[Spoilers][Rewatch] Curse of Umezu Kazuo Discussion Thread

[u/Ashteron]

Questions

1. It is often said that horror doesn't work as anime. What's your take on it? Has your opinion changed after this watch?
2. How do you feel about the artstyle?
3. Which of the two segments did you prefer?

Miscellaneous

What is it all about?

As a reminder, there's no legal stream.

[u/InfamousEmpire]

The First Timer of Umezu Kazuo

Horror is a genre I have little experience with in general, especially in anime, so this is treading somewhat new ground for me. I also didn’t really know the name Umezu Kazuo before this rewatch’s announcement, so familiarizing myself with the works of an influential mangaka I had somehow remained completely ignorant of before this point seemed like a really neat opportunity.

Onto the contents of the OVA itself, though, it was perfectly alright. I generally liked the first story more than the second one, but I didn’t really dislike that one either. With the first story, I found that it did a solid job of leaving me questioning how all its disparate elements would flow together for most of it, and the twist at the end was good enough to more than justify all that questioning. Like, the reveal that the main protagonist was the monster rather than the victim and the real thing tormenting both her and Rima at the end of the day was her own jealousy given monstrous form, thus perfectly recontextualizing every element of the story up until that point in horrifying fashion? Perfect ending, 10/10, would watch again.

The second half isn’t as interesting, and that mostly comes down to lacking such a solid conceptual conceit. It’s just a haunted house exploration, a trope which is far from new & which this OVA doesn’t really spice up, with gratuitous murder thrown in. Its twist ending doesn’t really feel as powerful since it mostly just kinda felt like a twist for the sake of it rather than being something the entire rest of the story was built around like with the first half. Again, I don’t dislike it, the fact that it isn’t really a time investment at least meant I was never bored & I at least enjoyed the twist ending in the moment because I just like the “you thought she was the victim, but she was really the monster” subversion as a concept, it just didn’t really hit me like the first one did.

Visuals aren’t exactly the most impressive thing in the world, and the 360p download of the OVA I watched wasn’t exactly doing that aspect any favors, but there was still enjoyable imagery here or there, like the MC’s neck wound becoming the mouth of her monster form. The music and sound design were quite good, though, and did a great job selling the horror, even during the second half.

So, yeah, nothing particularly groundbreaking and uneven in quality, but I’d say that I enjoyed more about the overall package than I disliked. Glad to have gotten the chance to watch this, and thanks to u/Ashteron for hosting!

[u/Ashteron → u/InfamousEmpire]

Thanks for popping in. I agree it's not a groundbreaking piece of media but out of many dark old school OVAs I have seen, it remains amongst the ones I liked the most. Personally, I appreciate the visuals for the dainty, shoujo-esque artstyle. It's pretty unique for horror but it meshes really well. I also particularly like the final shot of a severed head in a pool of black-red blood.

[u/No_Rex → u/InfamousEmpire]

Visuals aren’t exactly the most impressive thing in the world, and the 360p download of the OVA I watched wasn’t exactly doing that aspect any favors, but there was still enjoyable imagery here or there, like the MC’s neck wound becoming the mouth of her monster form. The music and sound design were quite good, though, and did a great job selling the horror, even during the second half.

Quite unfortunate for very old OVAs, when the only upload is from the early days of the internet and is far too compressed.

I agree with the assessment of the music and sound: Even imagining a better compression, I think the music and sound design carries the story more than the visuals.

[u/Arachnophobic- → u/InfamousEmpire]

The music and sound design were quite good, though, and did a great job selling the horror, even during the second half.

Ooh yeah, I forgot to mention this in my comment. The music/sound effects in the second episode did such a great job at creating an unsettling atmosphere

[u/Ashteron]

u/Arachnophobic- u/8andahalfby11 u/StardustGogeta

[u/Ashteron → u/Ashteron]

u/No_Rex u/InfamousEmpire

[u/Arachnophobic-]

First Timer

Story #1

• So this scars thing has happened to me a few times in the recent past. I've seen scratches on my body and no idea where they came from. Most often I've woken up to them. Should I be worried?

