Uzumaki Anime Update Reveals Junji Ito Cameo

Junji Ito will voice a character in the upcoming anime adaptation of one of his most popular works, Uzumaki.

The official Twitter account for the series posted an updated to reassure fans that the show is still actively being worked on. The update also revealed that Ito himself will be part of the show's voice cast, though the show's producers aren't ready to reveal which character he'll be playing. The video hints that Ito's role will be a short one, with the creator himself joking that the casting was perfect since his enunciation is so poor. Ito joins a long list of horror genre auteurs who like to make appearances in their own works, such as Stephen King and M. Night Shyamalan. The long-awaited anime series is still expected to debut sometime during October 2022.

The Uzumaki anime was first announced during 2019's Crunchyroll Expo. The series is being co-produced by Adult Swim and Production IG USA, with animation production provided by Studio Drive, which previously produced the vampire comedy Vlad Love. Uzumaki is directed by Hiroshi Nagahama, best known for his work on Fruits Basket, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mushishi, as well as The Reflection, a 2017 anime he co-created with legendary comic book creator Stan Lee. A short teaser trailer for the series was released last June, which showcased the show's unique black-and-white CG animation that attempts to more accurately recreate the visual style of Ito's manga than previous animated adaptations of his work. In June, Nagahama apologized for the series' long production period, stating that the show's development had been significantly slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

Uzumaki is set in the rural seaside town of Kurouzo-Cho, and begins as a number of mysterious spiral patterns begin appearing throughout the area, which bring with them paranoia and other terrifying phenomena. The story follows high school student Kirie Goshima and her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, as they attempt to escape the town and its bizarre curse.

The original Uzumaki manga was serialized in Big Comic Spirits magazine in 1998. It is one of the most acclaimed works of Eisner Award-winning horror author Junji Ito, who is also known for manga such as Tomie, Gyo and The Enigma of Amigara Fault. This is not the first time that the manga has been adapted to the screen: Uzumaki was previously turned into a Japanese live-action film, which received a limited release in the United States.

Source: Twitter