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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:1644#1552] |
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(Rent-/ Watch+) Here was a series I wasn't sure what to make heads or tails out of with my enjoyment. Shigurui goes for a feudal era setting in exploring the events that lead up to the upcoming fight seen at the start of the series between Seigen and Gennosuke. This series goes for a great amount of realism in its sword fights and it shows quite well. Rather than having dragged out sword fights like you would have in a conventional action anime, sword fights in Shigurui come down to a single attack where posture, control and position are vital to the swordsman in their survival of a duel. This series doesn't hold back its punches in depicting the violent outcomes to its battles with graphic depictions of those killed in battle and the visible scars and injuries taken by swordsmen who practice rigorously or find their life at risk. This realism does also extend into the visuals as scenery and character designs have a great amount of detail to them with faded colors that go well with the show's past setting. The series also does a decent job in depicting the rigid social norms of Tokugawa era Japan, in particular the harsh treatment of women, samurai being the heart of the feudal society and clans doing what they can to keep face when dealing with humiliations. Going for such realism however does kill any connection one can have for the characters in this series though. While enough is fleshed out about Seigen's issues with the Kogan dojo following his falling out in the first half, nearly all the show's characters are too hardened and shallow for one to connect with any of them. Many characters in this series don't get much in the way of fleshing out and tend to be either deceitful or a complete scumbag in the case of the men or being nothing more than a rape victim and/or tool for the males in the case of the women. In addition, the series is left open-ended as we never get to see what eventually leads to the duel between Seigen and Gennosuke, as well as the loss of one of Gennosuke's arms which we seen at the start of the series. Shigurui proved itself to be quite a bit of a mixed bag for me. It looked great and had some interesting approaches it took to its storyline yet emotionless and shallow characters made it too difficult for me to care for the series entirely, as well as leaving things open ended. Not to mention this show is quite the graphic one with the various violent ways that swordsmen are killed off and a number of sexual scenes involving intercourse and rape. Your mileage may vary on any sort of enjoyment you get out of this series. Last updated Saturday, April 02 2011. Created Saturday, April 02 2011. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:1644#967] | ||||||
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The first episode is out. If you loved the gruesome violence and awesome animated artistry of the series Basilisk - Kouga Ninpou Chou or perhaps Otogizoushi, then this is something to watch. The first episode sets the tone of the confrontation between the two samurai and quickly gets lost in a sequence of flashbacks documenting their past history. Last updated Friday, July 20 2007. Created Friday, July 20 2007. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Japanese Language Series Web Site | http://www.wowow.co.jp/anime/shigurui/ |
| Funimation (R1 English) web site | http://funimation.com/shigurui/ |
