Shigurui

Shigurui starts of with a duel that seems important, but you never get to see it, other than the begining where they walk in and take their stances. The show just jumps into the past in a disconnected way that scrambles what little story it actually had. In the past we're shown what, presumably led to the duel, but we never get answers, and the ending doesn't say anything about the outcome.
At times I found myself wondering what would happen next, but usually I was disappointed.
The story was quite poorly written and unnecessarily gory, which the art style supplemented. I don't mind gore, but ... this was just gore for the sake of making it disturbing and edgy. The art itself was passable, but I wouldn't write home about it.
Most of the characters had little to no personality or backstory, and those that had some had bad stories that did not give an explanation to their actions, for the most part.
I just couldn't really like this steaming pile of fresh guts that someone thought was a good idea to make, and I don't understand why so many like it, but I would say this is a divisive show. It's probably one of those where either you like it or you hate it.

Shigurui

Now, it has been a while since I have written one of these, so I hope you’ll forgive me for being a little rusty. I was scouring the interwebs for shows comparable to Texhnolyze and Ergo Proxy and came upon Shigurui: Death Frenzy which boasted a gritty atmosphere, blood and gore, and all-around awesomeness, and while Shigurui is not as complex in and of itself, it does present the plot in very interesting ways, which has catapulted it to the heights of one of my favorite shows.

[Story: 7/10] The plot of Shigurui is not a tremendously complicated plot in and of itself; it's ... a story of revenge, a story of a deadly rivalry and a story of brutality. What does fascinate me about the story is the way in which it is presented. The first episode alone could be subject to an analysis on the usage and effectiveness of anachronisms (in the literary sense). The show constantly breaks away chronological order, scenes that are given emphasis are not necessarily the ones that advance the plot, even minor characters are established through frequent flashbacks and the ending… well, the ending. Without wishing to spoil too much, while the show does work with that ending, I cannot recommend reading the manga, for the continuation of what seems like a very abrupt and inconclusive ending. The plot has multiple layers of importance and should not be seen as the definitive starting and ending point of the entire story, but rather as the buildup, the sum of events that culminated in the important event: the meeting of our two rivals at the Tournament at Sunpu Castle (which in turn is but a minor parenthesis in the larger story of a Japanese feudal Lord). The story is not what kept me watching, though, and were it not presented so effectively it would probably have made for a boring anime.

[Characters: 8/10] Let’s meet the gang! Our party consists of three (maybe four) main characters, two of which we meet at the in medias res beginning of the show: Irako Seigen and Gennosuke, the two rivals whose conflicts and struggles have led them to meet at the Tournament at Sunpu Castle to fight on last battle to the death. A third main character is their Sensei Iwamoto Kogan. Irako is the handsome, arrogant and ambitious man on the surface, with goals that show his hubris, but also reveal a genuine desire to right the wrongs he feels have been committed against him by a brutal feudalistic society. Gennosuke is the stoic and fierce warrior who is above all else loyal to his Master Kogan and his daughter Iwamoto Mie (the arguable fourth main character). He is closest to what this show has to offer in terms of a good guy, but there are not good or bad guys in this show. There are evil guys, sure, but no one that could be unequivocally be labelled the villain. There are only conflicting motivations and as simplistic as those motivations might be, they are believable. The cast of secondary characters is solid.
What I love most about the primary and secondary cast of Shigurui: Death Frenzy is the fact that there is something very apparently wrong with each and every one of them. It starts with the very prominent physical deformities and disfigurements: the main characters, Fujiki with is missing left arm, Irako with his lame foot and blindness, Kogan with his six fingers on his right hand. Many of the secondary characters are also disfigured, thick scars, missing jaws, cheeks slashed open and so on. The flesh truly does reflect the madness. Every character has something wrong with them. If it’s not physical, then it’s with the very unsettling way they speak, stare at you, or behave. I have seen a review complaining about how the characters feel more like wax figures than actual people and I’d almost agree, except I don’t take the comparison as an insult, but rather think it works towards the overall tense and unsettling tone of the show.

