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Now I do not intend to imply that no criticism is acceptable, as it completely depends on the reasoning and of course I will not So as to say that here I will provide the points and my thought-process of how all of these so-called flaws of this piece of art actually serve as great and purposeful narrative tools that enhance it with barely any drawbacks. I must admit, I got the motivation to write this piece out of spite of the negative reviews that I came across when I took interest in the judgment of other people, after finishing the manga and the anime. I'm still not sure what this is supposed to mean: logically, he'd then commit suicide since he has nothing left to live for and has carried out the vengeance order on Seigen, but nothing we're shown confirms this theory and I'm not sure the first volume's foreshadowing established that either. Then we flip to a scene of them walking together in civvies. It ends within a few pages: Seigen is killed, he stumbles back to his corner victorious and rewarded with a position, and finds the maiden Mei dead. Manga abruptly ends, with zero resolution of the toad-man and futanari arc, and the pacifist _Rurouni Kenshin_-style swordsman character unexplored despite repeatedly showing up in minor roles. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily.") Some narrative tricks work well in a manga setting, like showing (without any comment or visual distinction) possible scenarios or outcomes and abruptly snapping back to the present - one sees characters die a dozen deaths before they actually die ("The Way of the Samurai is found in death. The art is uniformly excellent, almost lavish, with commendable shading and detail: towards the end, I found myself just pausing and admiring the depiction of wood grain and the castle. I read it over 3 days and felt unusually nihilistic and materialistic by the end. The strongest warrior can be undone by an accidental trip or one stroke of a blade, and all their achievements negated. Men themselves are a fragile conglomeration of muscles and guts, which when spilled all look alike. All men die, and if they defeat their foes, they are defeated by old age and descend into their dotage. Attempts to teach martial arts merely produce living weapons. This is not a romantic depiction of bushido or what unswerving loyalty means it is a depiction of the intrinsic failure modes, and the inevitable lord who is unworthy of loyalty of any kind but cannot be quietly executed or tortured to death as he deserves. (I say male characters, because the women are disempowered chess pieces who are subjected rather than subjects.) The beauty of the martial arts displayed is outweighed by the horror of what they are *for*, and it is all wrapped in a trenchant critique of the politics which allow and encourage all of this to happen. We might identify with Seigen due to his egalitarianism and how we spend most of the time watching him be persecuted and take his revenge - except he is introduced with cruelty, is ultimately undone by his own hubris, manipulates and lies beatifically, and kills his first master. There is almost no male character we can describe as good: as much as we identify with the "heroic" protagonist, we have to remember he is a blood-daubed murderer who repeatedly murders for trivial reasons such as anger or being ordered by his master and our nose is rubbed in this by the time we reach the end. Power once had will be abused, and we will see it done so for every reason: bloodlust, sexual lust, entertainment, pride, advertising, It's not so much that _Shigurui_ is an extended demonstration of the amorality of power, but it demonstrates the corrupting effects of power, the *immorality* of power.
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We see power exercised in casual assassinations, marauding groups of murderers, offhand executions of random ronin, the social power of giving bad etiquette advice, the confinement of a demon warrior within a rigid hierarchy, the seductive power of beautiful women. Seizing power, developing power, sabotaging power.
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SHIGURUI MANGA COVERS MOD
Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.