Ishura

Ishura - to fight to the bitter end, however who expected the ending to be just that? Meatgrinder, aka Battle royale, is a trope/genre that was popularized by Mirai Nikki and the Koushun Takami manga with the identical title in its heyday. Each author has a different take on this type of genre, but basically it's about creating a situation with a large number of characters who for some reason must survive and reduce their numbers as the story progresses. So what makes the difference between a good Battle Royale and a bad Battle Royale? Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet and takea look at two shows: Jigokuraku (aka Hell's Paradise), which got an anime adaptation in 2023, and a new show called Ishura, which we were treated to this past 2024 season. Ishura emerged as a web novel in 2017, and was even later acquired by ASCII Media Works under the guise of "Dengeki no Shin Bungei". The author of this creation is Keiso, a man who would go on to release a couple other works such as Gekitou in the future. Ishura received a warm welcome before the anime adaptation was announced, receiving good comments from critics, and in 2023 it was finally announced as an anime, produced by Passione, directed by Takeo Takahashi, and animated by Sanzigen, a studio that specializes in CGI graphics. Ishura is about creatures with powerful abilities that can be compared to demigods and even gods. The Demon King has been killed, but by whom - it is unknown. Now the now wandering souls of the heroes (aka Shuras) are free to do whatever they please, but the question of "who killed the Demon King" becomes cancerous for them, to the point that they decide to organize a contest like a gladiator battle to find out the true identity of the winner. Well, at least that's what Keiso, the author of the work, willed. The first season of the anime adaptation will adapt the first volume of the novel, and will focus on the story's characters and the political conflict between the Golden Capital and the self-proclaimed new principality of Lithia. There is no main character in this story, the plot focuses on all the characters, some of whom get screen time and reveal in an entire episode, as if to save their time. Accompanied by solving two major problems, solving a political dispute and finding Keiso's true hero, we are "very happy", I heartily apologize for the quotation marks, with battles as it should be.... battle royale? So, yes, Ishura is Battle Royale, and essentially the entire plot is a subplot to keep the viewer and reader in a state of anticipation of bloody battles and unforeseen moments. Battle Royale is good in that it allows the author to introduce a huge number of different characters and intelligently pit them against each other without depriving the rights of the target audience to enjoy the plot component at the same time. I'll call it the formula for a successful Battle Royale: spectacular battles + competent plot = good Battle Royale. For a perfect battle royale it is also necessary to have a logical conclusion of battles, balance, variety of characters, sharpness of the plot, but you do not think that all this is not in Ishura? Well, I won't be ironic, half of these things are really there. Back to the formula, does Ishura have the two main elements for a good battle royale? A competent plot is in place, even if it is a bit too rushed. The author brings us up to speed and does it very quickly, as if he is in a hurry, which makes our heads muddle after the first episodes. Spectacular battles? And there it is - the Achilles' heel of this show. Good battle royale must give the consumer a lot of emotions from battles, because that is the beauty of the genre. Starting to consume the product you bet on your favorite characters, which after a while begin to collide with each other, from which the viewer's eyes literally begin to move apart. In contrasting Jigokuraku I was not mistaken about this, for this work observes two factors of the formula of "good battle royale". The heroes, having appeared on the island with the purpose of fulfillment of the task, collide with each other spectacularly showing their skills and skills of battles, though the main character, Gabimaru, was made horribly invincible. Ishura, on the other hand, leaves you anticipating the same thing - but ends up doing exactly the opposite. Instead of spectacular battles, we literally get death with a single blow. Predictable? Hell no, but how frustrating it can be. The show is able to reveal a character over the course of an entire episode, only to end up with no trace of him in a measly few minutes. Keiso may have been going for realism, but Battle Royale isn't about realism, it's about spectacle. Imagine if on a gladiatorial battlefield everything would end with one blow, would the audience like it? I doubt it. As a bottom line, Ishura has a good story, but as a source of epicness the show is very weak. Omitting the moments with battles I want to highlight the excellent work of the previously mentioned Sanzigen and animators, the picture is colorful and CGI animation is smooth and good. Character design is done at an excellent level, for which first of all we should praise Keiso. Each character has some zest in his appearance, thanks to which he stands out so well. The musical accompaniment in this show is worth a special attention, but the fact that such a musical potential was mercilessly drained is worth the tears shed. Throughout the episodes, there are various musical compositions that reflect the emotion of the scene well, and this is a credit to Masahiro Tokuda, the man who also wrote music for shows like Deca-Dence and Platinum End. The opening splash screen of Sajou no Hana's "Shura ni Otoshite" shows all the characters in turn, and is generally good, I especially liked the wyvern scene. Konomi Suzuki's "Hakka" was also good, but it wasn't too memorable or special. To summarize, I'd like to say two of the most obvious things at this point about a show like Ishura. Battle Royale is a very handy tool for an author, but even with a hammer you need to know how to hammer nails so that they don't stick out crooked. I won't be pessimistic, but I don't have any hopes for a spectacular sequel, especially considering that there are already 10(!) volumes in the novel, it's scary to imagine where Keiso's imagination has gone. And the second most obvious thing is that if they would translate the rest of the volumes into English as soon as possible, it would be fun to see what would come out of it.

