Shellshocked by Shigurui: Battousai had nothing on these guys
Posted by: Owen S in Anime, tags: First impressions, ShiguruiA long long time ago, in a place far far away, I made a deal with the devil bateszi to watch four episodes of Shigurui and write about it if he would do the same for True Tears. Or maybe it was the other way around, because like Faust, I’m wondering what I got myself into. It’s fortunate that I’ve got an absurdly high level of tolerance for gore and its ilk (to the extent of being able to read a work of Shintaro Kago’s and not be too disgusted), for while I’m not about to go retching into a bucket just yet, the visceral, primal nature of it has floored me.
About the title/post excerpt: I’m referring to how things can be put into perspective so easily, give or take an episode. The wandering samurai with an X-shaped scar on his face doesn’t seem all that glorious anymore, but such is the fate of romanticisation; while Nobuhiro Watsuki might have made the era of the samurai out to be something you’d want to leap headlong into given the chance, what Takayuki Yamaguchi has done here is priceless — for once, I was glad I was on this side of the screen, watching from the comfort of my living room.
It’s the antithesis of entertainment. Blatantly atmospheric, with an intent to make you squirm more than smile; all flinch and no fun. Yet why do I find myself wanting to watch more and more of a show copiously laced with brutality, sex, and the occasional bit of brutal sex? Shigurui shimmers with realism like a mirage in the desert, an almost-there apparition that isn’t at the same time, yet is. It’s too bad that being what it is, not everyone will be able to stomach it, for if there was one anime in the world right now that I wish everyone would have seen, it would be this one.
The first thing that hits you is the culture shock. While it’s true that any self-respecting otaku has probably dabbled with a series set in pre-industrial Japan with samurais in it, what Shigurui presents is both alien and familiar at once. There’s the dojo challenges, the wooden swords, the students and the ubiquitous master figure. But looks are deceiving, and anime and manga can hardly be said to be representative of the real thing.
What it doesn’t let on is how it renders every scene with a filter of controlled anarchy, a time where conflicts were settled with elongated, sharpened bits of metal that men used to inflict grotesque wounds on each other. Oh, I’m sure that bit of info might have been lost on you in the process, with the infamous code of honour, ronins, katanas, Tom Cruise, and maybe even shudou distracting you along the way, but the fact remains that those things hurt, and if there’s one thing anime’s consistently guilty of, it’s that it’s always reluctant to portray pain so boldly.
So Shigurui plays with an unorthodox interpretation of the aesthetic of suffering, and does it exceedingly well. In an age where women were as good as property and where your life was as good as your master’s word, violence became more of a necessary evil than anything. None of that basic human rights nonsense; no freedom of choice or will. Instead, what floats to the surface in the midst of that man-made hell is the will to survive, a quiet instinct that drives these characters because they know tomorrow will always be a better day.
“This is a rowing technique of which no undine has ever seen or heard before.”
Don’t we all watch reality TV for that purpose? We watch people of questionable judgement do more than we’d ever dare to, be it racing across the globe, braving immense heights, performing death-defying feats, or even consuming an unidentified portion of some animal — all for the sake of money. American Idol and its localised counterparts hold the attention of audiences across the world, because they’re tuning in just as much for the bad music as they are the good ones, and if there’s a scene we all like to see, it’s that of someone failing to achieve before lazing back in our chair comfortably and delivering the well-worn line, “Hah! I could do better than him.”, or even “You couldn’t pay me enough money to do that.”
Despite my oft-repeated contempt for the subservient, uniquely Asian groupthink mentality unfortunately prevalent in this side of the hemisphere, what I can say in praise of it is how well fiction portrays why it fails, and why it will continue to do so unless tempered by Western ideas of the liberty of the individual. The very concept of a human being in an unnatural posture of obeisance, absolutely bound to another person’s will by means of stature, power, or respect leaves me speechless in its obtuseness, and here we have an anime with 12 whole episodes shoving that loathed ideology in my face.
