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is a Japanese
horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written and illustrated by
Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include ''Tomie'', a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; ''Uzumaki'', a three-volume series about a town cursed by spirals; and ''Gy ...
. Appearing as a serial in
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
's weekly
manga magazine are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...
''
Big Comic Spirits is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional val ...
'' from 1998 to 1999, the chapters were compiled into three bound volumes published from August 1998 to September 1999. In March 2000, Shogakukan released an
omnibus edition An omnibus edition or omnibus is a book containing multiple creative works by the same or, more rarely, different authors. Commonly two or more of the works have been previously published as books, but a collection of shorter works, or shorter w ...
, followed by a second omnibus version in August 2010. In North America,
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
serialized an English-language translation of the series in its monthly magazine ''Pulp'' from February 2001 to August 2002. Viz Media then published the volumes from October 2001 to October 2002, with a re-release from October 2007 to February 2008, and published a hardcover omnibus edition in October 2013. The series tells the story of the denizens of Kurouzu-cho, a fictional town which is plagued by a supernatural curse involving spirals. The story for ''Uzumaki'' originated when Ito attempted to write a story about people living in a very long terraced house, and he was inspired to use a spiral shape to achieve the desired length. Ito believes the horror of ''Uzumaki'' is effective due to its subversion of symbols which are positively portrayed in Japanese media, and its theme of protagonists struggling against a mysterious force stronger than themselves. ''Uzumaki'' continues to receive critical acclaim, deemed by many as Ito's
magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...
. The manga has received generally positive reviews from English-language critics. It was nominated for an
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...
in 2003, and placed in the
Young Adult Library Services Association The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...
's list of the "Top 10 Graphic Novels for Teens" in 2009. In 2000, the manga was adapted into two video games for the
WonderSwan The is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. Developed in collaboration with Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory, it was the final piece of hardware Yokoi worked on before his death in 1997. Launched in March 1999 during the ...
and a Japanese
live-action film Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a Live-action animation, live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define ...
directed by
Higuchinsky Akihiro Higuchi, also known by the alias Higuchinsky, is a Ukrainian-born film director known for directing the 2000 film ''Uzumaki (film), Uzumaki'', an adaptation of the manga Uzumaki, of the same name by Junji Ito. Higuchinsky also directed '' ...
. An
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television miniseries adaptation co-produced by
Production I.G USA is a Japanese animation studio. Headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Production I.G was founded on December 15, 1987, by producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto as I.G Tatsunoko, a branch studio of the animation giant Tat ...
and
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...
and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
aired from September to October 2024 in the United States on Adult Swim's
Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...
programming block.


