‘Uzumaki’ producer says show was ‘screwed over’ in animation quality drop
By Bryan Ke
Adult Swim’s senior vice president of anime, Jason DeMarco, said they were “screwed over” by the sudden quality drop in the animation of the second episode of Junji Ito’s “Uzumaki” anime adaptation. The episode, directed by Yuji Moriyama and animated by studio Akatsuki, aired on Toonami at Cartoon Network on Saturday.
- Background: Originally set for release in 2020, “Uzumaki” was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which DeMarco — who is also a producer on the show — believe is a result of being “cursed by the spiral.” It eventually premiered on Sept. 28, receiving a user rating of 8.6 out of 10 stars on IMDb. However, many fans noticed a significant drop in animation quality in episode two. “My day is ruined,” one wrote on X. Another posted a side-by-side comparison of the first two episodes, calling the stark difference in quality “jarring.” Meanwhile, another viewer quipped, “One could say that their animation budget after the first episode… spiraled out of control.”
- What he’s saying: Without offering specific details, DeMarco acknowledged the issue in a now-deleted X post, writing, “I can’t talk about what went down, but we were screwed over.” He revealed that the team faced a tough choice: They could abandon the project, release only the first episode or “run all four, warts and all.” He explained that “out of respect for the hard work,” they chose the third option. He later hinted that some people may be at fault for the issue, sharing, “A lot of people worked very hard on this show and I didn’t think actions of just one or two people should be the reason it never saw the light of day.” Episode three will be released on Oct. 12, followed by the finale on Oct.19.
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