Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou

Nine students gather in their high school at night to bid farewell to a friend. As is customary among many high school students, they perform a sort of ritual for them to remain friends forever, using small paper charms shaped like dolls.

However, the students do not realize that these charms are connected to Heavenly Host Academy—an elementary school that was destroyed years ago after a series of gruesome murders took place, a school that rests under the foundation of their very own Kisaragi Academy. Now, trapped in an alternate dimension with vengeful ghosts of the past, the students must work together to escape—or join the spirits of the damned forever.

A feast for mystery fanatics, gore-hounds, and horror fans alike, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou shows a sobering look at redemption, sacrifice, and how the past is always right behind, sometimes a little too close for comfort.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shinohara, Seiko Main

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Kishinuma, Yoshiki Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Shinozaki, Sachiko Main

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Shinozaki, Ayumi Main

Imai, Asami Japanese

Morishige, Sakutarou Main

Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese

Nakashima, Naomi Main

Satou, Rina Japanese

Mochida, Satoshi Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Mochida, Yuka Main

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Suzumoto, Mayu Main

Nanri, Yuuka Japanese

Shishido, Yui Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Naya, Ryousuke Producer

Tanaka, Shinsaku Producer

Iwanaga, Akira Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Nov 23, 2013

moonkingdomify

Recommended

Hello. Well this was probably the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life. Not only is this the most disturbing animated series I have ever watched, it is the most disturbing fiction work I have had the pleasure of experiencing.

This is one of those series that makes you cringe but you still love it because it takes you on a well written story. Where as this is still not my favorite horror anime, I still think that it did an amazing job with what little time it had. It had a story and a conclusion and we were not left with a ... cliffhanger like Umineko left us with. But what I really want to emphasis on is the fact that series fit everything into 4, half-hour long episodes. This is amazing for that small length of time.

I also want to bring in the concept of how good the disturbing art was. The art in this series did such a good job at making the art disturbing and grotesque that I almost vomited a couple times throughout the series. I did notice some similarities between this and the Team Silent Silent Hill game's art, what with blood coming down the walls and bodies everywhere, and that was generally a good choice, just to make the series that little bit more disturbing.

The opening theme was pretty good and most of the background sound, or even the lack of sound at points was a good choice for the series. You can really see the inspiration from Akira Yamaoka within the soundtrack and I thought that it was genuinely a good choice to go that way for a horror series.

The place where this series is a bit lacking is the unoriginal cast of characters. Though, to be fair, it is harder to create a cast of characters within this genre of horror that is original while also keeping it in a more modern time line, you could of done better than taking the generic cast of highschool students (2 possible lesbians, 1 guy with glasses, 1 hopelessly brave guy, the little sister, the occult freak, and the guy with no defining features what so ever, otherwise know as the boring guy). But the character of Sachiko was pretty original. Half of the things that happened with this character I didn't see coming and I just love her voice actress.

But for my overall enjoyment. I really enjoyed this series. it was a very genuinely well made horror series that kind of goes away from the norm. I do genuinely believe that there aren't many series that pulled off this sort of thing nearly as well, and definitely not in the same time frame as Corpse Party.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 18, 2013

Stark700

Mixed Feelings

Watching Corpse Party is literally like watching a horror movie. There you are, trapped. Can't even shout, can't even cry, the dangers are coming by. When you realize that death is coming before you, screams are shouted out but you won't be heard. But that's just the beginning. For once you're trapped, Corpse Party will take you to a place where your life will never ever be the same again. (that is if and only if you escape alive)

Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou (or simply known as Corpse Party: Tortured Souls) is a series of four OVA episodes. The animation is ... based off the game and chronicles the events in which a group of young students tells ghost stories at a school known Kisaragi Academy. However, they soon become haunted by the ghosts themselves after the earth shaken and sucks them deep down into the abyss....of the once existent school known as Heavenly Host Elementary School.

As this is a horror theme series, expect dark themes such as blood, gore, and death. I'll just throw a warning sign right now that if you can't take the first episode (or rather the first 20 minutes), then you might not have enough stomach to make it. I'll just say this as bluntly as I can:

This series is about watching kids getting murdered. Got it? Good.

There is a sense of hopelessness in Corpse Party. Because the characters are trapped in this new environment of darkness, they struggle to survive both physically and mentally. The taunting scenes of blood and body parts carves a haunting memory into the characters. In particular, the first episode sets up a graphic premise for a particular girl named Naomi after she witnesses a gruesome death of her friend. It is from there on that we immediately take notice just the grievous situation our characters are in. The deaths and tortures are real and there's no turning back. Rather than a ghost story, this might be the final chapter for our characters' lives. Corpse Party paints such dark themes as the way it conveys itself from the premise.

Happiness though? Honestly, there's none of that anymore. The joy and smiles from the faces of our main characters are wiped forever so don't expect any happy scenes in this episodes. What's more taunting deals with the fact that a few bonding scenes between certain characters are lived out so damn short. It really creates a sense of hopelessness and despair, more fueled so by the way the characters die off so tragically. As the group of students are separated into closed spaces of the alternate dimension, there's little hope of working together to escape. They are literally trapped rats. The souls are the predator and the kids are the prey.

Corpse Party also has a sense of mystery in its atmosphere. The mystery part comes from the Heavenly Host Elementary School where years ago, several staff members and students mysteriously vanished following murders and strange instances. It just happens that deja vu happens again and the murders are reanimated. The mystery aspect can be comparable to Another, Higurashi, and other series involving mysterious murders. The murders themselves are also quite graphic so be wary of gore and violence.