Plot

''Uzumaki'' follows a high-school student, ; her boyfriend, ; and the citizens of the small, quiet Japanese town of , which is enveloped by supernatural events involving spirals. As the story progresses, Kirie and Shuichi witness how the spiral curse affects the people around them, causing the citizens to become either obsessed with or paranoid about spirals, including transforming them into grotesque monsters such as contorting their bodies, making pregnant women act like mosquitoes, raising the dead, and mutating most of the citizens into snails. The curse also affects Kurouzu's environment as it simultaneously creates whirlwinds and whirlpools, especially turning the abandoned
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...
into a hot furnace while making whoever looks at it walk in circles. Shuichi becomes reclusive after both of his parents die from the horrific psychological and physical powers of the spirals, but also gains the ability to detect when the spiral curse is taking place, although he is often dismissed until the next paranormal effects of the curse become obvious. Eventually, Kirie is affected by the curse as well, when her hair begins to curl into an unnatural spiral pattern, drains her life energy to hypnotize the citizens, and chokes her whenever she attempts to cut it off. Shuichi is able to cut her hair and save her. As the community begins to break down, the curse continues to plague the town until a series of typhoons conjured by the curse destroys most of its structures. The only remaining buildings are ancient abandoned
row house A terrace, terraced house (British English, UK), or townhouse (American English, US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses party wall, sharing side walls. In the United States ...
s, which the citizens are forced first to move into, and then begin expanding as they grow more and more crowded, but have become mutated as a consequence of overcrowding, their limbs twisting and warping into spirals. After the town has been nearly destroyed by increasingly powerful storms and whirlwinds generated by fast movements and loud noises, Kirie and Shuichi gather everyone to devise a plan to escape Kurouzu, but when they attempt to escape, their efforts are unsuccessful. After returning to the town, they discover that several years have passed since they left, as time speeds up away from the spiral. The other citizens expanded the row houses until they connected into a single structure, forming a labyrinthine spiral pattern. Kirie and Shuichi decide to search for Kirie's parents, which brings them to the center after many days of walking through the labyrinth which leads them directly to Dragonfly Pond, now converted into a structured staircase. When they begin walking down the steps, Shuichi is hurled down the pit leading deep beneath Kurouzu by a mutated citizen, with Kirie herself descending via a colossal spiral staircase to find him. She falls but is saved by countless bodies making up the ground of a vast, ancient city consisting entirely of spiral patterns in various arrangements. As Kirie looks for Shuichi, she finds her parents twisted and petrified, resembling stone statues, along with many other citizens of Kurouzu who have met the same fate. Then, she hears Shuichi call for her and goes to him. Both are overwhelmed by the ancient spirals surrounding them and Shuichi points out how it seems as though the spiral ruins have a will of their own. Noticing that the petrified citizens of Kurouzu are all facing the spiral city, Shuichi theorizes that this is the source of the curse; the city expands on its own periodically and has cursed the land above out of jealousy from having no one to view it. Shuichi urges Kirie to leave without him as he can no longer walk and the curse should be over soon, but she replies that she does not have the strength and wishes to stay with him. The two embrace with their bodies twisting and intertwining together, signifying their acceptance of the never-ending curse. At the same time, a stone tower in the shape of a
drill bit A drill bit is a cutting tool used in a drill to remove material to create holes, almost always of circular cross-section. Drill bits come in many sizes and shapes and can create different kinds of holes in many different materials. In orde ...
rises out of the city and breaches the surface, forming the centerpiece of the abandoned town. As Shuichi and Kirie lie together, Kirie notes that the curse ended at the same time it began, for just as time speeds up away from the center, it freezes at the center. The spiral's curse is eternal, and all the events will repeat when a new Kurouzu is built where the previous one lies.


Characters

;Kirie Goshima : ;Shuichi Saito : ;Yasuo Goshima : ;Chizuko Goshima : ;Mitsuo Goshima : ;Toshio Saito : ;Yukie Saito : ;Azami Kurotani : ;Tokuo Katayama : ;Okada : ;Kazuki Tsumura : ;Ikuo Yokota : ;Shiho Ishikawa : ;Kazunori Nishiki : ;Yoriko Endo : ;Mitsuru Yamaguchi : ;Kyoko Sekino : ;Keiko Nakayama : ;Wakabayashi : ;Pregnant Woman L : ;Chie Maruyama : ;Tanizaki : ;Butterfly Tribe Leader : ;Takemoto :


Development

''Uzumaki'' was written and illustrated by
Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include ''Tomie'', a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; ''Uzumaki'', a three-volume series about a town cursed by spirals; and ''Gy ...
. Junji Ito's initial desire was to create a story about strange changes that would occur to people living in a very long, traditional Japanese terraced house. This story would have been based on Ito's personal experience living in such a house as a child. During the process of finding a way to draw such a long building, Ito was inspired by the shape of a
mosquito coil A mosquito coil is a Insect repellent, mosquito-repelling incense, usually made into a spiral, and typically made using dried paste of pyrethrum powder. The coil is usually held at the center of the spiral, suspending it in the air, or wedged by ...
and decided he could make the building long by having it spiral. Ito has noted that the spiral is a "mysterious pattern" and described writing ''Uzumaki'' as an attempt to learn the secrets of the spiral. Ito sought inspiration by methods such as staring at spirals, researching spirals, creating spiral patterns by draining water from bath tubs, eating foods with spiral patterns, and raising snails. Looking back on the series in 2006, Ito stated that while he was still uncertain what the spiral stood for, he thought it might be representative of infinity. ''Uzumaki'' was influenced by the positive representation of spirals in media, which inspired Ito to subvert them to create horror, stating: "Usually spiral patterns mark character's cheeks in Japanese comedy cartoons, representing an effect of warmth. However, I thought it could be used in horror if I drew it a different way." The story in which Kirie's hair is cursed by the spiral reflects a recurring theme in Ito's work in which a heroine's hair has a life of its own. Ito uses this imagery because it lends itself well to horror due to its association with the Japanese feminine ideal (), as well as the unnerving flowing motions of long hair, which he describes as snakelike. Ito also noted that horror writer
H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...
was one of his inspirations when creating ''Uzumaki'', stating that the gradual development of the spiral curse was patterned on Lovecraft's storytelling and that " Lovecraft's expressionism with regard to atmosphere greatly inspires my creative impulse."


