Corpse Party

Please play CP: BC;RF before watching this OVA.

I will not be considering this OVA as Corpse Party: BC;RF since it is a mocking of the game. This... show, is so so far from the source material it's jarring. From it's pacing to it's misunderstanding of the story of the original Corpse Party.

Every 10 minutes, someone does something or dies, and when you try and make a 9 hour game into a 2-hour OVA, there is no breathing space, which leads to an intense, but tiring way to convey the original horror. The plot goes way too fast that it's hard to remember it.

The story is portrayed too fast and too diluted. if not a little hollow. The first three episodes are shallow in story, only offering one or two flashback/story building scenes. The last episode's use of the story is very nice, bringing back little tidbits that were in the first 3 episodes, giving it a well-rounded ending. I emphasize ending as the first episodes really don't feel full or rich in story, which the original game was. Episode 4 is the only episode where the story truly takes place; but there is credit where it's due. A few scenes of story building in episode 2 and 3 leave them feeling like a glass half-empty.

3.8/10

The art in this is okay. The only thing that's truly 'excellent' (at least to my standards,) are the gore shots and the closeups. The backgrounds are weirdly realistic, especially in episode 4, which gives it a bit of a weird second dimension which honestly is quite a good touch since the filter for all of the show is very bleak which kinda fits the theme, but it's rather annoying when you can't see some bright colors, especially the aura's on the darkened people. But other than that, the art looks like it was from the mid-2000's which, for 2013, isn't a good look.

4.1/10

The voice acting is grating at best, and it gets annoying after the 200th scream in 103 minutes. They do a good job conveying emotion, but aren't amazing. They should be in a drama or romance, not a (what should be) very serious horror.

4.2/10

The characters are shallow and aren't given a lot of screen time. Every character that's eventually killed has no real character development, for example, Yui-sensei, who only appears to basically kill Mayu, and somehow survives Yoshikazu's hammer, gets killed in the next scene she's in which is... in the last 10 minutes. Other than that, Yuka at least had an ounce of character development, but it is a cheap plot device to just kill off characters whenever the show chooses. Overall, the characters did not have that much meat on them, but they were tolerable while they lasted.

3.7/10

Overall, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls is only but a spiritual successor to it's source material, leaving a lot to interpretation and to the imagination. It should've been taken more seriously than to be a what seems like a bootleg

Dissappointing, but tolerable.

3.9/10