Kikoushi Enma

Enma is a character created by the genius manga artist Go Nagai. Now, the popular character makes his appearance in an alluring Japanese horror anime for adults. It's a hair-raising erotic suspense in which Enma takes on complicated and gruesome incidents caused by demons who lurk in the darkness. But humans have lit up the darkness of the night with neon lights and turned their world into one that never sleeps, so demons now lurk in the "darkness of the human heart." Unfulfilled hearts, suppressed hearts, despair,...such darkness of the heart is the place they lurk.

Enma is the Demon Prince of the Underworld, a demon "Born of Fire." His mission is to take back or destroy demons that have escaped to the human world from the Underworld. Along with his partner, Princess Yukihime, "Born of Ice," and the monster, Kapaeru, Enma sets up "Enma's Detective Agency." Tonight, like any other night, they will roam the sleepless city. Horrific incidents that could not possibly be human acts occur one after another. The stench of evil lingers at the scene... Enma's fire rips through the darkness!

(Source: Bandai Entertainment)

Enma Main

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Yukihime Main

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Kapaeru Main

Satou, Setsuji Japanese

Chapeau-jii Main

Cho Japanese

Miiko Supporting

Matsutani, Kaya Japanese

Houin, Daiko Supporting

Okamoto, Maya Japanese

Yoshinaga Supporting

Sakuya, Shunsuke Japanese

Sat-chan Supporting

Yamamoto, Maria Japanese

Ayukawa, Ayu Supporting

Yoshizumi, Kozue Japanese

Moe Supporting

Matsuoka, Yuki Japanese

Kanbe, Mamoru Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Shimizu, Katsunori Sound Director

GRANRODEO Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Performance, Theme Song Composition, Theme Song Arrangement

Nagai, Go Original Creator

Reviews

Jun 10, 2008

Monochrome

Recommended

Surprisingly this short OVA was really interesting. So interesting that I didn't notice each episode was 40 minutes long until the last episode.


Story
I guess you could say the story is pretty typical. A group of people exterminating demons to keep the town at peace [or because it's their job], but it has a more, how should I say this, natural feel to it. Most of the time an anime with this kind of story tends to be a little too supernatural. Sometimes even making totally impossible things seem possible.


Art
The animation was beautiful the whole way through. It was really detailed, yet sometimes so detailed it ... was disgusting. I just wanted to skip over some of those deformed faces. There is also a problem with some scenes being too dark. I know this is supposed to be horror, but it made it hard to see what was going on.


Sound
I didn't pay too much attention to this, but the reason may be that there was barely any BGM. It sounded as natural as possible when in the city or a bar. The only time there was some music was during an action scene to make it more exciting.


Character
The main characters made this fun to watch, but there wasn't much to them. You were never told why Enma has to destroy these demons, how he met Yukihime or how long they have know each other, and what Kapaeru's true form is. All of the character development was spent on the minor characters. Which in this case is important to better understand the situation they face.


Enjoyment
The comedic scenes created by Enma and his group were always entertaining. There were some nice fights as well, but they never lasted any longer than maybe 3 minutes. Some scenes, on the other hand, felt like they were longer than they should be. I'm sure each episode could have been 30 minutes or a little less if they wanted to make this more enjoyable.


Overall
In the end this OVA receives an 8. There isn't really anything else I can say except if you have time and this interests you then give it a shot. I enjoyed it and maybe you will too.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Nov 26, 2009

Shidira

Mixed Feelings

Story: This story starts like many of the same genre, with demons escaping from an Underworld and possessing people and objects alike to kill people and take over the human plane of existence. There is one main character, a man not from the human plane, on a mission to destroy these demons. The leader Enma is a red-headed man who is constantly draped in a black cape, a black hat that is similar to a witch's hat, and uses a staff that produces fire. Though he is considered the "main character", his other companions play big parts too. There is Enma's witch hat, Shapoji, who ... can talk and smell the evil auras demons give off. Kapaeru, the Japanese creature Kappa in a human-like form, is the information gatherer for the group. Last is Yukihime, another hunter like Enma, but uses the power of frost or ice. The first two episodes show how Enma's crew handles a couple situations where people are possessed and killings occur, but by the third episode, the show takes a complete 360 degree turn, showing five individuals placed within a house that kills them off individually, using each character's problematic past as the way to kill them. Only within the last five to ten minutes of the last episode does Enma show up and save the day...or does he?

