Ranked #2682

Samurai Deeper Kyou

Samurai Deeper Kyo was one of the first anime I saw (after The Guyver and Perfect Blue – an interesting selection). It is the tale of the ‘strongest samurai alive’, a bloodthirsty monster called Demon Eyes Kyo, also known as the Slayer of 1000 Men, and his search for the only thing in the world that is important to him.

For the first few episodes, Samurai Deeper Kyo seems quite formulaic. Kyo establishes himself as a badass who can crush all opposition while sneering disdainfully, and combat consists largely of exchanges of flashy-looking quasi-magic power attacks. So far, so shounen. There are some un-shounen elements even at this early stage, though – if you’re paying attention. I didn’t notice until maybe my third or fourth viewing just how short the battles tend to be. This could easily be seen as a bad thing – one or two explosive techniques from each combatant and it’s all over. But having sat through (and enjoyed, mostly) every episode of Bleach to date, I’d contend that this brevity of conflict could also be seen as efficiency. There are no episode-long power-up sequences here, or even episode-long fights. Even the best shounen tends to have unrealistic bursts of dialogue in the middle of combat and foes who wait patiently while the hero recites the name of his attack, and that’s certainly true of Samurai Deeper Kyo, but unlike so many other series the fights here get to the point. Sadly, they’re also somewhat more stationary than people raised on Bleach or Samurai Champloo might be accustomed to; there is an over-reliance on speed lines, and a lot of the bog-standard non-superpowered sword swings look clumsy and artificial.

Like many other shounen series, Samurai Deeper Kyo leans towards being an ensemble piece, with an ever-expanding core group of characters who trail after the hero, or cross his path repeatedly in a variety of ways. Unlike some series, though, most of these characters are quite distinct and likeable as people. Few of them are particularly nuanced (with the notable exception of Yukimura Sanada, at least to this viewer), but they rarely blend together as some characters in this genre can tend to. As you might expect, most of the central characters have something to hide, or something to discover, or an unclear agenda – and while I doubt any of the revelations will make you gasp in abject shock, they’re not always easy to foresee.

One of the strongest points of the series, for me, is the fluid nature of alliances and good/evil – something I have a fondness for in other series too, such as Gilgamesh. While shounen as a genre frequently has enemies becoming friends and the like, lamentably few actually keep you wondering just who is really the enemy. Like the proverbial onion, Samurai Deeper Kyo sheds layers of intrigue, each time shaking an assumption you thought was concrete. Similarly, the series employs the well-established technique of 'threatening the badass' – that is, if Kyo seems to be an unstoppable killing machine in the early episodes, it’s only to impress upon us the seriousness of later travails that actually challenge him.

On the music front, Samurai Deeper Kyo really surprises me with its quality, though I didn’t notice at first. Some of the recurring themes really jump out at the viewer, such as ‘Awakening’ (the music that usually accompanies Kyo’s trademark Mizuchi technique), but many are quite subtle and atmospheric. I thought for a while that Kyo’s music was indelicate, almost garish, consisting of just one or two brash tunes, but when I listened to the soundtrack album I realised to my surprise that I recognised every one of the thirty tracks, and most of them were incidental themes, accompanying flashbacks or moments of tension. Curiously, much of the music, when listened to away from the visuals of the series, puts me in mind of console RPGs; some make me think Final Fantasy, others Zelda, and one even reminds me of an old NES game called Battle of Olympus. That’s not to say that the sound quality is shrill or the composition is lacking, simply that some of the tracks are more soaring or more grand than I would have expected. A particular highlight for me is ‘Begin’, an upbeat, airy, faux-string composition used for some action scenes.

