OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Laughing Target

As part of the Rumik World OVAs based on Rumiko Takahashi's earlier works, Laughing Target is a distinguished selection as it was one of the first horror anime ever made. Thanks to Central Park Media, it is also one of the first J-horror titles to get released in English, even though they only put it out on dubbed and subtitled VHS. The 1983 manga got an anime adaptation four years later by Studio Pierrot. The overall production is far more eerie than violent.

Yuzura is part of the declining Shiga family, so the choice was made for him to marry his second cousin Asuza. A decade later, Yuzura is a teenager with a steady girlfriend named Satomi. Asuza arrives grown up beautifully hoping to take her place as Yuzura's fiance since her mother recently passed. Yuzura is content with Satomi, so Asuza relies on her family curse to win over her intended by shoving her rival out of the picture. The creepy girl can summon up demonic leeches to take out her enemies which she learned after a sexual assault she experienced when she was younger. Asuza tries to terminate Satomi, but Yuzura being the expert archer he is shows up to turn his fiance into a pincushion, thus ending the curse and freeing Asuza from her curse.

Laughing Target has a cryptic title since there is no character in this macabre tale that engages in any real fits of laughing. It gives off a moody environment that does slowly creep up on you regardless of its short running time. Unlike other horror OVA, this dive into one of Takahashi's more morbid stories that doesn't seem to go on longer than it should. You could see this chronicle being turned into a full-length live-action feature. It's obtainability to Western fans might would be hard to come about now unless its license gets saved possibly through crowdfunding.