00:00one of the hardest things to do in writing is opening the story on a strong note i've seen
00:11countless shows and movies fail at the start and it makes me feel like dropping them considering
00:17the rapid decrease in attention spans i think that it's life or death to make a good first
00:23impression it's very rare for me to find a show that grips me immediately but i knew i would love
00:29shiguri from the first few minutes alone before getting introduced to our main cast the first
00:35scene opens with this eerie execution of tokugawa tadanaga the viewer is greeted with a creepy buddhist
00:43statue enshrouded in darkness followed by tadanaga's beheading the atmosphere feels appropriately
00:50oppressive and cold tadanaga's blood slowly creeps out in an artful fashion while shiguri is potentially
00:58one of the most brutal anime to exist it also presents the violence in an artistic way
01:05oftentimes japanese horror is presented with this same dichotomy it balances the beauty with the
01:12terror making it feel surreal it also gives shiguri its unique atmosphere the atmosphere remains
01:20suffocating as we switch to the past in tadanaga's chamber the entire room is dead silent as it pans
01:28to the concerned faces of the attendants the vassal speaks a couple sentences as he's interrupted
01:35by tadanaga saying something smells this immediately makes the viewer on edge and sends chills up my spine
01:43as i know what's to come i gotta hand it to the voice actor because he nailed tadanaga's voice there's a
01:50there's a dead quality to his voice he also sounds bratty in his delivery the conversation continues to
01:57keep the viewer on edge with the blood coming out of his mouth and eventually the vassal reaches into
02:03a seppuku wound one thing that always gets me during this scene is the expression on tadanaga's face
02:09he stands up he looks terrifying with his piercing yellow eyes he almost looks demonic
02:16there's a chilling visual of the blood pouring down while tadanaga almost looks aroused by it
02:22this does a great job at communicating to the viewer of tadanaga's sadistic nature
02:28in the manga it falls for show don't tell by explicitly saying that he's sadistic
02:34this scene encapsulates a lot of the themes from shiguri like the corruption of the feudal system
02:41the vassal tries to reason with him about the violence that will occur but there's no reasoning with the insane
02:48now we actually get to the tournament that will take place and it continues to be quiet
02:54i don't know what it is but the silence of a lot of these scenes in shiguri makes them seem more impactful
03:01i'm so used to watching other anime and they'll have some overdramatic music playing all the time
03:07but in shiguri it gives you space to build tension it also builds tension by the reaction
03:13of the many samurai present almost all of them are unsure of fujiki and irako they are left unsettled
03:21and skeptical of their very presence but they walk forward with utmost confidence without saying a word
03:30we understand that there is serious history between these two characters there is depth there is tragedy and there is hate
03:38the visual storytelling here is on point the sound design as the characters enter the stances is great as well
03:47the sounds of metallic scraping as irako plunges his katana into the ground is unpleasant and strange
03:55we also get kiyoshi yoshida's harrowing score playing this track in particular is called nagare boshi
04:03which is one of the creepiest songs on the soundtrack the visual effects that are applied to fujiki and irako
04:09here are also creepy with their muscles and bones being on display that pretty much covers the entirety of
04:17shiguri's opening i really have to hand it to the director hiroshi hamazaki and his team for taking
04:24an already great manga and elevating it in a lot of ways they really understood the manga and knew
04:30what it was going for i really wish they got to cover the rest of the manga as i missed this
04:35presentation when i was finishing it they did give it a pretty good run and i'm glad that they were the
04:41ones to make it
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