On a bleached out courtyard at Sunpu Castle, two men disfigured by a life of perpetual violence face off to bring sweet destruction to the other man. Shigurui: Death Frenzy then takes the viewer back to the beginning of the story in order to explain this moment. It is blood, guts, and brutality.
Shigurui: Death Frenzy is interesting to watch, but not as cool as samurai swords sound in that it isn’t Samurai Champloo or Kenshin. This is an unromantic presentation of swordsman and samurai as scumbags and not as the badass/cool scumbag of Afro Samurai.
Swordsmanship as far as it is presented in Shigurui is very much a means to dealing damage, which the perfection of is a means toward more effective damage dealing. While this is fairly obvious from a logical perspective, it’s something that gets danced around when swordsmanship becomes romanticized as an art form and means toward self perfection as it is in many stories. Shigurui downplays the romance of the swordsman who grows as a result of self-sacrifice and dedication. Instead, Shigurui takes that away. Change and character evolution isn’t the result of internal inertia and dedicated training, but external force. Damage.
Damage is the vehicle of change in Shigurui. Everything that happens is born from damage. Character evolution begins with damage. And nothing good comes from it. Nobody in the story seems to have the internal inertia to overcome and stand up to that external force, which is why, at least to me, none of the characters are particularly engaging. They’re products of external pressure, rather than internal fortitude, which is antithetical for lead characters in fiction. It’s a story without heroes (or anti-heroes).
The absence of a hero makes me wonder about the intentions of the author. Does this serve to ratchet up the violence or is there a cultural critique in here? Not being Japanese, I have no idea, but I guess I’m just hoping there is to have some point to all of it (since if it isn’t entertaining and cool like, it better be something deeper and worth slogging through if it isn’t funny-fun-fun). A person doesn’t have to be intimately aware of Japanese culture to have heard of the internal criticism of the do as you’re told, conform, follow, don’t stand up culture, to create the wonder if there is some of that going on here.
For me, the focus on damage as grotesque art dulls the brutality (or maybe it was Higurashi that numbed me to brutality) of the blood, guts, and sliced through flesh, split eyeballs, and spilled intestines, which seems to be a favorite of the show, having intestines fall out and splatter to the floor — is this a pun on the lack of intestinal fortitude of individual people that allows insanity to win? At times, the gore crosses into gratuitous, while at others it’s descriptive, the damage revealing sensibility. The “Death Frenzy” bit is a little misleading to me as Shigurui is more deliberate than frenzied. It’s a picture of violence begetting violence. Violence bleeding into more violence. Violence birthing further iterations of violence as the path of least resistance. What makes the violence easy for me to observe, surprisingly since I consider myself a little squeamish, is how everyone in that world accepts and expects violence as normal. It’s not a shock to these people. They take and deal it very matter of fact, though with much pleasure.
What really held my interest in Shigurui is the cinematography of it. This atmosphere created by Madhouse and series director, Hirotsugu Hamazaki, is gorgeous (see ghostlightning’s post on Shigurui’s atmosphere). The stifled hideousness of this world grinds to the bone. Even the overworked anime cicada does more than its usual bit to create a heavy oppressive atmosphere. At times it feels like I’m flipping through a photo album, such is the way time gets stopped and a thousand words worth tell during some transition scenes.
In the end, I’m not entirely sure what to make of Shigurui. Is this just trashy ultra-violence dressed up by Madhouse to masquerade as something more than a splatfest? Given the production values and cinematography it’s easy to hand wave the question away. Part of the problem is the story is only half told when the twelve episode series is done. Is there really a point? If not, I could think of a number of anime that are a lot more entertaining to watch. Still, if you like to be provoked, even if it’s a red herring, Shigurui could lull you into believing there’s more to it. The quality of production and direction inspires trust.
English Dub Notes
The Chris Bevins directed dub takes the low key approach. Nobody really stands out, but that seems by design, since the characters themselves seem less important than the setting. There’s a lot of restraint in the performances. The dub track has the advantage of going through Funimation’s sound engineers, which is usually a good thing. Given the atmospheric nature of Shigurui, the sound shaping done adds a lot to the feeling of immersion.
Random Note
One random thing that distracted me was one of the background tracks that plays in a number of scenes. It sounds so close to something in Dead Poet’s Society, that Dead Poet’s Society just kept popping in my head every time this track was played in Shigurui. This specific piece of soundtrack is striking since the end results are the same in both Dead Poet’s Society and Shigurui.
