Shuten Douji

Note: the following comes from a video review, links on my profile page.

Shuten-dōji is a myth from the Heian era, as indeed the anime explains, but whereas in history this was perceived as an oni, in this series they are not as much, or perhaps what it tries to do is present a spectrum of this perception of fear. It tries to answer, as so many tales have done that mostly use the analogous concept of 'demons', but mainly asks "why is this felt so, or even, how is it conceived?"

Oni in this sense (could be generally when the creatures are a topic, but in ... this anime it seems to be indicated) is a psychological state that mainly represents negative emotions - whereas kitsune could be symbolic of deceit, or tanuki playfulness, oni are the darkest depths of the psyche.

It is abstractly conflict, but also internal turmoil, and as such hue can vary based on association. Oni can also be an idol for what a subconsciousness could constitute. Like architecture built out of human desires, but based on nature. What if oni are not outlandish creatures defined by what isn't the norm? Read books and partook in contradictory habits? Could a cyborg be one? How about a distant attachment?

It can be also counterintuitive though, e.g. what is the likelihood that a hellish oni decides to protect the most vulnerable? To do not what its id - most base desires - strive for? This is hell visually, as any superficial inspection may show, but also not objectively, as is it hell if it is but a percept?

The id in this anime is very much in the picture, and it is in this way Freudian, with oni symbolic of Thanatos, the desire for death and destruction, and eros being simply what Nagai peppers the surroundings with.

It was interesting how the past was conjoined with the future, and even fables given rationalizations that, contextually, seemed plausible. How historical figures happened to encounter oni, and throughout they came in different sizes, including miniatures, seemingly to indicate the level of familiarity, with a curious origin.

Concepts, including sci-fi tropes, were introduced at a rate which assumed an intuitive understanding, but often animation is used to just show, and not tell, although in some instances it wasn't that subtle, e.g. when the adjective 'evil' was used, as otherwise most oni and humans seemed to be somewhere in between, not absolutes.

This is horror only insomuch as one fears what may lurk in the shadows; oni use violence, but only because it at times appears to be what is expected of them as creatures of the dark, just as humans in gangs resort to plumb the depths of animosity - even when free will is not an issue (excluding peer pressure).

It showcases a battle, as most tales do, between light and darkness - which is what Ankoku means, from the name of the temple of the group after the protagonist, but in reality nothing is clear until the last moment, and even then the 'light' does not seem to believe the elucidation, per se. As such, one might end up seeing both sides of this divide to be as 'in the dark' as each other.

Everything might not be seen as perfectly proportional in this anime; the introduction of characters that have little screen time or purpose is a problem in mostly one episode, but even if most other incidents seem to happen randomly, they still have something meaningful, whether it is to highlight the differences between oni and those more familiar, or even historical mindsets.

This, like Teito Monogatari, mixes a slight bit of history (in SD mythology is more prominent) along fiction that is built on top of it, and like Onikirimaru it inserts interpersonal drama that juxtaposes the existence of oni along others' lives, although they are more verbal than the ones in the latter series, and at a couple of junctures they even display sadness which oni aren't typically associated with. The situation with which Yasaburou in Uchouten Kazoku contends with for just one episode is vaguely similar, as oni are similarly depicted in a different dimension, unlike kitsune or tanuki who can live in a plain world, oni seem to be inherently too big and scary, and this is where Shuten tries to approach this from, the points of view of a spectrum of oni.

It also seems to have cycles for some different things, e.g. in two instances both humans and oni roll over a hill, and the detaching of an arm seems to be a recurring incident, which is likely a reference to the original Watanabe no Tsuna legend.

In the end, this anime turns out to have a narrative that, despite being seemingly interested in superficial happenstances that have no other bearing on the story itself (besides fulfilling instinctual desires, as mentioned previously), is all-encompassing and more subtle than not (beyond the conflicts there is psychology), and attempts to be as existential as possible.

While it could have conveyed a similar approach using less violence, oni at times seem to be inevitably tied to the concept of conflict; this series, though, did at least attempt to convey a variety of coherence that most anime do not usually paint oni with. As such, it managed to have a more whole picture of the creatures than others like Onikirimaru had four years later, but if it spanned even longer perhaps the Hell Screen could be even more complete?

The series starts off okay with what seems like a standard dark vs light story. However midway through the series they throw a curve ball and from there this series kicks into overdrive with 2 fantastic episodes.

The 3rd episode is mostly an action horror and does a great job at it with the intimidating villain that cuts his way through everyone in his path.