Overall, then, I’d recommend Samurai Deeper Kyo to anime fans who enjoy action/fighting series wherein the plot isn’t exclusively a vehicle for the fights, the characters are simple but likeable, and there are enough surprises to keep things from getting boring. If you can overlook the sometimes stilted combat animation and are willing to be patient with the monster-of-the-week nature of the first few episodes, you might find Samurai Deeper Kyo a more rewarding watch than you expect. read more

Samurai Deeper Kyo has an unique and bizarre take on edo history, and the battles between samurai. The story has its twists, but when you think that the 'last boss' is defeated, more villians pop up. At first sight, the anime seemed like a fun hilarious anime with kyoushi junior, however when the "demon eyed kyo" takes over the anime starts in a much more serious tone, which prevails till the end.

The story centers around "demon eyed kyo", who has his soul entrapped in somebody else's body, so basically, he goes around defeating villians to get his body back. However, kyo is known as the man who killed a thousand men, the demon eyed kyo - reminds me of Kenshin and Battosai. I found the story a bit bizarre when Nobunaga Oda was introduced, and with all the messed up demons popping up.

Good Things:
. cool protaganist
. nice tense atmosphere
. good twists in the plot and character development
. badass looking demons and characters
. loved the opening song

Bad Things
. story is a mix mash of things which doesn't sit well with me
. fights are rather boring and repetitive, much like Kenshin using the same attack.
. kyo beats villian, moves on to anther villian, then another one, and another one and another one, until he fights the boss - very shounen, but the fights are not that amusing.

Overall: a mediocre anime, that I mostly forced myself to go through, but then again a watched 26 episodes in a day so that might affect my enjoyment of the anime. It's not bad, but not great either. Villians are very unique and have their own style and looks, very well done in the characters. read more

The first review here is way too harsh. This anime is well worth a watch if your into historical/samurai stuff, it's not as dark and brooding as it sets out to be and the plot can feel a little convaluted at times but the characters are quite endearing and if you can get your head round all the different threads it's very easy to get wrapped up in the story.

I really enjoyed it and found myself watching one episode after another once I'd got past the first few, but I haven't read the manga so if you have you may be in for a bit of a disappointment. read more

I believe that this anime has a lot of potential to be great but unfortunatly it is not implemented very well, I have not read the manga but I hear good things about it, as for this anime it lacks everything that would make it as great as the current Shounen animes. The manga speaks well of it's greatness as the manga did span 38 volumes. But these key points stop it from being great, I will address them by category and then the positives and negatives.

Story - The whole edo period storylines have been done numerously in the past but just because their are a lot of them does not make them bad, but does leave a familiar taste in your mouth after watching it as like you've seen something similar to this before. I like how they add names from History but I've seen it too much before and it would be nice if all the names were original, but overall the story does not have enough enticement to keep you watching and it gets a bit boring toward the end with typical fight scenes and a ending to be expected from what you've seen throughout the anime.

Art - Art is good for the time of release, but nothing too special.

Sound - The soundtrack is fine, a lot of music I've heard before, but there's nothing wrong with that and the Opening fits the anime well.

Characters - There is a lot of character development which isn't a bad thing but if you do too much it does become tedious, I like Demon Eyes Kyo but I wish he kept the same attitude throughout the anime and did not turn into a typical Bad Guy turning to Good Guy scenario, I've seen that too much before and I wish he stayed a bad guy, it would have made the story much more interesting.

Enjoyment - I did not enjoy this anime much, did not have enough content to keep me going even though I got through the anime. Wish the characters fights were a bit more interesting and had better fighting styles and weapons.

Overall - This anime was fine but I'm judging the anime not the manga, but I'm afraid those who watch this might be put off by the anime not to read the manga, like I was. I will proberly read the manga eventually, but not anytime soon.

Positives - I like the characters

Negitives - The Story and fights could of been better.

