Ranked #2566

Ikkitousen

Ikkitousen is loosely based on the infamous Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is set around 200 AD. As a person who knows quite a bit of the history during that period, I find easy to understand the relationships between characters and what the anime is trying to bring out. But I must admit it will be quite difficult for an average person with no background to try to understand what is going on in the story.

So before any further rating of the show, I would like to give a bit of advice to those who plan to watch this. IF YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN CHINESE HISTORY (though rather twisted if you ask me), AND IF YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO DIG OUT SOME HEAVY FAN SERVICING ANIME, THEN THIS IS NOT FOR YOU! You might as well go watch hentai instead.

Yes, I agree that the fan service is very abundant (ridiculous is the term I would use), but I don't see the point in watching this if fan service is all you are looking for.

Story:
Trying to make a modernized version of the ancient war in China was a good idea to begin with. Though trying to retell it (even a small portion of it) in 13 episodes is just too much a task. The concept of the story is simple enough if you know the history.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the government became corrupted and the local governors and warlords took over and began building up their power. Which in our case, the local governors and warlords are nothing but the seven schools. At the end, three overlords eventual dominated China resulting in the period of the Three Kingdom (which was explained at the end of the anime). Here are some links if you are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms

I rate it 7 because I don't find it very original, and messing up the genders of the characters in the Romance of Three Kingdom is just...wrong. Oh, and I really don't see much point in all those street fights.


Art:
Nothing too fancy...don't expect too much from it, after all it is made in 2003. But it is still decent for its time. Note that I am rating it based on the year of its production, NOT by current standard.


Sound:
I like the OP but everything else is just what one would call "standard" in the anime industry.


Character:
I can understand that the producer tried to build up some character introduction/developments but mostly ended in failure. That is not to say that they did poorly, but rather it was just too much for 13 episodes. (One got to understand that the actual cast for the Romance of Three Kingdom is ENORMOUS, the producer handpicked a very few exceptional ones only)


Enjoyment/Overall:
I don't recommend Ikkitousen to people looking for fan service. It is better for you to watch hentai. Seriously, there are more than enough scenes in Ikkitousen that are on par to hentai. However I do recommend this to fellows who might want to see how the story of Romance of the Three Kingdom can be turned into in a modern day Japan. Overall, I enjoyed the anime and had no regret watching it. In fact I might rewatch it after finishing Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny and Great Guardians. read more

Ikkitousen is by no means a good anime. Though, that's not to say that it wasn't rather enjoyable, and I must admit that I was surprised that I was able to finish it, and still feel a sliver of satisfaction after watching it. There were many things that could have been done much better-- that would have made this a better series-- but if you leave your expectations and occasionally your sense of decency behind, this is not a terrible watch.

Story: A good concept gone to waste most of the time, and slightly silly to boot. A plot lightly touching on pre-destination and the inevitability of fate is often overshadowed by minor squabbles or situations clearly designed to pander to more base tastes. That said, there are some moments of inspired story-telling, but these are very, very few and far between. After watching the entire story through to the finish, I must admit that I am left a little confused as to the point of the whole thing. Is destiny inescapable, or can it be overcome with sheer willpower? Even though this should be a thought-provoking ending, I found it felt rather lazy and incomplete.

Art: Some nice character designs, restricted by outdated animation and again pandering to lusty teens. Big-breasted characters, multitudes of up-skirt shots, and clothes apparently the consistency of tissue-paper tell you exactly the demographic this series is aimed at. The background art is so-so, and the fighting sequences are nicely executed-- have seen better though.

Sound: Again, there is nothing particularly outstanding about the OP or ED for this series. In fact, the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with the series as a whole, and feel decidedly out of place. Seiyuu performances aren't terrible, and despite being a rather annoying character, Asano Masumi's performance as Hakufu fits with the feel of the character. Other characters of note are Kaida Yuko as Ryoumou and Watanabe Akeno as Ryoufu.

