Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru is a story of conquest. Not in the name of any particular god, king, or some other supernatural deity but rather as a show of strength, to prove to the world that you can achieve anything through power and sheer force of will. Isn’t the goal of any tyrant to prove that they have what it takes to bend the world to their will? This is what drives the series’ chief antagonist, a wretched and vile mercenary named Volt. What began as a war against the evil dark elves turned into something much bigger than originally planned. By allying himself with a race of monsters, Volt attacks the kingdoms of the seven princesses, (domains bequeathed to them by an elf goddess incarnate) content on creating a new empire in which women are nothing more than slaves to the carnal desires of men. Bolt is a bastard and but has been gifted with some otherworldly charisma that makes it easy to pull important people to his side and turn them against their female compatriots. 

Based on a visual novel, Kuroinu recounts the subjugation of women from different kingdoms as part of Volt’s plan to create a “sex empire” of sorts. Set in the fantasy realm of Eostia, humans live alongside elves in relative prosperity, protected from a race of vile, evil monsters that live in the northern part of the country. However, the dark elf queen Olga created a tower called the Black Fort, a magical structure that corrupted the surrounding area and serves as a beacon of power for monsters. Instructed by Olga, these monsters invaded nearby kingdoms and stole their women away to be used as playthings. Volt, the “mercenary king” mustered a fighting force together and successfully waged a campaign against the dark queen after allying himself with orcs, pig beasts, imps, and other demonic creatures. Together, they defeated Olga, a victory that ushered in Volt’s scheme to conquer the remaining kingdoms and bring their princesses to heel. What this essentially means is that Volt and his men are going on tour to gang rape their way across the country.

And so begins the grand sexual crusade that is Kuroinu, a four episode OVA series with an unflinching depiction of the rape and physical and mental breakdown of powerful women sworn to protect their kingdom’s denizens. Each episode focuses on Volt’s conquest of a specific kingdom and how their princesses are broken down either by Volt, his minions, or an insider that has betrayed them. Betrayal is a common theme in each episode, as women are imprisoned and even raped by people they trusted for reasons I wish the series could have better explained. Does Volt have some hidden power to control these men? Or is it his natural charisma? What drives a father, who once treated his step-daughter with respect and trained her in the art of the sword, to rape and impregnate her in front of her husband? Why would an advisor aid the enemy by setting off a bomb inside the city gates? Questions like these never get answered because the series is largely preoccupied with getting to sex as quickly as possible. The first episode perfectly encapsulates what to expect from the series. After some light exposition, we see as Olga’s aide Cloe being ravaged by a group of orcs, their incredibly huge dicks creating huge bulges in her stomach and throat. Giant orc cocks and interspecies sex are what fuel this series as one woman after another is assaulted by either Volt’s large member or the elephant-sized organs owned by the orcs he allied with. None of the characters are ever prepared to receive these creatures, which makes for a lot of moments in which they watch in horror as these impossibly huge things are forced inside of them with a ferocity that results in breaking their minds. That’s pretty much the formula in each episode: girl meets orc, girl is fucked by orc, orc pile drives girl with its dick until she goes crazy, girl is pumped with enough orc cum to fill a baseball stadium, girl goes around begging for men to fuck her senseless. And because nearly all these women are virgins, you can expect to see defloration in practically every episode, so fair warning. When the orcs and humans have been satisfied, the women are left to wallow in pools of semen that pour out of orifices while their eyes roll up the back of their heads. These women, be they queens, princesses, pygmies, and shrine maidens start off as proud, noble people but by the end of the episode, they fall over themselves to suck a dick, stuffing their faces and nether realms until they’re babbling incoherently. And all the while Volt is there, watching a smiling a devil-born sneer.

It goes without saying, then, that Kuroinu can be a depressing series to watch. There are no happy endings here. Any hope for victory among the seven princesses eventually fades away when you realize that no one is safe from Volt’s dick. No matter what goes down, some proud, noble, woman warrior will be broken or put into a position to watch others suffer until they agree to Volt’s terms. One of the more sad vignettes is the story of princess Alicia, who is thrown in prison after watching a group of nuns be assaulted by a gathering of imps. While trapped in her cell, she is met by one of her court officials who reveals that he aided Volt’s takeover of the castle, seemingly in exchange for a chance to rape Alicia, which he does several times. When she is brought to Volt, Alicia watches in horror as her ward, the young princess Primm (whom she swore to protect) is broken by the mercenary king, a sight that causes her to completely lose her will. The next time we see Alicia, she’s shown pleasing several men and Primm is busy pegging a pig-like humanoid while being taken from the behind. Sex scenes such as these are quite long–it’s not uncommon for an entire twenty two minute episode to feature only two sex scenes. Pat of the reason they are so long is because the show wants to convey that the process of turning these women takes time. That they don’t because cock hungry sex slaves after the tip goes in. And in most cases, the longer the scenes run, the more uncomfortable they can get. As uncomfortable as I am with rape, there’s no looking past the quality of the OVA’s animation and character designs. The animation is rich and detailed, sex positions are treated to some nice camera angles, and quite a few of the girls are drawn to look really sexy. Lovers of dark-skinned elves will likely relish Olga and Cloe’s scene in the first episode (which really kicks things off with a really big bang).

I’m not a fan of rape, mind break, and NTR, genres that this series sells itself on. However, the curious masturbator in me couldn’t look away. Kuroinu is as hardcore as they come. For a series that’s about a cruel man’s to fuck his way to the top, I shouldn’t be wholly surprised to find this such a bleak hentai anime. The only significant complaint I have to levy against the series that it quickly becomes formulaic–once you’ve watched the first episode, you can pretty much expect to sit through the same twenty-two minute plot outline in later episodes. What little story there is simply serves as a loose pretense to feature a dearth of gang bang, gang rape, NTR-related sex scenes. Kuroinu is one of those types of hentai that you’ll either love or hate but if nothing else, I think it’s possible to agree that this is one of the better looking hentai films on the market. One last note before closing: those already familiar with the series may be pleased to know that a fifth episode was announced and is due out in Japan later this year.