“Uzumaki” is a four-part, black-and-white anime mini-series adaptation of Junji Ito’s excellent manga. The story follows the residents of fictional Japanese town Kurôzu Cho as they are plagued by spirals appearing everywhere, manifesting into terrifying phenomena.

Thanks to his disturbing imagery and distinct take on body horror and the horror genre, I have been a fan of Ito’s since I read “Uzumaki” in high school, so I’ve been anticipating this anime adaptation since its 2019 announcement. However, while this series benefits from great music and excellent animation in the first episode, “Uzumaki” struggles with bizarre pacing and a distracting drop in animation from the second episode onwards.

My favorite element of this show is easily the score from saxophonist and multireedist Colin Stetson, although I may be biased here. Stetson has slowly become one of my favorite musicians working today, and his two most recent albums, 2023s “When we were what wept for the sea” and 2024’s “The love it took to leave You,” have been my favorite albums of their respective years. His work is equal parts haunting and beautiful, and I can’t even comprehend how he’s capable of doing so much with only a saxophone. If this wasn’t enough, he’s also an accomplished composer, thanks to his work on 2018’s “Hereditary” and 2022’s “The Menu.”

As per usual, Stetson’s score for “Uzumaki” creates an eerie atmosphere that perfectly fits the tone. The loopy sound of his music also works in a story about spirals, creating an effective parallel between the show’s visual and audio aspects.

Another aspect that I love is the fantastic animation in the first episode. It was really exciting to see how Ito’s iconic and horrifying imagery would be recreated, and this premiere didn’t disappoint in the slightest. There’s also a very interesting animation style, almost making characters look like they were rotoscoped. It’s quite honestly a perfect style for “Uzumaki.”

Unfortunately, the animation quality immediately nosedives, with certain moments coming off as unintentionally comical. Turns out that “Uzumaki” had a troubled production, partially due to COVID-19. Initially slated for a 2020 release, the constant delays partially explain the distracting downhill visual style following the first episode.

If that wasn’t enough, executive producer Jason De Marco stated in a now-deleted Bluesky post that he had considered either releasing the first episode alone or completely scrapping the show’s release due to the glaring dip in animation quality. However, he opted to release the whole show out of respect for the animators who worked on it. I recognize the hard work this show required, but they really should have spent more time in the oven to make the best-looking anime they could.

Another big issue I have with “Uzumaki” is its pacing. The show consists of only four episodes, with a total runtime of 1 hour and 54 minutes. The problem is that this series feels like it’s just rushing between its sequences of bizarre horror. Not only that, but it makes me wonder why this was a TV series rather than a movie — the animation studio might have received more money and time to make something of consistent quality as a movie.

All in all, I found “Uzumaki” to be an underwhelming mess. Maybe I would have been less disappointed if the first episode didn’t look as good as it did, but as it stands, this anime fails to fully recapture what made Ito’s original manga so beloved.

RATING: 5/10