“Ishura” is what happens when surface level writing meets a pretty solid idea. This show is the perfect example of 2 things: 1. False advertising 2. Having lots of plot and almost no story at all. Let’s start with the first point. The first episode in any show is one of, and according to some, the most important. It has a simple, yet important function: it must aim to capture the audience's attention, establish characters, locations, set the tone for the rest of the series and, if the show will have an overarching plot, present the main goal for the main character. It’s a kind of a promise between theviewer and the show itself. Simple but by no means easy. A lot of shows struggle with this, not only anime. In the case of “Ishura” the first episode lies to You in a big way. I will try to avoid spoilers for the episode but I need to talk about some things within it. If You were to trust the first episode as Your gateway into this anime You would think that it’s some kind of isekai powertrip focused on grand “Shadow Of The Colossus” type fights with a cringy, edgelord as a protagonist or at least one of them. The episode clearly shows the dangers of the world and introduces cringe personified as a character. I’m not even joking. Remember Shadow from “Eminence in Shadow” or Sasha from “Seikon no Qwaser”? Yeah. That kind of garbage character we’re talking about. The type that makes You feel secondhand embarrassment when he speaks and makes You question Your decision to watch the series. We see him destroy the golems that just slaughtered an entire city and I guess that was supposed to be a demonstration of the power scales but it makes no sense. A town full of scholarly type wizards, who have to spend a lot of time changing before the spell takes effect, being massacred because of a surprise attack by automatons who are rather resistant and strong doesn’t really showcase the difference between normal people and our edge lord. It’s like forcing high school teachers to fight against a well trained SWAT unit. Yes the show builds the power scales a bit later but a lot of it is done in the last 3 episodes so it makes even more sense. After the first episode the show changes entirely. It’s no longer a show about grand fights, to be honest most of the fights are pretty badly choreographed and cut. It becomes a war tale between two nations. Both run by assholes. To be honest the change was weird but I welcomed it. Anything to not have to deal with the edge lord from episode one. For the next few episodes you spend time learning the inner workings of the conflict and meet characters who will inevitably clash with one another. I would call it interesting but it goes for 5 episodes. Yes, You learn, more or less, what’s the deal with the incoming war and the sides but to be honest it’s pretty bad. I think the show uses the war arc as an excuse to play around more with power scales. You get to see some badasses at work so when they finally fight You would get a scene of their power. You don’t. The introductions to the characters last half an episode during which most of them do jack shit to demonstrate their power. Some are feared but You don’t see why. You are just told they are badasses and as proof You get some lazy scene with them winning over some weaklings. There is one exception with the dragon. That introduction shows us two characters and their solid (for this trainwreck of writing level) interactions. The rest are just bad. You only learn that everyone has just one trait that is masquerading as full character. A lot of things happen but they change nothing in how you see the world or the characters. Before I get to the second point I would like to give definitions for clarity. I use the definitions for “plot” and “Story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen in the plot affect the protagonist, and how he or she changes internally as a result.”. I decided to add those definitions so that we are all on the same page because some people have different understanding of those terms and I like to make myself clear. Now… Almost all characters we are introduced to are either edge lords or have the brooding tough guy act to the point You would think they are trying to get published by DC Entertainment. An interesting choice is that there is only one character who could be called morally good and even that is the fault of her being young and idealistic. Everyother character is a sociopath or an asshole in one way or the other. Among there we have: A treasure hunter who wields magical items like some kind of fantasy batman and cares mostly for himself, a depressing lookin guy who likes to play the good guy but does jack shit when his angel starts the killing spree (expect quietly telling her to not kill) one edge lord who likes to fight, another edgelord who’s a mercenary that oversells his skills, A naked girl in a giant mech spider who likes to kill but plays victim of her fate and others. Yes. This show introduces a lot of characters and that’s a problem in itself. The first 6 episodes of a 12 episode season are just introductory, short plots for them. You waste, and yes I will call it a waste because the shorts are pretty bad and tell you nothing that couldn't be shown during some kind of main plot event. The show sets up a damn tournament arc so why not use that? Oh yeah… that would require actual writing skills. To be honest the fact that the characters are assholes with no, or weak goals allows me to not give a damn when they are killed. Yes You showed me a naked chick in a robot spider. So what? You want me to care about her goal, that was stated in a conversation just once? Why would I? I haven’t seen how bad she wants it. For all I know she wants to be integrated into society because she’s bored, wants to freely walk and kill people or some other not very people friendly reason. Why should I care about her? The show gives You a throwaway line about everyone's motives and wants me to care. Yeah… Eff off. The most interesting part of the plot for me were the political intrigues. The true reason for the