[Art: 7/10] What I always like about an anime is when the various characters are distinguishable by more than just their ridiculous hairdos and Shigurui accomplishes this quite well. You can tell each character apart at a glance and the visuals complement each character’s individuality.
The show is also brimming with visual symbolism, some of which might be lost on the average viewer. I for one wasn’t able to pick up on what all the imagery of insects and spiders means in the context of the plot, but I have read some essays, that explain how each of the visual metaphors play an important role to the story, so I feel like I can’t complain. The viewer will probably ask themselves, why they are being shown pictures of various bugs all throughout the show, but apparently it is not empty imagery.
One disappointment I have with this show is how most of the fight scenes are handled in terms of their animation. For many viewers the cliché of drawn out tension building, followed by a few quick cuts with little animation or even still images, will leave the impression of being incredibly lazy. If you’re looking for gloriously animated fight scenes, you will be disappointed. Now, I get it, the build up obviously contributes to the atmosphere. Also, while not explicit, the supernatural abilities of the characters plays an important role, in that it is quite heavily suggested that the characters move with supernatural, impossible to follow speed, which in some of the quick-cut fight scenes is actually portrayed quite well. However, some of the scenes, with still images and slight animation in lieu of an intriguing fight “choreography” left me a bit wanting, especially when contrasted with the high-octane musical backing.
The major flaw with this anime, however, are with the blood effects. For an anime with such a heavy emphasis on blood and gore, the fact that in many scenes the blood looks like some absurd thick syrupy sludge is really distracting and gets in the way of my enjoyment of the show. Seriously, there are some scenes, which almost made me laugh out loud, because the blood looked so dumb and unreal that any weight and impact they were supposed to have were lost. Now, not every bloody scene is bad, some of the blood and gore is actually very impactful, which leads me to believe, that the blood effects were a deliberate artistic choice rather than sheer incompetence and that baffles me. One scene in episode three has one dude getting his forehead slashed open, and the way the shiny glistening blood pumps out in regular beats, as if he had a second heart in his skull subtracted from the tension of the scene. The scenes with heavy gore and visible organs (oh, lovely) are done quite a bit better, but unfortunately, I am left feeling a bit disappointed.

[Sound: 10/10] This to me is the undisputed highlight of Shigurui: Death Frenzy. For an anime with tension, atmosphere and a slow pace, knowing when to accentuate certain moments with certain music is crucial and this show pulls it off masterfully. Slow drumbeats, throat singing and discordant lute chords; Shigurui knows exactly when to add to the disquieting atmosphere and knows when to play up the occasional action-packed moments with fast paced scores as well. But what the show arguably does even better is knowing when to have no music, silence is sometimes louder than anything else after all, and some tense scenes play out without any musical, which only serves to make them more tense. The transitions from no music, to slight musical elements as the tension increases is so subtle at times, that the viewer may be forgiven for not even noticing. If I had to point out some faults, it would be the OP track, which I always skip, and the fact, that complementary as they are to the anime’s atmosphere, most of the songs might not lend themselves well to independent listening. I still listen to them, because I like this kind of stuff, but if you are looking for some catchy anime OST tunes, then you might be left disappointed.

[Personal enjoyment: 10/10] This is always the most subjective part of a review, which far from being irrelevant I believe is where one can justify a rating higher than what the rating of the more (though still not completely) objective criteria might suggest. I absolutely fucking love Shigurui, despite its flaws, which I do absolutely acknowledge. I had been looking for another show in the general vein of Ergo Proxy and Texhnolyze and while Shigurui: Death Frenzy is a very different show in most ways, the tense atmosphere and disturbing imagery are the two main factors that make this show so enjoyable for me. A definitive recommendation for anyone looking for a show that isn’t afraid to drag the viewer by the hair into the dark corners of anime, then Shigurui: Death Frenzy is definitely worth watching.

