A Thrilling 3 Hour Slash-fest!

Posted by Dave B. on 3rd May 2015

After enduring almost 6 hours of brutal torture watching the extremely mediocre live stage performances of Miyamoto Musashi and Zatoichi, I was very hesitant to pop this disc into the DVD player. I couldn't endure any more pain.

I'm happy to say that 7 Souls in the Skull Castle was three hours of pure entertainment and was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. The first disc (70 minutes) was over in what seemed like no time at all. This is a briskly paced action-adventure show that never slows down. It is presented in a way that is very similar to many Japanese animations - some of the characters are truly bizzarre, but they fit perfectly into this particular story. The whole cast did a superb job overall, and were particularly impressive in the many well-choreographed and exciting fight scenes. There was also plotting, betrayal, love interests, and a few other twists but the director never let them lead the main story astray. They were mostly relief from the almost non-stop action.

If you're a fan of solid, well-choreographed action, I can't think of any other live stage performance that comes close to this one. This is a superb effort by all of those involved and a definite keeper for any fan of Japanese stage, film or anime. This is a very solid 5 stars!