Kurozuka

In 12th-century Japan, swordsman Kurou escapes ghastly pursuers into a deep forest with his servant Benkei. Seeking shelter, the two find themselves within the secluded abode of the mysterious and beautiful Kuromitsu. While they are warmly accepted, the men are warned to never enter Kuromitsu's room.

However, driven by innate curiosity and perhaps a condemned love, Kurou peeks through the ajar door, only to find Kuromitsu feasting on the blood of fallen men. He soon learns Kuromitsu is an immortal vampire, and dedicates himself to her—even becoming a vampire himself in order to spend eternity with her. But the cryptic organization known as the Red Army has enlisted the help of Benkei, who betrays Kurou and severs his head.

Awaking centuries into the future in an apocalyptic modern-day Japan, Kurou sets off to reunite with his lover and exact revenge on the Red Army.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kuromitsu Main

Park, Romi Japanese

Kurou Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Kuon Supporting

Irino, Miyu Japanese

Benkei Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Rai Supporting

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Yokoyama, Hiroaki Supporting

Saniwa Supporting

Fujita, Toshiko Japanese

Arashiyama Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Karuta Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Izana Supporting

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Hashimoto, Kentarou Producer

Araki, Tetsurou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Series Composition

Ishizuka, Atsuko Episode Director, Storyboard

Itou, Tomohiko Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jan 10, 2009

Archaeon

Recommended

It's often strange how some anime can divide opinions on how good it actually is, and the reasons for these divided opinions are often logical and plausible. In the case of Kurozuka however, there is a definite misinterpretation of the story as a whole.

Kurozuka began life as a novel written by Yumemakura Baku, which was later illustrated by Noguchi Takashi in manga form. The manga was serialized in Super Jump magazine from 2003 to 2006, before being turned into an anime by Madhouse in 2008.

The story in Kurozuka is where many of the divided opinions stem from. Many people consider the story to be confusing, ... especially at the very end, however this can confusion can somewhat berectified by watching the first five minutes of the first episode again.

At heart Kurozuka may seem to be a story about vampires, love, betrayal, and revenge, however I found it to be more than just the sum of it's parts. Kurozuka is very much a "what if" tale, and the ending is actually very appropriate when considered in this light. There is a lot of action in the story, and the viewer will sometimes wonder what the hell is going on (as I did), but if you stick with it then you may find the story strangely captivating.

The art and animation are top notch in this show. Madhouse pulled out a lot of the stops when designing the characters and animating the show, especially during the numerous action sequences. CG is incorporated very well overall, with only a few minor faults that are barely noticeable. The characters are designed very well on the whole, and I especially liked the incorporation of traditional Kabuki players into the series as it gives the show a far more surreal feel. Each episode begins with a small kabuki play which recounts the events of the previous episode, and I found that the designs, animation and sound for these scenes were excellent.

The sound is another excellent area, especially the music and sound effects. The BGMs never overpower the sound effects during the action sequences, and the use of non-traditional animation techniques for these sequences made them exceptional.

The VAs are, again, excellent. Paku Romi is excellent as Kuromitsu, whilst Miyano Mamoru's monotonous tones are strangely suitable for the amnesiac Kurou. The other VAs are just as good as the two leads. Fujiwara Keiji, who plays Karuta, manages to imbue his voice with a certain "roguish" quality that suitably matches Karuta's design and personality.

The characters are actually one of the bad things about this show, however I say this with a certain amount of trepidation. On the whole the characters are well done, however there is very little development given to them - they're just there for the most part. However, this would only really be a problem if you were watching this as a straightforward story rather than a "what if" tale. That said though, even a "what if" tale would need it's characters developed to a much greater degree than Kurozuka manages to do.

That doesn't mean I hate the characters though. I thought the characters were. on the whole, fairly decent. My problem is that I would have liked to have known more about them as characters - their motivations and such.

Kurozuka is a great action anime, however it can be very confusing at times. There is a definite story there, but many people will find it confusing for the most part, especially as the story doesn't really hint at what's really going on until the end (suffice to say I found it a very "Dallas" moment).