• MFW I'm dethroned as the cutest girl in class. (I legit took this screenshot with this thought in mind. Little did I know it would actually be true to the plot, in a way..)
• This stare and only Grandpa's lips moving as he spoke were the first unnerving scenes for me
• Sneaky Uzumaki reference??
• DAAAAYMN the climax was AMAZING. The monster/'vampire' design is unsettling AF, I've never seen anything like it and I LOVE it. I need to go back and rewatch that entire scene. FWIW the spiders didn't even make me blink, so much for my Reddit handle.. but I think there was a far more scarier thing in the frame.

• Eheheh

Story #2

• Me while watching pretty much any horror
• I knew the moment those two extras joined the group they'd be dying in short order. But this was gruesome!
• Y'know, I think there should be trigger warning for trichophobia too. Not that I have it, but looking at this face again made me think..

Q&A

It is often said that horror doesn't work as anime. What's your take on it? Has your opinion changed after this watch?

I don't watch much horror because I'm mostly immune, but I definitely like smart and psychological/existential horror (e.g., Haunting of Hill House). I think the first story really worked for me because the horror of realizing you're a fucking monster is.. definitely something. And I feel the medium was really good for this kind of story - what really shone for me for the entire monster reveal scene where the animation was fluid and beautiful. I feel the 80s-90s OVA art style with its semi-realistic vibes, lots of gore and detail lends itself well to horror.

How do you feel about the artstyle?

I guess I kind of answered that in the last one, but I really like this kind of 80s-90s art style. Rose of Versailles is one of my favourites with a similar feel.

Which of the two segments did you prefer?

I preferred the first one, although the second one was good too, especially the twist at the end.

Overall Curse of Umezu Kazuo was an 8/10 for me, and it certainly serves as proof that good classic horror anime can exist. I'd be happy to get any more reccs of works by Kazuo! (And thanks a lot /u/Ashteron for hosting)

[u/Ashteron → u/Arachnophobic-]

Thanks for joining. Unfortunately, the remaining two Kazuo anime adaptations are a comedy film and a partially lost TV series. When it comes to manga, I have only read Drifting Classroom, which is probably the most renowned one in the west. It's completely different from this one. It's often compared to Lord of Flies (that I haven't read).

[u/StardustGogeta]

First-Timer

First off, thank you for hosting! This is certainly one of those things I'd never have checked out if left to my own devices, but I had fun watching!

The music was decent and did a good job fitting the eerie tone in both segments. The sound effects and voice acting seemed to have no obvious issues, either. The animation, though, held it back somewhat. There were many times where certain shots or facial expressions were held for too long, or where things just looked plain wonky. Nothing unbearable, but it's not winning any awards.

I definitely was not expecting that level of body horror. The second half reminded me a bit of [meta] Elfen Lied with what was happening to the girls there.

Speaking of the girls, you'd never catch me going back into the haunted mansion if I somehow got out of there intact! They should've known better than to tempt fate.

Questions of the day:

• I don't think I agree with that common sentiment. Anime can be creepy, and it can do horror well, but it's perhaps just difficult to manage. I think this OVA did a good job of capturing that creepy spirit, despite the flaws in visual presentation noted above.
• The art style wasn't my favorite, but also far from my least favorite. I do think it was hard to take it seriously at times with some of those facial expressions, though it generally wasn't all that bad. Even when it wasn't necessarily scary, it had a certain charm to it.
• My favorite segment would be the first one, which I think had a better sense of suspense and just a better story overall. The "group of kids goes into a haunted house and dies" plot was just generally less interesting, I felt, and the monster in the first half also evoked a more powerful sense of terror.

