Anime violence is really tricky.
The violence on the screen is only limited to what the animator can imagine. It allows for the brutal action sequences that make Berserk and Ghost in the Shell so beloved.
On the other hand, anime can go overboard with the violence far too easily. Without the proper amount of narrative or depth to offset this, you end up with shows like Angel Cop and Genocyber which have passable content but not enough excuse the grotesque spectacle they put forth.
Shigurui: Death Frenzy is unbelievably violent. It’s also one of the best short anime series I’ve seen.
The story opens with a one armed swordsmen Fujiki Gennosuke and Ireiko Seigen facing each other in a match during a contest to determine who takes over the Iwamoto swordsmanship school. In a twist, they are forced to use real blades (to the strong objection of the vassals) to determine the true successor. The opening scene is technically “present day” and the overwhelming majority of the series is devoted to reaching that point.
What follows is, as cliche as it sounds, a tale of blood and betrayal.
A concept that is frequently touched upon by other classics of the genre like Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai Champloo is that the feudal Japan isn’t all its cracked up to be. For every romantic tale of the honorable samurai there’s the hardships of peasants and the ruthless politics that threaten to destroy the state. Shigurui takes this idea of an over-romanticized Japan and makes it the primary focus of the story arc.
Since there are only twelve episodes (approx. 23 minutes apiece), I can’t really give away too much so bear with me.
The anime really creates a depressing atmosphere. Even acts of perceived heroism and shown to have long reaching, truly devastating consequences. Characters who in any other series would be made heroes due to their rigid code of honor are instead crippled by it. It’s heart rending to see otherwise rational human beings be paralyzed by tradition over practicality even while it may spell their doom.
I’m always a fan of what I call “limited scope” in media. By that I mean that the majority of the story takes place in a limited setting which gives more time for character, story and choreography. It’s what makes a movie like [REC] so effective over Cloverfield and The Raid: Redemption tighter than its sequel.
The majority of the story in this case takes place at the Iwamoto school. If honor and tradition are the occupants’ mental prison, then the school is their physical prison. The students obsess over the reputation of their school, too closed minded to realize that their actions may be the very thing destroying it.
The art style also adds to the hopeless atmosphere.
The majority of color is pale flesh, dark wood and red blood with the occasional variety thrown in to account for character differentiation. The tone of these colors is either bleached light or depressingly dark.
It’s disconcerting to see an intricately drawn world be so utterly joyless. However, it really feeds into the idea that the world the characters live in is a product of their own imagination, a rapidly crumbling illusion.
With that set up, the brutal violence works perfectly.
It’s easy to justify violence in the name of a soon to be obsolete code during great samurai wars or against bandits. But watching the same code turn master against pupil and friend against friend resulting in ever worsening mutilations and torture really brings its flaws into focus.
If I had one “downside” to this show it’s that its hard to watch. Not because of poor quality but because it is so relentlessly depressing. Shigurui: Death Frenzy is anime’s Game of Thrones. I had bestowed that honor upon Berserk recently but I’m prepare to move the crown on top of Shigurui’s (probably severed) head.
But while Game of Thrones has 60 commercial free minutes which it can stuff full of jaw-dropping set pieces and real life boobs, Shigurui only has 23 minutes and twelve episodes, it spends all its time taking the story to its conclusion. And when the series’s “conclusion” involves two once incredible fighters mutilated and engaged in a farcical match, those twelve episodes are wall to wall depressing.
It’s a power struggle, a social commentary and a bleak counterpoint to the doe eyed vision of feudal Japan.
Watch it, but with a glass of whiskey.
