Uzumaki (2024) – Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Uzumaki begins with Kirie meeting her boyfriend Shuichi, who tells her about a mysterious spiral disease plaguing their town.

His own father has become increasingly obsessed with spirals, to the point where his eyes roll terrifyingly independent of each other as he fixates on them. Strange phenomena like whirlpools in the town’s streams and weak tornadoes in the air begin to emerge, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Shuichi’s father is indeed obsessed with spirals, decorating his room entirely with spiral patterns. He even visits Kirie’s father, a pottery artisan, to commission a custom spiral art piece.

At Kirie’s new high school, we meet her friend Akane, who has a scar on her forehead. Akane explains that she got it while attempting to walk on a tightrope to impress someone she liked.

Since getting the scar, she claims she’s never had any trouble attracting her crushes. When Kirie later introduces Akane to Shuichi, he reacts violently, grabbing Kirie’s hand and running away.

He claims Akane is afflicted with the Uzumaki, the spiral curse. Later, when Shuichi encounters Akane acting strangely, it’s revealed that her scar has transformed into a growing spiral.

Meanwhile, the spiral disease continues spreading. One of Kirie’s classmates develops a mysterious spiral on his back. As things spiral out of control, Shuichi’s father dies while trying to twist his body into a spiral shape inside a bathtub.

Shuichi explains how his mother and he were on the verge of admitting him to a hospital. At his father’s cremation, the smoke from the cremation forms a massive spiral in the sky, pushing Shuichi’s mother into madness, and she is hospitalized. Her condition worsens to the point where she attempts to cut off her fingertips because of the spirals in her fingerprints.

While returning from the hospital, Kirie runs into Akane, whose face is now partially consumed by the growing spiral on her forehead.

Akane approaches Shuichi and asks a schoolboy for help, promising to date him in return. She then gruesomely sucks him into the growing spiral on her head.

Shuichi hides in a large tree while Kirie watches in horror as Akane’s spiral continues to grow, ultimately consuming her entire body until she vanishes out of existence. Kirie realizes that the darkness in their town has only just begun.

The Episode Review

Junji Ito’s cult classic Uzumaki finally makes its debut on-screen! The adaptation stays true to the original manga, with the anime preserving the black-and-white color palette and intricate, ghastly art style of Ito.

This visual style perfectly evokes the sense of dread and terror that permeates throughout the episode.

The characters feel like they’ve been brought straight out of the manga, adding an additional layer to Ito’s macabre world. The background score complements the disturbing atmosphere of the Uzumaki universe flawlessly.

While Uzumaki is revered as one of the greatest manga of macabre horror, its deeper appeal lies in its allegorical nature as well. The small town, plagued by spirals and collapsing in on itself, symbolizes the suffocating reality of isolated communities that are trapped in their own traditions and practices.

Shuichi’s repeated warnings to leave the town emphasize the sense of entrapment and the impending doom that looms over those who remain. The spiral curse, spreading like wildfire, serves as a metaphor for the unchecked growth of toxic customs and beliefs, slowly consuming both the town and its people.