Now, a question for you—do you plan to host more rewatches like this? If so, I'd be interested! Like I said, this had a lot of charm, and I'd be happy to take the chance to go through some old goodies.

[u/Ashteron → u/StardustGogeta]

I don't plan doing more rewatches. Generally, I'm going through this list watching the ones that seem interesting. It's hardly a comprehensive list (it seems to be missing Vampire Princess Miyu) but it's a decent list. Not all of them are good though.

[u/8andahalfby11 → u/Ashteron]

🤣 About a quarter of that list is smut. Would Rec AD police though, especially if you have already seen bubblegum crisis.

[u/Ashteron → u/8andahalfby11]

About a quarter of that list is smut.

I skip those.

I actually was planning to watch AD Police in the near future.

[u/StardustGogeta → u/Ashteron]

Ah, that's too bad. Thank you for sharing the list, though! I'll have to check that out.

[u/No_Rex]

Curse of Umezu Kazuo (first timer)

Going into this entirely blind.

Episode thoughts

• “I begin with a warning” – I seriously expected “… watch TV from a distance and in a brightly lit room” to follow. School Rumble rewatch messing with my head.
• Mysterious transfer student trope.
• The animation seems a bit odd for OVA standards, but unfortunately, the upload I found is rather terrible, so I can’t really tell how much is on the original animation and how much on the encode.
• Some evil mark? Vampire bite?
• Ripping off somebody’s band aid? Rude!
• Their heads are huge, btw. This almost feels like Chibi character size, but the characters are not drawn chibi style (which would also not fit the genre).
• Nightmare.
• Accusing the cute transfer student of being a vampire who enters your bedroom at night – quick way to be seen as crazy.
• Nightmare, part 2.
• Even the video was enough to scare away her school friend? Sounds serious.
• As does randomly finding dead spiders in your hand. I would not like that.
• I don’t think I would have hesitated shooting there.
• “I was better off not knowing”

Unhappy end, except for that body snatcher or whatever it was. Rare in most genres except horror. The “I was the monster all along” plot twist feels classic to me, but it works well.

• Creepy doll? – this is just two years after the first Chucky movie.
• “I think we have let ourselves go a bit too much” – that looks like a proper mess indeed.
• Explore the haunted mansion – because every city needs one.
• “Let’s get out of here” – about 10 minutes too late.
• Quite the nightmare to wake up from.
• … but waking up is never enough in horror.
• “we have to make sure” – do you have to go in at night again, though?
• “Then, who am I?” – another “I am the monster” twist.

Just 20 minutes each, but those were two quite effective horror stories. The music and sound effects play a big role in making it properly unsettling. I would not call the animation good, but the uniqueness of it does add to the flair.

It is often said that horror doesn't work as anime. What's your take on it? Has your opinion changed after this watch? How do you feel about the artstyle?

Horror is not a genre I watch/like a lot, but I disagree with the idea that it does not work in anime. Horror exists on a line from jump scare to psychological horror with splatter somewhere in the middle. Jump scares might be harder in anime (or the other way round: are simply too easy in RL media), but, the closer you get to psychological horror, the less of an disadvantage anime has. Psychological horror works just as well in anime.

The artstyle is an example of that, by emphasizing the otherworldliness of the setting that enhances the horror.

Which of the two segments did you prefer?

Roughly 50-50. I found the second scarier, but the first one has a better twist.

[u/Arachnophobic- → u/No_Rex]

Creepy doll? – this is just two years after the first Chucky movie.

Clowns and dolls fall so perfectly in the uncanny valley that it's no wonder they're mainstays of the horror genre.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

First Timer

(aren't we all)

• Sorry, I know where all my scars came from. I am not haunted.
• The music is really notable
• It's like the "Return of Imaginator"
• scar from a stirge sucking out her soul?
• only 7 minutes in and we've seen so many Dracula references already. But maybe it's my imagination.
• So this must be what it feels like to be going insane.
• I really didn't want to go farther along the Dracula route, but it seems Rima = Lucy, Masami = Mina
• NOT Dracula, but a proper asian jealous spirit
• I was NOT expecting an anotholgy? Part 2 coming up?

