The Digital Uzumaki Thriller - Renegade Animation #162
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru discuss the new Netflix short Sing Thriller, episode 3 of The Amazing Digital Circus, and the highly anticipated Junji Ito adaptation, Uzumaki!
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my co-host the Animation Guru! Halloween may be over, but we’re still treating you to a brand new episode. How much of a treat it is lies in the eye of the beholder. Without further ado, please tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion!
Sing Thriller
I really don’t have much to say about this short, other than the fact that it’s well animated, and a cute little treat for fans of the first two Sing movies. Other than that, it’s exactly what you think it would be, based on the title.
“Want to see the cast of Sing perform Michael Jackson’s iconic pop song? Well that is all you are going to get. There isn’t much more to it than that. It has good animation, but you won’t find anything else of substance in this Halloween short.“ -The Animation Guru
The Amazing Digital Circus: Episode 3
First thing’s first, it is genuinely awesome how Glitch struck a deal with Netflix. All three episodes of The Amazing Digital Circus are on the streaming platform, but you can still watch them for free on YouTube. This deal allows the team full creative control, while introducing their art to a wider audience. And they picked the perfect time to do so, as this might be their best episode to date. I’m a sucker for a good Halloween special that leans into the horror of it all, but what pushed this episode over the edge was how much it continued to further Pomni’s character development.
“If you were still not on the hype train for this series, episode three dials its zany world back and continues to build upon the characters of this show with some of the best interactions in the series so far.“ -The Animation Guru
Uzumaki
As we discussed on the podcast, Junji Ito’s work has been notoriously difficult to adapt, and Uzumaki, while being the best attempt by far, is certainly no exception. This project was announced back in 2019, but between COVID-19 and a regime change at Adult Swim’s parent company, there were several hurdles to jump over during production. The result is a noticeable decline in quality between the first episode and the rest of the series in terms of the animation. The story, as far as I know, remains mostly faithful to the manga, but could have been fleshed out more so as not to feel rushed.
“What begins as a promising adaptation of Junji Ito’s most famous work, spirals out of control with a rushed lackluster experience that disappoints.“ -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.
