Kikoushi Enma

Story: This story starts like many of the same genre, with demons escaping from an Underworld and possessing people and objects alike to kill people and take over the human plane of existence. There is one main character, a man not from the human plane, on a mission to destroy these demons. The leader Enma is a red-headed man who is constantly draped in a black cape, a black hat that is similar to a witch's hat, and uses a staff that produces fire. Though he is considered the "main character", his other companions play big parts too. There is Enma's witch hat, Shapoji, who ... can talk and smell the evil auras demons give off. Kapaeru, the Japanese creature Kappa in a human-like form, is the information gatherer for the group. Last is Yukihime, another hunter like Enma, but uses the power of frost or ice. The first two episodes show how Enma's crew handles a couple situations where people are possessed and killings occur, but by the third episode, the show takes a complete 360 degree turn, showing five individuals placed within a house that kills them off individually, using each character's problematic past as the way to kill them. Only within the last five to ten minutes of the last episode does Enma show up and save the day...or does he?

I gave this OVA a 6 for story due to the lack of a cohesive story. The first half follows the beginnings of a decent plot, but the third episode had me scratching my head, wondering why these people were in a house being killed, followed by an even more confusing fourth and last episode. The reasons why these events were occurring were never explained, leaving the viewer to ponder the connection to the rest of the story. The last gripe I had was the extensive amounts of naked breasts being flashed throughout the four episodes. I do not mind nudity being used if it benefits the story in some way, but the usage here was for nothing more than looks.

A warning to those of a weak stomach, this anime is full of blood and gore of all sorts. With a demon baby being born and crawling from the victim’s private area, to a mother trying to stab her young daughter. It is very graphic in content.

Animation: The animations used were a little above average. The better animations were used for the blood, gore, and any other parts involved with the killings, while the rest was just plain. Even the main characters were done with minimal effort. If the production company had spent a little more time and effort on this project, it could have been very well done. These are the reasons I gave this a 5.

Sound: The sounds used were actually decent, in most cases, though as before, the best sounds were used during the most graphic parts, such as a knife cutting or a person being possessed by a demon. The rest of the anime's sound was very basic and could have used more work. These reasons are why I gave it a 5.

Characters: This was the worst part of the anime, for me, given these episodes are about 40 minutes each. While Enma and crew are very humorous through the majority of their time on screen, there is almost nothing known about these characters. No background on why they are killing demons, no background on where each character comes from, and no idea on their philosophy of the human race, just to name a few. All that is really known are the characters kill demons and Enma is a pervert. Their comedy was funny enough to warrant a 4 from me, but that is cutting it close.

Overall: This anime had the potential to tell a great story with excellent characters to develop. Being an adult anime, this OVA also had the potential to take this story to a whole new level of intensity, but did not capitalize on the opportunities. I would only recommend this anime to those hardcore fans of demon anime that enjoy highly graphic storytelling, but otherwise, ended up turning into no-man's land, which is where this anime belongs.

Despite several interesting ideas presented and the potential of the story this anime fell flat. In the end it tried to do too many things and consequently did not of them very well.

Story
My biggest problem is with the story/plot. Kikoushi Enma wanted to be mystery, horror and psychological anime while being deep, funny, touching, scary and a touch sexual all in 4 forty minute episodes. The idea of the darkness in all of us is good but it wasn’t really developed until the 3rd episode. If that was the “meaning” of the OVA it was not a fully formed thought. The demon hunting was ... again an interesting tease but not really explained. Despite the lack of development the OVA was not confusing – just missed potential.

Characters
Again there was potential for interesting and enjoyable characters, but the character building was abandoned to try and save the plot. The "main" characters had personality, although not all ways consistent with the tone of the show, and I would have really liked to see more of them and how they were related which is not explained.

Art/Music
Both the art and music where pretty decent. The art looked a tad dated/generic, but overall it was solid and little sexy. They made good use of dramatic light and dark contrasts and overall it fit the darker mood of the anime. The music didn't strike me either way really. Overall neither was good enough to compensate for its other short comings.

This anime is a bit weird. The story starts in one direction then takes an unexpected oblique turn, a WTF? moment. The voice acting is fine, it's everything else that is wrong. First the MCs are one dimensional, second the background images are not quite right, they are some sort of combination of drawn and CGI, it looks odd. The character art is just lazy. And this is not erotic, just because womens breasts are exposed does not make it erotic. Because of the gore, subject matter and nudity it is 18+. While the characters have some of the character traits of the original Dororon ... Enma Kun (1973?), they just don't pull them off here. There are some time skips that are mentioned but no reason is given for them. The characters are also out of place and make no effort to modernize. This short series could have made a better effort and had a better show, it just seems to have been made to make money. If you are looking for an 'erotic' thriller this ain't it. If you want something a bit more fun and ecchi watch 'Prince Enma Burning Up". This series is OK but could have been better.