Kikoushi Enma

Enma is a character created by the genius manga artist Go Nagai. Now, the popular character makes his appearance in an alluring Japanese horror anime for adults. It's a hair-raising erotic suspense in which Enma takes on complicated and gruesome incidents caused by demons who lurk in the darkness. But humans have lit up the darkness of the night with neon lights and turned their world into one that never sleeps, so demons now lurk in the "darkness of the human heart." Unfulfilled hearts, suppressed hearts, despair,...such darkness of the heart is the place they lurk.

Enma is the Demon Prince of the Underworld, a demon "Born of Fire." His mission is to take back or destroy demons that have escaped to the human world from the Underworld. Along with his partner, Princess Yukihime, "Born of Ice," and the monster, Kapaeru, Enma sets up "Enma's Detective Agency." Tonight, like any other night, they will roam the sleepless city. Horrific incidents that could not possibly be human acts occur one after another. The stench of evil lingers at the scene... Enma's fire rips through the darkness!

(Source: Bandai Entertainment)

Enma Main

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Yukihime Main

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Kapaeru Main

Satou, Setsuji Japanese

Chapeau-jii Main

Cho Japanese

Miiko Supporting

Matsutani, Kaya Japanese

Houin, Daiko Supporting

Okamoto, Maya Japanese

Yoshinaga Supporting

Sakuya, Shunsuke Japanese

Sat-chan Supporting

Yamamoto, Maria Japanese

Ayukawa, Ayu Supporting

Yoshizumi, Kozue Japanese

Moe Supporting

Matsuoka, Yuki Japanese

Kanbe, Mamoru Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Shimizu, Katsunori Sound Director

GRANRODEO Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Performance, Theme Song Composition, Theme Song Arrangement

Nagai, Go Original Creator

Reviews

Sep 22, 2024

Sixxeyez

Recommended

This grown up version of the original Dororon Enma-Kun anime (loosely based on the sequel manga) is this intriguing dark, gothic alternate timeline that just sadly misses its chance at being more than a decent campy, cult classic, due to the writing. I can recommend it to new people since overall, the story can be understood, but It's difficult to understand certain aspects of the story and characters that can give them more depth and meaning, without prior knowledge of these already established characters (Enma, Yukihime, Kapaeru, and Chapeauji) and you'll miss out on some homages to the original series.

This definitely isn't for everyone but ... I'm someone who likes hidden gems like this so it's right up my alley. I really liked this grown up version (it introduced me to the original) and the topic of the darkness in human hearts. The art style is just awesome to me, besides the attempts at 3D but it was made in 2007 so I can forgive it for that. I just wish it had more than 4 episodes since I really think this limited the writer's chances at really fleshing out the story and giving more character depth.

On the topic of the ecchi scenes, they were fine with me because they weren't overly sexual like ecchi nowadays. Women's bodies looked surprisingly natural and didn't have oversized balloon looking boobs that clearly didn't fit their bodies, so I liked that. Also the scenes mostly made sense with the topic of the darkness in human hearts so I could overlook it. Enma being pervy, despite not being affected by darkness or light like humans, is weird but maybe I'm missing something since I haven't finished watching or reading the original.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 20, 2023

zensurfer68

Mixed Feelings

This anime is a bit weird. The story starts in one direction then takes an unexpected oblique turn, a WTF? moment. The voice acting is fine, it's everything else that is wrong. First the MCs are one dimensional, second the background images are not quite right, they are some sort of combination of drawn and CGI, it looks odd. The character art is just lazy. And this is not erotic, just because womens breasts are exposed does not make it erotic. Because of the gore, subject matter and nudity it is 18+. While the characters have some of the character traits of the original Dororon ... Enma Kun (1973?), they just don't pull them off here. There are some time skips that are mentioned but no reason is given for them. The characters are also out of place and make no effort to modernize. This short series could have made a better effort and had a better show, it just seems to have been made to make money. If you are looking for an 'erotic' thriller this ain't it. If you want something a bit more fun and ecchi watch 'Prince Enma Burning Up". This series is OK but could have been better.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 16, 2024

SgtSalamander

Not Recommended

Kikoushi Enma wastes no time letting you know what it is; A tween's idea of a 'grown-up' anime. It comes right off the bat trying way too hard, and failing to stick the landing even a little bit. Insofar as it is 'baby's fist seinen', the viewer is subjected to campy gore, gross body horror, and boobies almost immediately, but their presence isn't the issue here, it's how they're used. It is as if these things, which are constant and unceasing, are thrown in cheaply by middle schoolers just for the fun of it. Even the most shameless of ecchi ... series have the self awareness to not take themselves too seriously. This whole ordeal (and what an ordeal it is) feels like listening to a kid brag about how he drank his dad's beer once, and saw a naked girl. It's like the whole production is just trying so, so hard to be dark and edgy while failing miserably, then demanding to be taken seriously on top of it all. Beginning with the story, it is pretty mediocre. The first two episodes are almost insultingly bad, and were it not for the short 4 episode run this anime would have been dropped an hour in. The last two are marginally better, and though that's a relative term here, the point still stands. As a whole, the plot is generic, and there's not much else to say. There are a couple of creative ideas, but they manage to wring them out for everything they've got, and the rest of the conflicts seem contrived, present simply for their shock value.

The art is generally pretty good, with an interesting art direction and shot composition. The character designs are also visually engaging. However, a notable exception to all this is the God awful CG. Yeah, it came out in 2006, but that's no excuse for the long, panning shots of that dumpster fire. They could have simply not used it at all when they saw how bad it was, but instead they laid it on thick towards the second half, like they were running out of time or something. An additional note concerning the art is that sometimes the characters suffer from the dreaded 'mask', where an anime fails to convey emotion through the faces of its characters by way of failing to animate it properly.

The sound is fine and there's really nothing to speak of regarding it.

The characters themselves are perhaps the worst part of the show, as they're shallow as puddles of dog piss and make decisions which manage to conflict with what little characterization they do have as well as common sense itself. Enma is an aloof cool dude with a magic staff and he's also a pervert, there is nothing else to his character and he does not develop further. Yukihime is an aloof kimono-clad waifu who has a secret crush on Enma, as well as problems expressing her emotions. Kapaeru is a pervert and that's the joke. His closest thing to a redeeming plot arc is his regular email correspondence with a little girl, and while that certainly doesn't sound very good at all, mercifully it is the only thing about him that is not somehow tainted by his debauchery. Every other character is pretty much a paper bag, to be puppeted about so the story can happen. Overall, Kikoushi Enma felt desperate to be cool, and this desperation reeked the whole time. While there is a glimmer of some distant potential in this anime, that glimmer is certainly quite distant indeed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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