Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror
Directed by Hiroshi Nagahama & Yuji Moriyama (Adult Swim, 2024)
It only took five years in development, but the anime adaptation of Junji Ito’s seminal horror manga series Uzumaki has finally arrived. Unfortunately, the final product has been (justly) met with disappointment from fans for its shaky pacing and frequently phoned-in animation. But still, while the four-episode miniseries may not do the original comics justice, it does have some of the spark of what made Uzumaki such a compelling experience.
Set in the small town of Kurouzu-cho, Uzumaki follows high schoolers Kirie Goshima and Shuichi Saito as their home is beset by all manner of curses take the form of spirals: Those who look at the town lighthouse are compelled to walk in circles around it, whirlwinds and whirlpools destroy every house in their paths, and most citizens eventually become contorted into spiraling worm- and slug-like creatures. Those not physically affected by the curse become increasingly paranoid about spirals they encounter in nature. Needless to say, Uzumaki may be an animated series, but it is certainly not for children.
What Uzumaki, like most great horror stories, does brilliantly is dwell in the experience of knowing that there is something out there that dwarfs human understanding. Whether it’s a bump in the night or a simple pattern that seems to repeat whenever we look closely at the world around us, it’s hard to go through life without getting that sneaking, crawling suspicion that some mystical happening is right around the corner.
In the series finale, the curse is complete: Kurouzu-cho is trapped beneath the spirals, with a new town destined to be built over it and repeat the process. The enchanted world is always coming back for us. Be ready. Be terrified.
Uzumaki is available to stream on Max.
This article also appears in the January 2025 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 90, No. 1, page 38). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
Image: Uzumaki poster
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