Shuten Doji 0/10

Sweet merciful crap is this show ever bad! My first 0/10 and justly deserved! This isn't the worst anime I've ever seen but it's damn close.

Fuck!

I feel dumber for having seen this.

This OAV series was released from the sphincter of hell's grim tyrant back in 1989. How they managed ONE 45 minute episode is baffling but FOUR!? This show has all the hallmarks of a crappy anime in one package and this is bad for a TV series. The backgrounds are poorly drawn for an OAV and about a quarter of the show takes place in Dementia 5 but less colourful. The character designs are really bad with wildly different styles at times with some slightly less hideous ones in the third episode. The animation is horrible almost all the time with even all the grisly deaths being uninspired. If you're going to cleave 400+ Oni demons in half put in some effort! They just cut the cell in half and add some red splotches. The music is terrible with the exception of the end theme which is over a black background and I HATE THAT! The VA's are also pretty bad and the main character who's supposed to be this Oni super-dude sounds like a pretty boy. It's like watching Richard Simmons battle the forces of evil.

This story must have been crafted by a disturbed mind or a bastard who likes to punish anime fans. This guy named Jiro Shutendo was given to his parents as a baby by a 50ft hideous blue monster known as an Oni. He tells the couple to care for the boy and he'll be back in 15 years to get him. Fast forward 15 years and the boy is being attacked by some mysterious group trying to kill him. This girl he's sweet on, Miyuki, gets kidnapped and the bad guy's use her doppelganger to trick Jiro into falling into their trap. They try to kill him but he releases some super power and kills all but the Oni leader of the group who sends Miyuki into some dream dimension or something. Jiro follows, rescues her and the first episode ends without me needing a stiff drink.

In the second episode Jiro gets attacked at some temple and a bunch of new characters show up to help him. This new team escapes and returns to Jiro's house for introductions, not that this matters since his mom and Miyuki get kidnapped and they have to rush to the rescue. The new team ends up getting killed and after beating the bad guys Jiro, Miyuki, the blue guy, and another human sized Oni named Goki fly off into the sky to wherever it is they're supposed to go. Keep in mind at this point that the reason for leaving and the destination is not explained. I'm getting concerned at this point that the show seems to be giving me a bad vibe.

The third episode starts on a bad foot. Jiro's mom has gone cuckoo bananas over the loss of her boy and is sent to a mental institution. Jiro and the rest are in some dimension being attacked by Oni of all colours and Jiro ends up in space while the rest end up in ancient Japan. Here things go nuts as some spaceship runs into a 200ft glowing yellow Jiro and invites him aboard. Here I need to pause while I laugh myself sick. Once on the ship the crew want to analyze Jiro so they put him in some dream watching machine. Jiro obviously is a little odd since he dreams about his mom and a bunch of fleshy things from the end of Akira swallowing her. Suddenly the machine goes nuts and the cyborg Iron Kaiser shows up to battle Jiro. Of course Iron Kaiser was introduced right before Jiro makes his giant space appearance and it turns out he's a survivor of the last episode who's been waiting 100 years to get revenge. Why the fuck he expected Jiro to show up in the middle of space let alone at all is not revealed. I assume this requires some crazy juice or something. The ship ALSO happens to be carrying a time teleporter so Jiro and Iron Kaiser get sent to ancient Japan, Jiro kills Iron Kaiser, and the reunited team heads off once more. I've lost all hope for this show at this point.

The final episode explains how none of the characters understands anything and most of it is spent showing Jiro and his team hacking up Oni by the busload. We also get to see how mommy dearest has been painting Oni paintings on the walls of her room and they are of the insane variety. The dad decides the paintings are bad and smashes the walls of the hospital down with a sledgehammer. As he smashes them the world the Jiro team are in starts to collapse and everything blows up real good. This is apparently because mom managed to create all the Oni and their planet with her mind or something. Absolute madness. In the end Jiro and Miyuki are going back home, Goki is going back to ancient Japan, and the giant blue dude and Jiro have this following exchange that stands tall as some of the most retarded dialogue ever:

Senki (big blue Oni): Master Doji, I must go now.

Jiro: Senki, where will you go?

Senki: I cannot enter the human world like Goki. I'm just too monstrous. I'm going to take the rest of the Oni survivors and find another planet.

Zenith27: Way to be honest.

Senki: Because of our ugly appearance, we may all die someday.

Zenith27: PARDON!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Jiro: Senki...

Senki: However, I hold no grudges against her for my appearance. She is the mother of the Oni clan.

(Closeup of Senki's eye)

Zenith27: Don't tell me...

Senki: We are neither pretty, nor kind, nor loved...

Senki: But we still love her.

(Sheds a single tear)

Zenith27: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(Senki strikes a pose and flies off)

The mother and son reunite. THE END.

This show sucked HARD. NOT RECOMMENDED!