Ushio and Tora

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Ushio and Tora

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Story/Summary: 8/10
(Taken from the AniRec Database)
In the distant past, a ferocious monster plagued the land. This creature of fury was finally subdued when a traveler challenged it to a battle and drove a spear into its body, pinning it to a massive rock. A temple was built above it, and thus, the house of Aotsuki was founded. Fast forward to the present, when young Ushio Aotsuki unwittingly releases the beast and names him Tora, much to the monster's dismay. Now, with plenty of stray demons wandering the city, Ushio must defeat the evil with the ancient spear, before being eaten by Tora as a snack!

Ushio and Tora is primarily a horrorish, episodic action series, with a great deal of hilarious comedy thrown in. Each episode or two episodes deals with a new kind of demon or monster that Ushio and Tora need to dispose of in some way or another, usually after one of Ushio's close friends has been threatened by physical harm. In the midst of the violence, action, and ass-kicking, there is a lot of truly funny comedy, as I mentioned above. Tora will very evilly be telling Ushio how he will eat him as soon as he can... the camera will zoom in on his face.. and suddenly... WHACK! Ushio has hit Tora on the head with a spear, and is chastising him for being such an idiot. Truly off the wall and wacky every time. Not much romance at all, and not a lot of sappy parts.

Why did I give this section an 8? Although the series was quite episodic, it still managed to be very entertaining. Perhaps not for originalities sake, but still was amusing enough. The one downfall was that there literally isn't an ending, but that still isn't so bad. The mix of the horror and comedy stole the show for me.

Animation: 7/10
Some people really might not enjoy the character designs of Ushio and Tora, which definitely were a bit different than the norm, even for an older series. Fairly dark, chunky lines were used on the faces, especially around the nose or eyebrows, which made all the characters look a bit manly. The demons were quite well designed, though. Plenty of violence and blood to go around as well, for those of you who are interested in that. No CG was seen in the series.

Music: 6/10
Nothing spectactular, hence the fairly average score. In general, lots of rock/guitar pieces, especially (and appropriately) during the action scenes. All other music was background and uninspiring, hence why I don't remember most of it. ;)

Characters: 7/10
I will admit that most of the characters were rather flat. Though, we do get glimpses of the main characters' pasts, how they grew up together, their family lives, etc. The one area that shined truly was Tora and his hilarious changes as he goes from hating humans, to perhaps becoming a little soft ;). His hatred and friendship with Ushio was very amusing given the comedic interworkings of their encounters. Just for their bond and triumphs, I gave this section a 7.

Rewatchability:
This was comedic and random enough that I'd probably watch it again sometime. There is no major plot, so you wouldn't have anything major spoiled for yourself.

Overall: 7.5/10
This score is mostly for the sheer entertainment the series gave me. I really like horror/demon type series, so this definitely delivered. Then on top of that, the absolutely hilarious interactions between Ushio and Tora, and their budding friendship made it an even more enjoyable watch. It definitely had some low points, including the lack of ending, and in part, the non-existance of a plot, but the show still managed to be entertaining enough to merit the high marks anyways. I'd say this is definitely a funny and interesting series to pick up.