Shigurui

Ahahahaha! Rejoice, for Hououin Kyouma has emerged from the chaotic expanse of the multiverse to bestow judgment upon yet another creation of mortal hands! This time, our subject of scrutiny is none other than Shigurui: Death Frenzy, a tale drenched in blood, madness, and an obsession with the grotesque that would make even the most hardened souls recoil! At first glance, one might assume this series to be a mere spectacle of carnage, a festival of flesh and steel! And indeed, its artistic brutality is unparalleled! Every frame, every lingering shot of exposed muscle and shattered bone is rendered with an almost reverential devotion to suffering. The gore is not just gruesome, it is beautiful! A twisted paradox that only the most deranged of minds can appreciate. And then, the delusions! A most cunning deception, for it offers no warning, no visual cue, no subtle shift in tone to alert the unwary! Nay! Instead, it lures the viewer into its pit of horrors, presenting sudden, visceral deaths with such conviction that one has no choice but to accept them as truth! A head severed, a body crushed, an eye gouged, and then, in an instant, reality reasserts itself! The victim stands unharmed, breath still within their lungs, the death a mere figment of their own fear! At first, such treachery is jarring, disorienting! A cruel joke played upon those unprepared! But as the pattern emerges, as one begins to doubt the validity of all things, a most sinister realization takes hold, this world itself is madness! There is no trust, no safety! Only the creeping paranoia that at any moment, the next horrific event may be real. A most devious trick, and one that this mad scientist cannot help but admire! But alas! The transgressions of this work cannot be ignored! For beneath the meticulously crafted facade of agony lies... emptiness. A void where depth should reside! The story, a mere servant to the spectacle, relies not on intricate themes or compelling character arcs, but on pure, unfiltered shock value. It does not seek to explore, only to horrify. To flinch, to wince, to revel in discomfort, that is the sole experience it offers! A sin most grievous, for even the most haunting of tales must have substance beneath the horror! And then, the ending, oh, the cruel mistress of unsatisfying conclusions! For a series that delights in relentless despair, one would hope for a finale that cements its madness, a true descent into nihilistic oblivion! But nay! It simply… stops. No grand revelation, no deeper meaning, only a pause in the bloodshed. A most infuriating anticlimax! And so, the judgment of Hououin Kyouma is thus decreed! A mesmerizing dance of violence, a masterclass in visual torment, yet shackled by its own hollow core. A tale both fascinating and frustrating, teetering on the edge of greatness, yet refusing to take the final step. 6/10! El Psy Kongroo.

