Spiralling into Darkness: ‘Uzumaki’ to Get Animated Series for 2020
Junji Ito is a legend among legends when it comes to the creation of chilling manga. We’ve talked before about his mastery of the medium, his expert control of pacing and knack for creating surreal and unsettling visual shocks. Fans of his distinctive brand of creepiness will be thrilled to hear that his masterwork Uzumaki (Spiral) is about to get the animation treatment, courtesy of Toonami.
Premiering on Adult Swim in 2020, Uzumaki will be a four episode mini-series produced in conjunction with Production IG USA. The story follows a handful of characters in a small, fictional Japanese town called Kurōzu-cho (黒渦町 Black Vortex Town). The town is under a supernatural curse, which involves various manifestations of spiral shapes. This simple premise leads to some of the most bizarre, dream-like and gut-wrenching images ever to be committed to paper, and the whole story is shot through with a kind of delirious nihilism.
This is not the first time that the cult classic has been adapted. 2000 saw a live-action remake hit the cinemas, but this was let down by its reliance on complicated effects and a dreamy, rambling plot that failed to connect with audiences.
This new adaptation already has some interesting names attached. Director Hiroshi Nagahama delivered some incredible gut-punches with his adaptation of The Flowers of Evil in 2013, the first anime to exclusively use rotoscoping animation techniques.
Colin Stetson is set to produce the score, following his stellar work on Hereditary. You can hear some of his haunting work in the trailer below.
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