Story(6): The story is fairly straight forward and not very original. It takes place in 1800s Japan, where a crew of "get backers" try their best to help out people in need. No matter what the problem is, or how dangerous, they deal with it. The leader of this crew is Roman, who is shown fairly early on to have a suit that pretty much gives him super powers. The suit has to be used sparingly though, so it is only used when things get serious. A few episodes in it is shown that there are some western naval forces off shore, and the story basically revolves around explaining what they're doing there and what their objective is. I would define this anime as an action/comedy, it is about half serious moments and fighting half comedy bits. This is where I felt the anime really lost a lot of its potential. There were very obvious issues with pacing, and lacklustre attempts at comedy. The writers attempted for it to be an action/comedy, but in my opinion they failed. The comedy falls short, and quite a few episodes are wasted on them trying to get laughs. For me the show felt at its best during the more serious moments. During the last few episodes it was clear that the time spent on failed comedy attempts could have been used for more back story and character progression. I know what they were going for, and I don't think the comedy should have been taken out completely but it just fell short. The serious moments still had a kind of parody type comedy to them, since a lot of the things that go on are just ridiculous. Kind of like JoJos Bizarre Adventure, how it isn't a comedy but some of situations that occur just make you laugh. Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman could have been improved greatly if the writers tried incorporating more of that style humor.
Art(8): I'm a sucker for Monkey Punch's art style and character design. Without a doubt the show looks good, it has that 80s-early 90s look but with the modern polish which I love. The animation during the action scenes is done very well. While I'm sure not many people would say it is bad, I'm sure there are some who just aren't a fan of this particular style. I happen to really like it.
Sound(6): Well, hard to really say all that much about the sound. It was good, the voice acting was very well done(apart from some amazingly bad engrish), and each character had a lot of personality. Never noticed any really bad sounding effects or anything like that, although I admit I don't pay that close of attention to that stuff. I enjoyed the OP and ED a lot. That is about it.
Character(8): Like the art the characters where one of the best things about the anime. Each character was likeable and had tons of personality. Everyone I've heard says the main character is just like Lupin, I don't completely disagree but they are different in a lot of ways. It isn't just Lupin with a beard in 1800s Japan, he has his own personality. One character who is very much like a Lupin character is Okuni, who is just like Mine Fujiko. There is also Suzuki who is very similar to Goemon. Still they both have their own personalities and differences, they're not just clones. The rest of the cast plays a big part too, especially the members of Romans inner circle who help him. Including Romans little sister Koharu, who is a prime example of good female character design. She is extremely cute and loveable, based completely off her personality and design not ecchi fanservice or panty shots. Then there is the rest of the gang. Gennai, a perverted old man who invents all the gadgets the crew needs. Hans, a German doctor who also has found a way to create zombies that he uses for assistance. And finally Kanade, a shrine priestess, who also like Koharu is a great example of good female character design. They all secretly work together to help others, no matter what risks it involves.
Enjoyment(7): I enjoyed the anime, it never really felt like I was forcing myself to finish an episode. The only thing that caused me to give it a 7 instead of an 8 is the lacklustre attempts at comedy, and one or two episodes that I felt were just not done well at all.
Overall(7): It's not perfect, but what pains me the most is the potential of what it could have been. Still, to anyone looking for a fun short anime that thought this looked interesting I would recommend you give it a shot.
Thank you if you read all of my review, this was my first attempt at doing a written review for an anime. I hope it was helpful.