Having been attracted to the show because of its gory theme, I was ready to embrace the brutality, but upon looking a little deeper, there's just no substance here. To quote a character in the last episode, “This isn’t a dojo, this is hell.” Beyond displaying the bleakness and brutality of the Edo period, this show has nothing to say. Even those looking for beautiful kills and gore will not be satisfied. Heralded as one of the most violent things out there, I see why, but not in the way I had wished. The reason it has this reputation is that it focuses on the blood and innards of its victims. Intestines spilt out in the beginning scene is a forewarning. This is their go to for showing brutality...intestines! I appreciate this the first time, I don’t often see this level of the grotesque, and I appreciate that, I’m not squeamish, but you see intestines spilt 4-5 times. It loses its shock by the second time, and by the fifth time, in the last episode, I was laughing. “O God, they're going for the intestines again?!” All jokes aside, lets show some creativity here, there are many ways to dismember samurai. Grotesqueness does little for the viewer unless there’s some meaning behind it. That goes for the nudity as well, they just take off the clothes of their two female protagonists like no body’s business, it is done in a very pornish kind of way, “wow look at her tits,” beyond the shock value there’s no meaning behind the nudity. If you're going to have nudity, do it a little more skillfully. The show looks phenomenal, but too often I feel like they wasted money and detail on dreary settings and guts, hence why the show doesn’t even make it through a season. Yes, that’s right, some reviewers here have glossed over the fact that this show is simply not completed. It just dies after 12 episodes. After a promising first episode they flashback to 2 years previous, intentionally of course, to develop the characters, yet in the end, you never even make it back to the first episode. The rivalry between the two main protagonists and their eventual battle, which i thought was the entire motivation of the show and intention for the flashback, never comes to fruition. So, I get it, the show is not finished, I won’t judge it on just that, plenty of good shows get the plug pulled on them, if those 12 episodes are brilliant then that’s great, there will be the blue ballz effect as some story arcs will never be fulfilled, but I can still appreciate it an extent. This is pure pornography though. The story is at times intriguing, but the way scenes jump around doesn’t make sense. I could follow the show but I had to assume a lot. I’m sure it was created with the manga reader in mind, but that doesn’t mean they should leave huge holes. There’s no real narrative, random things just kind of occur. On top of that, there are no real likable characters. You’re naturally drawn to Fujiki, I guess the main protagonist, but that’s only because he’s slightly nicer than everyone else. Every character in this show is a piece of shit. But even with shows like Death Note or Game of Thrones, inhabited by antiheroes, there are things that attract you to the characters. There’s no one worth rooting for in the show. Everyone acts for the sake of power and for themselves. Maybe this is realistic, which some reviewers say Shigerui recreates a realistic Edo Japan, but I have a hard time seeing that none of those samurai, especially, the dojo leader, have an ounce of wisdom in them. There is no love of life in these characters, just in furthering their own power and exacting revenge. They are all quite shallow, sure we can enjoy characters like this in many shows, but when all the characters have this viewpoint the show becomes a bit of a boor. You could plug any character (besides Fujiki) into any situation and they’d probably do the same thing. The intentional flashback 11 episode arc, doesn’t even do a good job of building up characters. Characters rarely last longer than an episode. A character is often introduced, there is a brief flashback to show what a character is generally like, and then they kill him off frighteningly quick. There’s no point of showing background info for a new character if you’re just going to kill him off in 7 minutes, its a waste of time for the viewer. And that’s also the problem, I understand its realistic for samurai to take their enemy down in as few swords swings as possible, but because of the quick nature of these fights, there’s no real satisfaction in the fighting. They build up a fight for ten minutes and then someones dead instantly. Every fight has potential and then in end it was obvious how much stronger one of the samurai was. What’s the beauty in that, samurai didn’t just kill to kill? There really aren’t many fights per se, there are some murders, and sometimes they don’t even show the fight, just the result of a decapitated head. For example, one samurai is said to have incredible strength, they build up his potential, then he is merely killed in a hot tub, he is unnamed and doesn’t put up a fight, what’s focused on is the blood splattered in the bath house. Later, another might warrior is killed when his back is turned to his enemy. Not trying to go on here, but what I’m saying here is there is no beauty in the kill, the gore is just exemplified, and let me make this clear, I love gore! On top of that the show tries to be deep at points, showing closeups of flies on guts, cicadas screeching, but it just falls short, being artsy without real meaning is cringe worthy, it made me laugh in the end. Its all too bad because it really seems like there is tons of talent on the show. They really just needed the writing to pull it all together, but as is its just a bunch scenes mashed together. Beyond showing the brutality of the era it doesn’t give me much. If you’re a fan of intestines and want to see something brutal, go for it, it’s only 12 episodes, but by the end, like me, you’ll probably feel a little cheated. This is just not a real show, it is incomplete.

Shigurui is an art piece. A significant visual style, combined with unique audio, a samurai story and a sizable cast of characters, creates an atmosphere I’ve never seen the likes of. Envision a post-modern art exhibition. You’re entering a large white room filled with a few abstract objects. You definitely recognize the objects, but you are unsure of what their purposes are. In the background an old cd-player let's off a reverberating noise, this noise could be anything from a car engine to a water droplet, graciously touching the water. The sound and the visual objects are supposed to converge into a symbiosis of something deep, something meaningful and passionate. This combination of perceptual information is supposed to reflect the artist's feelings and expression, and convey some sort of message. At least that is usually the intention. Shigurui tries desperately to be like this sort of art piece, and some people would probably regard it as a successful one. The subjectivity of the matter is therefore prevalent. Objectively the art and animation is of a high quality. The animators of Madhouse successfully create a dark and washed out canvas, which really adds to the usual perception of the romanticized vision we hold of Edo Era Japan. The outdoor scenes during daytime are particularly beautiful, albeit most of the scenes are contained within Dojos, which feels like it does the animators a great disservice, hamstringing the visual variety to a great degree. Understandably this is a limitation created by the story and the source material, which is a bit unfortunate in my opinion. The way the story is told felt disjointed and messy. Focusing around a “final lesson in the artistry of violence where nothing is more beautiful than the kill.” (episode description), the story emphasizes strange parts of what’s important when conveying a good story. The characters throughout the series are never really introduced in a way that differentiates them, except for their respective fighting styles. The whole cast of characters neither feel protagonistic, nor antagonistic, they simply feel bland. Like soldiers (in this case samurai) following their generals orders. Instead of conveying thought, judgment or even consideration for their actions, the cast is more reminiscent of participants in the Milgram Experiment than actual human beings. Historically this might be somehow accurate, but it when conveying a story, this really hurts the ability to generate emotion and recognition for the viewers. The story in itself is really basic and boils down to “People must kill each other because (insert reason)”. Devoid of characters of interest, the plot doesn’t generate any purpose. Simply put, when characters you don’t care about simply die, you simply won’t care. Thus the kill serves no purpose except for the visual presentation of a murder. When this is expressively described in the episode summary, you certainly must realize that the focus of the storytelling is simply wrongly weighted. In addition to the unbalanced storytelling, Shigurui is also its self-perception. The fact that the anime takes itself so seriously makes the action feel forced and unnecessary. Perhaps this is historically accurate, but that is still no excuse for such a dull presentation of an interesting subject as Samurai. Instead an idiosyncratic presentation of each of the samurai, and a battle after such an introduction, would’ve felt much more satisfying. The focus on the “Beauty of the kill” and not on the characters isn’t the only fault of Shigurui. The way the audio and visuals converge feels horrid. The simple noises, always playing in the background distract you from what happens on the screen, instead of simply adding to the story. A good musical score would have fit this story a lot more. Even though I prefer a good score, the creators should be commended for trying something different, but when taking such a risk, you should be prepared to fail. Shigurui fails strongly in this regard. TL;DR: In short Shigurui tries to be a post-modern art piece about Edo Era Japan, but fails in every regard in doing so. The presentation is hamstrung by its historical ties. Even though the art is beautiful, the story feels disjointed, the characters feel mechanical and they don’t reflect any emotions or characteristics worth noting. The sound design is weak and detracts from the overall experience.

At the risk of fanboying, this is one of the few if not the only series's I've ever encountered that manages to not idealize feudal era Japan. It truly reflects the stoic and jarring world of honor bound killing and entire communities premised on power and violence. In addition to its starkly accurate historical perspective, the directing aides the story so well, suspending every moment to discomfort and stress. One of the most unique animes ive ever seen, truly fascinating and well crafted.

I recently watched a 12-part Anime series on Blu-ray, which was available in English 5.1 and the original language (2.0). The series was translated well, and its atmosphere and presentation were quite impressive. The series features good voice acting, with great ambient sounds and an artwork that is both impressive and hypnotic. While the story may seem a bit complex, it comes together in the end. This isn't your typical Samurai-Anime series, and if you're looking for something action-packed like Ninja Scroll, you may not find it here. However, this is the perfect series for you if you're into Ghost in the Shell's more arty and trippy style and appreciate the atmosphere and animated art. The Samurai mostly duel, building up tension with dialog and great scores before bursting into short but intense fights. There aren't any huge battles or war scenes, but the series does feature some pretty graphic violence, making it only recommendable to adults.

've watched a lot of anime, but this one is one of the most unique out of all of the ones that I have watched. I've never seen an anime that is this violent, explicit, and drenched in darkness and stark realism. This is probably the most realistic samurai anime that one will ever see. Fights end quickly and characters die in gruesome fashion. The animation and framing of the scenes make it so that it invites the viewer to pay close attention to bask in gruesome ends to characters and so that they don't miss clear cases of foreshadowing and symbolism methodically placed in the anime. This anime is clearly for mature audiences. Not only are scenes gruesome, but there is explicit sexual content. Clear shots of female nudity, sex acts, sexual assaults, etc. However, the anime doesn't show these things to simply be edgy. Overall, these scenes are meant to portray the setting has a very awful time in Japanese history. Women are treated like objects, characters die in horrific circumstance, and samurai are portrayed either as glorified attack dogs are complicit pawns. Characters are a bit of a mixed bag. The character that you initially might hate eventually will gain your sympathy and some characters you can't describe. Some characters are the vilest scum ever portrayed and yet you wonder why other characters ignore this fact or don't address it the same way the viewer might think they should. The story revolves around a rivalry between two main characters: one with a clear motivation and backstory and one with none of that. He just seems like a blank slate with no clear motivation or personality really. However, I appreciate that this anime takes its time to tell a story at the pace it needs to be told. It is unfinished which lowers the quality to an extent with some key details left unanswered at the end. To a degree though, I found the show to be wrapped up satisfyingly enough for me. I did hate how weak the musical score was for me. It failed to make me feel tense during the scenes I was supposed to feel tense. The opening was forgettable and the soundtrack made it feel like the viewer is hearing silence instead of being in a show. I would recommend this show if one wants to see an anime that portrays samurai in a different light than usual and tells an interesting, albeit slow at time and unfinished story. I will say that this is a show that will make you think about characters and appreciate a show differently than you normally would. It will be a mixed bag though: some will be able to appreciate the show for what it is and some will be turned out by its grotesqueness and slow pacing. It is worth giving a try and drop it if nothing seems interesting.

Shigurui is dark, gritty, relentless, and communicates its story to the viewer fairly well. Midway through this series it was headed for my top ten. Upon completion it will not be. There are a ton of things this show gets right, most of them actually. But it has a fatal flaw and I hope to bring that flaw to light with this review. ---Story--- This story is not for the weak of heart. If you prefer dainty, lighthearted, adventure seeking, and unrealistic fights then this is not the anime for you. The story of shigurui tracks the downfall of the Kogan style of swordsmanship and intertwines a story of competition between two protagonists. It does this quite masterfully and by episode 4 I was hooked to see what would happen next. The drama in this series is extremely believable: jealousy, sex scandals, betrayal, and the ensuing fights that occur. This anime is a little bit of a slow burner but this works to the advantage of the story perfectly. The juxtaposition between the pacing of the actual story and the frequent yet lasting mere seconds of fighting create a very tense and realistic atmosphere. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that ALL the fights in the show are realistic: they merely have a realistic grace about them. The downfall of this story is that it begins from a point that is never properly revisited or explained. The whole show is a flashback from the events of episode one. While I actually do like this kind of show (akin to Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju), Shigurui butchers it. I'm talking it beats the meat more than an otaku who just found his new waifu. I felt that this series did not have a proper ending; I was drug along down this fabulous path only to have an unresolved conflict I was looking forward to the most. ALSO the fact Fujiki's injury isn't explained is rather sad and pulls this story down even further from its initial lofty heights. Despite my problems with the show's story resolution I quite enjoyed this tale. It doesn't give you room to breathe, and I liked that. Story score: 8 (Very Good) Art: The art is this series is a toss up. Most of our time is spent in dark rooms lit by candle or outside in the evening/night. This makes some scenes extremely hard to analyze fully. Facial expressions and body movements are fairly realistic yet animation is sub par. Sometimes the characters have extremely realistic reactions to events yet other times they look like wax sculptures or figurines. This is most likely due to the attention and care that the faces received for this series. This resulted in some rather powerful moments with a few that fell flat or missed the mark. Overall it was a positive experience. Art Score: 8 (Very Good) ---Sound--- The sound is another strong suit of Shigurui. It tosses the idea of normal OST's for something more edgy and yearning in a sense; it is one of the biggest reason the conversation between pacing and action in the series works. The drums, strings, chants, sung songs, cicadas, and moments of utter silence all exemplify the notion that these characters are on edge all of the time and are as sharp as the swords they carry. It is both breathtaking and simplistic. Bravo. This being said, the lack of a true OST isn't something I welcome with no setbacks. I find that music can take an average anime and turn it to an amazing one. The lack thereof is a *slight* detriment since I won't have a single track to remember this series by. Sound score: 9 (Great) ---Characters--- Few anime have made me hate a character with every fiber in my being. Irako is a little bitch. A talented swordsman none the less, but an utterly disgusting human. He reminds me of a snake: strong, powerful, and extremely deceptive. The narrative of his continued struggle with Fujiki and Kogan is powerful and is one of the highs of this series. The story fleshes out each character with stunning acuity, all except for Fujiki himself. That is a major disappointment given that he is by far my favorite character. I think the characters most well done in this series are Irako, Kogan, and Lady Iku. Gosh... especially Kogan. What an odd and demented man. The characters in this series are sure to impress Each person fulfills their role and truly feels alive in the harsh world of samurai. Character score: 9 (Great) ---Enjoyment--- I have to say, given the flaws of this series it really brought down the enjoyment score. As I said earlier I did not feel satisfied with the ending of this show whatsoever. I practically enjoyed every other aspect of this show. It's a bummer. Enjoyment Score: 9 (Great) ---Last impressions and final score--- This series is special amidst all of the anime that frankly isn't. The scene and tone are practically the grittiest I've seen in the medium . The action is to the point and battles are decided through cunning swordsmanship. Art and sound complement each other and characters seem to leap out of the screen at points. I full recommend this title to anyone who 1. Likes samurai, 2. Likes blood, 3. Enjoys diversity in the anime they watch. Overall: 9 (Great)

The way they presented the story felt a bit overly dramatic to me,& the ending was a cliffhanger...Which pissed me off very much.Needs a season 2 badly,but other than that this is a must watch for people who want realistic,gruesome & dark Samurai based anime. A very dark,unusual,realistic & engrossing samurai based storyline..This anime is a lot more different than your typical samurai ages,It focuses more on the story than the actions. The animation/artstyle was a bit different & can be kinda disturbing at times,but that's what makes this anime unique..The action scenes are simple,short,gruesome & realistic too..The kind that keeps your eyes wide open. This anime is intended for mature audiences,contains extreme blood & gore,mild nudity,sexually explicit content & some very disturbing scenes too..So steer clear of this anime If you dislike these kinds of violent content. The characters in this story are absolutely amusing is all I can say. The soundtracks are basically old school samurai era based music,so perfectly suitable for this kind of anime.

Wanna watch a depiction of the reality in the samurai age? Then Shigurui is the right anime for you! It basically follows the harsh reality of a sword style dojo, with the detail that the master has dementia. In the first episode, you'll not understand what are those two crippled samurai doing there, in front of the feudal lord, having a sword battle, but it will all get explained during the show. We'll see the challenging of the dojo by a outsider and how they treated them. The story is mainly a tale of taking control of the dojo, revenge the power of the feudal lords, it will have sex, in several forms, including BDSM and raping. And don't forget, this is the most violent and gory anime ever made.

