based in China), wasn't great at producing high-quality animation!
- The director Nagahama left and was replaced by Yuji Moriyama
- It's now confirmed that a bunch of the animation from Episode 2 was outsourced which helped to explain the drastic shift between episodes
John Demarco, a producer, confirmed how the issues behind episode 2 really impacted the whole show! Demarco did a huge job! He shared on Bluesky that they decided to move forward! Which helped fans of this anime feel a little less disappointed!
An Ongoing Problem
It appears Junji Ito fans have faced issues for a while now!
The reception wasn't good but one of these prior works made a better showing.
- The first was Junji Ito Collection. This ran for 12 episodes in 2018 but was rather inconsistent in its production and storytelling
- Another adaptation on Netflix - Junji Ito Maniac also failed! That had its good parts and bad, depending on which episodes you picked
All this bad news from "Uzumaki" wasn't super shocking given some of the major problems they had faced before they actually produced the episodes.
- Production was rough! There were three production studios which worked on it: Drive, Adult Swim, and Production I.G USA
- They made the series a long time ago! It had a very delayed production run that ran from 2019 when it started to finally 2024 for the series launch
- Another super clear and disturbing element came out to create major concerns for those who love anime. In the first episode 2 animation directors were involved in production. Yet, when Episode 2 came around the number of those working on it went up to 25. This likely pointed out how many outside crews worked on this part of the series.
Fans are hoping for a return to quality for those looking at getting their final episodes, that will be out shortly but are worried that "Uzumaki may go down as the most memorable Junji Ito anime adaptation that no one could really watch!
If you love horror! There are a few shows you might consider for those who aren't so keen about the issues in Uzumaki and love Junji Ito.
"Uzumaki" still has an epic premise that has a compelling story line to explore. "Uzumaki is set in a town where all sorts of spirals are out of control and these super intense events have created terror! You get to go through this special world with Kirie Goshima, a high schooler along with Shuichi Saito, as they face the horrors coming their way!
