Junji Ito has spent decades weaving some of the creepiest stories not just in the realm of manga, but in any medium. With Toonami turning quite a few heads with the announcement that it would be adapting one of Ito’s biggest tales into the medium of anime with Uzumaki, it seems this upcoming series might be the first and last time that the Cartoon Network programming block takes a crack at adapting the work of Junji Ito, according to a co-founder of the platform.
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Junji Ito’s Uzumaki first hit the scene as a manga in 1998, introducing readers to a cursed town that was afflicted with an obsession with spirals. This curse came to light in some wildly disturbing ways such as transforming people into snails, allowing street toughs to harness the power of twisters, and peoples’ bodies being twisted into grotesque mockeries of their former selves. While Toonami’s Uzumaki was delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it is set to arrive this fall but according to Jason DeMarco, this might be the first and final adaptation of Ito’s work that Toonami takes on.
Jason DeMarco posted from his Official Twitter Account, in an open question and answer session with fans, that he believes that creating more Junji Ito adaptations in the style of the upcoming Uzumaki adaptation is something that he doesn’t know if they “can do again” considering the challenges that were inherent in bringing this new series to life:
While this is unfortunate news for fans of Junji Ito, the horror mangaka is continuing to work on creating new spooky stories within the medium of manga. Based on the footage that we’ve seen of Uzumaki so far, it’s clear that this work from Toonami is set to be one of the closest to the source material that we’ve seen so far, as the anime adaptations of Junji Ito so far have been the likes of Gyo and The Junji Ito Collection.
Are you sad to hear that Junji Ito’s Uzumaki on Toonami might be the first and last adaptation of the mangaka’s work on Cartoon Network? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Junji Ito.
