KurozukaThe samurai setting caught my attention…

Quick Summary (edited from Anime News Network):
Kuro, a 12th-century Japanese man, flees into the mountains after losing to his brother, where he meets a strange, beautiful woman named Kuromitsu. Kuro falls in love with Kuromitsu but realizes she conceals a dark secret. She is unable to die and continues to live for thousands of years as Japan evolves into a future society.

Rating: Recommended

Comments:
Kurozuka (黒塚) is based on manga by Yumemakura Baku and Noguchi Takashi. I’m rather impressed by the first episode… blood-thirsty samurai (zombies?), swords, supernatural and a rather dark atmosphere. Action and animation quality is high with non-intrusive CG. Lovely character design. Although the story and themes are completely different (and I probably shouldn’t compare them), it reminds me of the quality of Shigurui (シグルイ), a pure samurai anime based on a manga/novel by Yamaguchi Takayuki which I enjoyed a lot. We’ll see if the story will turn out to be just as dark, gory and edgy.

Main character, Kuro is voiced by Miyano Mamoru, an absolute favourite of mine. I didn’t know he was involved before watching and was pleasantly surprised when I heard his voice. Paku Romi is great as usual. Only thing I found rather amusing was Mamo-chan’s voice acting in a kissing scene. A quick search on the net seemed to suggest that it was supposed to be an all-out SEX scene in the manga. Anyway, he sounded like he was gulping food down his throat. I mean yeah, his character was excited and all but he took one really big breath… HAHAHAHA… sorry =_+ Think I got too carried away… but still… HAHAHAHAAH xD I was quite distracted by it… I’m too used to listening to better love scene voice-acting in the BLCD department lol~ Mamo-chan Gambatte! Otherwise, it was a really good episode.

Hopefully they don’t branch into the “future” era too soon (not immediately in the next episode please… although I have a strong feeling it would lol~) cos I rather prefer to see more of the drama unfold in period setting. We’ll see if this series brings freshness to the theme of immortality.

Vintage: 2008-10-07

Director: Araki Tetsuro

Cast:
Miyano Mamoru as Kuro
Paku Romi as Kuromitsu
Kuwashima Houko as Rai
Fujiwara Keiji as Karuta
Uo Ken as Tonba
Irino Miyu as Kuon
Miki Shinichiro as Arashiyama
Ookawa Tohru as Hasegawa

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