You mean Samurai stand on their desks and say, “O captain, my captain”? LOL… hehe, sorry
I was going to watch this, but the descriptions sounded way too graphic for my liking. Is it more graphic than Afro Samurai?
That would be funny, though these guys would only stand on a desk to chop The Captain’s head off. And Shigurui is more graphic than Afro Samurai by a significant margin, at least the first one — haven’t seen the second one yet.
I haven’t seen the second Afro yet either, but the first was pushing the threshold for what I consider watchable in the bloodshed margin. So I guess this is a pass. Though, I really dig Samurai stuff.
A lot of interesting points here. You mentioned the lack of heroes…
Well, in the strictest moral sense there may not be. However, in the sense of loyalty to one’s lord or clan, there is plenty. This only gives Fujiiki moral high ground over his rival Seigen. However I can argue while Seigen is corrupted by lust for power, revenge, and sex — his resilience and refusal to back down is heroic (especially if you consider the punishments given him as excessive).
The manga does not only continue the narrative, but also adds much welcome nuance to the characters. It would also explain why Fuujiki has one arm, and how Irako Seigen has a grotesque foot that holds his swordpoint. I recommend it (which would show the mangaka’s fetish for anatomy that the anime impressively suppressed — yes, it’s suppressed at this level).
When I think about it on the it’s just me level, what I really mean by lack of a hero is I can’t pick either one to root for, so I kind of wish a hero would come along and stop them both.
It really stops just when the story and characters start to get really interesting, especially Kogan.
Yeah I got you. I too, am not rooting for anyone in particular. It’s kind of like being a neutral ‘fan’ watching a sports event (rooting for neither team) while enjoying the match thoroughly.
I go for fujiki all the way. He shows extreme loyalty and he is the under dog.
what’s not to like about him? I understand that he isnt in every scene and
doesnt have as loud and outstanding character as the others, but I like him.
I think the entire series is like 12 episodes of comercial for the manga. I
Guess I have to read the manga now to find out what happends -.-
The main thing for me in Shigurui is the atmosphere. Sometimes, it’s oppressive, sometimes it sounds more meditative.
The violent point did not disturb me at all. Well, using a katana is not like playing with a simple stick! The bloody scenes seemed to me natural since it is inherent to the fights with katana.
Especially since it’s very much in context with the story, the environment, viewpoint, and the genre.
i just wanted to note that this was an interesting film and rather puzzling one, i just want to know how fujiki was left with one arm, and who won the battle at castle sunpu. i still think Sword of the Stranger was better IMO
Ending with just half a story leaves us hanging. It seems like if there were another 13 episodes, we’d get how Fujiki winds up that way. As far as who wins, it’s tough to say, but Mie did have a vision during the first episode and it didn’t look good for Fujiki, though I wouldn’t call it conclusive.
To anybody who likes this piece of shit. You have to have the lowest standards for animation. Isn’t animation supposed to be OH I DUNNO, ANIMATED. Animated this piece of shit wannabe cartoon isn’t. It shouldn’t be classified as animation. Call it a collection of still screens, with a camera rolling over them.
I know. This piece of shit is the art of animating without animating. I am glad i only wasted not even 10 minutes of my time on this shit.
That’s a fair complaint. I did find myself saying it felt more like watching a photo album, than an animation.
It can be boring. I found myself falling asleep at parts during the first part, but about halfway through I found it interesting enough to want another episode. But, yes, I wouldn’t classify it as “fun,” still found it interesting though.
Well I bought this cause it seemed interesting from the art. I love the swordplay and the look. It didn’t always feel like an animation and sometimes that’s a good thing. Starts slow but really builds, and right when it becomes very engaging… it just stops. It’s a shame to create art like this and have no resolution. I really hope they continue the rest of this story. I want to hear the creators version of the rest of this and not my speculation.
Can only hope. There is at least half of the story untold, since we only see how one of the pair gets disfigured before their final showdown.
I though that this was compelling and different from the nomal anime cartoons.For me its a classic, and will be gutted if there is not a second series.If you want to watch something more action packed and not so violent,maybe you should stick with lazytown.