Character: With a slew of characters from different schools all introduced in thirteen episodes, it can get very difficult to place who is from what school, what their relationships are to one another, and what their motives are for fighting. Often inconsistent characters (see Ryoumou from the first few episodes to the rest of the season), at times shallow personalities and changeable alliances, make it somewhat difficult to empathise with particular characters. Some of the female characters are fleshed out a bit -- not a lot -- but significantly more so than the male characters, who all seem to be suffering from two-dimensional personalities. That's not to say the female characters fare much better. Some moments of character growth shine like diamonds in this series, but again they are very few and far between.

Enjoyment: As a female watching this series, I probably can't rate it as highly as some might, as I found the fan service a little too distracting, and the situations a little too laughable to rate this a 'good' series. Despite multiple 'roll-eyes' scenarios, this series was rather enjoyable. The fights were interesting enough, the characters dilemmas were occasionally interesting and while it wasn't expanded on nearly enough, the whole pre-destination/pre-determination concept was really what kept me hooked throughout the thirteen episodes. Enjoyable in parts, and rather cringe-worthy in parts, I still found myself smiling by the time it was all over.

Overall: Could have been much better than it was. Perhaps toning down some of the fan service and focussing on building a more substantial plot may have made me rate this series a little higher. If story and character development don't matter much to you, and you're looking for a little fan service, this will probably be your thing. If you can't handle a hefty serve of the aforementioned, I think it might be better to give this series a miss. I enjoyed it, but I didn't like it, though I was never expecting it to be a particularly deep or thought-provoking series. So if you are able to lower your expectations and enjoy it for what it is you might find yourself enjoying this series. read more

When I read the official review of Ikkitousen, I told myself: "Yea! Another Tenjou Tenge. Some arse kicking fights!" But I was so horribly wrong!!

There is NOTHING great about the series. The characters fight for no reason. They fight like bersekers without using their minds, breaking each other for no reason, then will ally afterwards, then fight each other again, and use insanely powerful blows on each other, but still manage to come out alive. Dreadful!

Regarding character development, there is nothing great again here. The main girl lead is just a battle-addict-crazy. She is accompanied by another girly man who appears to fight like a god, but of which we are not shown almost anything. It's just fight, fight, fight and fight. No story, no reason for fighting.

The story is not well developed. IMHO, I really believe they just copied Tenjou Tenge, changed the characters and created a sort of pseudo story without any meaning. I really mean it, they COPIED Tenjou Tenge (TJTG). Go watch TJTG and you will see the many similarities by yourself.

The only thing good about it is the enormous amount of fan-service and ecchiness. In almost every episodes, you will get to see the panties and bra of almost all the main girl characters. In the middle of the fight, you will see shirts getting ripped and skirts being blown open to reveal the characters` underwear. There is also a fair amount of sex, although nothing much is shown. This anime, with some more ecchiness, would be a hentai. Amidst model-sized bodies, large bust sizes and lots of in-between leg shots, the fight rages... Lolz! Hentai, I tell you!

(I never knew girls would give such kicks with a skirt to expose their panties so often..)

Mind you! The cloth-ripping and underwear-popping-out thingies happen to only girls. The boys NEVER get their clothes torn, no matter what happens. What`s more? A kick is able to reduce a shirt or skirt to shreds, but the underwear remain intact! I don`t know of what material those underwear are made of, but I guess titanium threads. They NEVER get ripped! Skin can get bruised, bones crack, blood splurts but the bra remains undefeated! OMG! o_0

Returning to the story, the characters appear to fight for almost no reason. They wear some ear-ring objects which supposedly contains the soul of legendary fighters. So? They are supposed to fight because of that? And for what? The domination of the territory? In what way is this useful? Wakaranai! I have no single idea! Conclusion? The plot line su*ks!

Now, I would like to point out parallels between Tenjou Tenge and Ikkitousen. Tenjou Tenge (TJTG) comes first, followed by Ikkitousen.