Very sad well thought out ending. If I were to keep a list of the best endings in anime this would be on it. I have a weakness for parent child stories and the ending hits that weakness very hard.

“Shuten Doji” is an OVA that attempts to do a lot of things, and although it’s not quite successful, it deserves credit for trying.

The 50-minute, four-episode series starts out with a relatively standard plot involving demons, a teenager who is discovering that he may not be human, and an evil group out to get him for seemingly simple reasons (“he’s good; we’re evil; he’s destined to slay us so we have to kill him”). Jiro, the main character who has the personality of a log, somehow immediately gains friends willing to sacrifice their lives for him, and they fight the demons together. There’s also a ... girl named Miyuki who inexplicably loves him, even though he hardly shows any emotion towards her. She has the habit of getting kidnapped by the demons and tortured in their nefarious plots to lure Jiro to them, and she’s more often than not naked or in the process of getting her clothes ripped off. Jiro has a demon protector named Goki who shows up at just the right moments, and there is another demon called Senki who is supposed to come by when Jiro is 15 to take him to the demon realm.

When the aforementioned Senki arrives for Jiro, the series takes a bizarre turn. The characters get separated and lost in time and space; some get sent back to ancient Japan, while Jiro ends up in the future and in a spaceship. Meanwhile, Jiro’s mother has grown despondent over her son’s absence, and starts painting a mural in a mental asylum that seems oddly familiar.

What’s good about the series’ conclusion is that there’s an attempt to explain just about all of the unusual events and mysteries that are brought up throughout the course of the OVA, including Jiro’s origin, why the demons are after him, and why the protagonists traveled through time and space. This makes for a relatively satisfying ending.

However, the more you think about it, the more you realize that a lot of the fundamental aspects of what happened still don’t make much sense, and the whole story seems pointless. There are many convoluted twists, with logic holes aplenty. And all of the time/space paradoxes cause a chicken-and-egg-type situation. Also, there’s one significant plot point regarding a character Jiro meets in the future that the writers explain with a backstory that feels forced in after the fact, but I guess you can say that at least they tried.

As touched upon earlier, the characters are largely one-dimensional. Jiro is a bland character with little personality; Miyuki is just there to be naked and keeps getting brought along to battles although she provides no assistance; Jiro calls a bunch of people he just met his “friends,” and they’re willing to die for him despite barely knowing him (this is somewhat explained, but it still feels awkward). The two “good” demons don’t leave much of an impression, and neither do most of the other characters, perhaps with the exception of Jiro’s parents, who play a key role in the story. The dialogue between the characters is hackneyed and often doesn’t sound like natural conversation. Characters also don’t react naturally to the events occurring around them sometimes.

Regarding technical aspects, the animation is average, but gritty, and lip movements sometimes don’t match the voices. The art is rather bland. The demons don’t look all that unique, and the gore/body horror is rather tame for a Go Nagai work.

The music is certainly unique, at least in the first episode. Many of the background tracks are vocalized, and there is a mix of wailing and chanting combined with synthesizer sounds. It adds to the creepy atmosphere, and it's disturbing to listen to. The subsequent episodes do not use this soundtrack much, if at all, however, and just have typical forgettable background music. The ending theme is instrumental and sounds like a mellower version of the theme from the "Halloween" movies.

The characters are voiced by top voice actors, but the performances themselves aren't that good. Ryo Horikawa voiced Jiro around the same time he started playing Reinhard in “Legend of the Galactic Heroes,” and Jiro almost sounds exactly like Reinhard. The voice doesn't fit his character very well. Miyuki sounds almost as uninterested in everything as she acts, and everyone else's voices are rather forgettable.

Most of the objectionable content in this OVA is comprised of nudity. Miyuki is naked in the majority of the scenes she’s in, and in some of these her clothes are being ripped off by the antagonists. There’s another female character who is shown naked as well, and there are scenes suggesting attempted rape/torture. There are also a lot of scenes with graphic violence, with body parts being chopped off, transmogrification, etc., although as mentioned earlier, the violence here is much tamer than in similar shows created by Go Nagai.

Overall, “Shuten Doji” is an ambitious OVA that weaves together a plot involving a variety of elements that normally would not be in the same story. While much of the resulting story suffers from severe logic flaws, there was at least an attempt to explain things rather than just throwing a bunch of disparate elements into an anime and calling it a day. The story is interesting, but the explicit content, flat characters and subpar technical aspects make this show difficult to recommend to the average viewer.