Uzumaki Episode 3 Review

The third of four episodes of Uzumaki has arrived, and as we watch what Studio Drive had to offer us this week, it’s clear that they’re not pulling any punches moving into the series’ final stages. Not only did this week offer us another strong episode of Uzumaki, but it also presented one of the show’s darkest, most brutal series of stories yet. It also offered some surprises, mainly in how the source material was adapted.

There’s a lot to talk about this week, as we move towards the finale of an anime that has been anticipated for the better part of five years. After last week’s episode sparked concerns of Drive not sticking the landing, and with theories swirling about how the final chapters of the manga will be adapted, the third episode has both alleviated some of these concerns, and spawned more questions simultaneously. Read ahead for our spoiler review of the third episode of Uzumaki – let’s get this all out in the open!

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The Review

Image by Drive

To address the elephant in the room from the jump, the animation in this week’s episode was a significant improvement over last week’s. To be honest, I wasn’t too phased by the animation last week. There were absolutely noticeable moments where the same charm of episode one was missing, but it wasn’t until I logged into social media that I realised just how much faith had been lost in Studio Drive. Luckily, this episode seems to have course-corrected that skepticism. The animation isn’t quite as good as it was in episode one, but episode two will be remembered as a completely random dip in quality – unless episode four joins it.

Since my review of the first episode of Uzumaki, I had speculated about cut content from the manga in this adaptation, and my primary candidate for the cutting room floor was the Hospital sequence. Well, this week, Studio Drive essentially slapped me in the face, because our episode kicked off with, you guessed it, the Hospital! This surprised me on two levels. Firstly, the Hospital has always felt like the least story-relevant section of the manga. Secondly, this section is extremely brutal compared to the rest of the story – and Drive did not hold back.

When coupling this section with the scenes about Shuichi’s mother’s breakdown and obsession with the spirals in her ears, this episode quickly became the unchallenged most brutal episode of Uzumaki yet. The story until now has been horrifying in a cosmic sense, and definitely turned to body horror more than once before, but this episode brought blood and gore into the show like never before. Even the most seasoned of horror fan will have a hard time not squirming at some of the scenes here, particularly when it comes to the women in the hospital and their unique way of killing.

Image by Drive

I would also argue that this was the most unrelentingly horror-focused episode of the show so far. Episode one featured a lot of build-up and implication, and episode two featured some moments that were arguably comedic. There was practically nothing to this episode that wasn’t full-on, hardcore horror – at least until the very end that is, but I think the intention to be horrific remained. As we move towards the end of the series, which will undoubtedly be the most cosmic of episodes, this was a nice turn to the more physical, real world of the show.

The town’s descent into complete madness was emphasized last week, while this week, we’ve already reached that point. Koruzu Town is a pretty hopeless place to be at this point, and with one episode left, it doesn’t seem like the situation will be improving. However, though we’ve left behind any sense of build-up when it comes to the town’s hysteria, some people are still not on board with the situation, even though we’ve gotten to the stage of mass murders in the town’s hospital. Kirie’s mother in particular seems alarmingly unphased by anything going on. This was a characteristic of the original Uzumaki manga that I never quite understood. There’s a certain nonchalance to a lot of the characters who are not being directly tormented by the spiral. Maybe they too are affected by the spiral, just in a different way? Regardless, it does sometimes take away from the realism in the story – even if such realism was never there to begin with.

Another praise for the episode comes from its excellent mix of cosmic and real-life horror this week, which we touched on when it came to the physical brutality of this week’s scenes. However, this combination was further elevated when the episode covered the House chapter, in which a classmate of Kirie’s stalks her through her wall, and of course, eventually turns into a spiral-infested monster. The best part of this sequence was the complete horror of it, even without any of the Uzumaki spiral shenanigans. The idea of being watched through the wall of your own home is terrifying, regardless of any cosmic horror elements. It also reminded me of a short story of Ito’s, The Human Chair, a personal favourite of mine, and one which you can find more on here.

Image by Drive

I will say though, this storyline was not without its faults. Though I think it was completely unintentional, the final scene of this episode was absolutely hilarious. I think it was the voice acting that changed the vibe of the scene from terrifying to comical, but whatever it was, it changed the tone of not only the scene, but the whole episode, mainly because the credits rolled immediately after it. Uzumaki has been filled with strange, unexpected moments, but this sequence is so bizarre, and comes so out of nowhere, it honestly felt like something out of Scary Movie.

There is one major concern on my mind though. I had assumed that some of the scenes from this week wouldn’t be adapted due to their brutality, but also because of pacing. As it stands, there’s a big chunk of chapters to cover between now and the ending of the manga, and we have only one episode left. I’m hoping that next week’s episode will be extended, maybe a double-length feature, because if it isn’t, we could be in for a complete disservice to the whole finale sequence of Uzumaki. Aside from some missteps in episode two, Drive have been doing a great job with this adaptation. I hope they don’t miss the mark as we approach the finish line.

That’s all for this week’s episode though! What did you think of Uzumaki’s third episode? Are you confident in Drive’s ability to stick the landing, or do you share some of my pacing concerns? Next week will tell all, and we’ll see you then for our finale review of Uzumaki! Thanks for reading!

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Where to Watch Uzumaki?

Image by Drive

Uzumaki premieres weekly on Adult Swim, during the Toonami block at 12:30am EST. This means that if you’re reading from the UK, it airs at 05:30am! Luckily, you can catch each episode the next day on streaming, as every episode streams the following day on Max. Happy watching!

See also: Uzumaki Episode 2 Review

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