Junji Ito fans, the Uzumaki anime is still on its way! And here is the latest teaser

Junji Ito fans, there is good news and bad news about the long-awaited four-part Uzumaki anime series based on the wonderful, horrific manga series of the same name. (For those not familiar with Uzumaki – a twisted story about teens who discover their town is cursed by invasive spirals, read my review here.) But it's mostly good news, so let's start with that first.

The anime might be slow in the making, but it's still in the making! Director Hiroshi Nagahama released a YouTube video (below) apologizing for the long wait. "I feel truly apologetic for the delay and ask for your patience just a little more," he says. "The way we are making this anime is requiring twice as much staff as we normally use. As not to disappoint the fans of Junji Ito, we are doing our best, so please wait for it to come out."

Also, remember the "teaser trailer" that came out last summer (which I posted in March)? Well Nagahama just released another, better teaser! It's not even close to a trailer, mind you, just a quick clip from the first episode, but it's beautiful and eerie and captures the manga's flavor – without, unfortunately, any of the grotesque elements – in all its glory. You can watch it below, either on its own, or in Nagahama's apology video.

So the bad news? Nagahama won't give us a release date! Talk about a tease. Last summer they promised it would come out in 2021, but now there is no mention of a year, let alone a month.

The bottom line is it's still alive, it's on its way, but patience we must have.

The teaser:

The apology video: