Ranked #2634

Midori - Shoujo Tsubaki

Midori - Shoujo Tsubaki is the kind of anime that will have you wishing that Prozac came in chewable Flintstones tablets.

This is a carnival of carnage. It is an anime made from the deepest recesses of the human psyche delivering to us some of the most inhumane behaviours you can possibly imagine. Midori - Shoujo Tsubaki is a story of evil and the grotesque.

Set in the early 1900s in Japan, a young waif returns to her slummy apartment to find her mother dead, the corpse being eaten by rats under the blankets. This is the first of many, many horrors for young Midori. Now an orphan, Midori falls under the smooth words of a strange man who makes her promises of a better life if she only joins his travelling circus. Having nobody else to turn to, she obliges. And Midori is taken into a group of circus freaks. There, she is given the warm welcome of a gang rape on her first chaotic night with them. Midori then becomes a prisoner in a world of filth and freaks.

This anime will make you want to die a little on inside for every minute that passes. For the weak-stomached, there are numerous vomit-inducing scenes. The gore and blood levels are through the roof. Not to mention there are just unpleasant things to witness as well. The story devolves into sicker, more twisted territory as it wears on. Not even puppies have been spared from this anime. Let's just say their little cute heads are very, very soft.

Midori - Shoujo Tsubaki utilises a very realistic art style. The character design is particularly detailed, and we get some lovely images of the burnt, rotting skin under a bandaged man or wonderful shots of brains leaking out of people's heads. However, the style is incredibly dated and the animation is not the best at moments. The artwork is going to give you a headache and it will probably give you some nightmares as well.

The sound is quite forgettable, but one memorable aspect of it are the characters' voices. It's hard not to forget the smarmy voice of the midget magician or the cries of Midori or the sneers of the freaks in the circus. It seems this anime was made on a budget as its technical aspects are not entirely the best stuff out there.

As for the characters, this anime will present you with one of the first times that you'll ever wish that the protagonist would die. Not because "God, they're so annoying--I wish they would die!" No. You want someone to kill Midori or have her take her own life since living for this girl seems to be one gigantic tragedy. Every waking moment, it is a misery after misery, torture after torture for her. Midori's daily survival is not a triumph. It is a damnation. Death is salvation and living is a curse.

The supporting cast consists of vile creatures who very well know not to call themselves human any more. There are horrific promiscuous women who have group sex with the other freaks out in open. Most of the men seem to have a taste for Midori. Then again, a little helpless child (she is under thirteen years of age, most definitely) probably is a lot more appealing to these perverts. Then there's the one character who treats Midori nicely, a new magician who comes to work for the circus, but is he really a nice man? He is clearly middle-aged, but he has sex with Midori. He kills people when he loses his temper. Some saviour, huh? The only person not to have molested this little girl (yes, even the women have abused her) is the ringleader, and that's because he's implied to be gay. Not that something like that would stop these people. He simply seems too busy to take the time out of his day for a little violent sex.

What is curious about this anime is that both Midori and her abusers have grown attached to one another. She, with her Stockholm Syndrome, does not leave them, and they, with their psychotic issues, see her as someone they want and need. Still, there's no better way to say "I love you" other than a good old raping, is there?

This adaptation of Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show is not so much amazing as it is awful to watch. If you want to be grossed out, horrified, or simply want an anime to assassinate whatever happy feeling you have in your heart, this is certainly the way to go. Honestly, even as an experimental anime, this is not worth the watch since it prioritises the grotesque and other horrors without giving us a story or a character piece to back it up. What we have here is simply animated unpleasantness.

Have you ever lost faith in mankind? Then if you ever want your last bits of hopes in humanity crushed, this is exactly the anime you need to watch, if dark fascination ever grabs hold of you. For people who like to sleep at night without waking up and screaming, then avoid this movie.

Midori - Shoujo Tsubaki is a tale that even the Devil might find repulsive. read more

The movie was really great. Some people might be a little disturbed by some scenes and how the story plot goes or might not feel comfortable with the artwork, but it is to know that the director, Hiroshi Harada, drew the entire movie by himself and he wanted to make it look like a sort of japanese paper play. At first I was being dissapointed about the animation, but later it gets better and really breath takes you for some scenes. The story is wonderful , the characters are wee thought. After seing some drawings from the graphic novel it was based on , I believe it stayed true to it's spirit. I recommend that people that are really sensitive or can't stand cruelty and violence think twice before watching this because it can really get intense , but people who don't mind that and who want to watch something original with an interesting style and art work should definetly go for it. read more