Shigurui: Death Frenzy (Review)
Shigurui: Death Frenzy is Not for the Faint of Heart.
When it comes to anime, I’ve been around the block a few times, but never have I come across a series that celebrates the blood and horror that results from men crossing swords. Shigurui: Death Frenzy (which we’ll simply call Shigurui) is a series that will give children nightmares and probably make most anime fans nauseous. Still, it is a well-crafted anime by director Hiroshi Hamasaki and writer Seishi Minakami that offers an interesting dilemma to anyone bold enough to sit through it.
Shigurui tells the story of two famous figures from samurai folklore, specifically that of the one-armed swordsman and the blind samurai. The series starts with the two facing off in a duel to the death at the request of Daimyo (a bigshot in feudal Japan). However, the rest of the series is told in a flashback that explains how the two first met, years before their fatal duel and before they suffered their life-changing injuries.
Gennosuke Fujiki (who later becomes the one-armed swordsman and is voiced by John Burgmeier) is an apprentice at the Kogan-Ryu school. He’s the shining student at the dojo until Seigen Irako (who later becomes the blind swordsman and is voiced by J. Michael Tatum) arrives and humiliates Fujiki in a duel. The two find themselves locked in a savage rivalry to become the successor of the Kogan-Ryu style. Unfortunately, the head of the school, Kogan Iwamoto (voiced by Jerry Russell), spends most of the year suffering from dementia, and his few moments of clarity reveal him to be a harsh and brutal man.
What’s so interesting about this series is that neither one of the main characters are can be considered good people by any stretch of the imagination. Fujiki is loyal to a fault, which means he performs horrible acts at the behest of the brutal and insane Kogan. For him, going against his master’s orders is a fate worse than death, and the same goes for dishonoring his school. On the other hand, there is the arrogant and conniving Seigen. He sees everything and everyone around him as nothing more than a stepping stone for him to further his own personal goals. Really, his character brings everything on himself in this series, and while the consequences are unimaginable, he still blames everyone else for them. Neither one is worthy of the audience’s admiration or sympathy.
Shigurui is a series that plays out in a way similar to the samurai’s mentality on which it focuses. For the most part, it is calm and almost peaceful, but then it has spurts of incredible violence. The series is full of more blood than the human body is capable of holding, and its characters all seem to sport scars as a result of past battles almost as though they were badges, though, for the most part, these “badges” are horrible disfigurations such as a man with a Glasgow smile or a character who lost part of his lower jaw in a sword match. It strives to show just how brutal the feudal age was, and almost mocks the simplicity and naivety behind other anime which feature characters getting cut up but end up heal nicely. At certain points, the series feels like it’s placing too much of an emphasis on the physicality of the characters in it. Several times, it cuts to a view where you can see the muscles flexing beneath the skin, and I’m not sure what it was about these scenes, but I didn’t enjoy them at all. It felt like it was forcing too much on the audience.
Like I said before, this is not for the faint of heart. While the gore is gratuitous, to say the least, the series also features a number of sexual situations and nudity throughout. I’m not trying to say that the series falls back on these themes, but they are a strong staple of the series. Really, it’s quite well done despite the fact that it feels unfinished at the end of its 12-episode run. Still, if you’re up to the challenge or love some good, old-fashioned blood, guts and gore, then you should take a look at this feudal series. I just wouldn’t suggest eating anything beforehand.
