Preface
Apologies if I've just recently cameback, I have been busy with life, work, personal problems. Then again, it's my business to come back whenever I want. No one's holding me to it. Good to stretch myself out for more blogs about anime, movies, TVs, and what have you.
So, where to start with this? An anime created from studios that are new to the industry, produced by Production I.G. and licensed by Warner Bros, where it originally broadcasted in the Adult Swim Toonami block. Jason DeMarco, that guy who found Toonami, is not having a good time with this.
Ever since the first episode premiered, expectations were set, the animation, storytelling, all of it was a high bar. Just like what we've seen from the trailers. Except, the trailers mostly showcased just the first episode. The build-up to Ito's entire series of stories told from Uzumaki. Right after episode 2 and 3 came out, there was tonal whiplash. Nothing was even close to being as good as the first. Like, we're asking what the hell happened here? How did it get to this?
Why don't we ask the producer, Mr. DeMarco himself? The guy who clearly had ideas like the Suicide Squad, and Rick & Morty anime. Clearly, the guy who also produced Ninja Kamui, most of them came out as duds. Poor performance. In fact, it almost seems like Warner Bros did give him a good budget, and he decided to throw on vanity projects.
From the top
Somewhere around 2019, a teaser trailer dropped for Uzumaki, with an unsettling score from Colin Stetson, the composer behind Hereditary. Director Hiroshi Nagahama led the project with Production I.G. and their committee overseeing it alongside William Street.
A lot of new studios were brought along to help with the production. But it was pretty time consuming, Nagahama had to scrap, and redo it, being aware that anime itself just isn't good at bringing horror in the media. He had quite the big shoes to fill, even with how ambitious it was. Now to preface for later, Nagahama is a Mushishi, Detroit Metal City, and Flowers of Evil alumni.
Nagahama worked with Studio Drive, he tried to blend in 3D animation, rotoscoping with 2D images. Sometimes even working the two together. But as time went on, and the pandemic hit, he hit roadblocks. Multiple of time in fact. A lot actually happened from when the teaser dropped to the actual trailer we saw in 2022. Studio Fugaku finished episode 1, and Nagahama relegated himself to just storyboarding for the anime. The director role went to instead, Yuji Moriyama.
This is the part where things really, really confusing. So, what I've gathered so far, is that the anime was split between multiple studios, in fact, out of the 4 episodes, 3 of the others were done with multiple freelancers. It also turns out there were production cuts too.
Project took so long, and had too many restarts, even what we say in the teaser is different from the end product. I'm assuming they did have a particular budget, but so much of it was blown into the first episode, that they were given 3 ultimatums to choose from. A)Cancel the anime B)Air episode 1 only C)Have all of it out regardless of quality. Answer was C, and I'll let DeMarco explain the rest.
The final product
To surmise, basically someone at Adult Swim and WB fucked up so badly, the entire series became basically seen as a joke, a cautionary tale. One could say, it was sort of salvageable. Especially considering how immaculate, well-done the first episode is, but ah, don't hold your breath. It's not worth diving into, you have me for that. And let me get to say:
As mentioned, they had a budget, and more was needed to do the other 4. But what's even more troubling? That this was going to skip so many materials from the original source. The book is big, so many stories, and it was being super-condensed without much continuity.
One could also say that DeMarco has track record for badly produced animes, including the Suicide Squad from Wit, and Rick & Morty from Science Saru. What's more worrisome, is that Shinichiru Watanabe's next project is coming, and that one has big names attached to it as well. Could also that WB as a company just didn't give enough budget as a result of bad faith.
You want to know the funny thing? Many of the contracted studios, freelancers hired even worked on H-animes, yes, that's how bad it got. Blaming the production committee also could work from I.G.'s end. But my two cents tells me this was doomed from the start, there's no way to do a project this justice without spending a lot of money, and time lost as well factoring in. Even if Netflix got this project, and trust me, they did Junji Ito's work as well, this would have come out worse.
Uzumaki wasn't Junji Ito's best work, but it is the most popular. We have yet to get a successful adaptation to break the curse. Uzumaki deserved better, and it's a constant reminder that the anime industry is run by people who cares about money. merchandising, and big stars.
Anime don't make a lot of money by broadcast alone, they help monetise by being franchised. Which is why when Nagahama says it's not possible to adapt horror anime, this was what he sort of meant. Though, I kind of disagree considering Hellgirl, Devilman, and Parasyte already exists.
I am grateful that the first episode exist, that is our first benchmark. You have Stetson's score adding so much to the atmosphere, and quality overall factoring to 11/10. This one will stand the test of time, and hopefully if Adult Swim decides to do another of Ito's work, they get it right. Unless, well, they keep screwing up, leading to WB closing Toonami again.