Nagi Souchiro => Sonsaku Hakufu
Bob Makihara => Koukin
Todoh Accademy => Nanyang School
Disciplinary committee => Disciplinary Committee
4 main characters (Nagi, Bob, Masataka, Aya) = 4 main characters (Sonsaku, Koukin, Ryomon, Gakushu)
Main character has a dragon => Main character has a dragon too, though pitifully illustrated
Ultra powerful blows => Here too
Fanservice => Duh! Same!

As you can see, there are many similarities between TJTG. But nevertheless, I will still prefer Tenjou Tenge. I have been deceived by the anime, and I do not believe I would be re-watching it anytime soon. Conclusion: It`s just a fight-fight-fight-ecchi-hentai-fight-kick-fight-ecchi anime with no good plot line. A great enjoyment for those who appreciate fan-service. Watch TJTG if you want the same thing, but with more fun, and better story but with a long filler. (Can't get everything, can you?) read more

Ikkitousen: A poor attempt at action, or a drivel of goo at your shoes?

Ikkitousen is not your regular anime, as it masterfully and elegantly sets itself apart from others by being as unoriginal as it can be. Not a common sight in the world of anime today you might conclude and nod, and most everyone can only but concur. Indeed, it is so awful for its genre that even animes that reek of incompetence and utter failure, laugh and triumphantly raise their arms in victory, when compared to this piece of cancer in your lung.

It might not kill you, true, but then again, it might...

Story: 18/100
Story you ask in a manner that is much similar to those who try to resurrect the dead. Story you ask in a manner much very similar to those who strain themselves with effort, becoming exhausted from the sheer pressure of forcibly trying to travel in time with only their minds. Indeed, you are wasting your time, go look elsewhere. As long as you are in this realm you will neither time-travel as likely as you will find a grain of story in this anime. As this anime throws about ideas of books and "chosen ones" with their own made-up words, forcing a community of their own into existence within the anime and finding it logical to make one character fight the next to fight the next to fight the next - indeed, it makes not much sense, none of it, ever. As the anime is coming to a close it tries to no avail to connect all the dots and gather around all the strings, but by then everyone already knows that there is no point trying to make a memorable story from that which never was. It is as foolish as trying to make a car appear in front of your eyes with only a pen at your disposal. This anime tries to redeem its lack of story by a string of events in the end, but horribly fails to do so.

Art: 45/100
There are no qualms to be had with the art, at all; it is decent for its age and for its budget, and does its best with what it has.

Sound 36/100
Both the opening and the ending was awkward to say the least, neither was memorable nor catchy. Definitely not anything to set ones ears on. The music throughout the anime was not memorable either, but the seiyuus (voice-actors) were actually quite okay. Truly, not expected but pleasantly true though.

Character 22/100
Most remarkably no characters you will fall head over heels for, and far from actually liking greatly.There is no more to say about this bit, seeing how awful and incomplete it is, to begin with.

Enjoyment 27/100
Although being a complete waste of time, those who are prone to fanservice will delight in this anime. To give this anime some compliments you can actually only but agree that the fanservice was not too horrible, although remarkably misplaced and foolish.

Overall
Pointless and stupid. read more

Ikkitousen's story is just too confusing and mixed up if you have vague knowledge of Chinese History, which was my case. Even so, I watched the whole anime since it is decently drawn and animated. The soundtrack is decent, nothing too astonishing nor boring. The development of the characters was lacking; a lot of characters were introduced too quickly and you lost track who he/she was, why he/she appeared, or what were his/her intentions. This was probably due to the attempt of condensing a lot of Chinese history in 13 episodes.

The anime is alright overall. It entertains the viewer while watching it, with a lot of eyecandy for those who like ecchi and fan service. I would actually recommend it. read more

Ikkitousen is by far the worst anime series I have ever watched. With way to many panty shots, and an overall patheticness surrounding it, I don't understand why you would want to watch it, unless you were into Hentai.
When I read the review for Ikkitousen I thought that it would be worth the watch, but boy was I wrong, I literally had to force myself to watch it to the end so then i could advise people not to watch it. It is awful in every sense of the word.

Lol Bai.