Setting

Shinigami (Angel of death) Fumika and her half-human staff Kanaka carry mails - the last words or messages from the recently departed. Their mission is, no matter what, locate and deliver the letters to the appropriate recipient. As Fumika says, "the dead cannot lie", and the content of the letters is the most pure form of expression, be it love, affection, or hatred, even revenge.

However Fumika is not a normal Shinigami - unlike all other "postal workers", she grows and gets old. What mystery lies behind Fumika's past life?

Pacing

The first two episodes of Shigofumi promise and deliver: most people start Shigofumi hoping for a light message on life and death (like for instance the title "Shinigami no Balad"), and end up surprised at the intense closure of the first episode. However, all that intensity and hatred seen in the first episode is astonishingly absorbed, increased ten-fold, and returned to the viewer with passion on the second episode. These two episodes alone are worth Shigofumi, but that's not enough, you have 10 other exquisite episodes and a deep intricate plot, though not all that mysterious, to follow. If Fumika predicament becomes clear by mid-series, her missions and the situation around her and those who come to know her make Shigofumi an intense title about not only life and death, but the strength and will to live opposite to death.

Another fair surprise is that Shigofumi is not about loose events and delivered letters, but although some letters indeed have nothing to do with the main plot, they are also not important: the main issue soon become Fumika's situation and the mysteries of her past life, as well her growing relation with fellow Shinigami Chiaki and some humans she end up getting attached to - some, perhaps, that might know her past self - and the letter delivery plot soon becomes secondary.

But what strikes most in Shigofumi's pacing and development is not how the plot goes or how unique each character is, but it's how well produced and written the whole story presentation is. Several "characters" are mentioned but never appear, the Gospel department, in charge of the postal services of such Shinigamis, is always lingering on top of Fumika and her Shinigami friend Chiaki, but also never shown, and when a totally new Shinigami is contacted as Chiaki needs assistance to solve Fumika predicament, her interactions with this "new" character are so natural and convincing that you can sense their past relationship, you can sense a whole world of dead and alive behind the characters, and though they are not explicit, the title successfully makes you feel there is a lot more than meet the eyes in this title: JCStaff, Bandai and Genco made an excellent choice not to drag this title into a 26 episode series just to cover this secondary characters, but instead, the main plot was nicely covered without you feeling as if you are missing something. For instance, the fact you never meet their boss "Gandolf" is not a problem since the plot can hold itself together.

Conclusion

Despite constantly nagging on how weird or "broken" (as Fumika says) humans are, you can see life in her remarks, and Kanaka, her half-human staff, still strives to be human ("Because than I could lie" - she says when asked why she wants to be a human). Seeing these letters, their messages, their recipients, and most importantly, Fumika and her unique situation among the Shinigami, makes "Shigofumi" a star title.

In the end, Shigofumi has enough levels to please both the casual viewer or the most critic fan. Reading behind the lines is important to figure it out some events beforehand, but not essential - predicting what will happen never spoils "Shigofumi"'s plot, since what is important is how things develop, thus adding some replay value to the title. A must see anime for all kinds of fans.

And in time, I usually don’t comment on Seeyu’s work, but Kanaka’s voice actress Yuki Matsuoka, shines every time she talks.