This year, the world watched as Uzumaki made its debut with bated breath. The anime fandom has seen a number of Junji Ito adaptations fail straight out of the gate, but the Warner Bros. Discovery project promised to be different. Uzumaki made good on that promise with episode one, but sadly, the good times did not last. By its finale, Uzumaki found itself better known for its stiff animation, and now fans are asking a big question…. Did David Zaslav have anything to do with the downfall?
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Over the past week, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery has found himself in hot water on a number of fronts. From shareholder pressure to online mockery, Zaslav is facing a mountain of work. The controversial executive has been scrutinized heavily for dozens of decisions made in the past several years. His track record with animation is particularly bad, so really, can you blame netizens for asking after Uzumaki?
Uzumaki’s Downfall Was Not Expected at All
In order to unpack the travesty that is Uzumaki, we need to talk about its backstory. The hit story was released decades ago as a manga penned by Ito. The artist, who is considered a horror master, earned high praise for Uzumaki‘s eerie atmosphere and body horror. The unsettling tale has become one of Ito’s most popular stories, and many fans were hopeful when Adult Swim (Warner Bros. Discovery) announced it was adapting the manga for the screen. Production I.G. was set to co-produce the anime, and after the 2019 reveal, fans waited.
And waited. And waited. And again, they waited. Fans stood guard over Uzumaki throughout the pandemic as COVID-19 nearly derailed the project. Finally, director Hiroshi Nagahama shared an update that Uzumaki would be released in 2024, and the anime came to life with a stunning premiere. The first episode of Uzumaki is a true masterclass with its fluid animation and upsetting visuals. It marks the first time Ito’s work was done justice on screen. However, that would change in episode two.
Across its four-episode run, only the first episode of Uzumaki managed to wow fans. The rest of the show was ladened with cardboard animation that belonged in a PowerPoint slide. From its rushed writing to its static visuals, Uzumaki saw its lofty reputation crumble in record time. Its unexpected downfall has left many asking for answers, and a recent report suggested Zaslav was to blame.
Did David Zaslav Orchestrate Uzumaki’s Downfall?
As you can see here, netizens were roped into a viral report once Uzumaki ended that blamed Zaslav for the show’s ruin. The note was treated as fact, but let’s be transparent here. The report came from TV Tropes, a fan-site that does series breakdowns and reviews. The report in question was nothing more than a rumor, but it isn’t baseless. The team behind Uzumaki has spoken about the pressure higher-ups put on the anime, and Zaslav’s history with animation is nothing short of damning.
Jason DeMarco, a top exec at Adult Swim, addressed the Uzumaki shift in a post to X (Twitter). He wrote, “It’s fine, we knew this would happen. I can’t talk about what went down but we were screwed over and the options were A) not finish and air nothing and call it a loss, B) just finish and air episode one and leave it incomplete, or C) run all four [episodes], warts and all. Out of respect for the hard work, we chose C.”
“A lot of [people] worked very hard on this show and I didn’t think the actions of just one or two people should be the reason it never saw the light of day. Maybe that’s the wrong choice, I truly don’t know. But those [people] have a right to be annoyed and disappointed.”
As you can see above, DeMarco’s statement suggests it was “one or two” people who really derailed the series. This is the comment that directed fans to Zaslav, and to be frank, there is no way to prove his tie to Uzumaki‘s downfall. Fans can only speculate based on Zaslav’s troubled decisions. From shelving finished films for tax breaks to cutting animated shows from Max, Zaslav has earned the ire of the animation fandom. And now, it seems anime lovers have their own score to settle.
How Do We Avoid Another Uzumaki?
There is no way to prevent a bad anime from being made, but Uzumaki‘s promise makes its ruin sting. Creators like DeMarco went into the show with high hopes, but forces outside of their control left the anime hurting. In a post on social media, animator Henry Thurlow broke down his take on the Uzumaki disaster, and he suggested two main forces are to blame for the ordeal.
“I have so much I want to say about the Uzumaki adaptation… but it’ll never fit into a set of tweets. (It’s times like these I miss the vlog series we use to do where I could rant for 20 minutes) all I’ll say then, in short, is this. While I don’t have any actual bts knowledge of the Uzumaki production, it was advertised as a Production IG series for years, only to be marketed as “IG &__ (not even an IG subsidiary) at the last moment. I knew there would be a huge gap between the 2 companies work… Of course artists need time & resources to do great things. If that was taken from IG it’s terrible. It does seem though that IG recently (unlike its glory days) endlessly delays their projects. They go year after year completing very little,” he shared.
“As for the Uzumaki production, at the end of the day it’s almost certainly some western producer’s fault. “This is taking too long so force some other studio to finish it I don’t care what it looks like.” I’d bet everything I have that’s how it went down. Again & again these western-produced anime have problems because the western producers are fucking trash. Kawajiri’s last few anime, the unreleased AvP anime, now Uzumaki. Again & again I see western producers screw over the artists & anime studios here & it’s infuriating.”
As anime grows bigger and globalization creeps in, the industry is going to have some rough periods. Thurlow suggests Hollywood needs a better education on how anime is run, and just about any anime fan would second that pitch. The medium is so special because of its production period and the stories it tackles. If you strip that away, an anime is left crippled, and that sad situation is what Uzumaki was forced to embrace.
What do you think about Uzumaki and its fall from grace? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.
