'Uzumaki' anime producer addresses botchy episode likened to old PS2 games: 'We got screwed over'

[Garth Gator]

 

Adult Swim’s highly anticipated horror anime Uzumaki has taken a dark turn, but not in the way fans were hoping. After a strong debut, the show’s second episode faced backlash over a noticeable dip in animation quality, leaving viewers feeling less scared and more disappointed. The uproar was loud enough to prompt executive producer Jason DeMarco, co-creator of Toonami, to step in and explain what went wrong.

 

DeMarco addressed fans on Bluesky, revealing that the production team had been “screwed over” by unforeseen circumstances. He suggested that the challenges weren’t just creative but operational, impacting the anime’s ability to maintain the standard set by its promising first episode. The show, based on Junji Ito’s cult-classic manga, follows Kirie Goshima and Shuichi Saito as they navigate the eerie, spiral-plagued town of Kurouzu-cho. With its blend of psychological horror and dark fantasy, Uzumaki had been heralded as a faithful adaptation of Ito’s haunting work.

 

 

 

However, despite years of development—and multiple delays due to the pandemic—the second episode’s animation quality fell far short of expectations, with fans comparing it to early video game graphics akin to those in PlayStation 2. This drop in quality led to widespread frustration, adding fuel to the idea of the “Junji Ito adaptation curse” that has plagued previous attempts to bring the horror master’s works to the screen.

 

 

 

why do they hate us pic.twitter.com/rYMeVxNQGn

— DeadProxy (@DeadProxy) October 7, 2024

 

 

In now-deleted posts, DeMarco explained that the production team was left with a tough decision: either halt the show or continue with the remaining episodes, knowing the visuals weren’t up to par.

 

 

 

Ultimately, they chose the latter, opting to push forward out of respect for the time and effort that had already gone into the project. Though he avoided placing blame directly, DeMarco hinted at internal issues involving certain individuals but kept the specifics under wraps.

 

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After waiting so long, it makes sense people would be mad. Unfortunately I can’t tell them who to blame it on… but someone is definitely at fault here, and we all just had to do our best when things imploded. Maybe others would have made different choices. We did the best we could with what we had.

 

 

Despite the setbacks, DeMarco assured fans that the team is still dedicated to delivering the best adaptation of Uzumaki possible, even if the path forward looks a bit rougher than anticipated.

 

• https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/anime-shows/as-uzumaki-episode-2-gets-compared-to-a-ps2-game-one-of-the-horror-animes-producers-addresses-the-animation-downgrade-we-were-screwed-over/ 
• https://kotaku.com/uzumaki-horror-anime-ep-2-quality-demarco-toonami-1851668296 
• https://gizmodo.com/uzumaki-anime-bad-animation-episode-2-jason-demarco-2000509050 

 

 

Opening image: Adult Swim