Samurai Deeper Kyo: Volume 1

Introduction

Just when I think I'm getting out, something keeps pulling me back in. It's usually the debut of a new series, tantalising my 'next big thing' taste buds, and this July, it's the turn of Samurai Deeper Kyo, courtesy of MVM. Actually, this time my taste buds are distinctly un-tantalised. I had a look at a couple of random volumes of the manga last year, and I wasn't impressed, with my lasting impressions boiling down to two words, dumb and silly. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, as dumb and silly, when executed well, can be much more fun than serious and thought provoking. It's just that you hardly ever look forward to dumb and silly. MVM are still sifting through the back catalogue, looking for those gems that missed us by the first time around, and Samurai Deeper Kyo was released some six years ago in the US by Media Blasters, 26 episodes across 6 volumes. It's been re-released several times since then in complete collection form, and yet another release is due this August. However, thanks to the Australians, MVM have a far more pleasing release schedule. Most of our NTSC-PAL conversions are hand-me-downs of the more lucrative Australian anime market, and this July, just one week before the UK, Madman Entertainment release the complete Samurai Deeper Kyo in Australia for the first time. They've re-authored the collection across four discs, and the UK single volume releases are a legacy of that (with Complete Collection emblazoned across the menu screens). It also means that we get some extra features that weren't on the US discs, and our volume 1 has a generous seven episodes to it.


The year was 1600, and the Battle of Sekigahara was coming to a climax when warriors Kyoshiro Mibu and Demon Eyes Kyo faced each other across a carnage-strewn battlefield. Except their battle was rudely interrupted by a whopping great meteorite, and the two vanished in the explosion. Four years later, Kyoshiro is working as a medicine seller, when a bounty hunter named Yuya captures him. She doesn't have him in custody for long, as a Kenyou demon attacks, intent on slaughtering Kyoshiro. The demon isn't expecting Demon Eyes Kyo to wake up and tear him apart. Somehow, the soul of Demon Eyes Kyo has become resident in Kyoshiro's body, and now that he's finally awake, he wants his original body back.

1. Road to Armageddon
The battle of Sekigahara was a brutal affair, and it culminated in a showdown between Kyoshiro Mibu and Demon Eyes Kyo. But mystical forces were at work, many eyes were watching, and poor Lady Sakuya, who was waiting patiently for Kyoshiro, was to be bitterly disappointed. A blazing meteorite fell to Earth, hit the battlefield and obliterated everything. Or so it seemed. Four years later, the former great warrior Kyoshiro is now an amnesiac, itinerant, perverted medicine seller. Perverted because when he sees a damsel in distress, needing medical attention, his first thought is to thoroughly examine her breasts. But Yuya Shiina is no damsel, she's a bounty hunter, and she carries a big gun. She's looking to collect the bounty on Kyoshiro, measly though it is, as he's wanted for not paying a restaurant bill. She would much rather have the million ryo bounty on Demon Eyes Kyo, but no one knows where he is. But before she can collect on Kyoshiro, a snake-like demon shows up, shoves her out the way, and starts delivering a beating to Kyoshiro. It looks like he's doomed, but then his eyes turn red.


2. Wanted Dead or Alive
Jimon was at Sekigahara, a proud confident soldier who once looked into the eyes of Demon Eyes Kyo, and saw the ultimate warrior. The meteorite almost killed him, and when he woke up he was transformed into the Kenyou demon that is now attacking Kyoshiro. Only suddenly he is looking into the eyes of Demon Eyes Kyo once more. So much for the Kenyou demon! Then Kyo's attention turns to Yuya, but she's a tougher proposition, and defiantly swears that she won't let him kill her until she finds the man with a cross shaped scar on his back. Tickled by her lust for vengeance, Kyo spares her, only for Kyoshiro to wake up and regain control of his body. A smart person would say goodbye at this point, but Yuya has a plan. The next time Kyo takes control is the time she'll collect on the million ryo bounty. The only problem is that she has to live with either the lethal warrior who reputedly killed a thousand men, or a lascivious pervert.

3. Red Mirage
There are more people interested in Kyoshiro Mibu, as they learn at the next village they encounter. It's a village not on any map, inhabited by the warriors who lost the previous war, and who are now keeping a low profile as farmers. Kyoshiro runs into an old flame, Okuni of Izumo, who has escaped the village, and she mentions that riches are hidden within, but when Kyoshiro and Yuya enter, she vanishes. After seeing a suspicious spiky-haired character in the village, Kyoshiro insists that they leave, but it's too late. The Sansai Shuu gang are in the village, in league with the villagers, and intent on killing Demon Eyes Kyo. But there's a deeper meaning behind all this.


4. The Creeping Nightmare
They've picked up another traveller, one of the Sansai Shuu who switched sides at the last minute. But Yuya finds that Benitora's just as much of a pervert as Kyoshiro, and handling two perverts may be more than she can manage. Fortunately, Kyoshiro is in the land of nod, and Demon Eyes Kyo is currently in the driving seat, and surprisingly, he's not as bad as the legends make out. Meanwhile, the Shogun is planning a tournament, and against his courtiers' advice, he's opening it to everyone. Hatori Hanzo demands caution, and orders his ninja to keep an eye on all the comings and goings at the capital at Edo. When Kyo and his companions arrive, he's told about the tournament, and that's enough for a ninja named Mahiro to decide to kill him.

5. Tears of an Assassin.
It turns out that there is more to it than just hate at first sight. Mahiro holds Kyo responsible for her sister's death, and has since joined Genza's ninja in order to exact her revenge. Genza gives her an opportunity to kill Kyo, but at their next confrontation, she is pre-empted by all of Genza's hordes enacting a mass attack on Kyo, Yuya, Benitora and Yukimura (An androgynous Samurai who works for Lady Sakuya, and who is trying to convince Kyo to enter the Shogun's tournament). Mahiro gets a rude awakening when she learns who was really responsible for her sister's death.


6. The Duel at Hibiya Bay
With all the sneaking around and back-stabbing going on, Kyo's been convinced to enter the Shogun's tournament, but just getting there proves to be problematic, when crossing a bridge with his sword Muramasa, induces a Samurai named Migeira on the river bank below to explode at some soldiers. The masked Migeira challenges Kyo, then vanishes into a mist. He shows up again at the tournament, and Yukimura and Benitora enter alongside Kyo. Kyo gets board with the preliminaries, and challenges everyone to attack him simultaneously to save time. Meanwhile, the Shogun's true reasons behind holding the tournament are revealed.

7. Keichou Era Battle Royal
The second round begins, and with just eight people left in the tournament, you'd think the matches will get harder, but a mysterious masked fighter named Jyukamen makes short work of his opponent, as does Yukimura and Migeira. It's a little more complicated for Kyo, who has to face Benitora, and in the middle of the battle, as Kyo unleashes his trademark Red Mirage, Kyo sees a vision of his father and sensei, both warning him that his death will come at the hands of Demon Eyes Kyo. Something odd is going on in the background though, all the losers are vanishing without a trace. That will change for the next round, as the rules change, and real weapons are unsheathed. Yukimura is first up against Jyukamen; only Jyukamen takes off his mask and reveals the face of Noboyuki, Yukimura's brother.

Picture

The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is unproblematic. It's an NTSC-PAL standards conversion quite naturally, but other than a slight softness and the odd uneven pan, it's all pretty much par for the course for anime. The colours are bright and consistent, the image is clear and well defined, and there's no problem with artefacts or compression, even with the bumper seven episodes on the disc. The animation itself is cheap and unimpressive, simple character designs out of place with the setting of the show, lots of use of chibi and deformed moments for comedy, and an egregious amount of freeze frame used instead of actual animation. Anime usually gets away with a lower frame count than its western counterparts, but there were times that this felt like a slideshow.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 2.0 Stereo English and Japanese, along with optional translated subtitles and a signs only track. I opted for the original language track, and the dialogue is clear throughout, the action is adequate, and the forgettable pop-rock opening theme is on a level with the equally dull closer.

Extras

The extras on this disc comprise the textless credit sequences, and an interview with the director. It's a ten-minute chat with Junji Nishimura, and he talks about adapting such a long running manga series into a short 26-episode anime, and having to come up with an ending unique to the TV show.

Conclusion

If ever you needed a reminder that quantity isn't always synonymous with quality, then this is it. Samurai Deeper Kyo is dull; it's tedious, monotonous and interminable. It has a hackneyed and uninteresting story, nondescript characters, and cheap animation that is little more than a slideshow at times. Even with my least favourite anime, I manage to find a redeeming feature or two, some reason to stick with it, but with Samurai Deeper Kyo, I'm really grasping at straws here.


I've read elsewhere that the story of Kyo is a little like Inuyasha, and there is something to that, with its motley band of characters gradually growing as time passes and they get deeper into their quest. It's a sign of the lacklustre script that at no point is it made clear just what that quest is. It seems they just decide to go travelling together and adventures occur at random on their way. Motivation and meaning is severely lacking in this show, and if you don't actually care about what's going on, then there is very little incentive to keep on watching. The characters fare little better, thin and impelled by the story rather than any inner complexity, tending to conform to stereotypes, and not exactly helped by the story keeping their pasts and motivations opaque. The one straw that I did manage to grasp was that Yuya was voiced by Yui Horie, the voice actress who played Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, and Naru in Love Hina, and Yuya is a feisty self-possessed bounty hunter of a girl, out of place in the era, but providing much of the entertainment, and practically all of the humour. There is also something of value in Kyo/Kyoshiro, although the multiple personality disorder is little more than a gimmick at this point. While Kyoshiro is little more than a stock pervert (funny for a short while), Kyo is the more interesting of the two, and quite naturally he takes up most of the body sharing time in these episodes.


The biggest problem with the characters in this show however, is the sheer overload. In just these seven episodes alone, we're approaching three figures in character count, and most just show up, spout a line, and then vanish back into the story. But it's as if we're supposed to know who these characters are, what their back-stories are, and what they mean in the story's context. In other words, please refer to the manga. There's no space or time for any character development, except for maybe the central two or three, and even that is cursory at best. The lack of animation to the show is merely the rotten cherry on the rancid cream. It's really a chore to watch something with such minimal production values, and whenever a show has to resort to static atmospheric images with sound effects in place of actual action scenes, then it's lost me, quite frankly. That said, the final episode on this disc impressed me with its combat sequence between brothers Yukimura and Nobuyuki, all shown in silhouette, but it was too little, too late.


All the while in the background, we have the story of how Kyo wound up in Kyoshiro's body gradually being unveiled, as the pieces of the past slot together, and at the same time, we have high level plots, conspiracies and machination swirling around the Shogun, who appears to be manipulating events and characters to his own hidden plan. It should all be very exciting and engrossing, but with the main story so dull, and the characters so lifeless, it's little more than a weak, if occasionally welcome distraction.


Then again, what do I know? Samurai Deeper Kyo has men with swords, it has freaky monsters, and it even has a little fan service between the non-action set pieces. It's just the sort of thing that will entertain fans of Ninja Scroll the TV series. I loathed that one too, and it still sold steadily.