Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Uzumaki’ begins with a rather plain scene of a beaten path with grass on the sides, but if you look closely, you’ll notice tiny spiral shaped plants hiding underneath the grass, one of the biggest motif of Junji Ito’s popular horror story. And even if you miss them in the opening second, soon, a close up shot ensures they are in your face. BTW – just in case you didn’t know – Uzumaki is Japanese for ‘swirl’ or ‘spiral’.
Directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and Yûji Moriyama, Uzumaki, the anime series, is just four episodes long and is based on Junji Ito’s horror manga of the same name. The first episode is damn good, setting an eerie tone for the story, which unfolds in the obscure seaside town of Kurozu. Just like in the manga, high school student Kirie Goshima narrates the twisted tale of a horrifying curse that begins to plague her hometown. It all starts when her boyfriend, Shuichi, tells Kirie about his father’s strange behavior and his obsession with anything spiral-shaped. Shuichi is convinced something is terribly wrong with their town and urges them to leave. While Kirie initially thinks Shuichi is overreacting, she will come to deeply regret not taking his concerns seriously.
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The 2-D animation style in ‘Uzumaki’ is quite faithful to Junji Ito’s original illustrations, from the character designs, to the haunted town of Kurozu, the animators bring the horror manga to life. However, they should’ve played with colors in some scenes, it feels like they were scared to experiment with any other tines that weren’t variations of black. The black-and-white colors obviously lend a solidly dark, retro, depressing tone to the tale, but some color would’ve lent an added visual appeal to the anime. Despite some truly disturbing events, the anime rarely creeps under your skin like the manga did.
After the first episode, the plot’s pace and mood settle into a steady rhythm, lacking the ups and downs needed for tension. This may be due to the monotonous color scheme and the subdued music score, which fail to heighten the terror or inject excitement into the horror story. As more and more people become maddened or weirdly transformed by the sinister spirals in the town, Kirie becomes desperate to find a way to leave town with her family. But the spirals also make it impossible for any resident to leave Kurozu.
Overall, thanks to Junji Ito’s original twisted material, that features an entire town under the grips of a grotesque, unexplainable curse, which twists them, kills them, or turns them into ghastly creatures, ‘Uzumaki’ is quite unsettling and eerie. However, the anime creators don’t do a lot to elevate the source material. An AI capable of transforming manga panels into animated scenes might have done just as well.
Rating: 3 on 5.
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