[9/10]

Yes, this show is very graphic and gorey, but besides that its just a very artsy as hell samurai story, with some of the slowest story pacing i have seen in an anime so far to date.I feel like hipsters and cinephiles will get a nice kick out of it, but I don't know if they can handle this artsy fartsy direction for over three hours, There some crazy moments like disembowelment,nipples getting cut off here and there, and some just straight up freaky and weird moments. But besides that, its lifeless characters, minimalist soundtrack, and numerous shots of the sun and ... trees and insects that last for like over a minute constantly, almost drove me up a wall.The one thing that did not wear me out was its SPECTACULAR character design that was so good that it was freaky.But yeah ,you can check it out, but it is a super duper acquired taste

Overall-6

After watching the first five minutes of the first episode of Shigurui (or, as I would call, "Tits and Bowels") I thought "damn it, it is directed by the same guy from Texhnolyze" and I was right... it looks like Hamasaki's speciality and main goal is to make you drop his series at the first episode, the torturous slow pace and cryptic direction, how he goes on and on barely developing anything, can only be endured because of the truly astonishing art and music that accompanies his work, and for knowing him I knew I'd also be greatly rewarded with the story development once enough ... pieces of it were presented if could just endure this beginning. So be wary of that if you pick it to watch.

Shiguriu takes place in the Edo period and feels like a classic novel, it's not an adventure nor action packed, and after watching it I went straight to the manga (you will know why if you watch). The manga is a masterpiece on its own, and I thought how hard it would be build up the tension and suspense as Hamasaki does in the anime without the aid of timing and music, but then I realized the real challenge might have been how to transfer all the emotions to the animation without the use of a narrator. Even if the manga was completed by the time the anime came out (it wasn't), Hamasaki's directors cut couldn't be more precise, and it was truly a superb adaptation, extremely faithful but at the same time bringing this historical romance to new heights thanks to his skillful direction.

I still loathe the slow pace and crypticness, and think for this series too the whole thing could be fit into a single movie and that movie would be awesome. Hamasaki became someone I love to hate, but now I'm left to wonder if this part is not a necessary contrast to reach a greater climax.

This anime is both visually stunning and has some excellent period music. The mood and tempo are serious and well paced as a Historical Drama. Some of the action sequences were very well done, others stayed in more of a story-board format and I am not sure if that was due to budgetary or time restraints. The parts of the story and plot that are told are well done.

What this anime is lacking most ...is an ending (I can only guess you need the manga for the complete story). There are many parts of this story that require thinking and close attention by the ... viewer to interpret, and I enjoy that. What I do NOT enjoy is when an anime "Summary" and First Episode describe an epic battle which the anime then never shows nor provides an outcome for. Similarly, the anime and summary characterize a party in said "Epic battle" as a "one-armed samurai" but then fail to show how that condition came to be.

Regarding it's Rating of R+ ; As other reviews have stated, the gore in many areas is rather disturbing, mostly due to it's rather accurate anatomical representation. There is some nudity and mature situations in many of the episodes but not to the point of overbearing the story plot IMHO

As is the case with countless anime, had the anime gotten a Second Season, wherein the story could have been finished, I would likely have given Shigurui a review of 8-9. But even with an incomplete story, I still gave it a 7 overall.

Shigurui is not for the light-hearted. It's dark, violent, gore-y, rape-y and showcases the cruelty and callousness of humanity. You'll feel bad for some characters, possibly even root for them, and for others, hope for their downfall.

The plot is one of revenge, pride, and power. There's a lot of fodder characters who get slayed, but the core main characters are pretty interesting. We come to know their emotions and motives. Rather than a linear progression, the anime begins with an introduction of two handicapped samurai who are about to engage in battle, then the story follows their rivalry while meandering into backstories.

The traditional Japanese ... OST is excellent and totally sets the mood: amplifying the intensity of what is happening on the screen.

I enjoyed the suspense and uneasy intense atmosphere of Shigurui. Tedious at times, but it's a real slow burn that forces you to focus on the details. The fights and art were well done.

I don't recommend this anime to those who hate gore and slow burns.

'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.

This anime was exquisitely drawn and edited, some of the most graphic violence I've ever seen, and the characters and everything were awesome- but the ending was awful.

Keeping in mind you see the end of the story in the 1st episode and the other episodes build up to that, there was still a lot left out, like there should have been a second season. Had there been more episodes to properly complete the story, this would have been a 9 or a 10.

It was worth watching, was very good and enjoyable, the ending was just a huge let down, like there were was this ... big chunk missing from the plot.

