Shigofumi

There are some things that people are unable to say while they are alive; for these, there are "shigofumi," letters carried from the world of the dead to the world of the living. When a person with strong emotions dies, they are able to create a shigofumi, whether their feelings are of love, longing, or resentment. It is the quiet and mysterious Fumika's job to deliver these messages from the departed. Along with her talking magic staff Kanaka, she ensures that each shigofumi reaches its intended recipient, even if that person does not want to face its contents.

Fumika witnesses the tragedies of people, both dead and alive, and sees their deepest secrets revealed. What is unclear, however, are the details of Fumika's past. Who was she before she came to be a carrier of shigofumi?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Fumika Main

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Kanaka Main

Matsuoka, Yuki Japanese

Chiaki Supporting

Asano, Masumi Japanese

Ayase, Asuna Supporting

Sendai, Eri Japanese

Matoma Supporting

Katou, Masayuki Japanese

Mikawa, Kirameki Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Hibiya, Takehiko Supporting

Okano, Kousuke Japanese

Senkawa, Daiki Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Machiya, Shouta Supporting

Yonaga, Tsubasa Japanese

Kasai, Natsuka Supporting

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Oosawa, Nobuhiro Producer

Kashiwada, Shinichirou Producer

Yukawa, Jun Producer

Reviews

Aug 7, 2024

Curlybrace101

Recommended

Shigofumi is the best anime you’ve never seen.

The premise of Shigofumi is simple: a supernatural postal worker delivers letters to people that come from their dead friends and relatives. Now, anything dealing with death is going to be philosophical, introspective, and heavy, but Shigofumi blew me away with just how emotionally intelligent and raw it is.

Death is something everyone has to deal with at some point. It is the one inevitable fate we all reach; whether good or evil, we all end up the same way. Because of this, death is one of the most crushingly human things anyone will ever experience. And Shigofumi, being ... a show about death, captures what it means to be human in a way that is harrowingly real.

Shigofumi represents all aspects of the human experience—both the good and the bad. It represents societal problems plaguing the youth just as it does the ability to forgive and love. It explores exactly what it means to love to begin with, and the many different ways love can manifest. It asks the question of why people have to die when it isn’t their time, and proceeds to examine many possible answers. It looks at what is wrong with humanity and shows it in full, gory detail, and then it looks at the inherent goodness in humanity underneath all of that.

Humanity is cruel, merciless, and evil. But it is also kind, compassionate, and good. And no series has ever captured that as perfectly as Shigofumi.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 16, 2015

Markezzo

Mixed Feelings

Shigofumi starts by grabbing your interest with its fresh and unique premise, the story of a postal worker that delivers the parting thoughts and feelings of the recently deceased. Each new episode focuses on a new character and their personal struggles, slowly working toward an ending where the main character Fumika eventually becomes the focus. A lot of the characters cross paths with each other, making the series feel more connected despite its episodic nature.

After watching a few episodes however, it became clear that Shigofumi was heavily inspired by other shows. Halfway through I felt that I was watching the cute little sister of such ... shows as Hell Girl and Boogiepop Phantom, both of which I would recommend to anyone who enjoyed this. All three revolve around a mysterious girl that ties together an episodic story, all delving into the same themes of bullying, suicide, family-drama, and similar horror-drama scenarios.

The presentation is the main point I’d like to bring up. The reason Shigofumi only ends up being the cute little sister of these other shows is because of its tone. The soundtrack is more mellow and peaceful, with a number of great tracks hidden inside. The art-design works well for scenes with grounded drama, yet it lacks the genuinely scary imagery that would fit the psychological horror in it. It simply doesn’t convey the same amount of emotion through its style, ultimately becoming more neutral in comparison.

Neutral is the perfect way to describe how the show left me feeling, which also was part of its intent. To paraphrase the main character when she delivers her letters, it’s not about presenting things as good or bad, but simply about being honest. However, there are moments where these honest feelings do come across as clearly good and bad, which brings me to the portrayal of the characters. When looking at the core plot and the people in it, they tended to be very hit-and-miss. Some were enjoyable to follow from start to finish, others bored me to tears, and then there were the occasional WTF-moments where all subtlety was thrown out the window. Once again, the dispassionate tone made the enjoyable characters have less of an impact, the boring characters became more boring, and the crazy characters became less natural. It is a mixed bag where personal taste will decide how much of the show you will enjoy.

Shigofumi is a series that did alright with what it was aiming for. Alas the direction could have done so much more with what was there. It is an alright drama, just less so when compared to others like it. I would recommend anyone interested in the series to try the first two to three episodes, as they perfectly portray what to expect.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 27, 2019

YuukoDreams

Not Recommended

We are dealing with another episodic show with a main character glueing them together. But just because you push the characters who change every episode through one drama cliché at a time doesn't mean that that's a good way to waste someone's time who has watched more than at least 30 anime's with exavtly the same plot twists and moralities. Now have cliché personalities play their part and the boredom is complete. Of course one shall not forget the dull animation and the forgettable, at times obnoxiously boring music.

Maybe this was an acceptable standard in 2008 but after Violet Evergarden I feel like we've ended ... up too spoiled for such mediocracy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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