The horror manga series Uzumaki will be brought to adult swim in 2020. Japanese artist and author Junji Ito, who has also worked on Tomie, Gyo, and The Enigma of Amigara Faultis, is now having his series, Uzumaki, which means spiral, to be developed for the Cartoon Network 2020 programming block.
Lovecraftian in its inspiration, the Uzumaki manga series started in the late 1990s and follows the people of a town who start to go insane over their increasing obsessions with spiral shapes. These shapes can be found in cloud patterns, hair, skin, insects, everyday objects, and a variety of other prosaic horrors. There is no reason for this fear of spirals or a villain that has caused it thus making it more horrifying. Most of the characters’ stories sadly end in hysterical suicide, murder, and/or ghosts of the past returning.
According to IndieWire, the series is set to be directed by Hiroshi Nagahama, known for his work on the anime series The Reflection. The series will also feature an original score by Colin Stetson who has composed scores for Hereditary, The First, Outlaws and Angels, Bad Times at the El Royale, and the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.
Uzumaki was made into a live-action movie in 2000, which was directed by Akihiro Higuchi. The film focused on a town of people who were infected and later terrorized by evil spirits that left spiral shapes in their wake. Uzumaki develops like the lifecycle of a butterfly as the characters start as humans then contort to giant snails that were powerless from stopping their own bodies from betraying them.
Yesterday, Adult Swim announced at Crunchyroll Expo that they will be working alongside Japan’s Production IG to produce the show. The series will air as part of Adult Swim’s Toonami line of shows in 2020. Yesterday they also released a teaser trailer that mainly contained still images from the manga series with minor animation in it that still shows off the eeriness of the series.