Thanks for reading - AkatsukiBuzai - Kuroagi read more

I have to say, when I started this anime, I expected a lot more from it. The storyline had a lot of potential that was never brought to fruition. The animation was definitely not the best I have seen and by the end of the series I was so bored and disappointed that I was questioning why I bought the series in the first place. Samurai Deeper Kyo is one of those animes that you continue to watch, hoping that it will get better. Unfortunately, it never does. I would not recommend this series to anyone who is looking for meaningful dialog or a compelling story to follow. Throughout all 26 episodes I just couldn't get myself to identify or sympathize with any of the characters. For those interested in an anime based around Samurai, I would recommend staying clear of Samurai Deeper Kyo and going for a series such as Rurouni Kenshin. Trust me, don't waste your time or energy on this one, it is just big disappoinment in the end. read more

Okay I originally started out by reading for the manga for this and i was like wow this is fantastic I would love to see an anime for this. Little did I know they had one and i was really excited if it followed the manga it would make for a fantastic anime so I go and start to watch it and this is the a compassion of disappoint by now most people have watched or heard about dragon ball evolution well that's how this show was for me I went in expecting that they'd do it good and came out with an angered and confused face why goku did you jump after using kamehameha wave why. Now taking the work as it's own separate piece not relating to the manga then it's actually pretty decent but after seeing the manga then this it made me so disappointed. read more

Having read the manga the series is based upon I can say for certain that this is the worst anime adaptation I have come across in my life. Damn those adaptation decays! The original was very pleasing to keep reading, despite falling to the usual pitfalls of shonen series. Its adaptation to anime tried to speed up things in order to get to the point faster, but did so many changes and watering down that turned an otherwise ok title to a bull-fest of mediocrity.

This review will make a lot of comparisons to the manga, as I feel it ruined the original story to a great extend. The manga had an age advisory of 15. The anime drops it to 12 in order to broaden the audience and piss the hell out of the fans of the manga.

ART SECTION: 4/10 [8/10 in the manga] [/b] [Is he frozen by some spell or is the animation crappy?]

General Artwork & Backgrounds 2/4: Average. They have nothing that screams WOW. How many times have I seen the same feudal Japan setting again? Too many.

Character Figures 1/2: Their looks were ok. But the grimaces! The characters in the manga had really insane looks. Here, they look like they are forced to express anything. Man, anime really suck at transmitting the feeling of the manga properly. Just think of Bleach. Ichigo looked awesome while wearing his mask in the manga. He looked like a clown in the anime. Naruto looked cool when releasing his tails in the manga. He simply looked half-angry in the anime. Fail in all examples. Anime are really bad at copying the atmosphere of those black and white pages.

Animation 0/2: How did they turn the choreographies and awesome special attacks into this parade of still images and low-budget effects? A battle could last for two entire volumes in the manga and here it finishes in 30 seconds. And where are the in-betweens showing the clashes or slashes of a weapon? Heck, they felt more kinetic in the frozen frames of the manga than in the otherwise moving anime format. Fail! If it were some slice-of-life anime, I wouldn’t mind much. Yet, it is an action series, where battles play an important part.

Visual Effects 1/2: Not bad; explosions everywhere! Still, they do seem out of place most of the time. They don’t look uniform, since the computer generated graphics really stand out next to non-CGI most of the times. Not to mention the lack of gore scenes. Forget those severed heads and limbs and fountains of blood you saw in the manga. They are all replaced by demons exploding or shadows hiding the view or are taken out entirely and presented simply as bloodless punches. Where is fun in that?

SOUND SECTION: 5/10 [No such thing exists in the manga and it fails to be memorable to you, anyway.]
Mediocre… That’s it. Nothing that I can say, “it was good” or “it was awful”. Expected, as the story didn’t attract me in order to pay attention to how they talk or how fitting the music is. I really have nothing to write here, since no matter how good or bad music or voice acting is, it really has no effect on you, because of the boring plot. Anyway, if it was that good, I would definitely remember something out of it. If I don’t, it simply means that it failed to be memorable in any way.

STORY & CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10 [8/10 in the manga, because it is twice as long and trice as complicating.]

