Kurozuka Discussion Thread

[HitokiriShadow]

ANN entry (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10197)
Official Websites:
Animax (http://animax.co.jp/feature/index.php?code=286909)
BS11 (http://bs11.jp/anime/212/)
Madhouse (http://madhouse.co.jp/works/2008-2007/works_tv_kurozuka.html)

Note
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[HitokiriShadow]

The OP is a crime against humanity and probably the worst OP I've had the misfortune of listening. That's not music; that's noise. Listening to screeching monkeys would have been a huge improvement.

Anyway, on to the show. While it was certainly pretty impressive visually, the beginning didn't exactly wow me. Random boring dudes dodge zombie samurai things is just not interesting.

After that was slightly better purely for the mood, though with characters I didn't yet care about, it still was still rather dull.

The last two minutes grabbed me, though. That was more what I was looking for in this type of series and it suggests good things to come. I certainly looks promising, so I'm hoping the remaining episodes hold my interest. A shame I'm going to have to mess with skipping or muting that awful OP though.

[Rolancehack]

hopefully it betters itself in the next few episodes. I've read part of the manga and it was really interesting.

Hopefully Madhouse actually pulls off the creepyness of the next few chapters of the manga.

Also be prepared for a dramatic shift in how the show handles itself if it follows the manga.

[pi8you]

Man, that looked really, really nice(some odd character design wierdness aside).

That said, it really didn't give me enough substance to decide whether or not its going to be worth watching. Contrasted with Ga-Rei-Zero, where I also don't know what the hell's going to happen, that at least is feeding us a solid amount of information to chew on while I try and figure it out. Still, the animation and those last couple minutes were enough to keep me on for another episode in the hopes that they'll be a bit more forthcoming with the story.

I didn't particularly mind the OP, though it was definitely overworked, but yeah, assuming I keep up with the show, I'll be skipping it in the interest of time.

[LordGeo]

The OP is a crime against humanity and probably the worst OP I've had the misfortune of listening. That's not music; that's noise. Listening to screeching monkeys would have been a huge improvement.

That's just really hard and heavy J-metal; I'll say that I would have prefered an actual MAXIMUM THE HORMONE song instead of just a "featuring", but I still found the song OK. But that's just me.

As for the episode, I found it excellent and it really got me interested in the show. I'm looking forward to a good time wth this show.

[untoldsorrow]

OP was retarded. Its just screaming the same lines over and over again. As for the episode itself, I enjoyed it. This is the first realistic character model art I've seen for this season so far. Its nice to get a chance of pace from the usual anime art type. I found the blood and action well done, so far no story but it still intrigues you, especially the ending.

[ArcticMech]

Thanks to warnings, I had the volume turned down real low during the awful OP. Otherwise, the episode was very well done, particularly the last 5 minutes or so. The fighting scenes were fluid with no shortage of blood. I didn't find the description of the show interesting, but Kurozuka has my attention and I intend to watch for at least a little while longer even though I'm about at my limit with new shows.

[The Adventurer]

Watched this on a lark (primary from finding out it was made by Madhouse, and I've had good experiences with their shows so far). Yeah, the OP is a steaming pile, no doubt. I thought it had an interesting build to the climax, though a tad cliched ("Don't look in my room", "Okay-Dokay!", *looks in the room anyway*, *face palm*) However the action scenes were pretty great, and violent as all get out. I do hope this series goes in the dirrection I expect The girl makes the guy immortal and the show keeps jumping forward in time as the world changes around them. (Which would explain that post-apocalypic scene that opened the show.) All the while they're hounded by the next generation of those that hunt them. That premesis could really cook with gas if handled right.

That's two shows this fall season has dropped on my lap. Its nice to have new shows to watch.

[marklungo]

OP was retarded. Its just screaming the same lines over and over again.

Yeah, but I love it anyway. Seriously, the OP is why I started watching Kurozuka in the first place. It reminds me of the Gantz OP; both songs are pure musical adrenalin, conveying a heady mix of danger and excitement. But enough music criticism for now...

I do hope this series goes in the direction I expect The girl makes the guy immortal and the show keeps jumping forward in time as the world changes around them. (Which would explain that post-apocalyptic scene that opened the show.) All the while they're hounded by the next generation of those that hunt them. That premise could really cook with gas if handled right.

Well, Adventurer, I just finished episode 2, and it looks like you're going to get your wish. Also, Kurozuka is not only ramping up the violence, but adding quite a bit of nudity as well. (There goes my slim hope of seeing it on American TV...) I must admit that the middle of the episode has me confused. What was going on with Ben Kei and his interrogation by the Big Bad? Was he being brainwashed or mind controlled or what? Still, I'd be hooked even without the big cliffhanger at the end, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

[pi8you]

WTF??? The beginning made some sense, the second half continued from EP 1, but what the hell was that in the middle o_O

Continues to be quite pretty, and an interesting direction there with the combat sequence, but I think that bizzaro section sealed me in on watching this. And ending where it did, I wonder what that's going to mean for the timeline of future episodes.

[ArcticMech]

Gruesome? Yes.
Confusing? Hell yes.
Entertaining? So far, definitely.

The fights were intense, brutal and very bloody. The non-linear structure of the episode threw me off in the beginning and I'm still scratching my head over a good portion of it. I wonder if this episode serves as a template to what's to follow.

