Fuuma no Kojirou: Yasha-hen

Esta review también está en español.

After Ring no Kakero, his first great success as an author, Masami Kurumada created another battle shonen series, this time focused on ninja clans (in which, obviously, no member is older than fifteen years old) fighting to death, using ingenious and crazy techniques: Fuuma no Kojirou (FnK). In this series, many elements will be born and reused in what will be Mr Kurumada's masterpiece: Saint Seiya. Yasha-hen is the first set of OVA, and adapts the first story arc of the manga (there's also a second set, Seiken Sensou-hen, and a final OVA, Fuuma Hanran-hen). Despite being a series ... that can be enjoyed on its own, just like Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is specially interesting for Card Captor Sakura fans, or whatever created by Leiji Matsumoto is appealing for Matsumoto fans, FnK is especially attractive for Saint Seiya fans (mostly because Kurumada tends to use the same characters in all his works, just like Matsumoto), so throughout this review, don't be surprised to see several comparisons between the two series.

FnK's story shows us that the Hakou High School is having serious problems: bad boys from the Seishikan High never stop pestering (read: beating the crap out) their students! In such situation, Hojo Himeko, the leader of the Hakou, takes the only reasonable conclusion: hiring a ninja clan. Thus, Kojiro, a representative of the Fuuma clan, leaves his desolate mountain and go to the civilization to kick some evil asses.
Of course, Seishikan fellas have their own shinobi clan, the Yasha, so after a few skirmishes, both clans (since Kojiro's companions arrive shortly after) agree to face their best warriors in a fight without rules, Basilisk style.
That's basically the plot of FnK. Not a very deep story, and it doesn't try to be: what's important here is the excitement and action, and in that regard this six part OVA doesn't disappoint. There's a constant succession of battles (especially from the third episode onward, since the first two are introductory and rather slow), in which the most varied techniques are implemented. And something very important, anyone can die in these duels, which makes the result even more exciting (since not always the good ones survive).

On the character department... this is where a series oriented exclusively on combats suffers: there's practically no character development, since a good chunk of the cast will die pretty fast n_n. The hero, Kojiro, is a pretty common guy, if a bit annoying. But, like Seiya, he's determined, stubborn and cares for his clanmates. His bokken (wooden sword) skills defy the laws of physics, even for the standards of a ninja show. Also, from the Fuuma clan, we have Ryoma, the Dokugan Ryu (that's right, he shares his nickname with the legendary Date Masamune, since both characters lost an eye). All in all, he is the more focused and respectful of the clan, and is who challenged the Yasha. His psychic abilities are the strongest of their clan. There are other Fuuma members, but the last one I want to mention is Kirikaze. Not only he physically resembles Andromeda Shun, but he's also the only member that at least expressed his discontent with the fight. Of course, he still kicks ass, and without much remorse.
On the opposing side, the most important character (by far) is the leader of Yasha, who, ironically, is someone outside the clan: Asuka Musashi. He's not only ridiculously powerful, but it's the only one who really has an established background: he fights as a mercenary for the highest bidder to pay the bills from the hospital where his sister is interned. Although not evil per se, he's very efficient, practical and ruthless: when an opponent is considered especially dangerous, he will kill him quickly, to avoid problems in the future. No hate or honor in the table, just pragmatism. Like Kojiro, his weapon is a bokken that cuts flesh like butter.

The visuals are correct... but it could be better. In fact, it should be better. The manga of FnK is older than Saint Seiya, but these OVA are newer than the anime of the bronze saints. That's why I can't understand why the quality is slightly higher in the case of Saint Seiya. Not only everything has a greater brightness and color in SS, but the character design in FnK borders the ridiculous. Kojiro is a clone of Seiya, and that's fine, since it's intentional (every Kurumada MC has the same face). The same is true with 95% of the characters, all of which can be homologated with a Saint (Musashi-Dohko, Kirikaze-Shun, etc)... the problem is that the same design is used in various characters. There are three characters that look like Shiryu (Ryoma, Anki and Mibu), and in the future, there will be even more! All the female characters are either Athena or Pandora (who are essentially the same, to begin with), and minor character are so generic it's scary. This is particularly serious because these are OVA...
Anyways, although (a little) below the expected, it complies by the standards of the eighties. The animation is fluid, the techniques are well animated, and there's blood everywhere (especially on the foreheads... seriously, no matter what happens, there will be blood on the forehead, and always a few seconds later after the attack, not immediately).

