Onikirimaru

Onikirimaru is your archetypal gory ultraviolent 90s OVA, complete with completely gratuitous scenes of death, tragedy, nudity, and overall chaos. However, putting all of that aside, one reveals a title with a unique visual style and a strong grasp on how to capture motion and color in a given scene to paint a tale of mythical revenge, one orgre's genocidal quest to wipe out his evil race in order to one day become a human being. The story is very straightforward, the four episodes at hand largely captured as monster-of-the-week type confrontations, with Onikirimaru, the ogre that looks just like a man, stumbling upon unholyactivity and thus using his sacred sword to promptly kill the ogres at hand. That basically covers the story, with each episode rather predictably following that same basic pattern. This isn't to say it's bad, just that it's not necessarily groundbreaking, and for what it's going for, it doesn't really need to be. The art is definitely the strongest aspect of this anime, as it embodies this gritty badassery that this type of title is known for, while also exhibiting a unique and compelling art style that is present in the expressive faces of the characters, the infernal bodies of the ogres, and the glint of swords against the sunlight. It is a little overexposed, but in the end it's not that big of a deal, especially if watched on a CRT screen or with a CRT filter, which definitely softens some of the scenes with especially harsh brightness. The sound is solid, with voice work that meets the basic standards of the time, a powerful soundtrack that combines synth with traditional Japanese instrumentation, and sounds of life that are downright visceral, from the splintering of bone, to the squelching of flesh, and all the way down to the quiet creak of a floorboard. As for the characters, most of them are fleeting save for the main character himself, Onikirimaru. However, the characters in Episode 3, the one with the child curse temple, stand out as being better written than the surrounding characters in other episodes. Overall, Onikirimaru is a fun, badass time, provided you're into this sort of thing. It is especially gross at times, which makes it difficult to broadly recommend, but if you like gritty 90s OVAs and understand what you're in for, this one is worth checking out.

Note: the following comes from a video review, links on my profile page. Onikirimaru creates a world where the personal of what is (likely) to be humans watching is contrasted by that which, externally at least, is perceived to be not human, except if only actions are considered both the familiar and ogres run parallel. A Shinto kind of aura pervades the anime, where a spiritual type of barrier is able to prevent the 'hideous' sort of nature that ogres emanate, shields that only function on such creatures... but what if reality isn't as binary? These oni tempt humans to a point where their desires and even willcan be overcome, where instinct is rendered useless by curses. The four episodes contain tales that can be seen as exploring extremes, whether love or hate (less of the former), friendship or friendlessness, even the very idea of non-existence when conflicted with the overwhelming force of the oni. They are interesting, mostly stand-alone narratives; notice how the oni exploit emotions, this seems to be a feature of interaction with Japanese mythological creatures, like a kitsune who uses deceit. Arguably the most pathos-filled of Kei Kusunoki's adaptations, it would have helped if characters didn't last just a single episode, but they are nonetheless stories with a start and end, which also could function as a commentary on a more in-depth thought than most anime with swords normally sustain. Most of the manga wasn't seemingly animated, though what remains still complements Youma's atmosphere.

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