English Dub Season Review: Ishura Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The demon king is dead.  However, the host of “Shuras”, demi-god-like people capable of felling him, remain and are now effectively free to do whatever they want, with some becoming conquerors while others wander, indifferent to the world around them.  Thus, with the identity of the one who slew the demon king being a mystery, these champions now spark conflicts among themselves all to determine who is the mightiest and attain the title of “True Hero”.

Our Take:

Ishura is an anime adaptation of Keiso’s light novel series, which originated on the websites Kakuyomu and Shōsetsuka ni Narō before being acquired by ASCII Media Works.  It is directed by Takeo Takahashi and Yuki Ogawa and written by Kenta Ihara.  Takahashi is known for working on other anime such as Love Love?, Spice and Wolf, Maoyu, and The Island of Giant Insects.  It is produced by Passione, with Sanzigen handling the CG animation.  Yoko Kikuchi and Yuka Takashina designed the characters, and Masahiro Tokuda composed the music.  The opening theme song is “Shura ni Otoshite” performed by Sajou no Hana, and the ending theme, “Hakka”, is performed by Konomi Suzuki.

Hulu has recently developed a solid track record in terms of anime content.  The latest addition to the Bleach universe and Undead Unluck have garnered some praise, and Summer Time Rendering introduced viewers to one of the best (and most violent) anime ever.  This year, the trend continues with another anime on the streaming service, showcasing what happened following the epic battle between good and evil.  I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t involve peaceful negotiations.

The first season of Ishura focuses on multiple sets of characters whose relationships with the Shuras are impacted by the war between Aureatia and the New Principality of Lithia.  That includes Yuno the Distant Talon (Cassandra Lee Morris), an inhabitant whose hometown, the Nagan Labyrinth City, was destroyed by giant robots called the golems.  She also possesses a hatred toward Shuras for their negligence toward humanity.  After being saved by Soujiro the Willow-Sword (Griffin Burns), Yuno accompanies him on a journey to Aureatia, hoping to find someone strong enough to kill him.  The season also focuses on Elea the Red Tag (Mara Junot), one of Aureatia’s officials, mentoring a powerful Shura named Kia the World Word (Abby Trott), who can alter reality with her words. However, Elea intends to use Kia for her political agenda.

In a way, the first season’s structure functions as an anthology narrative focusing on different characters and their storylines amid the war-infested conflict.  At first, it can be slightly confusing for viewers who haven’t read the source material regarding who the protagonists are.  Yuno and Soujiro made their first appearances in the first episode, “Soujiro the Willow-Sword,” but they don’t appear again until the sixth episode, “Gathering of Factions”.  The episodes between those two act as separate plots, introducing viewers to the other Shuras, including Alus the Star Runner (Kyle McCarley) and Higuare the Pelagic (Khoi Dao), the mandrake gladiator.  

Upon watching the first half of Ishura, I was genuinely lost on what was happening because I was intrigued by Yuno and Soujiro’s companionship until it started focusing on the supporting characters.  It left me questioning who the actual protagonist is.  However, after watching the season’s second half, I reevaluated the show’s intention, reflecting its themes of war through the characters’ motivations, either political or more personal.  The most notable one regarding the latter is the rivalry between Alus and Regnejee the Sunset Wings (Brent Mukai) due to the former escaping Regnejee’s wyvern flock out of greed.  It’s enough to forgive its “aimless” direction and appreciate its anthology-esque storytelling, even if it doesn’t provide anything extraordinary in its storytelling.  Out of the characters introduced, I was most engaged with Kia and Elea’s arc due to their graduating relationship caused by Kia’s kind-hearted nature. 

Regarding the animation, Ishura benefitted a lot from its presentation.  It reflects the show’s grim and distressing atmosphere that isn’t without its bloody yet thrilling violence, even though some of its CGI effects were less tolerable than others.  The only action sequence that stood out to me was the battle between Soujirou and Shalk in “War Commences”, which effectively combines its swift and stylized 2D style with Shalk’s CGI model without making the mixture look uncanny.  Most anime shows tend to use this mixture with some unpleasant results, but Ishura clearly showed that the amount of effort in perfecting that mixture can make a huge difference. 

Ishura is one of the shows that initially left me feeling uncertain about its future.  But once the second half commenced, I began to understand its intentions.  As a result, I had a much tolerable time getting invigorated by its storyline, even if some of its emotional beats didn’t strike a chord in its themes and character arcs.  While it can be a bit convoluted sometimes regarding its world-building and characters, the show is nonetheless a distressing yet mildly compelling depiction of war and hopelessness benefitted by its voice cast and animation.  Hopefully, with the announcement of a second season, the series can find ways to improve my interest now that I know which characters to follow along.