Ikkitousen
Battle Vixens

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I have watched anime somewhat 10 years ago, actually, I think exactly 10 years ago. I remember that plot was confusing but I picked Ikkitousen for boobs and fights. And I have watched all the franchise.

As I heard that the manga and anime are different, and as I remember almost nothing because of so many years have past since the watch-through, I decided to read the manga.

And well, story is not particularly clear, the plot is still confusing, though the historical summary before every chapter helps a bit.

I would say, that if you want to see naked girls fighting each ... other read Sekirei. The storyline is clear, characters are compelling, overall it has a wholesome atmosphere.
But if you want the fights to be brutal and don't really care about the plot, then yes, stick to Ikkitousen.

Another con is the characters, especially design. You have Kan'u Unchou, or Ryomu Shimei with great design. You have some loli girls. But overall all the girls have same physique but diferent face and hairstyle. On a panel showing them naked you hardly distinguish them.

Overall, this manga can be fun, but don't expect much and enjoy for what it is worth: boobs and fights.

PS. And why I even writing this review is to ask you not to read it in TokyoPop version. It has butchered translation. Trying to adapt the narrative to Western audience, they changed dialogs, including pop culture references to American culture. They have 4rth wall breaks, where they shouldn't have been. But the most awful thing their translation is a ton of sexual remarks made by male characters, where they are not in the original.
The speech of every character drives the plot, and does notexpress sexual appeal.

Ikkitousen is a hit and miss manga, it excels in many areas and fails equally in vital areas.

The pros:
1. Ikkitousen has great artwork, the earlier chapters contain good artwork but the later chapters are outstanding. The girls of Ikkitousen are the major selling point of this title, and as the series progresses the girls begin to be depicted in more and more explicit ways (it went from simple panty shots to down right rape scenes and I'm not saying that's a bad thing). The only bad thing about this is that sometimes its very difficult to identify one character from the other particularly the girls ... since most of them have the same physique and are mostly identifiable only by their hairstyle and it can also get confusing as well

2. There's plenty of fight scenes here and most of it if not all are littered with nipple and panty shots at minimum, the gore level also increases as the series progresses. There are some fight scenes that are hard to follow but the incredible artwork would mostly compensate for it

The cons:
1. The story is extremely confusing. Many people will probably drop this title for this major flaw. If the reader is not an expert of "The Romance of the 3 Kingdoms Saga" then chances are that the reader will be frustrated.

2. There are way too many characters here, sometimes its good but most of the time the characters that get introduced especially the very minor ones only add to the confusion, as stated earlier some of these characters share very similar features which doesn't make it easier to follow the story.

Overall Ikkitousen is aimed at a niche market. If your after plenty of panty shots of some seriously hot manga babes and many intense fight scenes and don't mind a very confusing story and plot then look no further.

If you're after a deep and complex title however, then you will be disappointed despite the mangaka's attempts of making the plot to be as epic as the historical events it was based on.

Review in english and portuguese/ Resenha em português e inglês:


Review in english:

Ikkitousen focuses on the constant struggle of the magatamas owners against their tragic and endless destinies, magatamas are inherited from generation to generation by young people who constantly face each other - because of the spirit of warriors of the time of the romance of the three kingdoms - but the plot abuses multiple cliches, and ends up bad on some scenes of ecchi, the manga succeeds in delivering great moments of drama, tension and comedy, but it's not exceptional. It is important to emphasize that the work has definite consequences based on the ... actions of the characters, as well as their maturation, but unfortunately we have several nonsense in the middle of it and some conveniences and easy solutions for the plot to walk. Unfortunately we are faced with Deus Ex Machinas and some things with no logic in history.

The characters are mostly charismatic and useful to the plot, many of them mature with the course of the plot, but in contrast, we have some characters that are no more than a lazy plot-device, as well as several disposable archetypes, we also have some superficial dramas to respect of part of the cast, but it is offset by other well-written dramas.

The art is good for an action manga, the framing is very good, the scenarios are well designed, the strokes are consistent and the action scenes are well detailed, easy to understand and very well choreographed, not just power shocks, but great fights with minimally decent strategies. Also got good ecchi scenes in the battles and slice of life of characters, but not ever good for the plot, but with good art.

The manga has a strong relationship with the events of the novel of the three kingdoms, in the passages of chapters we have various information about the ancient warriors who represent the characters, also details about some events, strategies and battles - which are presented in the manga from a perspective contemporary - I like how certain information is not thrown at us through idiot expository dialogues.

Ikkitousen is an ecchi of action that undoubtedly will entertain you and from time to time surprise you, although it skid sometimes and is not something exceptional.



Resenha em português:

Ikkitousen foca-se na constante luta dos donos das magatamas contra seus destinos trágicos e infindáveis, as magatamas são herdadas de geração em geração por jovens que constantemente se enfrentam - por conta do espírito de guerreiros da época do romance dos três reinos - mas a trama abusa de vários clichês, assim como acaba errando em algumas cenas de fanservice, a obra consegue entregar ótimos momentos de drama, tensão e comédia, mas não é algo excepcional. É importante destacar que a obra possui consequências definitivas baseadas nas ações dos personagens, assim como o seu amadurecimento, mas infelizmente temos várias bobagens no meio disso e algumas conveniências e soluções fáceis para a trama andar. Infelizmente nos deparamos com Deus Ex Machinas e algumas coisas sem lógica na história.

Os personagens são em maioria carismáticos e úteis ao enredo, boa parte deles amadurece com o decorrer da trama, mas em contrapartida, temos alguns personagens que não passam de um plot-device preguiçoso, assim como vários arquétipos descartáveis, também temos alguns dramas superficiais a respeito de parte do elenco, mas é compensado com outros dramas bem escritos.

A arte é boa para um mangá de ação, o enquadramento é muito bom, os cenários são bem desenhados, os traços são consistentes e as cenas de ação são bem detalhadas, fáceis de entender e muito bem coreografadas, não são apenas descargas de poder, mas ótimas lutas corporais e com estratégias minimamente decentes. As cenas ecchi são sempre bem desenhadas, nas vezes que pecam, são sempre nas vezes que não se encaixam com o momento certo.

O mangá tem forte relação com os acontecimentos do romance dos três reinos, nas passagens de capítulos temos várias informações sobre os guerreiros antigos que representam os personagens, também se encontram detalhes sobre alguns acontecimentos, estratégias e batalhas - que são apresentadas no mangá de uma perspectiva contemporânea - gosto de como certas informações não são jogadas para nós através de diálogos expositivos idiotas.

Ikkitousen é um ecchi de ação que sem dúvida alguma irá te entreter e de vez em quando te surpreender, embora derrape às vezes e não seja algo excepcional.