"They just had to mess up something" - Uzumaki anime's pacing has fans sighing in frustration

Uzumaki anime premiered on September 29, 2024, and amazed the fandom. However, the anime's pacing was criticized by the fandom, although this criticism was on a lighter note, considering that this was the series' first episode. Moreover, the anime also missed some panels from the source material, making the story of the premiere episode confusing.

The fandom was already expecting the pacing to be fast, bearing in mind that the production team is considering ending the source material, worth 20 chapters, in 4 episodes. However, this didn't stop the fandom from appreciating the artistic masterclass of the first episode, and they hoped that this flaw would be solved in future episodes.

Disclaimer: This article contains potential spoilers from the Uzumaki anime series and has the author's opinion.

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Exploring the Uzumaki anime's pacing issue in the premiere episode

Uzumaki episode 1 commenced with the scene of Kirei picking up her boyfriend from the station but skipped the opening scene of the source manga series, where she meets Shuichi's father staring at a snail. Moreover, the scene where she stumbled across a cyclone was combined with a later scene to make the series' pacing fast.

Later in the series, Shuichi's father requests Kirei's father to make a sculpture piece for him, but the anime forgets to specify why he did so. According to the manga series, Shuichi's mother discarded all of her husband's spiral collections, so he had to get new ones.

Azami Kurotani as seen in the anime (Image via Drive and Akatsuki)

One of the biggest injustices that happened in the anime was the discarding of the scene where Shuichi's mother pierced a pair of scissors in her ear after learning that a spiral is present in the ear (Eustachian Tube). This scene was a key part of the overall horror of Uzumaki.

Lastly, in the end, Kirei stumbled across Azami, but the anime skipped why she was outside. Earlier in the episode, when Azami was confessed to by one of her followers, she told him to call out Kirei so that she could eliminate Kirei from Shuichi's life. However, the anime forgot to add this detail, alongside several others mentioned above.

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Reaction from the fandom

The fandom softly criticized this issue, but the majority couldn't help but praise the series for its beautiful cinema. This was logical because the series aired after so many delays. While a part of the fandom hoped for a future without these pacing issues, one fan approved of the current matter and considered it ideal.

"Yeah condensing 20 30page chapters into 4 eps is wild, not only do they seem to be skipping tons of chapters, but the ones they dont they rush through." a fan said.

"Although the pacing issue might not be noticed at present by the fandom at present, the future of the series depends on how the pacing goes in the upcoming episodes" another one claimed.

"I agree on the episode length but they seem to be doing a PHENOMENAL job at coherently interconnecting every chapter in a cohesive way" another one said.

"I actually love that they show off multiple episodic chapters and make them happen at the same time instead of just going completely episodic like the manga, it flows better for me personally" another fan said.

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Final thoughts

It might seem unlikely but there are chances that the Uzumaki anime might be extended to a sequel. The first episode adapted three chapters, and judging by this pace, a few chapters will be left in the end. As stated above, it would have been ideal for the series to have one-hour episodes. So, the hopes are high for future episodes.

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