The Spiral pattern: For most it is believed to be a hypnotist’s best tool, but for Junji Ito fans, the Spiral can be deadly.
The “Ito-ssance” continues with more adaptations of the horror manga-ka’s work, with Uzumaki being the latest manga to get the anime adaptation treatment, according to Crunchyroll, the anime streaming service.
The announcement was made at Crunchyroll Expo during Labor Day Weekend, at a Junji Ito Live Drawing Session, no less. Uzumaki will be adapted into a four-part mini series for Adult Swim’s late night programming block Toonami in 2020, ahead of the Japanese broadcast. Mushishi director Hiroshi Nagahama will direct, and film composer Colin Stetson, who did the music for Hereditary will handle the music.
For the uninitiated, Junji Ito is a horror manga artist whose popular works include Tomie, Gyo, and Uzumaki, amongst his short story collections. Ito’s short stories were animated back in 2018, and Tomie has a series of live-action movies in Japan, plus a new TV adaptation in works.
Uzumaki focuses on the Japanese seaside town of Kurôzu-cho, where its residents are cursed by a supernatural spiral. High-schoolers Kirie Goshima and Shuichi Saito investigate the curse, witnessing how the spiral affects different residents and makes them either paranoid or violent. The spiral seems to take over many of its affected victims, marking them with a spiral design at their death. (One of the most recognized images from the Uzumaki manga, for example, is that of Azami Kurotani, the girl with a giant spiral design swallowing the left side of her head near her eye.)
Only a few residents of Kurôzu-cho, seem to be immune to the spiral’s curse after encountering it, including Kirie and Shuichi. Even when a supernatural spiral storm descends upon the town and destroys it, it seems that the curse does not end. Ito is most known for taking seemingly normal fears and amplifying them times a thousand to create an all-consuming, terrifying sense of unease and discomfort, and Uzumaki is no exception. Uzumaki is currently published by VIZ, and you can read a preview of the manga here.
While an exact release date has not yet been announced, Adult Swim put out a teaser trailer, which you can watch below.
via [Adult Swim]