The story in a flash. Super samurais, full of ambitions, clash in order to conquer Japan, destroy the world, avenge someone, bring hell on earth and other cliché we have already seen a million times in anime. The thing is, the way everything unfolds is not that typical, as there are far too many dark secrets and hidden agendas in each character’s portfolio that easily make everyone two-faced, or even three-faced! Although at first, it feels like another silly adventure of a male and a female looking for some magic artifact that can defeat the baddies, it quickly turns to a grim story of vengeance, greed and violence.

The story and the characters are generally following the manga but the events are altered in such a way that a bloody samurai quest for world dominance turned into a mediocre children’s adventure.

For starters, the plot only follows the manga up to half of its total duration. This means that half of the total cast and events had to be taken out! Really, if you thought the cast was huge, you have no idea what its number was in the manga. The story feels vague and rushed because a lot of important events were taken out. The manga took its time to reveal each character’s past and goals, so despite their typical personalities, they were colorized and dramatized enough to the point where you actually liked them and cared about them. Taking those dressings out of the picture, made everything to feel like a one-of-the-same storyline.

A major catastrophe is the change the scriptwriters did to the villains. In the manga, they were ambitious and ruthless super-soldiers. Here, they are lame-looking demons. Clearly, they wanted to make the series safe for younger audience so they turned all the baddies into monsters nobody will complain if the heroes kill them. Remember how they made those aliens to be robots in various dubs, so the kids watching won’t be scared when they blow up by the hero? Something like that. The thing is, you don’t care about a monster that exists just to be hated and killed. The villains in the manga had various human emotions. Here, they are just ugly monsters nobody cares about. Oh, and the heroes are not ruthless samurai, killing hundreds of people in their quest to conquer the world. No sir; they liberate the world by evil demons, like some one-dimensional American superhero! Talk about dropping the awesomeness of the series by 50% just by separating the original gray cast into good humans and bad demons.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10 [8/10 in the manga]
It is true that the story is somewhat generic and ends in a very WTF way. Yet, it didn’t feel stupid in the original version, as the continual epic battles and dramatic pauses left no space for you to think this reasonably. In this version, the plot was so boring that you had plenty of time to think how stupid it all was. A major factor in making a successful shonen series is NOT to make the audience think. And boy, this series messed big time!

VALUE SECTION: 1/10 [7/10 for the manga]
With the titles in my Suggestion List, this series has little to no chance of standing out.

VERDICT: 3.5 / 10
So this is how The Inhumanoids look if they enter the world of My Little Pony!

SUGGESTION LIST
Rurouni Kenshin – Trust and Betrayal
Samurai Champloo
Samurai 7
Bastard !!
Basilisk
Ninja Scroll
Naruto
The freaking manga version of Samurai Deeper Kyo read more

Samurai Deeper Kyo is based of the still running manga series by the same name.

In the year 1600, during the battle of Sekigahara, warriors Kyoshiro Mibu and "Demon Eyes" Kyo - the legendary slayer of a thousand men - engaged in fierce combat. Both men disappeared when a meteor crashed in the battlegrounds. Four years later, Kyoshiro is spotted on a rural highway, acting as a traveling medicine salesman. He is captured by the female bounty hunter Yuya Shiina when she discovers that deep inside him is the dormant personality of "Demon Eyes" Kyo himself.

Now on to all the problems I had with the show. First there's the story stated above, which is just a jumble together of stories from the manga. Then there's the so called animation done by Studio Deen. Were they trying to make a crappy American cartoon, I don't get it. The music was also terrible it didn't add anything to the show. Finally the characters which had one or two moments of enjoyment, but overall were terrible. One more thing don't watch this show in the dub version, you'll hate it even more.

Overall was this a terrible anime series...no, but it pales in comparison to the manga series. read more

I read the manga first. The manga is wonderful. The anime just sucks compares to the manga. The anime skips tons of fights, tons of characters are missing. The story line is changed at the end.

