"No death, no doom, no anguish can arouse the surpassing despair which flows from a loss of identity. Merging with nothingness is peaceful oblivion; but to be aware of existence and yet to know that one is no longer a definite being distinguished from other beings — that one no longer has a self — that is the nameless summit of agony and dread." So says the protagonist of the story, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key," by H.P. Lovecraft, an author greatly admired by Junji Ito, creator of the manga Uzumaki (Japanese for "swirl" or "spiral"). The passage from Lovecraft eloquently summarizes the existential dread that is Uzumaki's source of horror — that the cosmos, reality itself, is indifferent to your existence, and that there is no "you" separate from it.
Uzumaki has gotten a prestige four-part anime series that is both greatly faithful to the manga (even boldly retaining its black and white illustration) but also has the benefit of being cinematic. The great saxophonist and composer Colin Stetson provides an incredible score that's haunting and memorable, the sound design is sparse but evocative like the animation, and the editing creates kinetic, relentless scenes interspersed with quieter moments of brooding atmosphere. It also brings to life certain horrific and absurd images from the manga in unforgettable ways, combining 2D and 3D animation styles to create a flowing aesthetic.
Hiroshi Nagahama (of Wicked City fame) directs the series with gusto, and Aki Itami's script is incredibly faithful and clearly understands the power of the manga, though it's a bit too condensed, resulting in some scenes that are simply too fast-moving. While it's a little rushed and could certainly benefit from more episodes, the Uzumaki anime (also called Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror) is a must-watch for horror fans and fans of anime who can stomach it.
Uzumaki Is an Anime Body Horror That Goes Beyond the Body
Uzumaki is narrated by Kirie Goshima, a high school girl in the coastal town of Kurouzu-cho, which seemingly becomes cursed and is gradually taken over by some metaphysical horror manifested in the form of spirals. It begins with the father of her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito. The older man develops an obsession with spirals, and the animation in Uzumaki visualizes this brilliantly; the series, like the manga, is animated in a way that externalizes internal thoughts and feelings. The anime, however, has the benefit of motion, something which makes the spiral imagery that much more hypnotic. After all, the spiral is well-known for its use in hypnosis and mesmerism.
Shuichi's father takes his obsession to a disturbing and ultimately fatal level when he uses a mechanical contraption to twist and contort his body into a spiral, breaking all his bones until he dies. The smoke from his cremation forms a cloudy black spiral, driving his widow insane. The sight of spirals makes her apoplectic, to the point where she cuts off her fingertips to avoid the sight of spirals in her fingerprints.
That's just the beginning of the body horror, which is sometimes so absurdly grotesque and extreme that it can be morbidly comical. They are nevertheless unique and unforgettable images. Ito draws from Hideshi Hino, Buddhist hell scrolls, and, of course, Lovecraft to create an unsettling hybrid that is both grounded in the horror of distorted bodies but also focused on something beyond the body, something inhuman and almost cosmic.
Unexplained Vignettes Form an Inhuman Portrait
Uzumaki is ultimately the story of one town's descent into a kind of hell, with the relationship between Kyrie and Shuichi serving as our entry point. From the two of them, we learn about the many different horrors overtaking the town, and as a result, Uzumaki can feel disconnected and like an anthology series. That's understandable, since it utilizes vignettes and short individual stories to create one bigger tale, but the scattered narrative adds to the unstable postmodern approach. They bleed together sometimes, and even merge together in surprising ways, spiraling outward.
It may bug some viewers that the horrific events of Kurouzu-cho are never really explained, and that they often disrupt logic, physics, and our understanding of reality. But that's arguably the source of the show's horror, and leaning into that feeling may open a person's mind to Uzumaki's uniquely inhuman ideas and atmosphere. Ito himself has said that the spiral motif indicates infinity, something beyond the individual, beyond our comprehension. It signifies the horror of the realization that reality and the universe is not anthropocentric, that it is indifferent or even hostile to humanity, that we don't matter and are barely even real.
The Philosophy of Uzumaki Is Made of Cosmic Nightmares
P.J. Kain writes of this cosmic indifference in "Nietzsche, Truth, and the Horror of Existence" in History of Philosophy Quarterly, 23 (2006), when he attempts to encapsulate certain views of Friedrich Nietzsche:
"[The cosmos is] alien. It was not designed for human beings at all; nor were they designed for it. We just do not fit. We do not belong. And we never will. The cosmos is horrible, terrifying, and we will never surmount this fact. It is a place where human beings suffer for no reason at all. It is best never to have been born. Let us call this the horrific cosmos."
Like Lovecraft's work, this is why Ito's Uzumaki is so unsettling. It's impressive that the new anime refuses to compromise and dilute that intellectually disturbing notion. It's incredible that it's taken this long to create a great anime from this (though there was an inferior and slightly silly Japanese film version), since it's such a visually powerful story. So powerful, in fact, that you might get sucked in.
Adult Swim’s adaptation of Uzumaki will premiere tonight, Saturday, September 28, at 12:30am during the network’s action/anime block Toonami, with new episodes airing weekly in Japanese with English subtitles. (The Japanese version is arguably better, but the English voice actors are very good). Both the Japanese and English dub will be available to stream the next day on Max. English-language encore airings will debut every Thursday at 12:30am beginning October 3. The series is produced by Adult Swim in partnership with Production IG USA with Jason DeMarco serving as Executive Producer. You can watch it on Max through the link below:
Watch Uzumaki
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