Onimusha Review – Swift Supernatural Samurai Series
Musashi Miyamoto is Japan’s greatest swordsman and is tasked with accompanying a small pack of samurais for a dangerous mission that involves fighting supernatural powers. To arm himself for the arduous journey, Miyamoto borrows a mysterious box from a temple, which contains a powerful gauntlet, that turns out to be extremely useful against the numerous foes he encounters along the way.
Directed by Takashi Miike and Shinya Sugai, the eight-episode animated series “Onimusha” is set in the Edo era and has been written by Hideyuki Kurata. While the supernatural-laced story is well-spun and tightly paced, it’s the animation style that feels slightly lacking in quality. The animation has an art-style that’s akin to vivid water paintings, but the movements feel a little chunky and glitch-y, even though the fight sequences are well-choreographed. Protagonist Musashi Miyamoto and his traveling companions find themselves fighting somebody or the other in each episode, with a few enemies including zombie-like entities. As a horror fan, I was definitely thrilled with the monsters in the tale.
The antagonist of “Onimusha” is a character called “Lemon,” who is first introduced to viewers in flashbacks as a young boy eager to become a Samurai but grows up to become an evil, scheming villain. The Japanese fascination with American pop-culture is hilariously reflected in the fact that Lemon has a foreigner butler called Alfred, who is even dressed like he is out of a Batman comic and not in Edo era Japan. The only female character in the story is a feisty little girl called Sayo, who is the only living survivor in a village that was taken over by Lemon and his demonic powers. Sayo helps Miyamoto and squad in navigating her region and also gives them crucial insights into understand what must have happened in her village.
The only major complaint I have about “Onimusha” is the fact that the episodes unfold in a way that made me expect some flashback scenes to shed more light on Miyamoto’s past, but that never happens. There’s a surprise character who appears in the last two episodes, over whom a significant amount of intrigue is built. Miyamoto and the character seem to have some beef in the past, and again, not much about their enmity or history is revealed. In its current state, the eight episode series is a pretty entertaining watch for animation enthusiasts, packing in plenty of fights, twists and supernatural action.
Rating: 7.5 on 10. You can watch “Onimusha” on Netflix.
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