The sound's fine. An interesting detail is that, while both Kojiro and Seiya anime share some seiyuus, none of them act as the character with the same face. To name a few, Keiichi Nanba is Kojiro's voice actor, while in Saint Seiya was Pisces Aphrodite and Poseidon (and many other characters, like Ziocite in Sailor Moon, Ryo Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden, Raoh in Hokuto no Ken, and so on), not Seiya (whose original seiyuu was Toru Furuya). Sho Hayami is Musashi's voice, and was Sea Horse Baian (and Wolfwood in Trigun, Sairei in Shakugan no Shana III, Akira Hojo in Sanctuary, etc). Hideyuki Hori is Ryoma and Phoenix Ikki's voice (and Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa J, Ginyu in Dragon Ball Z, Nobuo Tanaka in Memories, and many more). Finally, Kazuhiko Inoue is Mibu in FnK and Ohko in SS (as well as Mamoru Kusanagi in Blue Seed, Anthony in Candy Candy, and Kakashi in Naruto).
As for the music, although not even close in quality to the one used in Saint Seiya (although, to be fair, not many can compare), it goes well with the ninja atmosphere of the series. The opening, Don't go away, is a calm rock song, and the ending, Good-bye Marry, is a powerful heavy metal song (both are interpreted by Night Hawks).

Anyways, verdict time. I'll try to be direct cause I wrote more than usual: Fuuma no Kojirou is highly recommended for Saint Seiya fans in particular, and for battle shounen fans in general. Here, you will not find lots of character development or a great story: the important thing here are the fights. And luckily, the combats are fast paced, unpredictable and ingenious, so, in the end, the whole experience is pretty enjoyable. If you liked this, the next logical step would be Seiken Sensou-hen, the second set of episodes of FnK.

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Después de Ring no Kakero, su primer gran éxito como autor, Masami Kurumada idearía otro shonen de batallas, esta vez enfocado en clanes ninja (en el que, obviamente, ningún miembro tiene más de quince años) luchando hasta morir, usando técnicas tan ingeniosas como locas: Fuma no Kojiro (FnK). En esta serie, además, nacerían muchos de los elementos que después serian usados en la obra prima del señor Kurumada: Saint Seiya. Yasha-hen es la primera tanda de OVAS, que adapta el primer arco argumental del manga (habiendo disponibles una segunda tanda, Seiken Sensou-hen, y una OVA final, Fuuma Hanran-hen). A pesar de ser una serie que puede apreciarse en sí misma, de la misma forma que Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE es especialmente interesante para los fans de Card Captor Sakura, y lo que sea de Leiji Matsumoto es especialmente atrayente para los fans de Matsumoto, FnK es especialmente llamativa para los fans de Saint Seiya (más que nada porque el señor Kurumada tiene la costumbre de usar siempre a los mismos personajes en situaciones distintas, al igual que el señor Matsumoto), así que, a lo largo de esta review, no se sorprendan al ver varias comparaciones entre ambas series.

La historia de FnK nos muestra que la secundaria Hakou atraviesa serios problemas: alumnos malos de la escuela Seishikan no dejan de molestar (léase, moler a golpes) a sus estudiantes! Ante tamaña situación, Himeko Hojo, la encargada de Hakou, llega a la única conclusión razonable: contratar a un clan ninja. Es así como Kojiro, representante del clan Fuuma, deja su desolada montaña para dirigirse a la civilización y dar una seria y merecida paliza a ese grupo de abusones. Por supuesto, los muchachos de Seishikan tienen a su propia clan shinobi, los Yasha, por lo que después de una serie de escaramuzas, se ponen de acuerdo y ambos clanes (porque al poco tiempo llegan los compañeros de Kojiro) enfrentan a sus 10 mejores guerreros, en una lucha rastrera y sin reglas, bien a lo Basilisk.
Esa es básicamente la trama de FnK. No es una historia muy profunda, ni pretende serlo: acá lo importante es la emoción y la acción, y en eso esta miniserie de 6 capítulos no decepciona. Hay una constante sucesión de batallas (especialmente a partir del tercer capítulo, ya que los dos primeros son más bien introductorios y algo lentos), en las que las más variopintas técnicas son ejecutadas, con resultados muy variables. Y lo más importante: cualquiera puede morir en estos duelos, lo que hace que el resultado sea todavía más emocionante (nada de que los buenos ganan siempre, o no tienen bajas).

