Corpse Party: Tortured Souls [OVA Review] 06-08-2014, 10:48 AM
#1
This is a review of the horror anime OVA (original video animation), Corpse Party: Tortured Souls. Note there may be slight spoilers.
![[Image: sample_67d1fbd5d5721b586abba5d5cdf12c176...jpg?720656]](http://safebooru.org//samples/715/sample_67d1fbd5d5721b586abba5d5cdf12c1769720976.jpg?720656)
Synopsis
The story is set in Heavenly Host Elementary School, an elementary school that was torn down following the murders and disappearances of several of its staff and students. By the start of the story, another school called Kisaragi Academy has been built over the elementary school site. One night, a group of students from Kisaragi are telling ghost stories when a sudden earthquake transports them to another dimension where Heavenly Host Elementary still exists and is haunted by the ghosts of the school's murdered children. The students of Kisaragi Academy students try to find their way home and survive the other mysterious forces that haunt the school. Synopsis taken from MAL.
Plot
I've been interested in the horror RPG game genre for quite a while, so you can imagine my excitement when I first heard that Corpse Party was being made into an OVA. I decided to take a look at it before I would start the games - and I was less than enthusiastic after finishing it. I didn't even have to play any of the series to realize that in order to squeeze an entire game into four episodes, they'd be skipping more parts than wanted. To give an example: at one point, the characters are told to find certain objects around the ENTIRE school, searching each classroom, nook, and cranny. They then jump cut from the entire drama of finding the first object to all of them found in less than a second. In addition, there's many plot holes and unanswered questions by the end of it all, which most fans who've played the games were more than happy to answer, but that was the problem - the OVA is centered more around the fans who've played the games over a new audience. This isn't particularly bad, but it leaves anyone who hasn't experienced the series in any other medium scratching their heads - if the gore hasn't made them look away half the time.
Characters
Let's state this right off the bat: it's a horror genre, the name is literally called Corpse Party; you know people are going to die. This isn't particularly jarring, as I've watched other series that revolve around the same concept - main characters being offed - but it just doesn't work here. The OVA tries to make you sympathize with each and every character, even showing a bit of backstory for a few, but I just couldn't relate to each and every one when they barely have ten minutes of screen time before they're killed. When the final characters make their attempt to escape, even the twist didn't leave me feeling much sympathy, or shock, after seeing others die horrible, gruesome, or just plain mean deaths.
Art/Animation
There wasn't much to take note of the animation outside the gore and horror visuals, which is basically nine-tenths of the entire OVA. I did like how they captured the despair and horror on the faces of the characters as events unfolded, but other than that; the art wasn't anything new or amazing, but not horrible either.
Horror/Scare Factor
Corpse Party isn't a horror anime because of it's scares, but because it's extremely hard to take in for the average, squeamish viewer who isn't used these types. The one thing that I'd have to give the series props for, is how violent and gory it is. These children haven't done anything wrong, and yet are given inhumane deaths that would give murderers nightmares. I almost had to stop watching because one character's passing was so horrible, given that she did literally nothing wrong and was completely innocent the entire time, I had to look away at one point. If there's one thing it aced well, it's the cruelty and gruesomeness captured from the original games.
Overall
Corpse Party tries to convey its share of horror and gore in its OVA installment, but it falls short with inempathetic characters and a packaged story of dents and holes.
6/10
"We'll be home soon."
Synopsis
The story is set in Heavenly Host Elementary School, an elementary school that was torn down following the murders and disappearances of several of its staff and students. By the start of the story, another school called Kisaragi Academy has been built over the elementary school site. One night, a group of students from Kisaragi are telling ghost stories when a sudden earthquake transports them to another dimension where Heavenly Host Elementary still exists and is haunted by the ghosts of the school's murdered children. The students of Kisaragi Academy students try to find their way home and survive the other mysterious forces that haunt the school. Synopsis taken from MAL.
Plot
I've been interested in the horror RPG game genre for quite a while, so you can imagine my excitement when I first heard that Corpse Party was being made into an OVA. I decided to take a look at it before I would start the games - and I was less than enthusiastic after finishing it. I didn't even have to play any of the series to realize that in order to squeeze an entire game into four episodes, they'd be skipping more parts than wanted. To give an example: at one point, the characters are told to find certain objects around the ENTIRE school, searching each classroom, nook, and cranny. They then jump cut from the entire drama of finding the first object to all of them found in less than a second. In addition, there's many plot holes and unanswered questions by the end of it all, which most fans who've played the games were more than happy to answer, but that was the problem - the OVA is centered more around the fans who've played the games over a new audience. This isn't particularly bad, but it leaves anyone who hasn't experienced the series in any other medium scratching their heads - if the gore hasn't made them look away half the time.
Characters
Let's state this right off the bat: it's a horror genre, the name is literally called Corpse Party; you know people are going to die. This isn't particularly jarring, as I've watched other series that revolve around the same concept - main characters being offed - but it just doesn't work here. The OVA tries to make you sympathize with each and every character, even showing a bit of backstory for a few, but I just couldn't relate to each and every one when they barely have ten minutes of screen time before they're killed. When the final characters make their attempt to escape, even the twist didn't leave me feeling much sympathy, or shock, after seeing others die horrible, gruesome, or just plain mean deaths.
Art/Animation
There wasn't much to take note of the animation outside the gore and horror visuals, which is basically nine-tenths of the entire OVA. I did like how they captured the despair and horror on the faces of the characters as events unfolded, but other than that; the art wasn't anything new or amazing, but not horrible either.
Horror/Scare Factor
Corpse Party isn't a horror anime because of it's scares, but because it's extremely hard to take in for the average, squeamish viewer who isn't used these types. The one thing that I'd have to give the series props for, is how violent and gory it is. These children haven't done anything wrong, and yet are given inhumane deaths that would give murderers nightmares. I almost had to stop watching because one character's passing was so horrible, given that she did literally nothing wrong and was completely innocent the entire time, I had to look away at one point. If there's one thing it aced well, it's the cruelty and gruesomeness captured from the original games.
Overall
Corpse Party tries to convey its share of horror and gore in its OVA installment, but it falls short with inempathetic characters and a packaged story of dents and holes.
6/10
"...we'll always be connected together as friends."
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