Reviews

Hello, it's been a while since I've wrote a review, so I decided to write an article on one of my favorites, the famous but yet not so famous Soul Hunter (aka Hoshin Engi). It sounds like I'm contradicting myself but listen to this tid bit of history. Soul Hunter was a popular manga series from the very renown Shonen Jump Magazine, and lasted for a good 4 years (1996 to 2000) and won a best Manga award. Which soon became an Anime in 1999, one year prior to the end of the manga series. The show had good audience and was pretty successful. When the series traveled overseas to the US it was meeting a market that was just being introduced to Anime: Animes like Akira, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, etc. But the series quickly fell short into a VHS format due to its short 26 episode line up. Major Television channels in US refused to air the Anime since it didn't have enough marketing potential like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball which had season after season of shows. So the series was left to collect dust at video stores. Fortunately the series was a big hit with European and South American audiences, along with other popular Shonen series such as Saint Seiya, Ranma 1/2, and uncut versions of Dragon Ball Z.

That's enough History let's get into the details.

The story takes place in Ancient China, when the five great Kingdoms come into power. The story is also based on a Chinese folklore, just like The Great Journey West (which is the basis of the Dragon Ball story line). The world is split into two planes, the plane of mortals and the plane of Doshin. Doshin are like immortal spirits or demi gods in the Chinese folklore. Our main character is a lazy Senin named Taikoubou, basically he's training to become a Doshin, who is sent on a quest to capture over a 1000 Yokai (aka Demons) that plague the Mortal world. Taikoubou doesn't like fighting but uses his sear wits to out smart his enemies. Though he seems to get himself into near death situations, he always proves victorious in the end, while accompanied by fellow mortals, Senin, Doshin, and even Yokai that wish to make the world a better place.

The characters are all likeable, and you'll eventually pick your favorite character since the story also revolves many of Taikobou's companions. Along with a mythical or fantasy like storyline, many characters have some futuristic looking weapons like lightsabers, laser cannons, with a splash of some panda looking robots. Another good mention is that there many awesome battles where they use the natural elements as their weapons, so action junkies will get their fill.

With many pros there are also a few cons. Even though the series was made near the turn of a new millennium, but it still looks like it came from the late 80s or early 90s. The show has a lot of political intrigue so prepare yourself for half hours of war and economic strategies (feels like I'm watching the news). The series is also 26 episodes long so you won't get your fill, and trust me there is no continued storyline either.

All in all its worth watching. There are complete DVD box sets of the whole series at Best Buy or FYE for like $29.99. And for those who have ever played Shonen Jump Super Stars on their DS and never learned the name of that bunny eared character you've just learned now.

And that's all I have to say

Yours Truly
Otakufreak