[The Adventurer]

I'm pretty sure that middle part was Benkei being corrupted by the hunters in the most mind fuckery way possible

I was more confused with the beginning and how it fit with the rest of the episode Who was the deal with the killer/thief? Kuro's head was already decapitated when the thief peeked into the room, which I guess means it takes place after the end of the episode. But that doesn't makes sense because Kuromitsu said the thief cut it off. Unless I missed something important about the Theif. I mean, he wasn't Benkei was he?

[HitokiriShadow]

I am very confused.

I thought I saw Benkei with the people that were trying to kill Kuromitsu at the end of the first episode, but I wasn't sure since I could barely remember what he looked like. If that thief/murderer was Benkei, I couldn't tell since I had no clue what he looked like and had forgotten about Benkei until his name was mentioned. Was he Benkei after that betrayal? That seems to be the case, though that begs the question of how the heck he suddenly forgot everything.

The whole dream thing makes no sense as it started out with the thief/Benkei then somehow turned into Kuro... and I don't even remember much of it but it was quite bizarre.

But it was very entertaining.

[untoldsorrow]

I was more pissed off at how confusing the episode was to actually enjoy it. It was all over the place... I will still watch episode 3 though.

[mrsparklenoodle]

I still can't figure out the chronology of the second episode (so when did Benkei kill Kurozuka? Maybe they killed them then while Kuromitsu was weak and injured they went off, then they came back and Kuromitsu took vengeance, or they remembered what they did and felt bad, or did they die at the end of episode two as well... gaahh can't remember!) but I am thoroughly enjoying the show, it has gone forward in time quite a bit, I think to the present day or possibly the near future or sometime during the 20th century, they've been introducing the antagonists and developing the storyline well, as Kurozuka searches for Kuromitsu, wondering about their new found immortality and fighting the massacring soldiers, Kuromitsu's intentions are becoming more and more ambiguous, with a lead up to a final battle/confrontation. I think they could wrap it up well, but reckon it might be just a few episodes too short. The animation and art have stayed at the same high standard, though I disagree that the character designs are realistic, as everyone is really skinny, I've met like four people who were close to that skinny (and not underfed/anorexic) in my whole life. I'm not arguing against it as an art style, but it's just that: stylized, it's no more realistic than giant eyed small mouthed moe heads. Oh, and they're incorporating the noh theatrical stuff very well.

[mrsparklenoodle]

Hooray, I finished it! I can't remember all the details as it's been a couple of weeks now, but there was lots of fighting, which was rather painful looking, with Kuro killing the old demon with the turtle shell and Kuro's friend who was the prostitute got tortured, and I can't remember what happened to them afterwards It ended very well, with Kuro's realization that Kuromitsu was making hir search for hir throughout the millennia but I thought that the battle itself, with Kuro insisting on vengeance, seemed a little forced, Kuro may have been immensely confused, but they never came off as somebody concerned with bravado, I really enjoyed the series, and will buy it on DVD if it gets licensed (so long as there isn't something really wrong with the release like no unedited Japanese language track, no English subs, really bad video or audio, which doesn't mean anything funi puts out, I'm talking really bad).

[DKL]

Episode 1

Just came across this (since I was talking about Tetsuro Araki earlier)...

WOW... I really like it; Araki is always one for poetic visuals; insofar as I can tell, it seems like he has grown up a bit from Black Lagoon and Death Note in that the general atmosphere is a little more successfully mature and serious (whereas in the former shows, it's something of a gratuity [sometimes having a shade of humor to it], but interesting nonetheless).

Yeah... the visuals are interesting, not just in the presentation (Yoshiaki Kawajiri couldn't have done a better opening action sequence, with the individual slashes of the main character looking convincingly that of a pro), but in, well... the metaphorical imagery. When the disciple bodyguard dude walks down the hill to go get some medicine or whatever, he notices the imagery of a statue with its head cut off, followed by a crimson flower-type field with black crows flying out of it; this immediately strike him (and the viewer) as ominous signs that can't be ignored and that there is danger afoot; I remember in Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell: Innocence how Batou (probably quoting some philosopher I don't know about) said that the world cannot ignore a warning, let alone 3 of them (or something like that); Araki did a good job of establishing that mindset with such visually rich texture and I like how the emotions are somehow larger than life, yet silent (the look on the guy's face is more than enough to tell the viewer what he's thinking about).

Also, in particular, Araki's use of wind is very interesting; the lady whose house the two dudes hide out in addresses the fact that the younger princely dude has this "noble quality" to him that's impossible to conceal...

Following that sharp insight from the lady of the house, a long silence befalls the group and the wind blows [delicately swaying the flame in the candlelight] signifying a certain tension; for a minute there, they contemplate the reality that maybe simply switching names isn't enough to fool people (the best part being that the viewer is actually able to grasp the difference between the two men as well).

(brief background for that: they have to switch names and the bodyguard dude has to pretend that he's the master in order to protect that younger princely dude, who seems to have a lot of people trying to kill him or something... anyway, it's to draw heat off of the princely dude... man, I seriously need to start memorizing names)

That said, I HAVE seen that candle-light trick in a movie before, but I'm having trouble remember what movie it was... maybe I'll remember some other time.

EDIT: OH... Hero; the part where the Emperor dude catches onto what the hell Jet Li might actually be doing.

And the sensuality is great; more animu needs to do it at this level of maturity.... seriously.

(or I need to actually watch the shows that do it was that level of maturity... given how late I am to this, that's not an unlikelyhood)

ANYWAY...

Yeah... I guess I skipped over it given that Toradora! was the only thing I followed every week...

Gotta marathon this bitch; jesus.