Fans of Uzumaki have been tearing him apart due to the sharp decline in quality between the first two episodes, but there is still hope because of an impending staff change.
Uzumaki made its much-acclaimed debut in September after years of planning. Produced by Production IG and Adult Swim, the anime series drew inspiration from Junji Ito’s famous manga and appeared to distill the spirit of his scary work.
Sadly, this praise was fleeting, as poor performance in Episode 2 led viewers to become disenchanted with the project altogether. Unfortunately, with only four episodes in the horror anime, it appeared that there was no chance left, but that may not be the case.
Hiroshi Nagahama, who oversaw the first episode, will return in Episode 4. This has stoked expectations that the miniseries will continue to feature some of its previous caliber.
On X/Twitter, a fan expressed, “Having Hiroshi Nagahama return for Episode 4 should bring the same eerie and captivating style from Episode 1!”
Another person responds, “Yes, the last episode needs to be just as good as the first.” Their idealism is buried under a mountain of bad feelings and cynicism over what we’ve already witnessed.
One user said, “The middle episodes will be a terrible stain on the entire series, even if the finale is that breathtaking again.”
After appearances on Mushishi, Detroit Metal City, and other publications, Hiroshi’s largest piece to date is arguably Uzumaki. Episode 2 was directed by Yuji Moriyama using storyboards created by Hiroshi.
The problems seem to go beyond Hiroshi’s appointment as director, so there’s no certainty his presence would restore the initial episode’s methodology.
The executive producer of Uzumaki Jason DeMarco stated on BlueSky that someone “screwed over” the entire project, suggesting they anticipated criticism given how inconsistent the episodes’ quality was. Sadly, they decided that releasing the item in its current state was preferable to discarding it.