war was pretty interesting and solidifies the rulers as pieces of shit for sacrificing so many non combatants to reach their goals… or goal… there is an interesting twist towards the end of the arc. Some characters have their own agenda while pretending to work for someone else, I can appreciate that sort of thing. The execution of this is subpar at best but it’s still better than most of the other things. Now for the sad part. There is very little story here. The scraps of which could be attributed to just two characters who actually change a little and have actual reactions to what happens in the world. Those are the “normal” girl from episode one and the young elfish, seemingly all powerful, young girl that can bend the laws of the world. One learns that sometimes You need a powerful asshole to defeat another powerful asshole and the other, through her experience during the war, is determined to use her powers to bring happiness. Everyone else starts and ends as the same character. Nothing is learned, nothing is earned and nothing is lost. I think one of the most annoying things that is 99% useless is the narrator that verbalises a lot of things that were shown just a moment ago. Some of his narrations give new info about the situation and a little bit of context but most are just useless. I have eyes for effs sake. Above that the narrations strip almost everything of their mystery and prevent, at least for the viewer, solid twists in the future. I know I don’t have many positive things to say about the writing and yes, I do think the writers are incompetent but there might be a saving grace. Those 12 episodes with their structure, introductions and short plots could work as a prologue to something. The building stones are there. Covered in all the incompetent decision dust. The fact that this show has 12 episodes works to its detriment. If it had 24 I think it could grow to be something… I don’t want to say competent, I’m not that hopeful but solid. As it is, it’s just a waste of time that sets up a lot of things that don’t have a payoff.

Quick questionnaire: - Do you like good action regardless of story? - Do you like watching content like Rooster Teeth's Death Battle? - Do you love polished, high-speed, bad-ass action cutscenes w/ sword and gunplay such as the ones from Devil May Cry? If your answer is yes to all, then Ishura is an anime for you! Definitely a MUST WATCH for action-enjoyers! Ishura is set in a world where the "True Demon King" was defeated. This common enemy united everyone for a common cause, but now that the Demon King is gone, nothing is keeping all the battle crazed-warriors and other dangerous creatures preoccupied. To maintain peace, Aureatia, thelargest country in the world of Ishura, answers this problem by politically creating the perfect battlefield to have these national threats kill each other. Ishura Season 1 has a MOBA-ish setting with 2 factions and their respective heroes/champions battling each other, similar to Fate/Apocrypha, with the distinctive difference that Ishura has heroes of different species, not just humanoid ones, and that Ishura introduces their fighters with well defined characteristics, personalities, skills and arsenals, similar to MOBA games with their character spotlights and Rooster Teeth's Death Battle. Ishura does not have good storytelling nor well-written characters, but it features a lot of well set up, and well matched battles; high-mechanic battles that show each fighter's abilities, speed, range, physiology, limitations, and how they fare against each other. They have well directed action storyboards paired with good action animation that are presented similarly to Hunter x Hunter Chimera Ant Arc and Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, where battles are monologued or narrated strategically so that viewers will be able to follow and appreciate what is happening. All these, with good voice acting and decent battle music, and even trash talk! It's a toxic PVP gamer's paradise! Things you can expect in the anime that I would like to highlight: - 20sec of immersive, epic voice acting from Koichi, Makoto which delivers escalating levels of horrific pain; from groans, whimpers to screeches - super strategic battle between a wyvern leader and his swarm vs their 6 core-item locked wyvern deserter - ultra instinct sinbad/alibaba vs ghost in the shell spider waifu tl;dr: very good action anime! go watch! enjoy!

Sad to see an anime like this go under people's radar because it's fucking incredible. It has everything, flashy visuals, action, a great story and political power struggles. The characters are the highlight of this show for me, they are all truly unique and each have a surprising amount of lore and depth. The premise of having no main character may turn people away but please give it a chance, not focusing on just one character means that you get to see much more from every character's point of view. I look at it more like a gladiatorial arena where you get to choose whoto root for yourself and I love that. It's really rare that you get an action anime that has characters this fleshed out and that is due to the style in which they are introduced. The first like 6 episodes introduce the characters and this may seem slow to some people, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and made me want to watch more to see how they would interact. The characters are not boring cookie cutter action antagonists, they all have their own ambitions and end up at the top because they are strong. They have abilities that are entirely unique such as Alus The Star Runner who is a wyvern that collects a variety of relics that he uses in battle. He was my favorite just due to the fact he had so much versatility (also a great voice). The sole reason I didn't give this anime a 10 is because it wasn't longer but that changes with the 2nd season, and I will likely revise my score once I rewatch it. Ishura is deserving of your time and I hope you'll enjoy every minute as much as I did.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes