Episode #1.1

Every single scene after the first opening scene had an insane horrific moment. Literally. Every. Single. Scene.

This episode doesn't move like other horror genre films/shows. For example, in your standard horror fare, after a scene with tension ends, you expect the next one to be calm with some moments showing the characters dealing with the things they've just experienced.

Not this show. This show throws all of the calm bits off the cliff and makes you connect the dots. It does that in order to achieve its goal of giving you a nonstop anxiety/panic attack.

But the craziest part is that it plays tricks on you. The first several seconds of each scene is really calm and stable. You get lulled into thinking "oh maybe they've finally decided to give me a moment to breathe" then BOOM they show you the most nightmare-inducing visuals you've ever seen HAHA YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE it seems to be saying.

Soundtrack was also amazing. *checks* of course it's from the dude who scored Hereditary.

God damnit take the 10/10. Find god.

The animation? Wow just amazing, so haunting and unique!

I haven't read the manga, but I found the pacing very chaotic, like in a lot of moments, the show sacrifices story development for visual impact, so I felt very confused through all the episode.

The story moves very quickly from the first moment, which can be annoying at times but also leaves me wondering what is going to happen next? Will it follow the same pacing? Did they want to fast forward to reach some key point in the story?

I have never seen a production like this that from the first chapter had such a crazy pacing, but I hope in the end it will be worth it.

It was five years ago. Five years ago when the teaser for Uzumaki was released. Colin Stetson's haunting Saxophone Screaming music and the disturbing imagery for the teaser left an unforgettable imprint; this would be THE Junji Ito animation adaptation that would finally do justice to his manga work.

Then the pandemic happened, HBO and Discovery merged, numerous shows were cancelled, and though several other trailers were released in the next several years, there was an unease that the show would never be released. Adding to this was a below average Junji Ito series released on Netflix two years ago which cast doubt on how good Uzumaki would be even if it did make it to release (this was not the fault of Ito, the animation and pacing for the Netflix series just did not work with the Ito's stories).

Uzumaki episode one just aired 30 minutes ago and it was worth the wait. The show is incredible. The rotoscoped animation is incredible. The soundtrack is haunting and beautiful. The pacing is perfect; the show wastes no time in setting the scene for the show and keeps it's foot on your windpipe in the way only the best thrillers can.

This will be regarded for decades as one of the greatest horror series of all time and I cannot wait for the next three episodes. I cannot recommend this enough.

10/10.

Someone finally did it. They managed to adapt a Junji Ito piece properly. Ito's work is notoriously hard to translate to other mediums due to the unique ways it utilizes the medium of manga. Netflix's Junji Ito Maniac and the Junji Ito Collection before it both failed to adequately translate Ito's work into the medium of animation, and they lost the strengths of the original's medium.

Uzumaki thankfully does not suffer from the same results. The animation is hauntingly beautiful, the sound design is creative and fun, and the animation serves to add more details and add creative effect to the original manga. It gains the strengths of the animation medium and it looks amazing doing it.

It is a little strangely paced though. Readers of the original manga will notice that it jumps around chapters a lot, and it is not a 1 to 1 adaptation. They don't necessarily add stuff or remove important things, but smaller moments and character development are left out. This isn't terrible since character development is one of Ito's weak points and some of the less interesting stuff in the original manga, but it leads to it feeling a little rushed. I also think some viewers who haven't read the manga would be slightly confused about the story in the first episode.

Overall, an incredible first episode, so excited to see the next 3. Really wish this series was more than 4 episodes so it had some time to breathe though.

Finally, a work that had to be done for a decade, and someone took it and made it perfect, drawings, sounds, and American voices are very well crafted. There is a beautiful mysterious layer on the drawings, I wish they weren't that " literal" sometimes but I don't want to be a perfectionist when at least we are able to enjoy this in another format.

A good note also for the sound design, there is great attention and emphasis on it, and I like a lot how much attention they put because that really makes a huge difference when it comes to an anima of this level. Owning the book makes this even better, I suggest to anyone to read it.