When a person dies with regrets or intense unresolved desires they come back from the dead as Shikabane, corpses with extraordinary power who have a strong desire to kill. The Shikabane Hime are also the undead, female spirits who have aligned themselves with a Buddhist sect who battle against the Shikabane, who battle the Shikabane for the redemption of their own souls. When young orphan Ouri wanders into a healing ritual between his big brother Keisei and his Shikabane Makina he is unknowingly attached to the goings on of the Buddhist sect and bonded to their fight by chance.

As Amazon would describe this show it is a mix of Bleach, Death Note, and Gunslinger girl all tied into one package. Very heavy in the soap opera style of storytelling I found myself waiting and waiting for the show to really hit me with some profound revelation that would make all the battles, coincidences, and lingering hints bring together the show. Its slow, its methodical, but at its heartbeat it has some redeeming quality that I found alluring. Like a lot of anime there is just battle after battle, overdramatic dialogue and actions by the characters, and the fact that the show goes on for so long without really introducing you to a solidified villain doesn’t help but it keeps an underlying plot at its core that slowly but surely reaches a dawning point. Makina and Ouri are the pivotal characters in the series and are thrown together often but Ouri is such a slow evolving character that your left pretty much with Makina. Makina, having burned to death, is a powerful Shikabane, though her weapon of choice is a couple of uzi's (boring), who is revealed to have a second agenda. Revenge! That makes the story a bit interesting and ties the evil forces of the series together when they finally emerge but most of her time is spent in emotional tirades or as a catalyst to bring Ouri further into the story. Unfortunately the final episode of Volume 1 is where you get that feeling that you absolutely must see what happens next. The revelations in that episode make it seem like everything before it was a slow realization process for Ouri and that finally everything is going to be out in the open. No more Ouri and or the Monks accidentally bumping into one another when they need one another the most, no more moments of discovery that range from pointless or profound, and no more characters looking for comfort zones with one another. Maybe I’m just hoping for to much out of this series that so far as has been ignorable up to a point but here’s hoping Volume 2 is a more focused more story driven powerhouse then this volume that relies to heavily on coincidence, battles, and ladies in tiny outfits bursting out at the seams.

Animation style here ranges from excellent to decent. In some scenes I can't help but see the aged animation of days gone by in the character designs, shadowing, and object definition. Maybe this an homage of sorts but its there and sometimes hinders the movement of the anime as it progresses. Then you have moments of clarity that are so defined and spectacularly drawn together that your almost looking at a Blu-Ray type clarity. The animation is smooth in these parts, the characters and surrounding enviornment well fleshed out. These occurances usually take place during battle sequences. As much as I loved some of these amazing sequences as I've said the story is so slow going that you tend to miss out on the high quality of the animation because your just not looking that deeply into it.

Bonus features in this volume include the usual; Textless Opening Song, Textless Closing Song #1, Textless Closing Song #2, and Commentary (Episode 12). While I hardly find trailers an added bonus to any DVD release I’m always happy to watch them for anime releases and some foreign films. In Corpse Princess Volume 1 you get 8 trailers. My suggestion would be to check out the trailer for Ghost Hunt which I have been keeping an eye on for awhile. Linebarrels of Iron looks to be good as well. Enjoy.