It’s equal parts terrifying and provoking, for what this achieves has to be seen to be believed. While there’s always the risk of coming off as being too eager to portray an idealistic reality that supports the author’s theories, Shigurui bypasses that entirely by giving its cast a grace and dignity that only the visual format can do so well. The economic allocation of words has that just-right tinge to it, with every character possessing voluminous depth in the way they bear their portion of suffering and grit their teeth throughout their lives.
I can’t help but stifle a giggle when I look back at the clumsy yet earnest way in which bateszi tried to proselytise, but neither do I blame him for it, being as enraptured by this show as he was, if not more. Emphasizing the blood and guts spilled is one way of looking at it, to be sure, but to say that Shigurui is exclusively about the nature of the human body and what happens when it comes into close contact with a blade is reducing it to the sum of its parts, and doing it an injustice.
I’m only a mere four episodes in and I can already see what drives this unpolished gem of an anime to such masterful heights: it’s first and foremost about surviving a life of absolute control, and how the human nature wrestles with such an abnormal arrangement. The pieces of flesh come after that; anything less and you’re not getting the whole picture.
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May 1st, 2008 at 5:00 am
Don’t we all watch reality TV for that purpose?
It is more of a facade than my answers on final exam questions ~.~ so No
Shiguri was the show down series right? It depicts one grand battle if I remember. I never watched it, but from your inference it sounds that the driving point is related to that of Kaji, which I also happened to avoid after 3 episodes. It is a necessary addition to the medium, delivering the harsh notions of historical societies (in this case Japan); there isn’t an abundance of these. While it is not my bag, I can understand the differences between Kenshin candyland and a legitimate battle in medieval Japan, the latter having events which induce impact, rather than floaty moods.
Enjoy it ^^
May 1st, 2008 at 6:12 am
Hehe, that picture flat out kills, man. It’s an excellent find…though I wonder just how many people will get it, considering you’d have to have quite the schizophrenic taste in anime to have seen both titles.
Anyway, I’m glad there’s people out there who actually appreciated Shigurui, as it seemed seriously neglected during it’s run last year. It’s odd that, for all the blood and guts decorating the series, the word I’d use to describe the show wouldn’t be “frightening” or “violent”, but rather “engrossing” and “beautiful”. You know the creators are working something special when you find yourself letting your eyes soak up every little morsel of a scene with content you’d normally be cringing and glancing away at.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
>>you’d have to have quite the schizophrenic taste in anime to have seen both titles.
Let me first deny that I have quite the schizophrenic taste to have seen both titles–since I only saw episode 1 of Shiguirui. =p
That said, that pic was a nice find–I was actually expecting something NSFW-esque. I didn’t expect something as grotesque lol. Where’d you find it Owen?
Anyway, my frustration with Shigurui is that I know its ‘quality’ but cannot stomach the gore and most importantly the depiction of that depravity or what happens because of the ‘twisted’ values of that era.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:38 pm
The devil doths his cap to you, Owen. I figured Shigurui would cause you to react, but I’m really pleased that you’ve enjoyed it this much. The picture is amusing too; I haven’t seen Aria yet, but I’m fairly sure it would have been a better series had she looked like that.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say that the characters are enbued with this “will to survive” in the knowledge that “tomorrow will always be a better day”. Fujiki and Irako are incredibly selfish, petty and ambitious men who have no qualms about murdering (or seriously maiming) anyone unfortunate enough to stand in their way. To that end, it’s not so much a “will to survive”, but a will to succeed. Irako’s slightly more sympathetic (in that he retains an ounce of his morality) but almost all the other characters (with the exception of the oppressed females, like Mie) willingly serve their depraved system without a second thought. Along these lines, if you’re interested, the Stanford prison experiment is a fascinating study of what happens when relatively normal people find themselves in positions of power.
