If I could give it 10 starts, I would!   July 14, 2004

Incredible!   January 19, 2004

The problems? Yoko? Yoka? Yoyo? Who is this girl? That girl introduced in the first DVD is the one problem. She is there for revenge. The second episode on the first DVD reveals that she is looking for the guy who killed her brother. Guess who it is. I guessed perfectly because it is so obvious. With the exclusion of Yoka and her flat plot, every character is great.


A total abomination   December 4, 2003
  1 out of 18 found this review helpful

Come on, people -- get real. "Samurai Deeper Kyo" is, at least to me, an extremely watered-down version of "Rurouni Kenshin."

I got to see this monstrosity at a weekly social convention called Anime Night, at the university I attend. The maniac who runs it, who we just threw out because his taste in anime is pathetic, made us watch two DVD's in a row of this nonsense. The first week, for the first disc, I wasn't present, but I was there to watch the first episode and a half of this disc...in ENGLISH. Not only was I extremely tired of this type of anime storyline (I've seen enough "Rurouni Kenshin" and "Ninja Scroll" and related films for even a short lifetime), but I was disgusted by the poor English voice acting. The prime example is that character, whose name I can't recall, who wears the bandana and is from Osaka. The problem? His voice actor is speaking with an EXTREMELY STEREOTYPICAL SOUTHERN U.S. ACCENT!! It's idiotic, and I'm sick of this in anime, not just this one. It's like he came from the part of Japan that used to own slaves.

Don't even think of buying this garbage. Spend your money on better anime series and films; goodness knows they'll all be better than this.


kyo   December 2, 2003
  4 out of 4 found this review helpful

i think the movie overall is very good if your into the whole samurai thing. i also think that the whole outlook of it was well planned out. it remines me of the book .in all good dvd


The Voice of the Wind   November 13, 2003
  6 out of 8 found this review helpful

I have to admit that this is one of those DVD series that, while I find myself really enjoying both the acting and the art, I'm not at all sure what the series is really about. First I thought it was the story of a body with a problem - two inhabited by two different enemies that were deadly enemies during the battle of Sekigahara that made Ieyasu Tokugawa that Shogun of Japan. Now I'm not so sure.

Demon Eyes Kyo, who is one of the two is 'the killer of a thousand.' He is a cold, calculating, thoroughly unpleasant and deadly samurai. Somehow he has gathered around him a host of 'loyal' companions who would give their eye teeth to fight with him to the death, These include Yukimura Sanada, who wants to rule Japan, Benetora, who is really Ieyasu's son Hidetaka. There are several others whom I haven't quite figured out yet, including a gun-toting lady bounty hunter, and another with a gatling gun for a forearm (Migeira).

The early episodes focus on a competition among the Shogunate's foremost fighters, the prize is the cursed spear of the Tokugawa. Before you start to wonder why anyone would risk dying for a cursed spear keep in mind that this turns out to be an important plot device (the spear is one of the 'great' weapons of the Murumasa) and that what the Shogun really wants to do is kill off or zombify the most dangerous men in Japan. Or rather, maybe that's what he wants or maybe it's what someone else wants him to want.

Then we are off to search for Kyo's true body, which was hidden away by the man whose body he now inhabits. Once he has it he will gain incredible powers. Whether this is good or bad is still unclear. But it does provide the basis for the classic Japanese picareque journey from battle to battle. The first of these is with Kubira, one of the Jyunishinshou or Twelve Heavenly Generals. One who likes to play with dolls.

Confused a bit - so am I. But the show is really enjoyable enough to make it worth waiting until things start to make any overall sense. For now there are plenty of dramatic moments and spectacular fights to keep the viewer's attention. One thing though, whatever you do, do not listen to the English dubbing. They decided to implement some Japanese regional accents with non-Japanese equivalents. So Benitora has a southern drawl and Migeira sounds like Dracula. It's so bad it's embarassing. Otherwise, this is a thoroughly enjoyable series.