~This anime is about the stories of Fujiki Gennosuke and Irako Seigen, the two extraordinary skilled swordsmen of Iwamoto Kogan's "academy". One of them will eventually become the heir of the academy, which creates a bit of a tension between them, even tho the potential heritage isn't the only thing that makes them dislike each other. ~I find the story really interesting, and the gore element makes it even more appealing to me (hehe) but despite all that, during the series, I felt like something was missing. ~I soon realised that I didn't really care about the death/torture/rape (yes it includes all that) scenes towards most of the characters. I found that I was having a hard time bonding with the characters, mostly because I felt like I was just a spectator to whom the feelings and the emotional states of the characters weren't fully displayed. Most of the characters are closed to themselves, rarely expressing any feelings. Some people might like that, but after a while it made me lose interest in the story and be amused only from the interesting gore scenes. ~After all, it is a great story, with interesting animation (everyone looks alike yet so different), character development but lacks expression towards the viewer. If only I could sympathise with a character or really feel what it's like for them to change, this series would be so, so much better. Aaaand that was my review teehee ~~~

I was looking for something over the top. Lol I found this. If you can handle some serious crazy **** this is for you. It was a little slow but the art work is good and the gory factor was high. The storyline was interesting enough for me to watch when I'm not really into samurai stuff. Truthfully, I think only finished it to see what other horrible things could happen. Definitely entertaining. I probably will not watch again, however it is worth watching. I will not be forgetting this anime any time soon. Spoilers. He really ate that nipple..... Watch and beware of this horrific scene. As a lady, I could not think of something worst than this lol.

It starts of very interesting. The animation and the way they display and build the characters is interesting. The gore is nice too. However the anime is very confusing to understand. The ending is greatly disappointing too. The more i watched this the further i became confused and less interested. As for the action i felt it was too slow paced. I'm a fan of action anime and usually prefer fast paced action or thrilling action. But as the series went on i felt that this was lacking so for that reason I wouldn't recommend this anime

'𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' is a show that attempts to create an immersive representation of the Edo period/17th century through every aspect of the show, from its classical style soundtrack, muted colours and swordsman focused story, setting a tone which shows the hideous sides of this time. However, was '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' able to effectively immerse the viewer and tell a compelling tale? In some ways yes, otherwise, mostly not. The strongest aspects of the show as previously stated, are the artistic elements, but they are certainly not without their drawbacks. The soundtrack is solid and is reminiscent of what the Edo era would sound like, it is also applied appropriately to what is happening in a scene. However, there was one or two tracks which whilst sounded good, featured immersion breaking electric/synthesizer, mixed into the song. The soundtrack by the end of the series also felt repetitive as there was little distinction between tracks, and sometimes the sound mixing felt poor. The art of the show matched the tone nearly perfectly, muted colours in contrast with the emphasis of blood (deep red), excess of shadows and blinding lights, and unique X-ray shots, these were all suitable, however the 'generic anime character designs' were fairly unambitious, when a more 'grittier' character style would have been more suitable (something like '𝘔𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘹' in character design). The area where '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' egregiously fails, is in creating an interesting narrative with interesting characters. Characters were mostly boring and felt as if they had no character, either due to lack of development or poor writing (there were also multiple times where I was unable to recognize a character even though I watched the entire show in two days). And because the characters were so uninteresting, the simple plot was never compelling and its awful conclusion certainly does not help. Ultimately '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' falls short by its own mediocrity, being unable to tell an interesting story with captivating characters. But at least it looked and sounded a bit pretty whilst trying to. I would only recommend this to those looking for an inferior '𝘝𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥'-esque experience in anime.

I have no way of actually confirming, but this nigh-misantrophic anime feels a lot more accurate to what the samurai were probably actually like, compared to any more heroic depictions. a hypermasculine cabal, high off authority, practicing nothing but worship of rigid power structures and the art of killing? yea, no way that wasn't a hotbed for corruption and depravity. enjoy the not-so-subtle symbolism behind the school of samurai in this show being singularly devoted to a cruel elderly man, entirely succumbed to dementia, who only snaps into lucidity to commit acts of violence. perhaps this is even the one actually great "horror" anime. very slow paced and minimally animated, but incredibly dense on unnerving atmosphere, with occasional bursts of the grisliest, realistic violence ever put to animation. Hiroshi Hamasaki's off-kilter direction and the amazing minimalistic soundtrack, full of ominous chanting and percussion, take center stage and achieve an outright hypnotic effect. the show is the platonic ideal of a great, albeit incomplete, anime adaption - accurate to the source material, but with enough of a unique identity to warrant it's own existence.