Por el lado de los personajes… acá es donde una serie de puros combates sufre: prácticamente no hay un gran desarrollo de personajes, dado que muchos no duran más de cinco minutos n_n. El protagonista, Kojiro, es un chico bastante común para haber sido entrenado en las oscurísimas artes ninjas, y la verdad, es algo molesto. Eso sí: al igual que Seiya, es determinado, tozudo, y quiere mucho a sus compañeros. Su manejo del bokken (espada de madera) desafía las leyes de la física, incluso para una serie de ninjas. También, del clan Fuuma, tenemos a Ryoma, el Dokugan Ryu (comparte su apodo con Date Masamune, dado que ambos personajes perdieron un ojo). Dentro de todo, el es el más centrado y respetuoso del clan, y es el que lanza el desafío formal al clan Yasha. Sus habilidades psíquicas están entra las más fuertes de su clan. Hay varios Fuuma más, pero el último que me gustaría comentar es Kirikaze. No solamente se parece físicamente a Shun de Andrómeda, sino que también es el único miembro del clan que al menos manifestó su desagrado por pelear. Eso no evita que en solo segundos reparta golpes para todos lados, pero bueno, al menos tiene intenciones pacifistas.
Del lado antagonista, el más importante (por mucho) es el líder de los Yasha, que irónicamente, es alguien ajeno al clan: Musashi Asuka. No solamente es ridículamente poderoso, si no que es el único que realmente tiene un background establecido: pelea como mercenario al mejor postor para poder pagar las cuentas del hospital donde está internada su hermanita. Aunque no es maligno per se, si es muy eficiente, práctico, y despiadado: cuando considera que un rival es especialmente peligroso, lo asesina rápidamente, para que no de problemas en el futuro. No hay odio ni honor relacionados, solo pragmatismo. Al igual que Kojiro, su arma es una bokken que corta carne como si fuera manteca.

La animación en si es correcta… pero podría ser mejor. De hecho, debería ser mejor. Tal vez el manga de FnK sea anterior a Saint Seiya, pero las OVAS de Yasha-hen son posteriores (por solo unos meses, pero son mas nuevas) al anime de los caballeros. Es por esto que no se entiende como la calidad es ligeramente mayor en el caso de Saint Seiya. No solo todo tiene un brillo y un color mayor en la serie de los caballeros de bronce, si no que el diseño de personajes bordea lo cómico. Que Kojiro sea un clon de Seiya es intencional, y es parte del encanto de la obra de Kurumada. Lo mismo ocurre con un 97% de los personajes, todos pueden ser homologados a algún caballero (Musashi-Dohko, Kirikaze-Shun, etc)… el problema es que los diseños se repiten varias veces DENTRO de la serie. Hay tres personajes que se parecen a Shiryu (Ryoma, Mibu y Anki), y en el futuro van a aparecer más! xD. Todos los personajes femeninos son o Athena o Pandora (que en esencia, son iguales), y los personajes de menor importancia son tan genéricos que asusta. Esto es especialmente grave porque se trata de OVAS…
Pero bueno, aunque inferior a la media, cumple (para los estándares de los 80). La animación es fluida, las técnicas están bien representadas, y lo más importante de todo, hay sangre por todos lados (especialmente en las frentes… en serio, pase lo que pase, sea el ataque que sea, como mínimo, va a haber sangre en la frente, y solo después de un par de segundos de ejecutado el ataque, como para dar dramatismo).

El sonido está bien. Un detalle llamativo es que, si bien los animes de Seiya y Kojiro comparten algunos miembros de cast, ninguno representa al personaje de la misma cara. Por ejemplo, Keiichi Nanba, la voz de Kojiro, es Afrodita de Piscis y Poseidón (y varios más, como Ziocite en Sailor Moon, Ryo Hayabusa en Ninja Gaiden, Raoh en Hokuto no Ken, y un largo etcétera), y no Seiya (cuyo seiyuu original es Toru Furuya). El rol de Musashi lo representa Hayami Sho, quien fuera Baian de Caballo Marino (y también Wolfwood en Trigun, Sairei en Shakugan no Shana III, Akira Hojo en Sanctuary, etc). Hideyuki Hori es Ikki de Fénix y Ryoma (y Roberto Hongo en Captain Tsubasa J, Ginyu en Dragon Ball Z, Nobuo Tanaka en Memories y varios más). Finalmente Kazuhiko Inoue es Mibu en FnK, y Ohko en SS (además de ser Mamoru Kusanagi en Blue Seed, Anthony en Candy Candy, Kakashi en Naruto).
En cuanto a la música, si bien no puede compararse a la de Saint Seiya (aunque siendo justos, muy pocas pueden), va bien con la atmosfera ninja de la serie. El opening, Don't go away, es relativamente tranquilo (para los parámetros del Rock), y el ending, Good-bye Marry, es una poderosa canción heavy. Ambas interpretadas por Night Hawks.

