Blood and entrails never looked so good.

     Shigurui: Death Frenzy is exactly what the name implies: A series where the death count is high, and minds are lost or severely disturbed. Indeed, Shigurui succeeds in making the killing of a man look like an art. The story takes place in the 17th century, during Tokugawa Tadanaga's rule, where a tournament has been set in which the participants will make use of real Japanese swords, as opposed to bokken, or wooden swords. The first match is shown to be one between a blind samurai by the name of Seigen Irako and a one-armed swordsman named Gennosuke Fujiki; these two characters are to become the central focus of the series, as the story then moves backward in time to show how what began as a rivalry for the title of heir to the Kogan style became a bitter feud that led up to the brutal events that wounded these two warriors and brought them together to face each other in the tournament. From here, Shigurui becomes a story not of perserverance and honor, but of blind rage, treachery, and revenge. While the pacing may be slow, Shigurui only becomes more compelling as the series continues on.

     I don't usually watch anime of this violent, action-packed nature, not because I'm squeamish, but because I just prefer deep storylines with intriguing characters, and while I sometimes actually love to be disturbed with blood and sickening images, I usually opt out of those sorts of titles because they sometimes lack decent plots. However, with Shigurui, you have the best of both worlds. This is a series where a character is dismembered, sliced in half, or murdered in some other brutal fashion at least once in every episode, but rather than have the violence exist for its own sake, Shigurui explores the minds of the characters doing the killing, so that the viewer may better understand their twisted motivations and ways of thinking.

     Shigurui has some of the most impressive animation that I've ever seen in an anime series. When I first began watching the series, I was a little taken aback by the large amount of stills used in the fight-scenes, and I had initially thought that it was a product of laziness. However, after seeing the smallest details employed in the animation, where a drop of blood realistically disperses in a pool of water and a character's beads of sweat travel down his face rather than stay in one place, it became clear to me that laziness played no part when Shigurui was animated. Indeed, the creators had other motives for using stills and such in the fight scenes. Perhaps it was to build tension or suspense. Whatever the reason, Shigurui is very artfully crafted. I was especially pleased at how realistically rendered people's entrails were in this series. Perhaps I have a bit of a morbid side, but seeing a character's intestines slide out of his stomach and plop on the ground after his being sliced with a sword was just plain awesome.

     One of the things I loved about this series was the soundtrack. The opening and ending themes are very fitting instrumental pieces, which I found to be an excellent choice, given the seriousness and realistic nature of this series. It would have seemed completely out of place to have some J-Rock song come on at the beginning and end of each episode. I also liked that the background music was usually kept to a minimum, or was at least never so loud as to be overpowering. This way, when background music was introduced (which was usually during a fight or some other climactic scene), it was more affecting and effective in setting the mood. At times, it was haunting.