Shigurui

I have no way of actually confirming, but this nigh-misantrophic anime feels a lot more accurate to what the samurai were probably actually like, compared to any more heroic depictions.
a hypermasculine cabal, high off authority, practicing nothing but worship of rigid power structures and the art of killing? yea, no way that wasn't a hotbed for corruption and depravity.
enjoy the not-so-subtle symbolism behind the school of samurai in this show being singularly devoted to a cruel elderly man, entirely succumbed to dementia, who only snaps into lucidity to commit acts of violence.

perhaps this is even the one actually great "horror" anime.
very slow paced and minimally ... animated, but incredibly dense on unnerving atmosphere, with occasional bursts of the grisliest, realistic violence ever put to animation.
Hiroshi Hamasaki's off-kilter direction and the amazing minimalistic soundtrack, full of ominous chanting and percussion, take center stage and achieve an outright hypnotic effect.
the show is the platonic ideal of a great, albeit incomplete, anime adaption - accurate to the source material, but with enough of a unique identity to warrant it's own existence.

've watched a lot of anime, but this one is one of the most unique out of all of the ones that I have watched. I've never seen an anime that is this violent, explicit, and drenched in darkness and stark realism. This is probably the most realistic samurai anime that one will ever see. Fights end quickly and characters die in gruesome fashion.

The animation and framing of the scenes make it so that it invites the viewer to pay close attention to bask in gruesome ends to characters and so that they don't miss clear cases of foreshadowing and symbolism methodically placed in ... the anime.

This anime is clearly for mature audiences. Not only are scenes gruesome, but there is explicit sexual content. Clear shots of female nudity, sex acts, sexual assaults, etc. However, the anime doesn't show these things to simply be edgy. Overall, these scenes are meant to portray the setting has a very awful time in Japanese history. Women are treated like objects, characters die in horrific circumstance, and samurai are portrayed either as glorified attack dogs are complicit pawns.

Characters are a bit of a mixed bag. The character that you initially might hate eventually will gain your sympathy and some characters you can't describe. Some characters are the vilest scum ever portrayed and yet you wonder why other characters ignore this fact or don't address it the same way the viewer might think they should. The story revolves around a rivalry between two main characters: one with a clear motivation and backstory and one with none of that. He just seems like a blank slate with no clear motivation or personality really. However, I appreciate that this anime takes its time to tell a story at the pace it needs to be told. It is unfinished which lowers the quality to an extent with some key details left unanswered at the end.

To a degree though, I found the show to be wrapped up satisfyingly enough for me. I did hate how weak the musical score was for me. It failed to make me feel tense during the scenes I was supposed to feel tense. The opening was forgettable and the soundtrack made it feel like the viewer is hearing silence instead of being in a show.

I would recommend this show if one wants to see an anime that portrays samurai in a different light than usual and tells an interesting, albeit slow at time and unfinished story. I will say that this is a show that will make you think about characters and appreciate a show differently than you normally would.

It will be a mixed bag though: some will be able to appreciate the show for what it is and some will be turned out by its grotesqueness and slow pacing. It is worth giving a try and drop it if nothing seems interesting.

'𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' is a show that attempts to create an immersive representation of the Edo period/17th century through every aspect of the show, from its classical style soundtrack, muted colours and swordsman focused story, setting a tone which shows the hideous sides of this time. However, was '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' able to effectively immerse the viewer and tell a compelling tale? In some ways yes, otherwise, mostly not.

The strongest aspects of the show as previously stated, are the artistic elements, but they are certainly not without their drawbacks. The soundtrack is solid and is reminiscent of what the Edo era would sound like, it is also applied ... appropriately to what is happening in a scene. However, there was one or two tracks which whilst sounded good, featured immersion breaking electric/synthesizer, mixed into the song. The soundtrack by the end of the series also felt repetitive as there was little distinction between tracks, and sometimes the sound mixing felt poor.

The art of the show matched the tone nearly perfectly, muted colours in contrast with the emphasis of blood (deep red), excess of shadows and blinding lights, and unique X-ray shots, these were all suitable, however the 'generic anime character designs' were fairly unambitious, when a more 'grittier' character style would have been more suitable (something like '𝘔𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘹' in character design).

The area where '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' egregiously fails, is in creating an interesting narrative with interesting characters. Characters were mostly boring and felt as if they had no character, either due to lack of development or poor writing (there were also multiple times where I was unable to recognize a character even though I watched the entire show in two days). And because the characters were so uninteresting, the simple plot was never compelling and its awful conclusion certainly does not help.

Ultimately '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' falls short by its own mediocrity, being unable to tell an interesting story with captivating characters. But at least it looked and sounded a bit pretty whilst trying to. I would only recommend this to those looking for an inferior '𝘝𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥'-esque experience in anime.