Summary
Onimusha is a short and visually engaging dark historical fantasy anime that tells its story effectively within its four-hour runtime. The anime takes inspiration from samurai films and the original Onimusha video game series, but also manages to stand on its own. Although the animation quality varies, the anime still makes good use of the limited episodes to deliver non-stop and exciting action.
New one Netflix original cartoon, Onimusha, produced by Sublimation, is a short and sweet dark historical fantasy that accomplishes what it can in a short amount of time. It may not be the most inspiring of works, but the clear visuals and effective story ensure that viewers won’t feel like its four-hour runtime is wasted. So it’s perfect for relaxing between longer shows.
Capcom’s Onimusha franchise has been dormant for decades now, leaving this premise open to being reused in any number of ways. Ascension chose to be set in Japan during the Edo period, after the Warring States period of the original trilogy.
The new story, which follows legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, resonates at times with the original games, though it ultimately feels like it wants to be its own beast, for better or worse.
Onimusha maintains ambition and tight focus
Onimusha felt more indebted to samurai films than to its own brand: renowned director Takashi Miike served as supervising director, while Musashi’s face was modeled after legendary actor Toshiro Mifune. Indeed, the scruffy Musashi acts more like Toshiro’s iconic Sanjuro in the film of the same name, directed by Akira Kurosawa. While Oni and Genma appear, as well as the Oni Gauntlet that game protagonist Samanosuke Akechi used, Oni’s monsters, weapons, and transformations lack the video game hype that could have created its identity. If the story’s villain Iemon were committed to more general dark powers, the plot likely wouldn’t change.
In terms of animation, Sublimation offers a diverse mix. Their strength lies more in the detail: the vast landscapes of the wilderness have a painterly quality, easy on the eyes, and the characters’ beautifully rendered faces and limbs offer a range of excellent expressions and complex moves in combat, but when forced to perform more extensive movements such as walking in illusory cracks. The non-human creatures, like a pair of hawks, were also unimpressive in motion. So Onimusha sits in the middle of the road with 3D CGI: holding steady until it reaches its full potential for one or two scenes per episode.
To its credit, however, Onimusha is aware of its limitations and doesn’t waste a single moment of its eight 20-minute episodes. With a minimal cast and clear objectives from afar, Musashi and his teammates relentlessly advance from one flashy situation to the next. The pace is fast, there’s no chance to get bored when everyone knows the end is always in sight. All in all, Onimusha not a perfect vision of the sleeper series, but as an old-school samurai action vehicle that stops short of some excellent art, it’s not a bad way to spend a late day week.
Watch on Netflix