If you want a concise review that isn't riddled with vague pseudo-intellectual nonsense, read this one.

It's basically a tragedy where apprentices compete for being the heir of a renowned sword dojo, with a twist on the story.

The atmosphere is extremely cruel. There is a massive amount of gore and sexual messed up moments. There is not a single scene of humor. Attention to detail is insane, you feel like you're reading a novel with how everything is "audiovisually" described meticulously (face expressions, movements, sounds).

Combat is very concise and extremely precise. Key movements that showcase a certain technique. Every single movement is amplified by various cinematic ... and audio techniques. You see things such as toes movements, the sound of body parts moving and x-ray muscle scans. Most fights are quite literally a single slash with an immense build-up.

One of the best samurai anime i've ever watched, but unfortunately, if you want to fully understand the story you have to read the manga, because the serie was made before the manga end. It is full of nonsense flashbacks that make you get lost in the story so you cannot focus on the plot.

The animation is very shiny at the day and very dark at night (maybe because the 1600's years and shogunate period ambience that reflect the fact of having no electric power and roads made with rocks that reflect too much the light of the sun).

I don't like specially samurai anime but ... i have curiosity, if you are truly in love with the history of the shogunate and samurai era watch it without hesitation and read the manga, if is not the case you better watch some shoujo or shonen

There’s a lot of weirdness in the anime world, and this is one of them. It’s a samurai anime, but there’s a bunch of muscle flexing like Baki. However, what made the anime so disturbing was the animation and the story.

The anime looked entirely surreal. During the day, everything is dreamy and bright, while at night it was ominous. All of the samurai’ faces, except for Fujiki, creeped me out in different ways. One has ginormous eyeballs, one has a wide mouth, one has feminine lips, etc. Then, the slow music added more creepiness to the show.

The main story wasn’t that hard to follow, even ... though some transitions were too abrupt. However, the characters’ actions were what greatly disturbed me. Some scenes had me internally screaming and cringing. If you think samurai are cool, then this anime begged to differ.

The biggest bummer about the anime was that it has been 14 years since season 1 ended, so the anime ended on an unfinished cliffhanger.

Overall, a bizarre, gory, violent, yet somehow very good anime. 8/10

Right, ill cut to the chase, this show isn't good at all. Its trying really hard to depict a brutal time in Japans history and trying way to hard. This anime has a lot of horrible scenes. So if you are a little sensitive to extreme violence or sexual assault, some of which is at the same time then for a start this isn't for you. Equally, if you like shows with great animation and great story telling coupled with great character development, this show also isn't for you.

Ill start with the only positive and to be fair, its still not great. ... The music is minimal here and attempts to provide tension and a sense of foreboding. Instead you just get bored of hearing it. It may be hindered by the fact that what is accompanying the music is mindnumbingly uninteresting, but still, its gets really boring. Don't get me wrong, i appreciate what it is trying to do, and in some circumstances do a good job with the atmosphere. Sadly, its more of a miss than than a hit. 5/10

Animation is a shocker from Madhouse, which i never thought i would say. Every scene is always really close to the characters. This provides little context to the visual element of story telling in anime. Further, most of this is inside dark rooms with absolutely zero character. Sadly, even if there is the possibility of some textural character, you can barely see it due to how close the characters appear to the 'camera'. A lot of the time scenes go by without even seeing the characters full face. I am assuming this too is to create tension in the dialogue or the story but its just really irritating for me. Moving on to the violence etc, its just unnecessary. I have no issue with depicting such things providing they serve a purpose either for the narrative of the tone of the show, here it really doesn't and comes across as trying way to hard at the cost of a controlling the tone and atmosphere of the show. 3/10

Moving on the the story...its just really boring. I didn't care about the characters, all of which are unlikable. No attempt was made to get you invested in any character and i get it, its trying so so hard to depict the times of the shows setting, its just really boring. I haven't been as bored watching an anime in a while.

Overall, I thought this was rubbish. Definitely not the worst i have seen, but not too far off. Its baffling to me how the aggregated score is so high. Clearly my feelings towards this are closer to the minority.