Shigurui: Death Frenzy

Death Frenzy is a accurate title for this numbing, only periodically entertaining orgy of violence and depravity. The series opens with a infamous tournament being held in feudal Japan where skilled warriors are pitted against each other in a battle to the death for the amusement of a rather demented ruler. One of the first pairs to fight are a blind man and a warrior missing an arm. It turns out the two have a deep hatred for one another that spans back many years, when they were both students of the same fighting style. The rest of the series goes back in time to show us how these hardened warriors met and the tragedies that befell.

Shigurui is atheistically well made, both the art style and soundtrack complement the setting greatly and are somewhat minimalist(especially the use of color ) for the most part, although the character models are very detailed. The story telling is also strong point of Shigurui, the unraveling tale aided by careful pacing. The two major problems with Death Frenzy are in its characters and the excessive graphic content.
Our two protagonists, while having their moments are bland and rather unlikeable. I'm certainly not saying characters must be tailored for audiences approval, but the way these two are presented leaves much to be desired, it is hard to feel anything strong for them, which is imperative since the whole plot revolves around them. The rest of the cast fare even worse, they come in two flavors, psychotic or simply evil. This leads me to my next big gripe, the pervasive and often gratuitous sadism and cruelty, the worst of it against women. It reminded me of the content found in some of Tashiki Miike's more extreme films like Ichi the killer, but lacking in the artistic creativity and black humor found in his work. I have nothing against graphic content in anime or film, and posses a stomach of iron, but Shiguri wades in it incessantly and certain scenes are clearly only meant for shock value, whats worse, none of it is presented with any creativity, humor or purpose, it just contributes to what is already an incredibly bleak series, making for a rather depressing and eventually unpleasant viewing experience. Well made and not without its moments, but not worth the ordeal.

Grade:C+

Reviewed: episodes 1-8(out of 12) Format: English Dub, DVD