Oh boy, where to start with this one. I signed up to review it, so here we go. I'm currently reading the manga for this one, and while I initially enjoyed this adaptation (the first two episodes were super promising!) I found it to be quite detestable in the way it handled the plot and characters of this series overall. Art and Sound Design - 9/10 These were, in my opinion, the main strong points of the show. You have high quality Studio Madhouse animations and art, which lovingly render a blend of 2D art with select moments of 3D (usually for gore) that lend an edge of uncanny valley to the gory scenes often portrayed in this show. Of which there were a lot. It paints a brutal takedown of the idea of the 'noble samurai in service of his lord', and almost everything shown here is in service of that goal. The palette is washed out, casting everything into a brilliant, uncanny white, or the dull browns of half-light. Interiors are often gloomy, decrepit greyscale. It lends the work a certain dreamlike quality, but... more on that in a minute. The sound design evokes the period the show is depicting in a way the manga honestly couldn't replicate, due to the limits of the medium. It's minimalist, using traditional instruments from the period to build tension in a way that's reminiscent of wild west films, or samurai flicks, an irony that does not escape me given the story's themes. It's unobtrusive for the most part, but still evokes emotion in a more subconscious way than some more bombastic anime. So... why would I rate this a 5/10? Because of everything else. Because the story is needlessly obtuse in a way that the work it adapts just... isn't. Because it did a terrible job of making me care about any of the generally unlikeable fanatics this world is populated with. Because for all its amazing animation, portrayal of male-presenting nipples, anime people who look like actual Japanese people, and sheer unflinching brutality, it spends more time lingering on scenes of graphic sexual assault than it does on the core conflict it's meant to be setting up. The Story 5/10 The story meanders all over the place for an extended period towards the middle of this series. As I have since read the source material, I can tell you this is solely a problem with this adaptation, for context. It's a pacing issue that lead me dangerously close to uttering the six deadly words, 'I don't care about these people'. Yes, people are maimed and tortured at the whims of uncaring madmen, while the idea of 'loyalty' is messily deconstructed, but at some point it began to feel more like the animators wanted to stretch out the sexual assault scenes for as long as they could. The plot felt aimless or plain nonexistent, ending with a whimper, telling you to go read the manga. This was because a large amount of background information for the world seems to have been cut to make way for more totes radical animation and vaguely surrealist moments. This has a horrible knock-on effect on: The Characters 4/10 The characters in this show are, by and large, presented as mute psychopaths with nary a human bone in their body (apart from the ones that occasionally surface violently through their skin). I get it, it's a dark show. But even dark stuff needs some form of attachment to its characters. For context, the source material has a lot of internal monologue, personal philosophy, etc. Almost none of this is present, or at best, feelings are vaguely alluded to in mild facial tics and body language. As someone viewing this with no context initially, the show gave me almost nothing to work with. There were a couple of characters who were sympathetic due to their wretched circumstances, but Madhouse seemed more intent on forcing the viewer to wallow in their suffering than they did in developing anyone in particular. The main conflict feels barely touched upon, because this adapts a short stretch of the manga, and it leaves the characters involved in that conflict poorly fleshed out as a result. That leaves the conflict between loyalty and free will, of people striving against a slavish cultural devotion to duty - the thing meant to be driving the story- seem tepid and aimless. The characters really are puppets in this one. Enjoyment 5/10 Shigurui came off as something like a weird, brutal indie arthouse project. It's enjoyable for those reasons, but it also felt pretentious to me. It's needlessly obtuse with its visuals, seemingly for the sole purpose of being 'artistic'. I didn't mind that the fights often end in a single stroke. That's what happens when people use swords on unarmored bodies. I did mind how often people seemed to get molested, and how the camera felt the need to linger over that in a way it never did with scenes of murder. It's kinda like Ninja Scroll in that way. Rape on display for mostly its own sake. Overall 5/10 I'm sorry for mentioning the manga so much in this, but when the show ended abruptly, leaving me feeling mildly robbed, I needed to know what the hell just happened and why. It's just that I'm only now realizing what could have been done with this show, and why the end result felt lackluster. It was okay while I watched it (most of the time) but only after I got to the 'read the manga' ending did I realize how many important character moments and how much dialogue was cut out of this adaptation. It's okay if you want to watch samurai you don't care about get murderized in very flashy ways, or see lovingly animated girls get molested, go for it, but I wouldn't recommend this anime as a faithful adaptation of its source material. It's not awful by itself. It's... average, by way of being both great and terrible at the same time. It got myself and my partner to check out what it was adapting, and that's... better than nothing I guess? We're not likely to get a second season, so I'd say, save yourself the effort in divining the entrails on what scene X 'really means' and just read the manga instead. As my partner said, this show is to its manga what Berserk 2016 was to its own source material. It's not worth it.

