[Comparison Review] Kurozuka [#1]

Kurozuka

Chapters 1-5

Episodes 1-3

[comparison/review]

Warning: This comparison review containes spoilers!! Oh... and this series is hentai (not hard core, but mature rated hentai none the less) and violent. The manga version is, but the anime version does not seem to be hentai... at least the first 3 episodes don't seem to be.

-Introduction-

By the first three chapters of the manga and the first three episodes of the anime, I can already tell both are going to be very different. Not only are the plots slightly different, but the animation compared to the manga seem like two different character sets (though both seem to have the same characteristics). The anime has the look of maturity while the manga looks immature- like the characters have growing up to do (which is ironic since this manga is about imortals).

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Credits and Disclaimer(s):

All opinions expressed here are that of their individual owners and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Goggle Blogger nor that of their partners. The above animated image belongs to Madhouse Studios [the one on the left]. The above manga image belongs to Baku Yumemakura and Shusheia [the one on the right]. I claim no ownership to any images used in my blogs unless stated otherwise, nor do I claim all these opinions as my own; just the ones that have Akia and/or Akia Tomiyo beside them (unless I'm the only one reviewing because then all the opinions are mine unless stated otherwise).

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-Plot Summaries-

Anime [ANN]:
Kuro, a 12th-century man, flees into the mountains after losing to his brother, where he meets a strange, beautiful woman named Kuromitsu. Kuro falls in love with Kuromitsu but realizes she conceals a dark secret. She is unable to die and continues to live for thousands of years as Japan evolves into a future society.

Manga [MV]:

After escaping from a brother who had just ascended the throne, Yoshitsune, along with his servant, comes across a house in the middle of a desolate mountain. Oddly enough, only a young woman lives there, who seems to possess a very dark and ominous past.

As you can clearly read, the manga version has Kuro's brother as owner of the throne but the anime has his brother as a dead man. This alone made me a little hesitant to read the manga on account of the amaze level the anime has... but I decided I'd risk dissapointment in order to do a comparison review as I promised in my Kurozuka Ep.1-3 review.

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-The Visuals-

If you've read my ep. 1-3 review for the anime version, then you know my only complaint about the visuals was the stick like legs... which the manga does not have! I practially knocked over my chair in excitment while reading the first few chapters of the manga. Other than that, the manga has a more immature look (the characters look more like teenagers) then the anime (which the characters look adult. Especially the lead lady Kuromitsu).

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-Similarities/Differences/Facts-

Within the first volume of Kurozuka (chapters 1-5), there are events that did not happen in the first three episodes of the anime (some of which probably never will) and others that happened differently. Both the anime and manga seem to have different time lines. The manga reveals a lot more information than the anime. Because of this, the anime seems to have info it wants where as the manga seems to have too much or an abundance of extra info.

Some key differences/similarities between the anime and manga:

1) Chapter 1 of the manga starts out the story by revealing that Kuro's brother has taken the thrown and is out for Kuro's head where as the first episode of the anime begins by showing Kuro and his right hand man being chased by mesterious demon human like figures.

2) Kuromitsu's house looks the same in the manga and anime... but Kuromitsu herself looks like a teenager in the manga yet looks about ten years older in the anime.

3) In both the anime and manga, Kuro's right hand man decides as a way to protect his master to prentend to be Kuro. Kuromitsu realizes this and tells Kuro he has an auro of nobility.

4) After being asked if the two can stay, Kuromitsu makes one request-do not go into the room in the back of my house. She says this in the anime and manga.

5) When another man appears at Kuromitsu's place, he too is told not to look into the back room. In both the anime and manga, he looks only to see Kuro's moving head (in the anime, Kuromitsu kisses the head... but in the manga she is naked while sharpining a sword before telling Kuro she will kill that new man so that he can drink blood).

6) In the anime, Kuro has a 'dream' the depicts him as his rgith hand man... yet the manga has no dream of this sort. (there is a dream that Kuro beings to talk about in volume two, but I have yet to finish chapter 6)

7) Kuro gets turned into a vampire in the anime because he is harmed beyond repair, but in the manga he chooses eternity in order to be with Kuromitsu.

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There are many, many other differences between the two. So many that the manga is a vastly different story than the anime... even more perverse. If you like a perverted take on the Kurozuka story, then read the manga (which has more detail and reveals past events in more detail than the anime- the way Kuromitsu was made into a vampire herself is revealed in more detail earlier on in the manga than the anime which only gives a glimpse of how she became a vampire). If you like a bloody version of Kurozuka that takes more time when it comes to revealing story elements, then watch the anime. If you want both versions, then I'd reccomend watching the anime first then reading the manga. Um... both are different yet they do follow the same premise. I have a feeling that I'll like both, but I'll love the anime.