I gave this OVA a 6 for story due to the lack of a cohesive story. The first half follows the beginnings of a decent plot, but the third episode had me scratching my head, wondering why these people were in a house being killed, followed by an even more confusing fourth and last episode. The reasons why these events were occurring were never explained, leaving the viewer to ponder the connection to the rest of the story. The last gripe I had was the extensive amounts of naked breasts being flashed throughout the four episodes. I do not mind nudity being used if it benefits the story in some way, but the usage here was for nothing more than looks.

A warning to those of a weak stomach, this anime is full of blood and gore of all sorts. With a demon baby being born and crawling from the victim’s private area, to a mother trying to stab her young daughter. It is very graphic in content.

Animation: The animations used were a little above average. The better animations were used for the blood, gore, and any other parts involved with the killings, while the rest was just plain. Even the main characters were done with minimal effort. If the production company had spent a little more time and effort on this project, it could have been very well done. These are the reasons I gave this a 5.

Sound: The sounds used were actually decent, in most cases, though as before, the best sounds were used during the most graphic parts, such as a knife cutting or a person being possessed by a demon. The rest of the anime's sound was very basic and could have used more work. These reasons are why I gave it a 5.

Characters: This was the worst part of the anime, for me, given these episodes are about 40 minutes each. While Enma and crew are very humorous through the majority of their time on screen, there is almost nothing known about these characters. No background on why they are killing demons, no background on where each character comes from, and no idea on their philosophy of the human race, just to name a few. All that is really known are the characters kill demons and Enma is a pervert. Their comedy was funny enough to warrant a 4 from me, but that is cutting it close.

Overall: This anime had the potential to tell a great story with excellent characters to develop. Being an adult anime, this OVA also had the potential to take this story to a whole new level of intensity, but did not capitalize on the opportunities. I would only recommend this anime to those hardcore fans of demon anime that enjoy highly graphic storytelling, but otherwise, ended up turning into no-man's land, which is where this anime belongs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 16, 2024

SgtSalamander

Not Recommended

Kikoushi Enma wastes no time letting you know what it is; A tween's idea of a 'grown-up' anime. It comes right off the bat trying way too hard, and failing to stick the landing even a little bit. Insofar as it is 'baby's fist seinen', the viewer is subjected to campy gore, gross body horror, and boobies almost immediately, but their presence isn't the issue here, it's how they're used. It is as if these things, which are constant and unceasing, are thrown in cheaply by middle schoolers just for the fun of it. Even the most shameless of ecchi ... series have the self awareness to not take themselves too seriously. This whole ordeal (and what an ordeal it is) feels like listening to a kid brag about how he drank his dad's beer once, and saw a naked girl. It's like the whole production is just trying so, so hard to be dark and edgy while failing miserably, then demanding to be taken seriously on top of it all. Beginning with the story, it is pretty mediocre. The first two episodes are almost insultingly bad, and were it not for the short 4 episode run this anime would have been dropped an hour in. The last two are marginally better, and though that's a relative term here, the point still stands. As a whole, the plot is generic, and there's not much else to say. There are a couple of creative ideas, but they manage to wring them out for everything they've got, and the rest of the conflicts seem contrived, present simply for their shock value.

The art is generally pretty good, with an interesting art direction and shot composition. The character designs are also visually engaging. However, a notable exception to all this is the God awful CG. Yeah, it came out in 2006, but that's no excuse for the long, panning shots of that dumpster fire. They could have simply not used it at all when they saw how bad it was, but instead they laid it on thick towards the second half, like they were running out of time or something. An additional note concerning the art is that sometimes the characters suffer from the dreaded 'mask', where an anime fails to convey emotion through the faces of its characters by way of failing to animate it properly.

The sound is fine and there's really nothing to speak of regarding it.

The characters themselves are perhaps the worst part of the show, as they're shallow as puddles of dog piss and make decisions which manage to conflict with what little characterization they do have as well as common sense itself. Enma is an aloof cool dude with a magic staff and he's also a pervert, there is nothing else to his character and he does not develop further. Yukihime is an aloof kimono-clad waifu who has a secret crush on Enma, as well as problems expressing her emotions. Kapaeru is a pervert and that's the joke. His closest thing to a redeeming plot arc is his regular email correspondence with a little girl, and while that certainly doesn't sound very good at all, mercifully it is the only thing about him that is not somehow tainted by his debauchery. Every other character is pretty much a paper bag, to be puppeted about so the story can happen. Overall, Kikoushi Enma felt desperate to be cool, and this desperation reeked the whole time. While there is a glimmer of some distant potential in this anime, that glimmer is certainly quite distant indeed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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