Ranked #1237

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

I think it's important to firstly note that this anime is heavily influenced by Japan's history.
It is a re-telling of what Japan went through in the final years of the Edo period, when the Samurai, Ronins, Citizens, and Military forces from Japan and foreign countries, fought for control of the country. The interesting battles and real-life tales of betrayal and backstabbing, are retold with a hint of the supernatural element, which although seemingly far fetched, does hold more than a hint of realism. The story is fascinating, but if the viewer is not into the history genre and does not care about sitting through, what may at times seem like a history or Asian culture class, then this series is definitely not for them.
I enjoyed this tale immensely, as it was good to see the behind the scene drama of such an important era in world history. Some of the events are fictional, injected into the series so as to make it more "watchable" and a few of the characters never existed in real life, but it does make things fascinating.
The Supernatural factor, which focuses on the protagonist's journey to destroy an object that is too powerful to remain intact among humans, can be used as an element to show what happens in real life when man becomes consumed with power and greed, and their drive to do the "right then" soon gives way to the very thing they sought to fight against. Though the powerful object did not truly exist, the story does well to incorporate into history.

The Art for the series is good. It suits the story and its time-line perfectly, and is solid for all 26 episodes. The only problem I had, which really boils down to my preference, is that the art does have a smoky-like appearance at times, as if it is being viewed through a very very thin film of mist. I can understand why the method was used, as it does relate to certain scenes in the story, but since I like to view things nice and sharp it didn't win me over completely.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the sound is good, despite there being only a few scores, which were all used repetitively. But the thing is, they suited the story perfectly and since it's obvious that the creators did not want anything drastic and over the topic, it was right on the mark.

I'm tempted to say that the characters are Very Good, but I think "Good" is more accurate.
The lead protagonist, Akizuki, has quite a somewhat stiff and at times unreadable attitude, which suits his role perfectly. It may be viewed by some as "boring" but when really get into the story, you can tell why it's the best design for him.
Ibaragi Sōtetsu's character is one to look out for, although I don't need to tell anyone that because as soon as he is spotted, he will command your attention. I think it's very common for a character to be present whose true motives are unknown to the other characters, but very obvious to the viewer, but in Sotetsu's case he will keep you guessing about his real intentions until the very end. His character design is practically flawless.
Those two aside, even though a majority of the character designs aren't particularly intricate, someone will pop up every now and then that's quite interesting to watch.

So like I said, I enjoyed the story enough, even though it may not be extremely outstanding or addictive. I also can understand how the consistent 'history lesson breakdown' may easily be confusing and annoying to some. If you're interested about Japan's past, and a realistic view of Ronins and Samurai, you should really give this series a shot.

read more

Overall: Unimpressive. I struggled to get through this anime and forced myself to watch a certain amount of episodes per day. I do not recommend this anime unless you have a preference for historical anime and very slow plot.

Story: Unoriginal. A mishmash of the fate of one person to find a certain object combined with a history lesson and some demons. The acting troupe, with the exception of Ibaragi and Kakunojo, had a very minor role and it seems they existed just only as a plot device to fill in some holes. Any plot was constantly interrupted by history lessons that took up a good portion of the time. The story is also lacking in having elements of anticipation or cliffhangers that make you want to continue on to the next episode.

Animation: Average. Some scenes tended to look hastily scribbled and fight scenes and movement in general is extremely choppy. The character design wasn't too bad. I loved Kanna's and Akizuki's outfits and Kakunojo's appearance is pretty unique compared to most female characters.

Sound: Dull. The voice acting was disappointing, which is quite sad because I enjoy most of the voice actors' work. The attempt at portraying verbal emotion was pathetic and most of the dialogue sounded monotonous. At least most of the English dialogue was correctly pronounced. As far as sound effects go, it was pitiful. Doors being broken down, swords clashing, footsteps - none of them sounded real. They sounded like they came out of a martial arts B movie. The sound sometimes went off sync as well and that was not just my copy of the episodes - the official DVD does it as well.

Character: Uninteresting. The characters tended to act without any motivation. Akizuki is torn between being an emo loner or an emo pushover. For someone who's bent on revenge, Kakunojo was pretty lame when it came to expressing other emotions besides placidity. Kanna was the only character I enjoyed, but that might just be for his body. The addition of the Shinsengumi was interesting as well. It was one of my favorite portrayals of Okita.

Enjoyment: Low. Like I said, I struggled to get through this anime. The only reason why I did not drop this anime was because I just honestly wanted to know how some of the characters ended up. But that's how they always get ya, right? read more