The press release boasts gory violence, sex and dark, edgy anime and it certainly delivers on all fronts with beautiful animation and themes that are obviously aimed at an adult audience which is supported by the 18 certificate. During the series director Hiroshi Hamazaki and screenwriter Seishi Minakami who adapted it from a manga series (which itself was an adaptation of a novel by Norio Nanjo) take their time over events and this is not an anime that you can watch over several days whilst multitasking, it is best watched in one go (if possible) as it is almost a long feature film. Shigurui: Death Frenzy has the feel of an Akira Kurosawa film with plenty of meditative shots and selective dialogue where words are chosen carefully for maximum effect. There is an undertone of dark humour to all this with the patriarch drooling and generally appearing as a waking corpse but still a deadly samurai and a man who has not lost his sex drive. This dementia is slightly selective and unpredictable, with Kogan appearing lucid and violent at any moment, displaying the skills that show why his students hold him in such high regard. Several characters are introduced as obstacles to each man's ambition, whether it's a love interest or another rival, plus the council of advisors who keep the dojo running when Kogan is in his frequent coma-like state. When a killer of undeniable skill begins beheading members of the dojo, Kogan orders that the two catch the murderer and the man who brings back his head will have the honour of having his daughter. Fujiki was the assumed heir but when Irako defeats him in a match, the status quo is broken and Fujiki harbours a grudge when Irako is invited into the dojo to stay and train. Flashing back seven years to when Irako arrived at the dojo to challenge Kogan for the secrets of Kogan's sword fighting and Mei, Kogan's daughter. The narrative is a flashback from an arranged match between two rivals, Seigen Irako and Gennosuke Fujiki, one now blind and crippled and the other with only one arm. You get a sense of the lyrical and gruesome nature of the show in the first episode when a man approaches the Lord and explains to him the lunacy of having skilled warriors fight with traditional weapons instead of bokken (wooden swords) to illustrate his point he undoes his kimono and plunges his hand into the bandaging around his stomach causing his intestines to spill out all over the floor. Having honed his skills in the civil war, he perfected a style of swordplay that bears his name and is almost unparalleled in its success. Set at the end of the Warring States period in Japan, Shigurui: Death Frenzy at the Iwamoto dojo where the patriarch is the immensely skilled but demented Kogan Iwamoto.
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