Long-awaited Uzumaki anime premiering this September, watch the twisted first teaser

After literal years of anticipation, fans will finally get to see the anime version of Junji Ito's popular and iconic horror manga series Uzumaki. During SDCC, Adult Swim debuted the official teaser for the series, which will premiere on September 22 in the U.S.

The anime was initially announced in 2019 and expected in 2023, but the date has been pushed back several times due to the lengthy development process. Based on the teaser embedded above, it seems all that time was worth it, as the show looks like a gorgeous representation of Ito's work.

Set in the small Japanese town of Kurouzu-cho, Uzumaki follows teenage Kirie Goshmina as he stumbles upon an eerie supernatural phenomenon that causes everything around him to begin spinning in spirals. Famed for its disturbing imagery and extreme body horror, the teaser shows a few clips of what we can expect, like someone cutting off their fingertips to remove the spirals or peoples' bodies twisting and contorting in horrific ways, including their hair, eyes, and tongues.

Here's the official anime description shared by Adult Swim:

"'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?"

The network previously revealed the Japanese and English voice actors, which are as follows:

• 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 

To get a better idea of what to expect from the show, check out this first look Adult Swim released one year ago.

In this clip, we see one of the earlier scenes in the story where Shuichi asks Kirie if she wants to leave town with him because he's become unnerved. He recalls seeing his father's eyeballs spin like crazy in their sockets and his increasing obsession with spirals, like throwing a fit when the spiral fishcakes were missing from the miso. "He just can't rest unless there's a spiral."

The creative direction on this show is stellar, it genuinely looks like one of the manga's panels flowing off the page. I don't mind the long wait if the end product is going to be something special.

Uzumaki premieres exclusively on Adult Swim during its Toonami block at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 22. Episodes featuring the English dub will air the following Thursday and be available to stream on Max.