Pero bueno, después de semejante parrafada, es momento del veredicto. Voy a procurar ser directo, dado que ya escribí más de lo usual: Fuuma no Kojirou es una serie muy recomendable para los fans de Saint Seiya, y también para los seguidores de los shonen de batallas. Acá no hay una gran historia o un notable desarrollo de personajes, acá hay muchas peleas. Lo bueno es que están bien hechas, y su resultado es impredecible. Además, la mayoría se resuelven bastante rápido, lo que siempre es un plus. Si estas OVAS les gustaron, el paso lógico a seguir es ver es Seiken Sensou-hen, la segunda tanda de capítulos.
Gente que busque un gran desarrollo argumental, personajes profundos o animación de gran calidad, mantenerse alejados.

“Fuuma no Kojirou: Yasha-hen” essentially consists of a pointless ninja battle royale with lots of bloodied foreheads. The paper-thin plot, which doesn’t make much sense, revolves around two schools, Seishikan and Hakuo. Students from Seishikan have been bullying and beating up students from Hakuo, forcing them to transfer to their school. Normally, one would get the police involved in an issue like this, but a teacher at Hakuo (I guess she’s a teacher, although she’s dressed like a student) sends for a member of an elusive clan of ninjas, the Fuma, to solve the problem. After killing several rival ninjas who had intercepted the teacher’s ... letter, the intended recipient, Kojiro, heads to the school and is immediately smitten with the principal of the school, another young woman in a school uniform. She is mostly forgotten about after the first episode, however. Also, despite the premise being centered on schools, we never once see students in a class, so I’m not sure what kind of schools these are supposed to be.

Anyway, Seishikan has its own elite group of ninjas protecting it, and when it’s obvious that Kojiro can’t handle this job alone, his fellow Fuma ninjas come to his aid. For reasons not adequately explained, both of the clans then decide to fight each other to the death. The majority of the content of this OVA is just that — ninjas barely getting introduced before fighting and killing each other. Naturally, there’s a lot of blood, and oddly, the characters often bleed from the forehead. Perhaps that’s just the creator’s style, but it’s repetitive and unrealistic.

Due to the nature of this OVA, there is little character development. The main character, Kojiro, doesn’t change much, though in the first episode he’s portrayed in a more comical style. The main antagonist, Musashi, has a cliched backstory consisting of a sick younger sister, and he is working at Seishikan to pay her hospital bill. Ranko, the teacher who hired Kojiro, is shown as illogically mean in the first episode, but in subsequent episodes, she does a complete 180 in terms of personality and suddenly acts like she cares about, and may even have feelings for, Kojiro. The other characters are hardly given any screen time, and most are killed off just minutes after their initial appearances.

The fights themselves are somewhat interesting, as each ninja uses a unique supernatural attack — one uses feathers, another uses fog, et cetera. Two of the strongest ones call themselves “psychic soldiers,” and they use psychic attacks. I’m not sure how these are different from the supernatural attacks, but apparently they’re more powerful.

The dialogue is cliched and repetitive. The direction is all over the place, and there are lots of close ups of the characters’ eyes for some reason. The character designs are different from the typical anime look — the author of “Saint Seiya” created this, so there’s a similarity in style between the two. The characters are kind of difficult to tell apart, though, since many of them look alike. The animation is limited and choppy.

The opening theme is a rock ballad, while the ending theme is an upbeat heavy metal song, both by the same artist. These two songs are decent. The background music is just generic Japanese-sounding music, typical for something ninja-related and not very memorable.

With a cast of many popular/veteran voice actors, the voice acting is okay, but it’s wasted on the substandard dialogue. Keiichi Nanba and Show Hayami particularly stand out as the voices of the protagonist and antagonist.

As for objectionable content, in addition to the excessive blood and killing, there is an upskirt panty shot in the first episode, which added absolutely nothing to the series and felt like a cheap attempt to reach a fanservice quota.

Overall, while some of the fights are innovative and interesting, this OVA is difficult to recommend, mainly because of the nonsensical plot and near-zero character development. It all boils down to ninjas killing each other for no reason. If that’s your thing, then you may enjoy this, but otherwise, I would say avoid this one.