There was no shortage of exciting announcements during Anime Expo 2024. Over the weekend, Adult Swim announced the English voice cast for its upcoming animated series Uzumaki, a television adaptation of Junji Ito's supernatural horror manga.
Produced by Production IG USA in partnership with Adult Swim, we got our first look at the Uzummaki animated TV series last July. The series description reads:
“Let’s leave this town together,” asks Shuichi Saito, a former classmate of Kirie Goshima, a high school girl who was born and grew up in Kurouzu-cho. Everything from a strange whirlwind, billowing smoke from the crematorium, and the residents is turning into spirals. People’s eyes spin in whirls, a tongue spirals, and the bodies twist unnaturally. In an attempt to escape the curse of the spirals, Kirie decides to flee from Kuouzu-cho, but can she get away from this turmoil?
We, unfortunately, haven't gotten a dubbed preview of the upcoming series, although the English voice actors have been announced. Below are both the Japanese and English voice actors, respectively, for the series:
- Kirie Goshima – Uki Satake / Abby Trott
- Shuichi Saito – Shin-ichiro Miki / Robbie Daymond
- Azami Kurotani – Mariya Ise / Cristina Vee
- Kirie’s Dad - Toshio Furukawa / Doug Stone
- Shuichi’s Dad – Takashi Matsuyama / Aaron LaPlante
- Shuichi’s Mom – Mika Doi / Mona Marshall
- Katayama – Katsutoshi Matsuzaki / Max Mittleman
Written and illustrated by Junji Ito, the Uzumaki manga appeared as a serial in Shogakukan's weekly seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1998 to 1999. The chapters were then compiled into three bound volumes. In North America, Viz Media has released English-language versions of the series, both through monthly magazines and as compiled volumes.
The four-episode anime series adaptation was first announced at 2019's Crunchyroll Expo. It's directed by Hiroshi Nagahama with Colin Stetson composing music. While we still don't have a release date, it has been confirmed that Uzumaki will air on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block before its Japanese premiere.
Unfortunately for fans, Uzumaki has been in development for quite some time now and has seen multiple delays during its production. We haven't really seen many teaser trailers over the years. Last year, creative director Jason DeMarco stated on social media that the series would premiere in late 2023, which obviously did not happen. With the English voice cast announced, there's perhaps a bit of hope the series could arrive sometime this year. But again, no date has officially been announced yet.