Uzumaki Exec Explains How the Anime Captured Junji Ito's Iconic Art

Uzumaki producer Jason DeMarco explains how the anime recreated Junji Ito's artwork

By Nick Valdez

Uzumaki is finally going to making its anime debut with Adult Swim later this month, and one of the minds behind the production explained how the team managed to capture Junji Ito's iconic artwork and style. Junji Ito is one of the most prolific manga creators currently operating today as the creator's horror works have gone on to inspire many other creators. Fans have seen Ito's works making their anime debut, but there's been one series that fans have been especially waiting to see as it's often held in high regard as the creator's most standout work overall, Uzumaki. 

Uzumaki was first announced to be getting an anime adaptation way back in 2019 (and likely started planning much earlier), so it's been a long road for Adult Swim and Production I.G. to get to this premiere on September 28th. Speaking to Vulture ahead of the new Uzumaki TV anime's debut, Adult Swim's SVP of anime and action series and executive producer Jason DeMarco opened up about the process of recreating Ito's art for the new anime, it's black and white style, and more. 

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Falling prey to the spiral in Uzumaki

- Adult Swim)

Uzumaki's Long Road to Premiere

"Our goal was to get as close as possible to something truly unsettling, something Ito-sensei does in much of his work but we had not felt in previous animated adaptations," DeMarco began when outlining the goal of the new Uzumaki TV anime. When it comes to the black and white look of the new series mirroring that of the Uzumaki manga itself, DeMarco revealed that the idea came from Flying Lotus, a musician that Adult Swim has worked with time and time again on commercial bumps and more. "When I told him we were close to closing a deal to make the show, he said 'You should do it in black and white,'" DeMarco stated. "I thought that was an amazing idea and suggested it to [director Hiroshi] Nagahama in our first meeting about the show. He said he had actually been thinking about the same thing and that he was thrilled I suggested it."

Director Hiroshi Nagahama (Mushishi, The Flowers of Evil) even suggested a way to make this possible, and ultimately led to a much more challenging production style as a result, "Nagahama's idea was to use motion capture and build everything in CG, then re-draw all of it, which he felt would give the animators the ability to tackle Ito-sensei's line work, which is incredibly detailed," DeMarco stated. But ultimately, it worked out for the team "The decision to produce the show in black and white ended up being a huge production issue, but obviously it looks terrific."

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A twisted father in Uzumaki

- Adult Swim)

Why Uzumaki Took So Long

Uzumaki took a long time to produce not only for Nagahama's decision to redraw over motion capture and CG work, but also many real world factors that took a toll on the small team as well. The COVID-19 pandemic had a massive impact on it behind the scenes, even going as far as completely halting work on the series for a year. "The pandemic completely stopped production on the show for close to a year. It was the single biggest impact," DeMarco revealed. "Our crew was small, so having even a few members and their families getting deathly ill was a huge blow to both the production and our morale. It was very challenging to bring the show back from the dead."

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Thankfully, the long wait is finally over as Junji Ito's Uzumaki anime will be premiering with Adult Swim's Toonami block on Saturday, September 28th at 12:30AM EST for its original Japanese audio release with English subtitles. It will then be available for streaming with Max the next day, and will air its English dub release with an encore broadcast every Thursday at 12:30AM beginning October 3rd. 

HT – Vulture

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