The highly anticipated anime adaptation of Junji Ito’s horror classic, Uzumaki, has finally crashed onto screens with its unsettling atmosphere and unapologetic horror. The first episode of the anime has already been considered the best horror episode of all time. However, for some, the narrative in the show constitutes a major pacing issue, leaving some viewers disappointed.

Mitsuha Uzumaki | Credits: Studio Fugaku

Now, this creates some very interesting dynamics of exposition versus visual narrative, especially in a lot of key scenes as part of explaining flashbacks told by characters. This sort of unorthodox pacing should generally be a weakness, but in this particular case with Uzumaki, it might turn out to be beneficial for the overall narrative!

How Does Episode 1 of Uzumaki Compare to The Manga? A panel from the Uzumaki manga | Credits: Viz Media

A frame-by-frame comparison between the anime adaptation and the manga counterpart of Uzumaki shows...