Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Reviews

I honestly really enjoyed this anime! I'm not very picky when it comes to anime so I like a lot of anime's that people don't necessarily enjoy. It wasn't super scary but it still has a great storyline, memorable characters, and LOTS of gore. So overall, I'd really recommend if you like horror and lots of gore

I watched this after playing the game and was pretty disappointed. Felt like they threw away a lot of valuable plot and character moments to fit more pointless gore. I like horror and gore, but not when it is used constantly for solely shock value and jeopardizes the actual plot of the series. A lot was changed from the game, which is fine but saddened me because I was hoping to see moments I loved in the game appear in the animation. I think it is worth a watch if you're not a die-hard fan of the game like me, and you don't mind prioritizing gore over plot and character.

sorry this is all j my opinion. honestly i don't like it. i feel like they focused too much on making the show seem scary than developing a good plot that makes sense. it also seems like they added gore that make up for it and everything is j so fast pased. overall it just isn't that good. 

Honestly a little disappointing. The beginning was good, but later on, I started to feel like they writers were just reusing the same ideas. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset while watching it, but it was definitely freaky.

Corpse Party: Tortured Souls is exactly what its name implies. It is a gory horror bit, totalling under two hours... and is very good at what it does. There is suspense, there are people cracking under the psychological pressure, there are creepy supernatural themes, and most of all, while the gore is there (and plentiful), it doesn't devolve into straight-up hacking and slashing.

Well produced and thought out horror is a rarity. When it doesn't try to be pretentious yet isn't about kill-all-undead, then it can be seriously enjoyable. Corpse Party: Tortured Souls is just that. The name makes it sound a lot dumber than it actually is. There are some of the classic horror tropes ("let's split up and search completely on our own in this creepy place where people get murdered", people going insane, et cetera), but that isn't much of a fault. There are no grand aspirations for artistic or psychological resolution here. The hidden meaning is "if there are curses that make people die, it sucks to be involved".

What we do have is a tightly produced and well thought out package. The animation and sound set the perfect tone for the story. The characters don't get much personality or development - because there are less than two hours of video and over fifteen characters who appear on screen. Corpse Party: Tortured Souls doesn't for a second try to be characer driven (though there are some elements of it), but maintains a sharp focus on the atmospheric and plot elements. In the end, this is some good horror.

Writing (Story and Characters):

Horror writing is an artform that very few do well. There is a fine line between making things character driven or plot focused, psychological or atmospheric, and reaching a good balance is harder than one would think. Corpse Party: Tortured Souls manages to find a balance where it is mostly leaning towards plot/atmosphere, but maintains just enough of character and psychological elements to avoid being one dimensional. The writers did a fine job giving the characters just enough time to shine for their deaths to mean something (and like a lot of good horror, most die). And the ending is just fantastic.

The story in itself is nothing original. Curse at school, people stuck, supernatural things happen, gore ensues. And that's fine. You can dumb down nearly every story in anime to these terms with ease. What is unique about it is that it can keep the viewers on edge. A picture is presented, and while it is a dark one, the more of it is seen, the more it makes some creepy internal sense. Of course there are parts which are explained by hand waving. The story is short and to the point, and as such works wonderfully from start to finish. We have a classic horror story, told in a classic horror way, executed very well. And that's really all you could ask.

As is the case for things that have a sharp focus on the atmosphere and plot, the characters do not get time to show much personality nor develop. The cast in itself is well balanced, and while more or less everyone is one dimensional, together there is enough variety to make sure that we are not left unaffected by what is happening. For something so short, with such a massive cast, this is a considerable accomplishment. And yet, that does not change the fact that while it is an accomplishment, the characters are not developed or special, nor should they be.

Art (Animation and Sound):

Art in horror is meant to set the atmosphere, and boy does it ever in the case of Corpse Party: Tortured Souls. If the writing is classic horror with sharp execution, the artwork really brings it to life and gives it the importance it should have. There are quibbles about small things here and there, but overall, the art direction is spot on and the crisp execution allows this OVA to become memorable.

I'll be perfectly blunt here: the visual aspects of Corpse Party: Tortured Souls are excellent at what they do. You won't find ridiculously detailed backgrounds like in the super-high-budget mainstream stuff, but you will find clever use of defocusing backgrounds to make sure you keep your eye on what you need to. The backgrounds themselves are classic horror stuff: dark, decrepit, dreary and most of all creepy. Abandoned buildings that are falling apart are one of the best settings for the genre and with good reason. The character designs are nothing special, and they could have put extra work into the bodies / parts. But still, this is exactly what you should expect and efficient to the extreme.

A soundtrack that fits perfectly, clever use of effects, and that is usually enough to set up the atmosphere to be just right. What makes this just above average yet not exceptional is the voice acting. Some of the characters just don't sound good. Still, for the most part that is not an issue. There are enough characters that a few of them don't really matter in the larger scale of things. Still, those one or two moments per episode where it is a problem can be an annoyance if you want to view it properly (closed light, sealed room, high volume).

Overall:

Corpse Party: Tortured Souls is straight up no frills horror. This is atmospheric and plot driven gore, not philosophical or psychological stuff. For what it does, this OVA is exceptional. Highly recommended for anyone who loves the genre.