In the era of medieval Japan, cultural arts flourished, territorial wars were waged, and man and demon co-existed to an extent. While attempting to retrieve a lost falcon for his feudal lord, bird handler Zushonosuke encounters and becomes irresistibly drawn to Tomihime, the supernatural inhabitant of a cursed fortress. As a forbidden love between the mortal and long-forgotten goddess begins to take hold, the horrifying existence of Forgotten Gods who feed on human flesh is soon revealed, inevitably leading to a deadly clash between the Shogun’s army and the clan of Forgotten Gods. Amidst the escalating chaos, Zushonosuke must either sacrifice his humanity for his love of Tomihime or save his humanity by destroying her and her family. It’s the classic conflict of forbidden love and the choices to be made due to these feelings, but with a number of twists that make it fresh and different.

Samurai Horror Tales: Goddess of the Dark Tower appears as a 4 part OVA series chronicling the forbidden love of a kind, well-meaning mortal and a sometimes-frightening Goddess of Japanese persuasion. No wings and 3 magical wishes here – this Goddess prefers to eat human flesh and grow really long razor sharp fingernails now and then. But everything she felt about humans seems to slowly melt away as she gets to know Zushonosuke. The story is perhaps a bit slow to start as we try to figure out what this anime is about, but once it gets into episode 2, it’s hard to stop watching because the viewer will want to know what ends up happening to these two in the end. The story involving the conflict between the mortals and immortals is one of the best parts of this OVA series – it really hooks you once everything starts coming to a head. The trickery and hate between most of the townspeople and the immortal Goddesses often brings up situations and dishonorable behavior that is surprising – especially in relation to a culture that very much revolves around honor and certain expectations for behavior.

The animation has a somewhat clean, simplified, cell-shaded sort of quality to it. The backgrounds and structures were some of the best designs. The castle and town were especially well done – Japanese architecture can be so interesting because of its unique aesthetic, and the animators on this one knew what they were doing. The music was interesting, especially the choice for the opening theme. It was very much like what the producers for Samurai Champloo did, with the hip-hop kind of vibe to it. It didn’t work in quite the same way since this story is more classical/less funny-business, but they may have very well just wanted to follow the trend of a popular anime series with similar themes - no harm in that. The dub, just to mention, was also completely manageable. The voice actors did a good job of bringing each of the very different characters alive. Overall it was a good watch, and certainly should be given a once over by fans of occult horror and medieval Japanese themes.

EXTRAS:
Clean opening and closing themes, as well as the latest Geneon previews.

IN SUMMARY:
Samurai Horror Tales: Goddess of the Dark Tower is a good example of effective storytelling without dragging things out. It’s short and sweet and will easily fill an evening full of weird occult horrors, love, and samurai swordplay.

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