This is THE BEST, PERIOD! The hidden stuff and the characters…just blows you away. I don’t think i’ll EVER see something that will top this. this is like moving poetry. this is art.
i agree with anonymous, truly epic series,very artistic,and more realistic
the review given here is total garbage and unjust, purely written by a commercial tool, best points of impact being samurai champloo and afro samurai,which ill admit i enjoyed, but this series sets a standard of true art and realism, srry it dosnt have a happy ending nor driven by fake love,which is more appreciated then scorned,given both of those points r way to over played to begin with.
so yes this series rocks,if u have taste u will enjoy it
I really enjoy this series. I think is one of the best so far I’ve wath. Yes, is really graphic some times with the sexual contence, but the hole point of this anime is to give a differnt look on the samuray’s nature, so differnt from the one we are use to seeing in regular animme. It is meant to be more realistic. In real life people, whether good or bad, connot be whithe or completly black. There are no unstain heroes. Now about the ending, I think that was the point the animator wanted to make. just like the lord that summen two samurays to battle with real swords, we want to wach more blood. Most complains are about the blood and the sexual images, but( I think ) that was part the samuray’s way of life. And like I said before, this animme is trying to portray a more realistic view. This is only my opinion. I am not an expert in animme and most of the animme I watch is like spireted away and princess mononoke. I have watch ninja scrolls,vasilick(which is simmilar to the ninja scrolls) and sword of the srenger.
Great review, super rats! It helped make up my mind about this anime. I HATE this anime! While it absolutely is a masterpiece of tension, setting (especially as a period piece), and composition, the anime itself is the epitome of aestheticized violence; it is fascist art. I appreciate that it kills ANY romantic notions about samurai (for both people who fetishize Japanese culture and ultra-conservatives/ ultra-nationalists who long for the class-based society that was usurped by THIS class-based society) , and I even appreciate the heavy pessimism. However, the difference between this and say Kurasawa’s social critiques (7 samurai, red beard, etc.) is that Kurasawa pointed toward something better–be it in a short-lived act of solidarity (like the ronin and peasants in 7 samurai) or thankless/ brutal acts of self-sacrifice (as in red beard or kiku in 7 samurai). This, however, is brutal for brutal’s sake, and that’s not enough. This kind of fatalism is symptomatic of the half-assed post-modernist project. It’s “critique” (if we can call it that) without solution. Even its narrative is SUPER fragmented because they don’t know which way to go. I’ll recommend this to people because the discussion of it is INFINITELY better than the anime itself.
Also… this is not realistic. Y’all stop saying that! A blind swordsman who kills the best of the best? A swordsman who can stop flint guns (which shot balls of metal in fairly random paths since the barrels were not machined to spiral bullets in a straight trajectory)? What’s next? Blind snipers? Mute singers?
I agree the series was very “artistic” and beautiful, but I also agree the characters were not likeable, there was no hero, and there was no positive alternative presented to this massive critique of samurai culture. The ending was simply crap and left us all hanging, after investing 6 hours in watching it. Basically, the flashbacks got lost in the past and never looped us back to the beginning, the duel between the two. Of course, one of the messages could have been it doesn’t matter who won the duel; what matters is that these two men ruined their lives pursuing ambition, violence, and death…instead of what brings happiness…such as the love of Mie…which they both denied. This series left me feeling empty…and even though it was beautiful to watch, it was essentially just another “airhead” whom I’d rather let move on and forget about it. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Ninja Scroll (movie and series) beats this by millions of miles
Shigurui isn’t *fun* to watch, so yeah, not something you want to scratch that itch for something remotely like Ninja Scroll.
1 disfiguered characters manage to achieve an outstanding goal is quite outstanding
seems more fascinating then normal people
2 this open end is like reading between the pictures of comics.
a vage foreboding leaves it to your imagination.
The thing that I found engaging about Death Frenzy is probably what turned most people off from it. This anime is based on a classic Japanese novel (albeit only the first chapter), and is very stylistic. It draws a lot from classical Japanese theater, the soundtrack and art style during the action sequence pull heavily from the high-intensity Kabuki performances.
The characters are very engaging, because the anime strips away all the romance of what Samurai really were. Feudal Japan was a *very* barbaric place, and Death Frenzy captures that perfectly. Read through classics like ‘The Ronin’ and ‘Musashi’, even the *real* ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ gives a pretty good view of how sadistic and unbalanced this culture was. Death Frenzy strips away all the romanticism, even for the Japanese, and forces you to face the reality that a swordcut is a disgusting way to die (guts, blood, dismemberment) and that there’s a thin line between adhering to Bushido and being a murderous sociopath.
There is no romanticizing samurai here. In that way it is completely different from any samurai story I’ve seen, which I admit is limited to anime and manga for the most part. The depiction in Shigurui is brutal and insane. Kogan is a bastard among bastards and his students stay for it. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this and probably would not watch it again, but while it wasn’t entertaining per se, it was fascinating at the same time.
Irako for the win!