Review for Requiem From The Darkness: Vol.1 - Turmoil Of The Flesh (UK) (Review)
Wednesday, 23rd June 2010, 18:09

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Introduction
It's hard sometimes, weighing your natural predilections and preferences against the heft of a good bargain. The horror genre isn't one that I choose to frequent, I find the real world far scarier, so there is a consequent dearth of horror DVDs on my shelves, and those usually the ones that I am required to review. It's even more apparent in my anime collection, as trying to scare me with moving photographic images is hard enough, trying to do it with animated bits of paint and celluloid is an order of magnitude harder. I just don't think primary colours and bold lines go well with spooky and creepy, and it's a very rare anime that actually manages to put the chills up me. But when it's going at a pound a DVD in a sale, I begin to think that a horror anthology anime series may just be the ticket. My OCD being what it is, here I am, reviewing the first volume of Requiem From The Darkness, subtitled Turmoil Of The Flesh, and unlike most of the horror movies coming out of Hollywood nowadays, this horror anime is actually rated 18.

Momosuke is an aspiring writer at the end of the Edo period in Japan. He's made a living writing children's riddles, but he would much rather be remembered for more weighty work. It's why he's currently wandering the country, looking for material to contribute to his 100 Stories. But that journey takes him unexpected directions when he runs into three odd characters, Mataichi the Trickster, Ogin the Puppeteer and Nagamimi the Bird Caller. These three people wander the land, seeking out the darker, sinful sides of human nature, devising suitable punishment for the sinners. It's a twisted world of dark spirits and vengeful demons, and Momosuke is caught up right in the middle.

The first four episodes of Requiem From The Darkness are presented here on this MVM disc.

1. Azuki Bean Washer - Azuki Arai
Rain isn't good for ink, as Momosuke finds out when he's caught in a storm. It isn't a prestigious start to his career as a chronicler of stories, one that looks to be a short one when he almost falls off a cliff. A passing stranger rescues him, and advises him to go back the way he came, lest he wanders into a nightmare. But seeing the steep hill behind him, Momosuke opts instead to follow the stranger to a dilapidated shop in the middle of nowhere, where he finds shelter from the storm along with some other travellers. There's a story behind the shop's sorry state, as the shopkeeper relates to his soaked customers, Ogin, Mataichi, Momosuke, and a monk named Enkai. Ever since an employee with a savant talent to count beans was murdered, an Azuki Arai spirit has haunted the shop. But it seems that Enkai already knows this story, in fact he knows far too much about this shop.

2. Willow Woman - Yanagi Onna
The Willow Inn has quite the reputation, and not a good one. Its owner Kichibe has run the place for many years, and for many years his relatives have pressured him to marry and produce an heir, so that the inn stays with the family. But the legend goes that the spirit of the willow tree that gives the inn its name is in love with Kichibe, and it's a jealous spirit. Four times Kichibe has married, four times he has become a father, and four times has his wife and child been murdered in mysterious circumstances near the willow tree. Now he's getting married a fifth time, but this time he's marrying Ogin's sister. When Momosuke goes to investigate, and if possible stop the wedding, he's surprised to see some familiar faces.

3. Enchanted White Fox - Hakuzousu
So why is Momosuke in the process of drowning? It seemed like a good idea at the time. Strange things keep happening around Mataichi, Ogin and Nagamimi, and following them around the country ought to yield plenty of material for his book. But learning exactly what they do, exacting terminal vengeance for perceived sins, didn't seem all that humane, especially given their methods. So it was that when they targeted a hunter named Yasaku, whose blood thirst had turned from foxes to people, that Momosuke tried to show him some mercy and warn him of the trio in advance. After all, how could a man who is unaware of his sin be judged? What Momosuke didn't know was that he was the one being judged.

4. Dancing Head - Mai Kubi
Momosuke is still following the trio around looking for inspiration, but he's bored quite frankly, nothing seems to be happening. That's until a woman runs head first into him, pursued by an aged and determined samurai. Mataichi and the others seeing this meeting remark on how Momosuke happens to attract the worst kind of luck. For the woman Oyoshi doesn't have the best life, and that's even without the overbearing presence of the samurai. The only way she and her sister Otama can get by in her village is because she is concubine to the head fisherman. But now that she's taken a shine to Momosuke, his life is about to get a load more complicated.

Picture
Requiem From The Darkness gets a 4:3 regular transfer. It's a standards conversion as usual, but it's a striking animation style that doesn't particularly suffer as a result. Requiem is full of shadows and darkness, uses a limited dark pastel palette, bold lines and strong contrasts to create and build on a very effective spooky atmosphere. It's a gothic looking anime style, eschewing the traditional clean and slender lines for something more grotesque and warped. It's a style that would be at home in a Tim Burton movie, although it may just be too creepy even for him. It's made all the more unsettling with a veritable menagerie of character designs, with traditional looking characters like Momosuke and Ogin, interacting with escapees from a Judge Dredd comic. Mataichi and Nagamimi are far from what you would consider normal anime character design, and the same ethos applies across the board.

Sound
You have a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with optional subtitles and a signs only track. The show gets a couple of easy-listening jazz style theme songs that seem at odds with the tone of the show but wind up working surprisingly well with the moody and atmospheric imagery. I went with the original language track as usual and was happy enough with that, but what I sampled of the English dub was quite pleasant to listen too, well acted and with the cast suiting their characters. The sound isn't all that expressive, but it's distinctive enough, and puts across the creepy and unsettling aspects of the animation well.

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