Animated TV series can be found on EST platforms today
Leading anime and manga distributor Viz Media today brings all four episodes of the highly anticipated miniseries adaptation “Uzumaki: Animated TV Series” – originally titled “Uzumaki” on Cartoon Network’s Toonami – to EST (electric sell-through) platforms.
Produced by Adult Swim and Production IG USA, the American arm of legendary Japanese anime makers Production IG, “Uzumaki” arrives just in time for Halloween. Based on Junji Ito’s hugely popular manga of the same name, the body horror series, like the book, is animated using black and white 2D drawings. To heighten tensions, producers recruited “Hereditary” composer Colin Stetson to compose the show’s otherworldly music.
‘Uzumaki’ unfolds in the fictional town of Kurouzu-cho, where everything from a strange whirlwind to billowing smoke from the crematorium and the residents themselves turn into spirals. In people’s heads, their eyes spin and swirl as their bodies take on unnatural shapes. To escape the disease, a young girl named Kirie decides to flee the city, but the task is not so easy.
Originally published in the manga magazine “Big Comic Spirits” in 1998-99, the manga quickly gained critical acclaim and was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2003. The manga has since been adapted into two video games and a live-action film. The anime adaptation from Adult Swim and Production IG USA aired this month on Adult Swim’s Toonami block, with the finale last night, October 25.
“We are incredibly excited to bring Junji Ito’s masterpiece Uzumaki to the screen in a way that maintains the manga’s haunting visual style and intensity,” said JP Villanueva, VIZ Media’s Senior Director of Digital Distribution. “By releasing it on digital stores, we are giving fans a new way to experience this gripping horror series, so they can access it anytime, anywhere.”
San Francisco-based Viz Media is a major player in bringing Japanese manga and anime culture to the rest of the world. The company distributes physical and digital media copies of franchises including ‘Bleach’, ‘Naruto’, ‘Sailor Moon’, ‘Death Note’ and ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’, as well as numerous manga and the iconic ‘Shonen Jump’ magazine, among others.
“Uzumaki: Animated TV Series” is now available for purchase on many digital platforms, including Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Fandango at Home and the Microsoft Store.
