Shigofumi - Anime - AniDB (2024)

Surprisingly solid characters in a show which could be so much worse.

First thing which came to mind when I saw the AniDB-image for this show was: Dokuro-chan. Or perhaps ‘Futakoi meets Jigoku Shoujo’. Granted, it looks as if it was a childish version of Jigoku Shoujo, which made me expect a sheer wrong comical version of the horror-genre.

I was proven wrong.

Shigofumi is a show which features solid characters, a fairly original story and pure emotions without much room for comic relief.

Animation: Did I see Shinkai Makoto there?

At times I was wondering whether I was watching something from Shinkai Makoto. Beautiful shots of nature, scenes which play with light and shadows, it all gives off a very melancholic feeling which sets the mood and the necessary pace for the show. Perhaps one of the most important things which makes this show this good, is because the characters appear in a world which embraces them and breathes life into them.
Most of the beauty is derived from the majestic coloring, but there are several other aspects as well. One of them is the nearly perfect use of CG.

If a CG-object points at itself and yells ‘Look at me! Ain't I friggin' beautiful?!’ while the rest of the anime is bland and uninteresting, then it is bad CG. If you watch an anime and your attention is constantly drawn to the CG then you miss out on a lot of the other animation.

Good CG integrates itself into the rest of the animation, without standing out, yet while adding more beauty to the show itself. This show manages to do that really well, although it misses the perfect-mark because of some minor details I won't point out because it will only detract from your enjoyment. I was really surprised to see how well they managed to integrate the CG into the rest of the animation and sometimes I only noticed it after having seen that particular part a few times already. Pointing them out now would really do it injustice, since they managed to hide it so well.

I was happy with the voice actors, which generally did a good job for practically any character in the show. There is nothing I could point out (except for a personal preference) which is bad about the voices. What I do point out is the fact that the OP-song comes from the notorious Ali Project, known for i.e. Noir. While they are pretty okay by itself, their songs are always pretty much the same. So after having seen a few more anime where they participated in, I think their presence was bad for the show. While I admit that's a personal stance, it is still an opinion.
The ED-song is much better, with a slow, melancholic song which fit the atmosphere of the show a lot.
There is also plenty of music used as BGM, including some songs, which are not often misplaced. It does show how the people creating this series paid attention to details like these though.

If there's anything the show resembles, it is probably Shinigami no Ballad, with the difference that Shigofumi's Fumika is much more visible in the story and that this time the story is continuous, rather than episode-wise. In comparison, Shigofumi is also much more focused on story aspects than the previously mentioned title.

Shigofumi starts off really strong, with a scene which feels a lot like Hoshi no Koe, beautiful surroundings around a simple slice of life-scene. Add a little near-blossoming romance and it's a wonderful setting to watch.
It is hard to tell anything about what's good about this series in terms of story without spoiling too much already. But the way how they move from episode to episode in the beginning of the series shows that they thought about consistency and how to build up the plot. And with only 12 episodes, they don't beat around the bush much, but get straight to the point for most things.
What the story mostly tries to bring across is that there is often no real ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Several episodes tell the stories of people who get into situations where they have to determine what's right or wrong – either in terms of ethics, society or rationality – and how they have to cope with their own feelings and reasoning, which often defy rational thinking.

The worst of the story might be that I believe the story could tell so much more after the conclusion we get to see. But perhaps that's simply the proof that it is a good show, since the watcher should feel like he doesn't want it to end.

Most of it has been said above already, but no story can bring across topics like ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ well without being supported by good characters. This show has those good characters, which often balance on the edge between what society believes they should do and what they believe they should do.

This results in characters which do what they do, which results in characters who are simply no protagonist, main character or side-character. They're simply there, because the world is there. Just like how some characters connect other characters, some events connect others, giving off a feeling that the world is ‘round’, meaning how people get involved without them being willingly involved.

Oh, I said something about comic relief. Well, there is something, in the form of the talking staff Fumika has. But besides him bringing some comic relief to the show, it never becomes jolly. It is more that the staff gives the show a more lighthearted feeling because otherwise it might feel too grim. And the show has enough grim aspects as it is already.

Extremely good show, imho, which combines a lot of good aspects into a form which is very much appreciated if you can appreciate human feelings in your anime. These characters aren't all happy-go-lucky, but their lives contain tragedy and sadness just as well as our own lives.
The realism in this show, together with the occult aspect, makes this show good.