Media


Manga

Written and illustrated by
Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include ''Tomie'', a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; ''Uzumaki'', a three-volume series about a town cursed by spirals; and ''Gy ...
, ''Uzumaki'' was serialized in
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
's manga magazine ''
Big Comic Spirits is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional val ...
'' from January 19, 1998, to August 30, 1999. Shogakukan compiled the chapters into three bound volumes and published them from August 29, 1998, to September 30, 1999. To celebrate the release of the live-action film, the manga series was released in an
omnibus Omnibus may refer to: Film and television * ''Omnibus'' (film), a 1992 French short comedy film * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * ''Omnibus'' (British TV programme), an arts-based documentary programme * ''Omnibu ...
volume in March 2000, with an additional "lost" chapter. Shogakukan released another omnibus edition on August 30, 2010, with the same content and additional commentary from Masaru Sato. In North America,
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
serialized an English-language translation of the series in its monthly magazine ''Pulp'' from the February 2001 issue to the August 2002 issue. It published volumes of the series from October 2001 to October 2002. Viz Media re-released the series with new covers from October 2007 to February 2008, and published the omnibus volume in hardcover with twelve color pages on October 13, 2013. The series has also been translated into other languages, such as Spanish, French,
Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (; ; also known as pt-BR) is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of Portuguese language native to Brazil. It is spoken by almost all of the 203 million inhabitants of Brazil and widely across the Brazilian diaspora ...
, Polish, Swedish, Mandarin, Korean, and
Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...
.


Video games

Two video games were developed and published by Omega Micott for the
Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...
WonderSwan The is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. Developed in collaboration with Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory, it was the final piece of hardware Yokoi worked on before his death in 1997. Launched in March 1999 during the ...
. The first, , was released on February 3, 2000, and is a
visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...
retelling the events of the manga. Kirie Goshima's actor,
Eriko Hatsune is a Japanese actress. Her career began in 1998, when she appeared in several television commercials.Nippon Cinema
ret ...
makes a special appearance. The second game, titled , was released on March 4, 2000, and is a
simulation game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...
. Players are tasked by the to spread the spiral curse. The objective is to spread the curse across the town and find hidden objects to gain more "Spiral Power" and progress the story. The title also includes a
mini-game A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...
involving one of the snail-human hybrids.


Live-action film

On February 11, 2000, a live-action adaptation of ''Uzumaki'' was released in Japan. Directed by
Higuchinsky Akihiro Higuchi, also known by the alias Higuchinsky, is a Ukrainian-born film director known for directing the 2000 film ''Uzumaki (film), Uzumaki'', an adaptation of the manga Uzumaki, of the same name by Junji Ito. Higuchinsky also directed '' ...
, it featured
Eriko Hatsune is a Japanese actress. Her career began in 1998, when she appeared in several television commercials.Nippon Cinema
ret ...
as Kirie Goshima,
Shin Eun-kyung Shin Eun-kyung (; born 15 February 1973) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading roles in '' Downfall'' (1997) and '' My Wife Is a Gangster'' (2001). Shin is one of the most prominent Korean actress in the 1990s, alongside ...
as Chie Maruyama, Fhi Fan as Shuichi Saito,
Keiko Takahashi is a Japanese actress. Prior to marrying director Banmei Takahashi in 1982, she went by her maiden name . She debuted in the 1970 film ''High School Student Blues''. Her second film, ''おさな妻'', earned her the Golden Arrow Award for Newco ...
as Yukie Saito,
Ren Osugi , born was a Japanese actor. For his work in ''Cure'', '' Hana-bi'' and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival. He often worked alongside Takeshi Kitano and Susumu Terajima. In the DVD com ...
as Toshio Saito, and
Hinako Saeki is a Japanese actress who was born on February 16, 1977, in Nara, Japan. Probably her best-known role was as Sadako Yamamura in '' Rasen'', the 1998 sequel to the horror film ''Ring''. She has also appeared in a handful of other popular Japanes ...
as Kyoko Sekino. The film consists of four parts ("A Premonition", "Erosion", "Visitation", and "Transmigration"), and as a result of being produced before the manga's conclusion, uses a different ending than the manga.