Yes, this show is very graphic and gorey, but besides that its just a very artsy as hell samurai story, with some of the slowest story pacing i have seen in an anime so far to date.I feel like hipsters and cinephiles will get a nice kick out of it, but I don't know if they can handle this artsy fartsy direction for over three hours, There some crazy moments like disembowelment,nipples getting cut off here and there, and some just straight up freaky and weird moments. But besides that, its lifeless characters, minimalist soundtrack, and numerous shots of the sun and trees and insects that last for like over a minute constantly, almost drove me up a wall.The one thing that did not wear me out was its SPECTACULAR character design that was so good that it was freaky.But yeah ,you can check it out, but it is a super duper acquired taste Overall-6

Shigurui Now, it has been a while since I have written one of these, so I hope you’ll forgive me for being a little rusty. I was scouring the interwebs for shows comparable to Texhnolyze and Ergo Proxy and came upon Shigurui: Death Frenzy which boasted a gritty atmosphere, blood and gore, and all-around awesomeness, and while Shigurui is not as complex in and of itself, it does present the plot in very interesting ways, which has catapulted it to the heights of one of my favorite shows. [Story: 7/10] The plot of Shigurui is not a tremendously complicated plot in and of itself; it's a story of revenge, a story of a deadly rivalry and a story of brutality. What does fascinate me about the story is the way in which it is presented. The first episode alone could be subject to an analysis on the usage and effectiveness of anachronisms (in the literary sense). The show constantly breaks away chronological order, scenes that are given emphasis are not necessarily the ones that advance the plot, even minor characters are established through frequent flashbacks and the ending… well, the ending. Without wishing to spoil too much, while the show does work with that ending, I cannot recommend reading the manga, for the continuation of what seems like a very abrupt and inconclusive ending. The plot has multiple layers of importance and should not be seen as the definitive starting and ending point of the entire story, but rather as the buildup, the sum of events that culminated in the important event: the meeting of our two rivals at the Tournament at Sunpu Castle (which in turn is but a minor parenthesis in the larger story of a Japanese feudal Lord). The story is not what kept me watching, though, and were it not presented so effectively it would probably have made for a boring anime. [Characters: 8/10] Let’s meet the gang! Our party consists of three (maybe four) main characters, two of which we meet at the in medias res beginning of the show: Irako Seigen and Gennosuke, the two rivals whose conflicts and struggles have led them to meet at the Tournament at Sunpu Castle to fight on last battle to the death. A third main character is their Sensei Iwamoto Kogan. Irako is the handsome, arrogant and ambitious man on the surface, with goals that show his hubris, but also reveal a genuine desire to right the wrongs he feels have been committed against him by a brutal feudalistic society. Gennosuke is the stoic and fierce warrior who is above all else loyal to his Master Kogan and his daughter Iwamoto Mie (the arguable fourth main character). He is closest to what this show has to offer in terms of a good guy, but there are not good or bad guys in this show. There are evil guys, sure, but no one that could be unequivocally be labelled the villain. There are only conflicting motivations and as simplistic as those motivations might be, they are believable. The cast of secondary characters is solid. What I love most about the primary and secondary cast of Shigurui: Death Frenzy is the fact that there is something very apparently wrong with each and every one of them. It starts with the very prominent physical deformities and disfigurements: the main characters, Fujiki with is missing left arm, Irako with his lame foot and blindness, Kogan with his six fingers on his right hand. Many of the secondary characters are also disfigured, thick scars, missing jaws, cheeks slashed open and so on. The flesh truly does reflect the madness. Every character has something wrong with them. If it’s not physical, then it’s with the very unsettling way they speak, stare at you, or behave. I have seen a review complaining about how the characters feel more like wax figures than actual people and I’d almost agree, except I don’t take the comparison as an insult, but rather think it works towards the overall tense and unsettling tone of the show. [Art: 7/10] What I always like about an anime is when the various characters are distinguishable by more than just their ridiculous hairdos and Shigurui accomplishes this quite well. You can tell each character apart at a glance and the visuals complement each character’s individuality. The show is also brimming with visual symbolism, some of which might be lost on the average viewer. I for one wasn’t able to pick up on what all the imagery of insects and spiders means in the context of the plot, but I have read some essays, that explain how each of the visual metaphors play an important role to the story, so I feel like I can’t complain. The viewer will probably ask themselves, why they are being shown pictures of various bugs all throughout the show, but apparently it is not empty imagery. One disappointment I have with this show is how most of the fight scenes are handled in terms of their animation. For many viewers the cliché of drawn out tension building, followed by a few quick cuts with little animation or even still images, will leave the impression of being incredibly lazy. If you’re looking for gloriously animated fight scenes, you will be disappointed. Now, I get it, the build up obviously contributes to the atmosphere. Also, while not explicit, the supernatural abilities of the characters plays an important role, in that it is quite heavily suggested that the characters move with supernatural, impossible to follow speed, which in some of the quick-cut fight scenes is actually portrayed quite well. However, some of the scenes, with still images and slight animation in lieu of an intriguing fight “choreography” left me a bit wanting, especially when contrasted with the high-octane musical backing. The major flaw with this anime, however, are with the blood effects. For an anime with such a heavy emphasis on blood and gore, the fact that in many scenes the blood looks like some absurd thick syrupy sludge is really distracting and gets in the way of my enjoyment of the show. Seriously, there are some scenes, which almost made me laugh out loud, because the blood looked so dumb and unreal that any weight and impact they were supposed to have were lost. Now, not every bloody scene is bad, some of the blood and gore is actually very impactful, which leads me to believe, that the blood effects were a deliberate artistic choice rather than sheer incompetence and that baffles me. One scene in episode three has one dude getting his forehead slashed open, and the way the shiny glistening blood pumps out in regular beats, as if he had a second heart in his skull subtracted from the tension of the scene. The scenes with heavy gore and visible organs (oh, lovely) are done quite a bit better, but unfortunately, I am left feeling a bit disappointed. [Sound: 10/10] This to me is the undisputed highlight of Shigurui: Death Frenzy. For an anime with tension, atmosphere and a slow pace, knowing when to accentuate certain moments with certain music is crucial and this show pulls it off masterfully. Slow drumbeats, throat singing and discordant lute chords; Shigurui knows exactly when to add to the disquieting atmosphere and knows when to play up the occasional action-packed moments with fast paced scores as well. But what the show arguably does even better is knowing when to have no music, silence is sometimes louder than anything else after all, and some tense scenes play out without any musical, which only serves to make them more tense. The transitions from no music, to slight musical elements as the tension increases is so subtle at times, that the viewer may be forgiven for not even noticing. If I had to point out some faults, it would be the OP track, which I always skip, and the fact, that complementary as they are to the anime’s atmosphere, most of the songs might not lend themselves well to independent listening. I still listen to them, because I like this kind of stuff, but if you are looking for some catchy anime OST tunes, then you might be left disappointed. [Personal enjoyment: 10/10] This is always the most subjective part o…

