Shigurui

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The aesthetics of cruelty...

Mangas tend to fall apart as they go on. Even hallmarks of the genre are marked by a degradation in quality, plot, or ideas as they extend in length and the reasons why this is vary from mundane, to specificities of the Japanese story style, to idiosyncrasies that are beyond the current author. Shigurui is able to buck this trend, instead growing in scope, intensity, and somehow also focus as the story unfolds. I found myself growing more and more involved, surprised, and ultimately enamored by the tale Takayuki Yamaguchi tells with both beautiful story telling, and artwork. No doubt, what we ... have here is a masterpiece which sets out to, and successfully unravels a story, which with its depiction of violence, sensuality, birth, death, the human form, and so much more, concerns itself with the very essence of human existence itself. Shigurui represents the attempt by the author to capture ephemeral meaning that is so rarely even acknowledged, much less sought after, and most rarely of all - captured. It resembles a blossoming flower in this regard, and the manga is one of few works that the author can attribute to genius.

If I could attempt to explain this "truth" in detail, even if the task is failed to do so from the start, as word are just a human attempt to standardize experience; there is a grand, unifying "spirit" that envelopes existence. This connection is felt in everything, from the real to the metaphysical to the metaphorical to the ideal. Human beings are the only part of the system that can recognize it, because of our their intellect, although they are completely unable to grasp or recognize it in its entirety. The best we can do, and indeed the thing we should aspire to, is to attempt to temporarily connect ourselves with this grand truth. The way to do this is absolute dedication to a combination of a skill and an ideal, which meld together in practice in a way where the ideal is expressed through the skill. This being a manga, and even more since it's a manga about swordsmen, this becomes the philosophy of bladesmanship - with our protagonists being very different men who are trying to attain the same thing.

Shigurui is able to use the conventional to establish its foundation for the metaphysical exploration of the typical Japanese fascinations: honor, skill, beauty, and that's just to start. Narrative and concept are spun together in a way that is always free-flowing and never a chore to keep up with, and you get the feeling that the ideas being explored are something the mangaka has mulled for a long time. There is a maturity and grasp that is rarely seen and felt in the medium. Its focus on anatomy, violence, sex, ritual, death, age, and similar expansive themes make it clear that this is a manga about conveying something very real, the very aspects and pith of our experience, that are the most meaningful but also the hardest to embrace. It's something that is can be described as the cutting edge of reality, and moments of extreme intimacy are interlaced with moments of extreme cruelty commonly, as if to show there is some correlation between the two we can't grasp.

The more I am compelled to write about Shigurui, as a form of excited sharing of something great and lesser known, the more I realize it's an fruitless enterprise. The experience is something that can only be experienced, much like the grand truth itself.

Couldn't recommend more, if you couldn't tell from the rambling.

9.5

I'm not gonna make a really big and specific review, once english is not my first language (and i'm not able to express my opinions clearly), I didn't finish it yet and i'm not really good with reviews.
The story follows the trama of Irako Seigen and Fujiki Gennosuke, two swordmen (samurai) that learn their fight style at the Kogan dojo(??? don't know if that's a dojo or another thing); the two had a rivalry and one (Irako) was banned from the dojo and was turned blind the same day. After this, we're show how the rivalry between the two gets resoluted (not gonna talk more ... about the story itself so I don't give spoilers)

===Art: 9=====
The art is ASTONISHING when it comes to anatomy. The mangaka is able to draw perfectly the muscles (it is noticeable the illustrator's anatomy knowledge) and the gore, which is very present in the manga. The bodies dynamics are very good too, and for me, it only fails (sometimes) when it comes to faces. Sometimes, the faces of some characters look kinda strange and deformed.
The manga's semi-realistic drawing style is incredible in my opinion.

===Story: 8===
Well, me, for being a laic person when it comes to japan history, wasn't able to really keep up with some of the events. Sometimes it shown "X year of Kan'ei" or something like that, but I didn't really know it. Besides that, the story is very cool, the events that happen with the characters are remarkable and it does not have bigger flaws (in my opinion)

===Characters: 7===
I think this is where it has the most flaws. I wasn't able to "grip" to the characters (I mean like: feeling empathy for the characters and/or sharing feelings with them) because i don't think they were developed really good until now. And also, it is kinda strange for the writer to present us to many characters and just kill them some pages later, but that is also interesting, for adding that "the things come when we never expect it" feeling. The only character I've "gripped" to is Kitsuki Gannosuke, because we are presented to all of his sufferings and why he became that way (even tho he is still strange, but I feel pity for him).

====Overall: 8====
The manga is pretty good. Presents us with a samurai atmosphere and we're drawn into that world successfully. The art is astonishing and the artist's skill is noticeable, with it's gore being the thing that is the more outstanding, for being really detailed and "anatomically surprising". The fights are actually pleasant to see, because the manga is, in no way, predictable, so we, the readers, have the curiosity to know how it will end, after following what happened to the characters that are in the fight. Another interesting thing about it is the fact that we are able to understand how much something is important, lemme explain: Sometimes in some stories, we're presented to a threat that we don't really understand it's importance and effects on the world, being one example the final villain in Wednesday. Once he appears we feel like "ok, but what he can do? what does he threaten? how much is he powerful", and he still is defeated in some minutes of fight. That doesn't happen here. Every time a character is fighting, we fully understand it's threaten and how much he is dangerous, like when (spoiler??) ||Ushimata-dono appears in the middle of Fujiki's revenge and starts killing everyone. Since he did that we were certain of the problem he could cause||. But I really think it could give us completely three-dimensional characters, to make we share feelings with them and get drawn into the story more than ever. But it is still a interesting reading. That's it.

Imma keep it a buck, narratively this feels like a rough/first draft. Dialogue and narration can be redundant and utilitarian which isn't a great mix. An example is when the narrator goes out of the way to state a character is taller than another when there's a two page spread perfectly showing that. It can be very excessive. Irako and Fujiki are compelling characters and I guarantee you'll enjoy every fight between the two which is why I think the manga isn't trash. I don't recommend the manga because those duels are few and far between and I don't find any other character compelling despite ... their layers. A lot of named characters will be introduced with so much exposition vomited onto multiple pages, then quickly killed sometimes that SAME chapter. The VAST majority of the story takes place in a flashback and does flashbacks within that flashback. Weirdly enough the ending could use narration on the thought process of two characters because it of how abruptly and suddenly it wraps up. I think you can get the point, this manga just ain't it despite the talents of the artist. Also I imagine if you're homophobic like me, this manga is poison.