Character wise, the series is only condensed into two hours with these four episodes combined. Hence, don't expect everything to be adapted from the game. Because of that time length issue, most characters only gets some moments; some with drastic exits. The characters themselves tries to figure out not only how to escape but also of the history on what happened previously in the past. This specifically involves the origins of the Heavenly Host Elementary School and the murdered students. It is essential to unlock its mysteries (I guess similar to the game as well) because it will also allow the students to escape. More importantly though, it will also allow them to understand exactly why they were trapped in the first place.

Unfortunately, this series tries a way too hard especially in the violence department. It wastes no time with the blood and violent moments involving various weapons of torture. The taunting screams echoing throughout the school is also too old fashioned. Story wise, it's also quite confusing. Perhaps the length might be the issue here. In short, too many questions with not many clues to go on at first. More frustrating enough is the confusion on who is friend or foe. Plus, let's not also forget the fact that the violence itself serves more as a way to cover up the more exciting mystery aspect of the series. It literally kills any way for viewers to enjoy this series in formulating theories. Most of the time, you'll be watching kids running for their lives against fate even though everything seems to be hopeless. Oh and the supernatural part....kids murdering kids inside a school, ah the irony.

In terms of artwork, I do admit that the series conveys the atmosphere quite well with the gruesome violence. Characters are simple but to the point with nothing too flashy. The murdered kids from years ago all give off a creepy atmosphere by their disfigured faces. Then, there's the school itself or rather more specifically the Heavenly Host Elementary School. The structure of the school is designed to look old, haunted, and creepy. It hardly looks any realistic but definitely fits within the Corpse Party theme.

As soundtrack goes, expect some high standards. What I mean is the quality of the OST as it is strong enough to create a sense of fear for both the characters and maybe even for you, the viewers. The way it is orchestrated is thrilling with tearing vibrations. I have not played the game before but from my understanding, there's some of that original feeling from the game we get into this series. The OP and ED song are also strengths of this series that marks both the beginning and end of each episode. The voice acting is decent to convey the way the characters react to situations with their loud screaming. Their new-found situation has the characters scream at the top of their lungs and the voice actors/actresses does a well job at that. In particular, I find Kitamura Eri and Nakamura Yuuichi's performance to be quite well done.

So ultimately, I think a score of '6' is justifiable for Corpse Party. Oh I'd love to flip that number upside down but the lack of a decent story and destruction of a calm ending makes this a bit frustrating to watch all the way through. Oh and the violence serves as just pure shock value than anything taken for granted. It's also hard to understand certain situations at many stances because you might be more taken in more by the OST and violence than anything else. It's a ghost story gone wrong but I do have to admit that the premise is set up well. The concept's execution is quite gruesome so this might be something you'd watch on some weekend night with your friend while hunting down a scary movie to watch. Rather watching a horror movie like The Grudge, Corpse Party could be the alternative. For me though, this series was crafted out of violence, screaming, torture, and souls. Oh and do yourself a favor:

Don't watch this before you go to sleep. Seriously, don't.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 29, 2016

HellLyter

Not Recommended

Well...this definitely tortured my soul. "Was it because it was scary?" You might ask. The answer is no. It was simply...mind numbingly stupid. And incomprehensibly bloody. Corpse party is an opera of gore which not only fails as an anime, but also fails on every fundamental level of the horror genre.

Plot: 2/10

The story begins with a group of people in a classroom performing a ritual of some sort. They suddenly and inexplicably get transported into another dimension full of other students who are getting killed by these mysterious ghosts as well as each other. While this may seem interesting enough (to those with twisted minds ... who enjoy watching miserable characters suffer immense pain and anguish), one must keep in mind that the producers tried to fit a ton of material into just four episodes. This resulted in Corpse Party being incredibly rushed and full of plot holes. Many things were left unexplained and the anime just felt unfulfilling. Nothing much happened in this show besides tons of mindless killing. The only thing that somewhat redeemed the plot revolved around a little ghost girl and why she dragged these kids into her twisted dimension, though even that was too insignificant to salvage this train wreck.

Characters: 1/10

This might be where the anime failed the hardest. Throughout the entire show all of the characters just mindlessly killed each other or suddenly became absolutely hysterical. Most didn't even bother trying to escape the alternate reality that they were trapped in and were just like "lol, I'm gonna die here anyway, so might as well brutally massacre the other student trapped here with me!" The cast were generally aggravating to watch and the majority of their decisions were nonsensical. The most interesting character was the ghost girl, because the writers at least seemed to try to give her some development, but it still wasn't enough to make me care in the slightest. I also couldn't tell you the name of a single character from this show. They're just that forgettable.

Art: 4/10

The visuals are pretty average. I thought that the characters looked quite bland and it was always too dark to actually make out the features of the scenery and characters anyway. Then there's the gore, which always came in unrealistic amounts at a time, making moments that were supposed to be horrifying seem almost comical.

Sound: 7/10

I will say that I thought the opening theme was a nice sounding composition. Plus I have no complaints about the soundtrack, which worked efficiently in some situations and gave the show more of an edge. Also the screams sounded painful/hysterical enough to be believable and the maniacal laughs were good. At least the voice actors tried to get the audience to care. The producers should have followed their example.

Enjoyment: 2/10

I was cringing while watching this. Once again I must say that it wasn't because it was "scary"; it was just bad. I really couldn't invest myself in this anime due to it's atrocious story telling techniques. The one good thing about the anime being only four episodes was that I was able to finish it rather quickly.

Overall: 2/10

In conclusion, Corpse Party was just horrendous. I watched it hoping for a horror anime on par with the likes of Higurashi. Instead I got a rushed and poorly designed show that I'm simply better off forgetting. I'd suggest Corpse Party to those interested in media focused on horror and gore (though don't expect much). Otherwise, it'd be best to avoid this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Washijyazo - Aug 15, 2013	214 replies	by FluxiZ »» Nov 14, 7:37 AM
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