The premiere episode of "Uzumaki" unfolds with an intriguing encounter between Kirie and her sweetheart, Shuichi, who unveils a haunting tale of a mysterious spiral epidemic that has ensnared their town in its grim grip. Shuichi's father, deeply engrossed and eerily obsessed with spirals, has descended into a realm where his eyes roll independently, a chilling spectacle as he fixates on every twirl and curve. The town's streams now churn with unusual whirlpools, and the air whispers with faint tornadoes, augmenting the sinister ambiance that permeates every corner.
Shuichi's father, immersed in his spiral-themed fantasy, has transformed his room into a sanctuary of swirling patterns, every surface adorned with intricate spiral designs. He even seeks out Kirie's father, a skilled pottery artisan, to commission a bespoke spiral artwork, further embedding the spiral's sinister influence.
At Kirie's new high school, she introduces her friend Akane, whose forehead bears a scar, a remnant of a daring tightrope walk intended to impress a crush. Akane boasts that, since acquiring the scar, she's never struggled to captivate the hearts of her admirers. However, when Kirie introduces Akane to Shuichi, he reacts with a violent, unexpected burst of panic, clutching Kirie's hand and fleeing. He insists that Akane is ensnared by the Uzumaki, the dreaded spiral curse.
Later, Shuichi encounters Akane in a strange, altered state, and it becomes apparent that her scar has metamorphosed into a growing spiral, a living testament to the curse's hold over her.
Meanwhile, the insidious spiral disease relentlessly continues its spread. One of Kirie's classmates becomes afflicted, developing an enigmatic spiral pattern on his back. As the situation descends into chaos, Shuichi's father, in a desperate bid to emulate the spiraling curse, loses his life while attempting to contort his body into a spiral shape within the confines of a bathtub.
Shuichi recounts how his mother and he stood at the precipice of admitting him to a hospital, grasping for a straw of hope. During his father's cremation, the smoke ascending from the pyre twists into a colossal spiral in the heavens, a sight that pushes Shuichi's mother over the edge into madness. She is subsequently confined to a hospital bed, her condition deteriorating to the extent that she attempts to mutilate her fingertips, driven by the perception of spirals embedded within her fingerprints.
Upon returning from the hospital, Kirie's path crosses with Akane, whose once beautiful face is now partially obscured by the ever-expanding spiral that has taken root on her forehead. Akane approaches Shuichi, her eyes pleading, and makes a chilling proposition to a unsuspecting schoolboy: she offers him a date in exchange for his help. Without warning, she pulls him into the gaping maw of the spiral on her head, his scream swallowed by the darkness.
Shuichi finds refuge in the boughs of a towering tree, while Kirie stands frozen in horror, witnessing Akane's spiral grow with a sinister momentum, eventually swallowing her entire form until she ceases to exist, leaving nothing but an eerie void. Kirie comes to a chilling realization—the shroud of darkness that has enveloped their town is merely the harbinger of an ominous beginning.