Anime

At 2019's
Crunchyroll Expo Crunchyroll Expo (CRX) was an annual three-day anime convention held during August/September at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California over Labor Day weekend. The convention was organized by anime licensor Crunchyroll an ...
, a 4-episode
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television miniseries adaptation was announced. The miniseries is co-produced by
Production I.G USA is a Japanese animation studio. Headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Production I.G was founded on December 15, 1987, by producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto as I.G Tatsunoko, a branch studio of the animation giant Tat ...
and
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...
and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
's in-house production arm
Williams Street Williams Street Productions, LLC, formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries, is an American animation and live action television production studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a unit of Warner Bros. ...
. The anime is directed by
Hiroshi Nagahama is a Japanese animator and director. He is best known for directing ''Mushishi''. Career Hiroshi Nagahama started his career at Madhouse (company), Madhouse Studio as a mechanical designer for ''The Cockpit (OVA), The Cockpit'', and was also ...
, with
Colin Stetson Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to sa ...
composing the music. It premiered on Adult Swim's
Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...
programming block before its Japanese premiere. This is the fourth time that
Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
, as an entire network, was directly involved in the production of a Japanese anime, with '' The Big O II'', ''
IGPX refers to two American-Japanese anime series co-produced by Production I.G and Cartoon Network. The first is a "microseries" consisting of five 5-minute episodes, and the second is a 26-episode animated series loosely related to the first. ...
'' (both the 2005 micro-series and 2006 anime), and the ''
FLCL is an anime created and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido, and produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which consisted of Gainax, Production I.G, and King Records. The series tells the adventures of the ...
'' sequels, all receiving some form of animated production that was backed by the network. Creative director Jason DeMarco stated that as of March 25, 2020, production was still in progress, and that the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
had no effect on production. In an interview with Ito, he speaks of Hiroshi Nagahama in respect calling him "quite talented". He also said that being faithful to his original manga made him "quite happy". Ito confirmed that the screenplay of the series was finished since he checked. He said "Four episodes is way shorter than the original manga. They did a good job of rearranging the series. For example, someone who dies early on now plays an important role later on. They did a fantastic job of crafting things together like that. The screenwriter is a very talented individual." The anime is produced entirely in black and white. On June 10, 2020, the anime's official Twitter account presented some pictures of storyboards. On July 22, 2020, the official Twitter announced the Japanese voice cast. On July 26, 2020, Adult Swim reran the same teaser trailer during its Adult Swim Con and presented an interview with series director Nagahama. In addition to this, it was confirmed that the series was being moved back a year from its originally planned 2020 release. On July 29, 2020, the Japanese voice cast officially started recording. A second teaser video was posted on June 15, 2021, with comments from director Hiroshi Nagahama describing how the pandemic forced the team to "restructure" their plan for the anime from scratch. The video also confirmed that the anime would be delayed again to October 2022. In June 2022,
Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
confirmed through a press release that the series would also be broadcast on
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...
and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
in Canada. Later that same month, the anime was once again delayed indefinitely at the request of the production staff. In 2023,
Ari Aster Ari Aster (born July 15, 1986) is an American filmmaker. After garnering initial recognition for the short film '' The Strange Thing About the Johnsons'' (2011), he became best known for writing and directing the feature films '' Hereditary'' (2 ...
and
Lars Knudsen Lars Ramkilde Knudsen (born 21 February 1962) is a Denmark, Danish researcher in cryptography, particularly interested in the design and cryptanalysis, analysis of block ciphers, cryptographic hash function, hash functions and message authentic ...
's company Square Peg was revealed to be involved with producing the series. On July 22, 2023, during Adult Swim's "Toonami on the Green" panel at
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
, the network debuted a new clip from the series. Despite it not unveiling any release timeframe at the end, Jason DeMarco later stated on Twitter that the series would premiere later in 2023, although that did not happen. The series premiered in Japanese with English subtitles on September 29, 2024, and its English dub premiered on October 4 of the same year.
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
announced on October 25, 2024, that the series is set to be streamed on the platform in Asia by the end of the year. The series was originally announced as being animated by
Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" * ...
by producer Maki-Terashima Furuta. In July 2023, some articles mentioned that it was being produced by both Drive and Akatsuki. However, when the series premiered in September 2024, Drive's name was not included in the credits. Animation production for the first episode was instead credited to planning and production company Fugaku. The second and third episodes were credited as being produced at Akatsuki; however, Nagahama was only credited for the storyboards, with
Yuji Moriyama is a Japanese anime character designer, animator, animation supervisor and director. He is a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association and a winner of the 4th Japan Animation Awards in the Animation Director category. Career Moriyama ...
credited as director in his place. The fourth and final episode credits neither Nagahama nor Moriyama as director, and omits the title entirely.


Reception

''Uzumaki'' was nominated for an
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...
in the category of " Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material" in 2003. The
Young Adult Library Services Association The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...
chose the first volume for its list of the "Top 10 Great Graphic Novels for Teens" in 2009. The manga was also included on its list of the 53 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens". Viz Media's Deluxe edition ranked No. 172 in Diamond's Top 300 Graphic Novels in October 2013 with a total of 784 copies sold.
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
placed ''Uzumaki'' at #2 under their "Top 10 Horror/Thriller Manga" list.
About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...
's Deb Aoki placed ''Uzumaki'' in her list of recommended horror manga, describing it as a classic of the genre. ''Uzumaki'' appeared in ''1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die'' (2011), and the reviewer wrote that it reminded him of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. ''
MyM ''MyM'' (pronounced "My-em") was an 84-page monthly entertainment magazine published in the United Kingdom by the London MCM Expo, MCM Expo Group. Originally focusing on various aspects of Japanese pop culture, including anime, manga, Cinema o ...
'' magazine praised the manga, calling it "one of the scariest manga series around." In '' Manga: The Complete Guide'' (2007), Jason Thompson gave ''Uzumaki'' three and a half stars, and wrote that, taken as a whole, the manga succeeds as "an elegant and sometimes blackly humorous story of dreamlike logic and nihilism." Thompson featured the manga again in his ''House of 1000 Manga'' blog, praising it for its originality, in that it revolved around "a certain nightmarish, fatalistic way of looking at the world".
ComicsAlliance ComicsAlliance is an American website dedicated to covering the comic book industry as well as comic-related media, and is owned by Townsquare Media. The site has been nominated for multiple awards including a 2015 Eisner Award win in the categ ...
author and comic artist Sara Horrocks also praised the manga, stating "What makes ''Uzumaki'' such a strong work is how precise it is in its mechanics. It is meticulous in the way that a curse might be." For the first volume, Theron Martin from
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
gave it a 'B', praising the art style and character designs, including Viz Media's new cover design. He stated, however, that "some of the attempts at horror get too preposterous for their own good." Greg Hackmann of Mania gave it an A, praising both its "well-honed" art and Ito's ability to form an effective overarching plot out of ''Uzumaki''s loosely connected substories. Barb Lien-Cooper of Sequential Tart gave it a 7 out of 10, stating "The art is clean and simple. It works to help maintain the paranoia. The tone and pacing of this story are also just right. Altogether, one of the better horror stories I've read this year." Ken Haley of PopCultureShock gave it an 'A' and praised Ito's effective use of
body horror Body horror, or biological horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction that intentionally showcases grotesque or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body or of another creature. These violations may manifest through aberrant sex, mutat ...
, though he noted that some of the curse's effects were more humorous than frightening. For the second volume, Lien-Cooper gave it 8 out of 10 stating, "What astounds me about Junji Ito's work is its deceptive simplicity and its flawless execution." Sheena McNeil, also from Sequential Tart, instead gave it a 9 out of 10, citing the novel effects of the curse Ito invented. Hackmann, however, gave it a 'B', explaining that "Unfortunately, this shift in story format is largely a failed experiment: with the overarching escape storyline put on hiatus, a good number of these disconnected episodes degenerate into simple, 'lookit, weird stuff happening' horrorfests that lack much of the creative spark exhibited throughout the first ''Uzumaki'' collection." When reviewing the third and final volume, Haley again gave it an 'A', praising Junji Ito for providing answers to questions previously asked but not answered in a heavy or mundane form. Lien-Cooper gave the conclusion a 6 out of 10, and criticized the ending as nonsensical and the expanded background given in "Galaxies" as uninteresting.


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* at Adult Swim * {{Adult Swim original programming 2024 anime television series debuts Adult Swim original programming Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Anime series based on manga Dark fantasy anime and manga Netflix anime Psychological horror anime and manga Seinen manga Spirals Supernatural anime and manga Toonami Originals Viz Media manga