If you want to enjoy this show then watch it before you read the manga. If you do watch this show plz read the manga.

It's boring. I started watching it ages ago and stopped halfway through. I later tried to force myself to continue, making it only up to episode 14.

Samurai? Fuedal Japan? Muramasa? Hell yeah! This is gonna be a great series! I've been looking for more stuff like this since I saw Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai Champloo!
Boy, was I disappointed.

The characters are extremely typical/generic... There's just really nothing special about them. I feel no connection to them whatsoever. If any of them died in the story, I wouldn't feel the slightest bit sad. They're so... empty. Kyo is the closest thing to an interesting character, but still pretty lame. He's too passive and boring to be a badass. He likes to fight, yeah, I get it... not doing it for me. Yuya or whatever is a failed attempt at a tsundere character.
The story isn't particularly interesting... It would probably be better if Kyoushiro would sometimes take control or something.

"Anime" used to just mean "Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and Digimon". Nowadays we see a lot more than that subbed and dubbed; not just dubbed, but even aired on American TV. In this modern time of anime, I think this is the first and only series that truly disappointed me this much. Trendy stuff like BeyBlade naturally suck, but I really expected something from Samurai Deeper Kyo. read more

Samurai kyo was one of the first dozen anime i watched and i really couldn't decide how i felt about it. The concept seemed very simple but then they introduced the demon lord nobunaga which kinda came at me from nowhere.

When i first read the little synopsis about samurai deeper kyo i thought it would focus more on his dual personality's over a arch villain type story structure. I pictured it as more a focus on character development and less about defeating the super evil that's being revived. I am not entirely disappointed in what they did with it but it just wasn't what i had hoped for.

The show has relativity small character development and the art is not all so grand. The sound and even the voice actors were not so great, not bad just ok more or less. The best part of this show was the fighting of course, the samurai battles using all sorts of strange magic and such.

I give this show a six and that's a little generous more like a 5.5, it was pretty mindless and didn't have much of a plot or strong characters but it has the basic framing of most anime that made it work out for the minimalist expectations. read more

Samurai Deeper Kyo! is A somewhat romentic action comedy anime which is fun to watch from the first scene to the last scene as its creates did a great job on making the story line based on japans history but in a very fictional and amazing way`
the story is about a demon warrior`and his quest and as the story goes on new new fights gonna make u love this anime and the love triangle woh and a great story based anime my suggestion is that u watch this anime


RegarEds`
Asim read more

what a crappy anime this is.the plot is incoherent with no kind of flow or smooth transition between scenes,the characters are at one location and suddenly end up elsewhere .There is an endless introduction of characters with little or any background explanation.the characters are also either lame are just too weird to enjoy.but surely being a samurai anime the action has to be good right ? wrong,i didnt think you could have bad fights scene in samurai anime but man the action is so lame,firstly it took me until episode 5 to see any blood,the fights are mostly staged,you only see a black screen then slashes then the bad guys die,or the main character kyo says some lame line then the bad guys die.There is no kind of passion in the fights,no great technique or interesting villain.In the end i actually found enjoyment from mocking how bad it was. read more

This is one of those animes you can watch more than once. It's got a good story and is enjoyable to watch. Some people have said the art in the anime could be done a little better and I agree. But overall everything comes together to make an excellent anime.

This Anime byfar has one of the best story line characters and plot to it
overall rating out of ten out of ten it would be a 8

story-8
i really liked this story! great plot and i started to like it right away! it was a very different type of show for me to watch at the time, but i liked it so much more then i thought i would.
art-8
great art but i have seen a bit better :)
sound-8
really good
character-8
i liked all the characters but they all had 1 think i didnt like that much.
enjoyment-8
even though that it was not my kind of show at the time i watched it, i really liked it!
overall-8
just great!!

The storyline was really good but the anime execution was not what it could have been. It felt very (for lack of a better word) choppy. Kind of like cut here and paste there. It was a pleasant to watch though