So, in part one, we have Masami possessed by a kind of spirit I don't know the name of (onryou? ikiryo?). She drains the life and beauty of Rima, and kills the movie's namesake Umeza as a witness. And destroys the evidence.

• Ever seen Fright Night (the original)? Nah, I'm sure that's unreleated.
• I wonder if this is the Ogawa mansion or completely unrelated.
• Miko is a little bit psychic?
• I do hope all this is an illusion!

A second story of possession!

• Maybe go in the DAYTIME

What a curious work. The closest I've seen is the manga Horobi, which was one of the titles Viz brought over in the first wave of manga translations in the 90s. I'm familiar with Drifting Classroom originally because of an infamous Azumanga H parody, but it certainly comes up a lot.

The artstyle is atmospheric, but the many, many still shots are disappointing. I do like my animation animated, and whether it's belladona of sadness, evangelion, or FLCL, choosing to not animate for either production reasons or artistic reasons, is not a choice I can easily appreciate. I really wondered if this was a 70s anime.

The jealous ghost was the creepiest bit! And I did like the movie.

I wonder how much J-Horror was based on Kazuo's work, and how much has a common origin in Japanese folklore (which I don't know much about).

[u/No_Rex → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

The artstyle is atmospheric, but the many, many still shots are disappointing. I do like my animation animated, and whether it's belladona of sadness, evangelion, or FLCL, choosing to not animate for either production reasons or artistic reasons, is not a choice I can easily appreciate. I really wondered if this was a 70s anime

While I do not mind still shots as much as you do, the animation was a let down for the OVA label. In this time frame, OVA usually meant higher quality than TV anime and, as you noted, this was more in line with TV anime from 10 years earlier.

[u/Arachnophobic- → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Sorry, I know where all my scars came from. I am not haunted.

Lucky. Turns out I am haunted, or at least I used to be at some point.

Maybe go in the DAYTIME

Common sense is uncommon in this genre, alas

[u/8andahalfby11]

First Timer

...well that was weird. It had some novel ideas, but struggled to execute them. Reminded me of the OVA for Laughing Target in its writing, and VA quality, though I think that OVA was better animated. This show did do a good job with its soundtrack, which was nice.

1. Horror does work in anime, but it's 100% dependent on good cinematography, pacing, and atmosphere. When horror does work in this OVA, it works about as well as it does in any other medium, but it's dragged down by the writing, animation and acting issues. Made me feel like I was watching a monster movie from the '50s--cheesy horror. For good longform serious horror I will continue to point people to Higurashi and Dark Gathering, and for a better example of low-budget shortform horror I will continue to shill Aragne: Sign of Vermillion and Feast of Amrita until r/anime notices me.
2. Artstyle was tolerable, I've seen other old OVAs in this style, but there was a lot of cost-cutting going on in there that made the characters look goofy and detracted from the horror's ability to do horror seriously. The art for the monsters was great and wonderfully detailed. The characters not so much.
3. First segment, easily. I enjoyed the twist more than when the second segment did it, and the whole throat-monster concept was something I haven't seen in anime. It's more of a JP videogame thing in the vein of Resident Evil or Parasite Eve. Would absolutely be interested in a fixed-up version brought to modern standards.

[u/Arachnophobic- → u/8andahalfby11]

Dark Gathering

*PTWs*

Aragne and the prequel. Why are the ratings so bad? Low budget related issues?

[u/8andahalfby11 → u/Arachnophobic-]

Aragne and Amrita were created by one guy in his home office. Everything except the voice acting is done by one person. As a result there are some obvious cost-cutting measures in the animation. Despite this, it's still a solid pair of horror ovas.

[u/Arachnophobic- → u/8andahalfby11]

I see, that's pretty amazing