I guess when I was emphasizing the erotic/violent nature of Shigurui in my own post, it was done knowing that it’s very much the make or break element of the series. Fact of the matter is, as much as it’s great in many of the areas that you’ve highlighted above, many people will refuse to watch it because they can’t stand its realistic portrayal of violence and cruelty. And talking of violence and cruelty, I’d better watch True Tears.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:28 pm
You’re right to point out how this completely destroys the common notion of samurai anime/manga. I actually bought the first Kenshin ‘big edition’ (which collects the first three volumes into one book) midway through watching Shigurui and honestly couldn’t appreciate it because my estimations were so thoroughly changed. Shigurui is such a severe departure for the genre, and so freaking outstanding, that everything else that follows will just feel tame and staid.
I disagree that Shigurui is the antithesis of entertainment. In the most basic sense to be entertained is to be retained, to experience something that holds your attention, and sweet Jesus was I gripped by Shigurui. It’s not conventional entertainment, but it’s a damn fine example of the purest definition of the word.
Still, this is an excellent account of the show. I’ve already regaled you with praise in IRC for specific lines, but needless to say I look forward to reading your thoughts on the other eight episodes. The ending bothered me, but the journey to it never relented in its quality and style. Savour it.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
I’ll just be poking you to watch Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, since it’s not quite in the same vein as Shigurui, but it definitely has the same atmosphere.
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 am
I got the picture off Danbooru, as usual.
bateszi: They aren’t mutually exclusive, though? I get what you mean, but even if that’s the case I’d like to think that “survival” comes before “success”, i.e. you’ve got to survive before you can even think of succeeding, which leads me back to my point about how they have to survive in order to make it through the next day alive, sometimes literally, in the case of the women under Kogan Iwamoto’s power.
Eagerly awaiting your True Tears post.
Hige: Sorry, should have elaborated on that. The “entertainment” I was subconsciously referring to was the light-hearted/fun variety, where you either laugh till you piss your pants, pump your fist in the air, or both at the same time. That variety of entertainment derived from watching comedy/mecha/shounen which differs greatly from Shigurui’s riveting, in-your-face drowning with atmosphere variety. “Purest definition” works too, I guess.
N: Got it.
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:27 am
While I’m enjoying Texhnolyze (and struggling to scrape the cash together to finish it) I’m still not convinced that I’d find this one enjoyable. As weird as it may sound, I can cope with the violence, hopelessness and whatnot but unless there’s some semblance of hope or redemption in there it feels like a waste of time. If I find a gap in my schedule I might give it a couple of episodes but sadly not even this post has made me think “Hey, I really want to watch this.”
If it’s realism you’re after I’d recommend the (non-anime) movie the Twilight Samurai. It’s not excessively violent or anything, but the un-glamourous way in which the samurai, especially low-level ones, got by in the dying days of their era is really compelling and affecting.
As for the pic, that’s a good opportunity to point out that Right Stuf secured the licence to the first season of Aria. Huzzah.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 am
Owen, have you read James Clavell’s classic, Shogun? It’s about a Western man marooned in 16th century Japan forced to survive in an alien society and culture where sometimes bloody death is literally just around the corner. The book gives a more balanced view of the “man-made hell” that you detest.
What standards do you use to judge a society? What standards should you use to judge a society? Japanese and Chinese civilization in the 16th and 17th centuries were in many ways more advanced than their European counterparts. Their cities also had a larger population density [and still do].
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 am
That Aria pictures is totally awesome, and no doubt she will deal a stroke that sends the gondola hurtling forward. Believe it or not, Shigurui gets way better after 4 episodes, and I really hope more episodes come along so I can find out the rest of the story. While the spectacle is an important part of Shigurui, the en media res opening makes the whole story so engrossing. I mean, sometimes we can beat each other up and become friends like Nanoha and Fate, but sometimes enemies just gotta get their faces cut off.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:58 am
My favorite aspect of Shigurui is obviously the interactions between the characters….these guys just seems “human” and completely “real”. Their facial expressions, the way they talk, the way they speak, was real in every sense. The way Fujiki acted when Irako broke his fingers, he just wanted revenge, not because it was right or wrong, but because he just hated the guy and wanted to show that he was better. And I love how the story started out not by having Fujiki and Irako as best friends or something, but how they already very much disliked each other right from the beginning.