Samurai Deeper Kyo Volume 2   Starring (voice): Katsuyuki Konishi, Yui Horie, Akio Suyama and Akira Ishida MVM RRP: £15.99 MVD2277 Certificate: 12 Available 07 September 2009

Japan in the year 1600 was a war torn island full of warlords. At the climax of the Battle of Sekigahara, Kyoshiro Mibu and Demon Eyes Kyo are ready for their final confrontation when they are rudely interrupted by the arrival of a meteorite. In the ensuing explosion both warriors disappear and are presumed dead. However four years have passed and Kyoshiro is very much alive, and plying a living as a medicine seller, when he is confronted by Yuya, a bounty hunter on the trail of Kyo. In the ensuing fight with a demon it becomes evident that Kyo’s spirit is inside Kyoshiro and is claiming squatter’s rights...

Samurai Deeper Kyo Vol 2 (2002) continues the action adventure set in medieval Japan. The anime was directed by Junji Nishimura and based on a loose adaptation of the original manga by Akimine Kamijyo. Being essentially a show about fighting it spawned the inevitable consol game.

Volume two holds episodes eight to thirteen: 8: Demon Spear Cries, 9: The Blind Smile, 10: Cold Blood Illusion, 11: Pitch Black Flashback, 12: The Boy from The Deep Forest, and 13: Crossing Souls. The second volume opens with a tournament, which obviously must have started in the previous volume. Ah now I feel at home. Naruto used this all the time to just run endless episodes about fighting without much story, so it will be no surprise that a lot of the mini story arcs are designed in the same way. Over the coming episodes parts of the group are separated to fight different battles only to rejoin the group to... well... fight battles.

Having not seen the first volume, I'm afraid to say my impression of the show is not good. The plot seems a little random, true it has the usual quest motif, but the quest is ill defined, other than for Kyo to reclaim his body. His courageous band of companions seems to get involved in fights with half-demons for no other reason than to provide a fight each episode. If this were the least of the show's problems then it would just be a below par inclusion into this anime sub genre. I will agree that any show which is produced on a weekly basis is unlikely to have the resources of a full length anime and, in many, the backgrounds are pretty much static plates. What you don’t expect is that much of the show consists of almost static plates. Some parts of the show have more in common with a slide show than an animated show; one would think that the clue was in the description.

The disc comes with a reasonable English dub as well as the original Japanese 2.0. Extras for an anime are pretty good with an interview with Manabu Fukazawa Character Designer (6 min, 31 sec), okay so it’s not that long but it's heads and shoulders above the usual textless opening sequences that are normally on offer. Shame it’s the only extra.

It’s been a long time since I was this uninspired by a new show, I don’t even think that catching up with the first volume would make me like the show more, in fact on the strength of volume two, I see little inceptive in even seeking out volume one.

So what could have been an average show is pushed just below this by its overall lack of animation.

4

Charles Packer