This is a good show to watch if you're after some good action and aren't overly concerned with the story. It may not be everyone's cup of tea though, especially with the scientific angle it takes on the vampirism issue. This is a story about love, loss, betrayal and revenge, and these aspects of the show are very much at the fore. However there are some elements of the show which can leave you wondering why a particular event happened in the first place, and this is only compounded by the continued lack of an explanation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Archaeon (211)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Aug 14, 2011

MasterOfLazyness

Mixed Feelings

Lazyman reviews.

Alright, so this is about an Anime called Kurozuka. Rated R -17+ and up For it contains: Mild nudity, Suggestive Themes, Boring Violence, Repeated Scene Effect, Ear Bleeding Laughter, Vampires of The Non-Twilight Kind, Zombies, Demons, Mutants, The Quest to Tap it and Blood. Lots of blood. Not so much Gore just blood. They seem to censor or magic pixie fuzz any or all of the gore out.

As we go along it’s good to know that this show aired back in 2008 and was animated by Madhouse studios. Go Madhouse! Another thing to notice is the extreme skinny people and bazaar limb length that ... you will see quite often in this show.

Right off the bat you’re slammed with the power of the Annoying Red Haired Masked Man With Fan while he spurts out what seems to be haiku’s sung with extreme Old Man’ness. It doesn’t get any better… just more reoccurring.

Now I shall touch a bit on the shows Intro. I’m not a fan of screamo or screecho or whatever the hell people wanna call it. It sounds like someone was trying to sing while getting their entire head shoved into a fully functioning blender. The beginning song only fits because of the fantastic animation along with it. Yup, that’s about it.

As for the outro, if you haven’t already muted or closed the player then you will hear the sounds of a slow paced song set to ease your heart as you escape the sounds of the intro.
But you will still quickly move onto the next episode as the voice starts to slowly annoy you also. It’s like softer, slower paced screamo. It still doesn’t work. Some people out there might like it. Good for you. But this is mah lazyman review and my opinion is “Me No Like”. Mmmkay?

This show by far has THE MOST ANNOYING RECAP EVER DESIGNED.
Remember that Annoying Red Haired Masked Man With Fan I mentioned earlier? Of course you do, How could you ever forget him. Well, he reappears every single episode.
That’s right, out of the 12 episodes of this show, you see his ugly mug a minimum of 12 times. You actually see him more than just 12 times but I’m giving you a heads up on what to expect. But hey, at least you get to watch him throw that fan in the exact same way each and every episode and watch that fan land perfectly in the center of their organization symbol each and every damn time. Oh… wait… That’s pretty damn annoying as well now that I think about it.

Moving right along the action of the show is almost enough for some to continue watching until the end. For others, you will most likely be dropping this by episode 3 if you haven’t already. The beginning was still pretty good at keeping you interested in the things you don’t quite yet understand about the show. But even that has a limitation.

They try to pick up the pieces of the action by adding in slow motion and more Vampire like fight scenes. Which I must say, they did damn nicely. Although the whole inverted colour or heat detection mode is like you went back into the 60’s for some fun with colours. Ignoring the fact they almost all have the bone structure and appearance of malnourished basket ball players, the animation is freakin’ sweet. You can notice parts where they got a bit lazy and threw in a quick flash of white or black before they would change to the next part. It saddens me to see that potential go down the drain. Whos to say you can’t have good action in a romancy kind of theme? Well, for now, you might be right. At least in the case of Kurozuka.

The characters start off as interesting works of art and are slowly left in the pools of blood you will most likely see them lying in. Kurou is a love struck fool who just happens to have the ability to kill anything he wants. Kuromitsu is a siren-vampire-terminator who just happens to accept guests. Benkei… is a monk. The Red Emperor is a man of song. Rai is a rebel prostitute. I could go on but the list is long and the jokes only get worse.

At the end of watching it all… I felt the ending was pretty damn bleh. Sure, I understood the bits the show left everywhere for us to pick up and understand like a trail of candy eggs. It just didn’t solve anything it may have explained it but there was no actual solution. It’s like hitting the reset button instead of wondering why you have to hit that button and working at the problem from there.

The Story gets 6 Rusted Samurai Swords.
The Animation gets 8 Gallons of Blood.
The Sound gets 5 and a half Screams of Terror.
The Characters gets 6 Close Up Shots.

Overall the show should hold a 7 but it falls short of that mark and is left with the bitter taste of 6 Fans of the Red Emperor.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by MasterOfLazyness (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jul 5, 2011

ravenlok

Not Recommended

This anime pissed me off enough that I wanted to review it. The story opened with great visuals and fantastic animation. I loved the kabuki openings which summarized previous events. In short, Kurozuka started with great promise.

*If you're worried about spoilers, you should probably stop reading here.*

Alas, that promise was quickly broken. I don't mind a bit of confusion when it serves the purpose of the story, especially when it originates authentically from the character's perspective. There's a limit, however, and Kurozuka drives past it, swerves off the road, careens down a mountainside, and explodes in a fantastically animated and entirely gratuitous fireball. ...

I watched to the end, and as Kuro promised, all was revealed. Unfortunately, the ending leaves us with a plot hole so large, Karuta could drive his magic bus through it. (Apologies for packing my driving metaphors so closely together.) So are the two main characters immortals or are they immortals and time travelers? Clearly, there's a time "reset" that happens in the last episode. This reset seems to fall into the category of "wouldn't it be cool...". In answer, "No, it wouldn't." Absolutely nothing in the previous episodes suggests a time spiral or Ouroboros or that little infinite loop of paper whose name escapes me at the moment. This is laziness or stupidity on the part of the writers.

The show should be praised for it's interesting take on vampire folklore. And also for bringing a genuine touch of horror to the fate of the main character at the end. In spite of these good things, where's a barge of cliches loaded in this anime. Here's one I'm f-n sick of: generic demonic bad-guy shoots tentacles or spikes from his/her body. This anime does this not once, but three frickin' times with different characters. That's when the show became risible to me (or was it when Karuta turned his bus into a rocket and blasted up a nearly vertical drawbridge...).

Speaking of characters... What characters? Another barge of cliches: The femme fatale. The dashing rogue. The hooker with a heart of gold. The amnesiac hero. Shall I go on? The "best friend" betrayer. The nature-magic wise-woman. The gun-wielding bad guy acting as foil to the katana-wielding good guy. The two main characters never really say much of anything. Why should I give one damn about anyone? When a certain chick gets bulls-eyed near the end, you know what I felt? Nothing. Not a thing FOR HER. I felt massive annoyance at the writers for f-n with me, but that's it. This is bad storytelling, simple. I don't have to like or love the characters, but I do have to be interested in them. Did not happen.

Without a compelling story and characters whose fates we're interested in, excellent art and animation is purely gratuitous. I'm sorry this anime sucked; I wanted to like it.

Your mileage may vary.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by ravenlok (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

sth new

by barcanoloski

50 Entries · 3 Restacks

Madhouse Essentials Part 2

by VicRock14

50 Entries · 13 Restacks

Untypical Romances

by Tyrraell

39 Entries · 200 Restacks

	Poll: Kurozuka Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) tradedaemon - Dec 24, 2008	153 replies	by yveltalkyogre »» Aug 30, 8:28 PM
	What happened after the first two episodes? removed-user - Mar 2	4 replies	by wiederherr »» Mar 5, 11:51 AM
	Poll: Kurozuka Episode 7 Discussion kie_ - Nov 20, 2008	41 replies	by iChante »» Sep 1, 2022 2:14 PM
	Poll: Kurozuka Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) angel999 - Oct 7, 2008	96 replies	by Ballisto »» Jan 25, 2021 9:03 PM
	Poll: Kurozuka Episode 8 Discussion slayer545-sama - Nov 28, 2008	37 replies	by OweynLupton »» Jul 25, 2020 7:13 AM

Top 15 Best Underrated Anime: Writer's Corner

Sifting through the dark, forgotten recesses of My Anime List like some sort of anime hipster, our writers have brought you 15 of what they consider to be the most underrated anime out there. Under appreciated masterpiece or stinker that got the reception it deserved; you decide.

by MAL_editing_team

316,993 views

Spoiler

RecommendationCollection