3/5 Can you handle the Truth?
  by burnbabymay
The reason behind my review on Shigurui is to concisely convey the truth behind this series, since the other reviews misled me to believing I would really enjoy it.

The cinematography and animation is truly the best part. The color and angles are spectacular. The flashbacks, the background nature shots, the characters facial expressions. This animation mix stirs up emotions without words superbly. Also the music compliments the animation very well. Much of it is slow, suspenseful, and well placed. If these two elements are what you enjoy most about anime, you will enjoy the series.

The overall experience was beaten, shot, and then run over repeatedly by the very dark, sullen, gross, depressing, hard to follow, and boring story. Read other lengthier reviews for details. Even with only 12 episodes, I still found it took myself over 3 months to finally get through them. I simply found better, more uplifting uses of my time. Also, there was redundant gore and very little action... a terrible combination. No big, elaborate fight scenes, just a slice of light or a sword flash here and a limb breaking or a head slipping off there. I gave this series a very generous 4/10 for the animation and music alone, but it won't be enough for me to ever watch Shigurui again.

Even after all my bashing you're still interested, at least take the time to watch a few episodes on narutowire or any other free online anime service first to see what you think. Even if you like what you see, try not to spend more than [...] 20 bucks for this series. You'll thank me.

5/5 a master piece
  by Naser Alsulaihim (Kuwait)
A great anime show, that is to some extend scary !. Never before i've seen a samurai show that leans toward horror theme. Great attention to story and characters development and visual arts.

The bad news is the anime demonstrates only the first few chapters of the novel of which its based on.

Very sad indeed . . .

5/5 Shigurui Death Frenzy
  by d.e.w
Great series, very unique. My only complaint with it is that the series ends right in the middle of the story line. There is no resolution of the conflict between the 2 main characters.Shigurui: Death Frenzy Complete Box Set

4/5 Poetic Nihilism.
  by Sniff Code (Somewhere out there)
To be honest, I almost abandoned Shigurui somewhere around the first 2 or 3 episodes. The virtues of this series are at first masked behind opaque layers of extremely graphic violence, sex and nudity. Not that I have a problem watching violence, sex and nudity. But too often are the three used as stand-ins for a missing story. But that is not the case for Shigurui. Our story here begins with a tournament between two samurai with severe disabilities that they were clearly not born with. Instead, these handicaps were brought upon them by an event (or events) in their lives prior to their stand off. From here, the story circles back to the beginning, following the breadcrumbs that lead to said tournament. It is here that we learn that these two men, Fujiki Gennosuke and Irako Seigen were competing successors to their master's dojo. Fujiki, who was initially the obvious choice to follow in his master's footsteps, is suddenly eclipsed by Seigen. However, sex, betrayal and Fujiki's need for redemption and revenge re-tips the scales of the story. That is when things turn really nasty.

Just how nasty they get, will be for you to discover.

Seeing the hideous deformities of the two men at the beginning foreshadows the volume of carnage that you can expect to witness in Shigurui. Do not underestimate the visceral impact of this violence because the series is animated. The explicit detail of a man's entrails rivals what you'd see in a live action version. The good news for those with a weak stomach is that, thanks to minimal animation, you typically will only see the before and after of some disturbing slicing and dicing. The bad news is that the fast cuts between a raised sword and a hashed body amplifies the tension, and the long takes of a sliced off limb gives the imagination plenty of time to either recoil or recover from the aftermath. You'll be given generous time to meditate on the upper portion of a person's face. To aid in your meditation is an atmospheric soundtrack that makes the image either terribly putrescent or strangely poetic. Or both.

This dichotomy alone might be the brilliance of Shigurui. By walking the line of gratuity and minimalism you certainly get a feeling of art and not pornography. Even the explicit nudity and sex is so disturbing that it neutralizes any inherent erotica. You also get a clean break (or slice) from the usual good versus evil thing. Shigurui offers us no protagonists or antagonists. There's only an ensemble of characters who stand on the same nihilistic stage and under a morally ambivalent spotlight that casts no judgment on any action or ambition - no matter how foul. All men are truly created equal in this series: equally troubled. Equally troubling. And equally twisted.

2/5 somewhat hard to follow
  by Stephen E. Hall (GA usa)
this anime is all over the place it doesent have any clear cut main charater. the animation is good maybe even great. the sword play and violence is the most entertaining thing in the series. alot of people are raveing about the story telling but in my opinion that was the largest flaw there was no good flow from episode to episode. its a very serious anime with no comic relief it was very dark not saying there is anything wrong with that theme but it made a boring story even more boring. I put this one right up there with ergo proxy in weirdness. i recomend this to anyone who wants to see a guys head get sliced in half and his brain spill out of his skull but i warn you take it for what it is no engaging charaters to draw you into an engaging story line. each episode left me wanting more of an explination. i watched the series once and probly wont watch agin i would rather watch ninja scroll for the 100th time or elfin lead for blood and a great story or even samuri x for the engaging main charater that this anime lacked