Mystery of the Necronomicon

Original Title: 黒の断章
Romanized: Kuro no Dansho
Literal: Black Fragment of a Chapter

Plot Synopsis

Note: This series is an adults-only production; while this review doesn't discuss anything explicit, if you're under 18 you should probably spend your time in another area of the site.

The story begins in a mountain resort condo that (surprise, surprise) is thrown into turmoil by a brutal murder. Most of the folks clear out, leaving only people desperate for a vacation and the killer to prey on them. This of course includes our hero (a hardened P.I. with a blank spot in his memory that's so desperate for a vacation he stays) and his adopted sidekick to try and figure out whodunit... before the group, trapped by a storm, is finished off by the killer among them.

Review

Rating: 1.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2002-01-01

First things first: Mystery of the Necronomicon is hentai anime. For the jargon-impaired and those who aren't clear on the concept, that means that it is by almost any standard pornographic. It is to be watched by adults. Only. It goes far enough that even a significant percentage of adults will find it offensive. So why am I reviewing it? Despite the fact that it is dangerously close to standard "porn," it's different enough from the norm that it caught my attention.

To clarify: In your standard hentai flick (overlooking many exceptions), the nominal story is just a framework. It usually involves either demons doing very bad things to women, female subjugation of some sort, or a silly excuse to get pretty girls in bed with inept guys. There are variations on those basic themes, but in any case the entire exercise is dominated by graphic, gratuitous, and wholly unnecessary sex.

In this case, we have something that's much closer to a reasonable quality B-movie (the kind that you see on late-night cable, but is good enough that you might watch it if you were having trouble sleeping). The plot, while rather silly and riddled with holes, isn't all that bad: It's a sort of supernatural crime drama halfway between an old-school whodunit and a horror movie. The course of the story isn't painfully obvious, and although there isn't a great deal of brain-twisting to the mystery, it's not entirely laughable if you're willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

There's only one little thing keeping me from judging it like "normal" anime: Every episode includes a couple of gratuitous and very graphic sex scenes. Although sometimes at least peripherally connected to the plot, they're the kind of raging gynecological hardcore that makes most people squirm and all but the most hardened hentai fans at least raise an eyebrow. In a way it's sad, because with a little more restraint, most of the naughty stuff could have been passably erotic instead of outright smut. Or, with about three minutes cut out of each episode, you'd have a mildly interesting horror series on your hands.

As it stands, Mystery of the Necronomicon is one of three things: A hentai flick with way too much plot, a decent but sleazy B-movie with way too much sex, or a good B-movie gone horribly wrong. Which one is your call.

In the first two episodes, we're introduced one by one to the usual suspects, a Clue-style collection of characters at the condo. (Fun touch: They flash the name of every significant character on the screen when they first show up.) There are some murders, our P.I. hero goes around questioning folks, and there are a few twists. Then we're off to a rustic hotel in the Vermont woods for something closer to your standard last-man-standing slasher flick, although even through this there's more investigating than screaming and fleeing going on.

On the down side, the plot drags in a few spots, and a couple of things require way too much suspension of disbelief (a bloody corpse gets up, kills a deputy, and the sheriff's reaction is something like "Woah... Don't see that every day."). Well, that and it's extremely cheesy, of course, but I was honestly surprised by how well the mystery/horror mix works, and there are a couple of fun really weird sidesteps.

Visually, the series isn't bad looking at all. It definitely has the look of a series from that awkward cel-to-computer transition period, but the animation is passable, the art isn't bad, most of the character designs are attractive, and a few of the scenes have a nice, dark, grim feel to them. On the down side, the abundance of flayed corpses could have looked scarier, most of the backgrounds are too plain and brightly-colored for my taste, and the proportions of the female characters' bodies (which we see plenty of) are inconsistent to put it mildly--somebody forgot to pass around the reference sketches.

The Japanese acting is surprisingly good. Our hero and his sidekick are both well enough acted, and most of the supporting characters sound believable as well. The one exception is the mysterious P.I. friend who shows up in the first half of the series--she sounds stiff and artificial. You might recognize the traumatized tutor as Yumi Takada, best known as Ayeka from Tenchi Muyo. This is a far less broad role, but she sounds distinctive and quite appealing in the part--I've never figured out why she doesn't get better roles. The music is sparse, but there are a few very creepy pieces of ambient background "music" consisting of vaguely Middle-Eastern-sounding chanting.

In all, Mystery of the Necronomicon is not an anime series that most people will have any interest in. But, B-movie fans with a very high hentai tolerance might find it interesting, and hentai fans with a high plot tolerance should enjoy it as well. I can't say that I exactly enjoyed it, but looked at in a certain light, I can at least say that it is surprisingly... not bad.

Related Recommendations

The setup may be classic, but it's a bit unusual among anime; some gory horror flicks that share elements: Bio Hunter, Twilight of the Dark Master, and Wicked City all come to mind, the third of those probably being the most similar.

US DVD Review

The DVD includes the entire series, as well as a few production goodies. The video transfer is clean, and both audio tracks sound good. On the down side there isn't a full cast list, but since the original credits are intact there are some fill-in translations of the Japanese actors on this page.

Content Guide

Porn, and violent porn at that--anyone but adults with a very high hentai tolerance should stay far away.

Violence: 4 - Graphic violence and a lot of it.

Nudity: 5 - Everything, and in explicit detail.

Sex/Mature Themes: 5 - Don't even ask.

Language: 2 - Some swearing in the subtitles.

Notes and Trivia

The Necronomicon is frequently referenced in fiction, but was originally a creation of H.P. Lovecraft as part of the Cthulhu mythos. The original title of this series, Kuro no Dansho, doesn't directly translate--it means something like "Black Fragments of Literature," and in fact the 1995 PC-9800 game on which it is based had a subtitle in English "The Literary Fragments." The adults-only game was later ported to the Sega Saturn.

Availability

Available in the US from Anime 18 on bilingual DVD. Previously also available on two subtitled or dubbed VHS volumes.

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