Title: Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou (コープスパーティー Tortured Souls -暴虐された魂の呪叫-)
Genre: Horror
Format: OVA
Episodes: 4
Rating: 7.2/10
Summary:
One rainy night after a school festival, a group of students from Kisaragi Academy decide to perform the "Sachiko Ever After" charm, which will unite them forever as friends. Once the ritual is done, a sudden earthquake transports them to Heavenly Host, a torn down elementary school. Unbeknownst to Satoshi and his friends, however, is the horrific past behind it which culminated in its demolition. As they look for each other and try to escape from Heavenly Host, they soon find out their lives are at the mercy of those affected by that same bloodied past.
**If you can’t tolerate gore and dismemberment then don’t scroll down anymore cause I’ve used gory screenshots. I warned you**
Story: 6/10
It’s been a while since I’ve watched a disturbing and gory anime. If my memory serves me right, I got the same unsettling feeling when I watched Elfen Lied a couple of years ago.
Gripping mystery and a story full of hopelessness…
The story of Corpse Party started when a group of students of Kisaragi Academy have been telling ghost stories late at night. Before they go home, they decided to perform a “Sachiko Ever After” charm to unite them forever as friends when an earthquake shook the school and the group of friends found themselves transported in the run down & haunted Heavenly Host Elementary School, a building which was demolished years before the start of the story.
Watching this OVA series, it felt like I’m playing a horror survival game and that made sense when I found out this was based on a game with the same title. Those group of students are trapped inside that hunted school and they have to find a way out or else they’ll either die of starvation, killed off by one of their crazy friends or worst being tortured and then killed by the ghosts that inhabit that school. The only way to get out of that nightmare, they have to appease the souls that are killed in that school by finding their body parts and acquiring the confession of the killer. As they unravel the story behind the grudges of the ghost and what happened at the Heavenly Host Elementary School, seems like there’s a more sinister and disturbing story that lurks in the corridors of that school.
Corpse Party has a gripping mystery in it and a story full of hopelessness. As we watch the characters explore the school and gather the requirements to get out of that school something itches at the back of your mind: ‘Is this it?’. Apparently there’s more to it than meets the eye and I was surprised when it was revealed who is really the killer and what’s behind the death of the victims. The situation of those students are really hopeless from the first episode till the last with no happy ending on sight even if they successfully escaped that place. Like I said earlier, this OVA is really disturbing since it involves children being killed and mutilated by the most gruesome ways and of course on how those group of friends died a morbid death.
(´∩｀。) Yuka!! This is suffering…I blame that idiot brother of hers.
｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡
That was the most satisfying home run for Yuka’s revenge…
I chopped off (no pun intended) several points from the story mainly because there are some things that were not explained properly that left me confused at the end but had to swallow it whole with that rushed last episode cause it’s only 4 episodes. Maybe if they have several more episodes they could have covered almost all plot holes and we could also have a chance to get to know of the character before well… most of them die.
Overall, interesting mystery full of hopelessness, disturbing and horrifying deaths but with a story full of plot holes, WTF moments and a rushed ending.
Characters: 5/10
Forgettable and predictable (& idiotic) characters…
The characters of this OVA series didn’t stand out that much because most of them got killed off immediately before they were even introduced. The way they were killed was just used to hammer the point that this is a horror and gruesome show and often times they will get killed off for no reason. They are your usual horror protagonist archetypes, most of them are scared out of their wits but still some of them didn’t lose their head (what’s up with my choice of words?!) and are still capable of unraveling the mystery of Heavenly Host, and some have become crazy and started killing off his friends. With the use of the usual archetypes the actions of the characters are very predictable and some of them are idiots (who would follow a ghost and even leave his sister with that same ghost…seriously?). There is very little to zero character development so some impact that is suppose to be present in a scene was not felt (I’m talking about the Naomi & Seiko relationship).
What an idiot onii-chan..left her sister with the care of a ghost…
Animation: 9/10
A nicely directed horror show that’s successful in creeping out the viewers…
The animation is above average but director-san sure knows how to make things creepy with that tilting camera when something was about to happen and his use of creative camera angles and close up shots. The atmosphere of Heavenly host Elementary School was creepy with that foggy atmosphere, dilapidated interior and scattered corpses with their scattered entrails and squirming maggots. The deaths and tortures in the series was seriously disturbing besides that it was done TO children and was done BY those children but also because it was animated in a detailed manner and the way the faces of the characters are focused and drawn…it’s creepy and disturbing as hell. Oh and they way they even animated the characters urinating or vomiting when they’re scared adds a bit of realism to this show. Though there were some deaths that you’ll have to bottle up your disbelief cause in real life, a body won’t get that shredded to bits that you won’t recognize the owner of the body, it could become disfigured but it can’t just become a lump of meat.
Overall, it was a nicely directed horror anime and is very successful in creeping me out.
Om nom nom nom~ looks like cold meat stored inside our fridge…
Did I warn you that this show is full of scattered and exploding entrails? Btw this reminds me of a local delicacy Isaw…
Now Dinuguan…eck…
Sounds: 8/10
Creepy and successful in inducing fear to the viewers…
Besides the animation, the sounds is one of the highlights of this show. The BGMs are creepy and you could seriously feel the fear the characters are feeling. The screaming, the tearing and gnashing of teeth is nicely orchestrated and adds to the eerie atmosphere of the series. The voice actors in this series have a very commendable performance with their surprised, hysterical, screaming voices, choking noises when they die and if they sound sinister they are really scary and they were successful in making me wince and even look away from the screen. The OP song "Hoshikuzu no Ring (星屑のリング)" by Asami Imai is successful in setting up the atmosphere but part of the OP animation was misleading (Naomi & Seiko running during one sunny day & the other characters in their normal lives). It is a very beautiful song and I will definitely get a copy later. The ED song "Hotaru-bi (蛍火)" by Yumi Hara is also a beautiful song and sounds a bit sad and tragic which also fits this show.
Enjoyment: 8/10
Despite its flaws, Corpse Party is one enjoyable horror OVA. It was able to satiate the hunger of my morbid loving self since recently, we’re lacking disturbing and gory shows. It’s not one of the best out there but still it’s very entertaining and disturbing. I’ve watched this alone and at night to boot and it scared the hell out of me. If you love horror, disturbing and morbid shows then you should pick this up but I warn you, the story and characters are not that impressive. If you haven’t watched Elfen Lied and your looking for a show similar to this OVA pick that up since it’s one of the best anime shows out there that combines nudity, violence, gore, thought provoking story and complex characters.
Corpse Party had it’s flaws but is successful in being a horror anime it wants to be albeit the lacking story and characters. You could pick this up if you have some spare time.
Anyone care to recommend me disturbing and gory series? I seriously want more…
To ease the blood and gore in this post here’s a cute Sachiko.I suppose to use it as the cover picture but it’ll mislead you guys into thinking this is a loli show.
Overall: 7.2/10 (Low Priority Watch)
until then…
~ja
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