Uzumaki Episode 1 Was Mind Blowing

Article at a glance:

• The art in Uzumaki Episode 1 perfectly captures Junji Ito’s eerie style, bringing manga panels to life.
• The anime retains the unsettling atmosphere, with a soundtrack and voice acting that enhance the creepy vibe.
• Despite minor cleanups and some censorship, the adaptation surpasses expectations, delivering a faithful horror experience.

Crazy to even think about the fact that the Uzumaki anime adaptation was announced back in 2019. I don’t think I even knew about Junji Itou much in 2019 lol. This anime has been delayed time and again. But finally, the Uzumaki anime is out and just based on Episode 1 alone I can say for certain that it was worth the wait. It was everything I expected and more. A Junji Itou work finally has a good anime adaptation and I couldn’t be happier. His works aren’t easy to adapt, after all.

So yeah, this is the first “First Impressions” article for the Fall 2024 season. The upcoming weeks are going to be full of these so be prepared. Today we are talking about Uzumaki Episode 1. Let’s get right into it!

What did I think of Uzumaki Episode 1?

Let’s start with the most obvious aspect. The art of the anime is immaculate. It feels like Junji Itou himself made the anime. It is literally like manga panels come to life in the best way possible. Turning pages and finding an unexplainable monstrosity is the best part of Junji Itou’s mangas and this anime understands that. It somehow manages to retain that page-turning shock factor in the animation format as well.

Yes, the art has been cleaned up a little compared to the manga and certain minor scenes were censored but that is perfectly fine. The “it” factor of Junji Itou’s art is still preserved. The animations do look like they’re on lower framerate in certain scenes, though I wonder if that was on purpose, could just be me too. But the anime staff understood the assignment and they delivered. They get the creepiness of Itou’s work and how his specific brand of horror works. You can feel the same eerieness in the anime as well.

The soundtrack and voice acting perfectly complement the eerie vibe of the story. Nothing feels quite right, because nothing is right. Uzumaki just keeps on getting crazier and crazier so I am very excited to see how future episodes look. This was a perfect introduction to the crazy world of Junji Itou. I have zero complaints from Episode 1. Whatever expectations I had, it far surpassed them.

That is all for now

Uzumaki Episode 1 gets an easy 10/10 from me. The anime staff understands Itou’s work very well and I could not ask for anything more. It feels surreal to see a manga I hold in such high regard finally come to life in animation. I know that I am being biased here but this first episode was just perfect. So yeah, we will see how the upcoming episodes go. Uzumaki isn’t very long and things will get exponentially crazier in every episode. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on Dandadan pre-release here!