Shigurui starts of with a duel that seems important, but you never get to see it, other than the begining where they walk in and take their stances. The show just jumps into the past in a disconnected way that scrambles what little story it actually had. In the past we're shown what, presumably led to the duel, but we never get answers, and the ending doesn't say anything about the outcome. At times I found myself wondering what would happen next, but usually I was disappointed. The story was quite poorly written and unnecessarily gory, which the art style supplemented. I don't mind gore, but this was just gore for the sake of making it disturbing and edgy. The art itself was passable, but I wouldn't write home about it. Most of the characters had little to no personality or backstory, and those that had some had bad stories that did not give an explanation to their actions, for the most part. I just couldn't really like this steaming pile of fresh guts that someone thought was a good idea to make, and I don't understand why so many like it, but I would say this is a divisive show. It's probably one of those where either you like it or you hate it.

After watching the first five minutes of the first episode of Shigurui (or, as I would call, "Tits and Bowels") I thought "damn it, it is directed by the same guy from Texhnolyze", and I was right. It looks like Hamasaki's specialty and main goal is to make you drop his series at the first episode. The torturous slow pace and cryptic direction, how he goes on and on barely developing anything, can only be endured because of the truly astonishing art and music that accompanies his work - and for knowing him, I knew I'd also be greatly rewarded with the story development once enough pieces of it were presented, if I could just endure this beginning. So be wary of that if you pick it to watch. Shiguriu takes place in the Edo period and feels like a classic novel, it's not an adventure, nor it's action packed, and after watching it I went straight to the manga (you will know why, if you watch). The manga is a masterpiece on its own, and I thought how hard it would be build up the tension and suspense, as Hamasaki does in the anime, without the aid of timing and music, but then I realized the real challenge might have been how to transfer all the emotions to the animation without the use of a narrator. Even if the manga was completed by the time the anime came out (it wasn't), Hamasaki's directors cut couldn't be more precise, and it was truly a superb adaptation, extremely faithful, but at the same time bringing this historical romance to new heights thanks to his skillful direction. I still loathe the slow pace and crypticness, Hamasaki became a director I love to hate, but now I'm left to wonder if this part is not a necessary contrast to reach a greater climax.

This is a pretty bloody ronin show with surpringsingly little action. While there is so much gore, it hardly happens in swordfights but all kind of violent situations along the way. The show focuses mostly on establishing on this calm, unsettling atmosphere like in Seriel Experiments Lain or Kurozuka, wich is quite to my liking. Most of the sword fights consist of the characters meditating / starring at each other and are suddenly over in one blow. Unfortunately this super slow story telling really eats on the enjoyment in the long run. The more episodes you watch, the more it becomes a drag. The story from these 12 episodes could have been told in 4 to 5 episodes and we are also faced with some major plotholes. So if you enjoy the atmosphere in the shows of Yasuyuki Ueda and Hiroshi Hamasaki, this one might be for you.