Junji Ito’s iconic horror series Uzumaki is back on the anime scene thanks to a newly released series adaptation. In honor of this work, a talented Instagram artist decided to recreate one of Uzumaki’s most unforgettable sequences.
On October 10th, an Instagram user named “Magensta” released an unforgettable cosplay of Azami Kuroya from Uzumaki. Azami Kurotani is a character famous for having her face and eye sockets eaten away by a spiral curse. Utilizing vintage filters as well as “practical” effects, Majensta presents a protruding left eye surrounded by a rapidly rotating spiral pattern. Later, he also posted a tutorial video that introduced many of the techniques used in cosplay. As of Oct. 14, the original post had more than 5,500 likes.
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Uzumaki cosplay terrifies viewers with surprisingly realistic spiral curse
Uzumaki is one of Junji Ito’s most famous physical horror novels. The original manga series, which was published in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits in 1998, is set in a small rural town called Kuromachu. One day, Shuichi Saito and his girlfriend Kirie begin to notice strange patterns in the landscape, such as eddies forming in the river and clouds appearing in swirls in the sky. Meanwhile, Saito’s father has become increasingly obsessed with Spiral. Kirie goes to school with her classmate Azami, but one day Azami appears in class with a small spiral scar in the center of her forehead. These strange, seemingly isolated incidents mark the beginning of a curse, which soon begins to spread to other residents of the town, causing increasingly terrifying phenomena.
Last month, Adult Swim’s long-awaited Uzumaki anime series made its long-awaited broadcast debut. A joint project between Production IG USA, Akatsuki Holdings, and Fugaku, the series utilizes black-and-white 2D animation using motion capture technology to recreate Ito’s unique art style. Originally announced in 2019, it was ultimately postponed several times due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. According to Uzumaki executive producer Jason DeMarco, several key staff members and their families contracted the virus during the series’ early production stages.
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While episode 1 of the series received near-unanimous praise for its visual presentation, episode 2 was heavily criticized by Ito fans for the lower quality of the animation. DeMarco recently addressed fan concerns in a series of discouraging social media posts that hinted at executive intervention. “I can’t speak to what happened, but we were a mess…” he wrote. Episode 3 of the series, in particular, has received an overall warm reception from the Uzumaki fan community, earning praise from X (formerly Twitter) users for its more consistent visuals and deeply “disturbing” subject matter. Despite the flaws in the latest installment of Uzumaki, Majensta’s unique cosplay is testament to the fact that the series is still deeply loved by horror fans.
Junji Ito’s Uzumaki manga series is available in English from VIZ Media. Episodes 1-3 of Adult Swim’s anime Uzumaki are currently streaming on Max. Episode 4 is scheduled to premiere on October 19th at 12:30am ET.
Source: Instagram
