Donten ni Warau

In the 11th year of the Meiji Era, the end of the samurai shogunate and the prohibition of swords has left Japan with lasting scars. Displeased by these recent changes, many former samurai plot against the new government, inciting a wave of bloodshed. To counter this movement, the government constructs a colossal prison in the middle of Lake Biwa.

Unofficially assigned to help the police arrest criminals, Tenka Kumou also serves as a ferryman to the Lake Biwa prison with the help of his two younger siblings: the ambitious Soramaru and the enthusiastic Chuutarou. Together with the former Fuma ninja Shirasu Kinjou, the Kumou brothers live a frugal and joyful life mostly dedicated to studying and training.

However, behind this relatively uneventful daily routine, the specter of the "Orochi" curse is starting to spread its shadow over the city of Oumi. According to legend, every three hundred years, Orochi reincarnates in a human vessel—and it is believed that this is the harbinger of an imminent catastrophe. As various groups clash in search of Orochi's vessel, some aim to seal the curse, while others have darker plans in motion.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kumou, Tenka Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Kinjou, Shirasu Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Kumou, Soramaru Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Kumou, Chuutarou Main

Yonaga, Tsubasa Japanese

Nishiki Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Abeno, Hirari Supporting

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Abeno, Sousei Supporting

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Kagami, Naoto Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Ashiya, Mutsuki Supporting

Fujiwara, Yuuki Japanese

Botan Supporting

Satou, Rina Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Hosoi, Shunsuke Producer

Inage, Hiroyuki Producer

Haraguchi, Hiroshi Director

Reviews

Dec 21, 2014

Magpies

Recommended

SPOILER FREE! This review is going to be split into two parts: subjective and objective (or the difference between my heart and my mind).

We'll start with OBJECTIVE. The art is aesthetically pleasing and the character designs are unique enough that you don't mix up anyone. It pulls off both serious and cutesy expressions very well, but that's standard for shoujo. It also showed me a male outfit that made me go "WTF" in the same way I look at the suits in Kill la Kill.

The animation is mediocre at best. The fights are nice towards the end but the beginning is pretty lazily done (a ... sound effect and a flash). I said before the interspersed serious and cutesy art is nice, but they really don't transition well animation wise. There are some parts which are jarring and completely take you out of the story.

Character wise, the three brothers and shirasu (and their relationship) were well developed, considering this is a 12 episode series. Some people might find the third brother, Chuutaro, to be a bit annoying but it doesn't detract too much overall. Everyone else is pretty one note in terms of personality. It's really just from the size of the cast and the amount of backstory that had to be crammed into this. Despite the fact that they all love to blab about their pasts, it ends up feeling like you missed out on a lot of characters.

When it comes to story, Donten suffers most from its clumsy exposition. The first episode starts off introducing the characters, the setting, and all that jazz in a pretty standard way. But then it drags on and on into the next episodes because it needs to introduce so many other characters and establish their connection to the main plot, most which is dropped on you like a brick in the form of an episode long flashback. The romance is also mediocre, considering it's between a tsundere chick and a hopelessly devoted dude, though fans of reincarnated lovers probably will like it.

Set up aside, however, the execution of the second half of the series is excellent. The action is gripping, the plot twists leave you stunned, and the pay off is emotionally satisfying (or crippling, depending on your tastes). There are a couple, not so much plot points, but character motivations, that are unresolved at the end.

With that said, SUBJECTIVELY, I adore this anime. I love all of the character designs so much. The girls are pretty and the boys are hot, and that's enough for me. None of the characters were unnecessary or unlikeable and the story put them all to good use. I loved all the plot twists even the one I saw coming because it's timed so well. Every episode left me itching to watch another one and I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried. I also love the romance as cliched as it is, and I ship two other couples. I would totally watch this again, painful exposition and all!

tl:dr Don't judge this one until you get to the end.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 5, 2015

Charliegone

Mixed Feelings

Like I usually do, I go to my favorite anime website every season and watch the 1st episode of each anime. If I'm somewhat into it, I usually stick around; and this one caught my attention.

Story
Basically it's your typical good vs evil anime with the good guys primarily focusing on the 3 brothers, while the 1st two older brothers are far more interesting, the third and youngest...well honestly could've done without him. Didn't really do much or affect much of the story except for maybe like 5 or 10 minutes of the story in ALL of the series. Really. Like your typical good vs evil ... anime, there are happy times, then tough times and then reunion and then happy time again, gee..didn't see that coming. Honestly it didn't really blow me away or anything. It was a pretty typical setting I've seen a billion times in all the anime I've watched...and trust me I've watched quite a lot. At best it was mediocre. Nothing special.

Art
Honestly, it was pretty average. It's clear they didn't get much to work with or else it might have been better. Seemed very early 2000's low budget standards to me. Lots of stills, little action in the fighting, repeated scenes, etc. The usual in a low budget anime.

Sound
Nothing really caught my attention. None of the music did or had me humming (that's when you know you got someone hooked) one of the tunes, nothing. Pretty repetitive as well. The younger brother, Chutaro was annoying as hell. I guess they did an ok job in choosing his VA if that was the intent. The other VA's I have heard of and they did well.

Characters
I guess if there's an upside to this anime it's the characters, while Chutaro was annoying, Tenka and Soramaru were probably more enjoyable. Honestly I wished they had developed Soramaru more, but being 12 episodes I guess they couldn't afford it. It felt kind of rushed or forced near the end where Soramaru tries to move on after a tragic event, so therefore I didn't really feel much for his suffering and cause. Honestly, I thought it started off great with the characters, but by the last few episodes, character development went out the window and in came the terrible typical story. I was kind of disappointed in that. They had great characters to work with.

Honestly, I wanted to enjoy it, but there is just so much lacking that I found myself just kind of yawning at times. It was exciting at times, but at times it was boring. It felt like your typical filler anime and probably was. A pretty mediocre anime with ok characters, easily forgettable in my opinion. I give it a low 6/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 10, 2018

mushimk

Not Recommended

Lame. In every possible way. It's a real struggle to find anything good about this anime : Action scenes are mediocre, somewhat barely enjoyable at their best. Rhythm is a disaster, especially since the comedy/bromance cut-scenes intervenes at the worst possible time, with not even an once of originality, and all predictable. Was the bromance even necessary to the story to begin with ... ? That could have been - at least - an effective bait, a trap to lure the young girls audience but when it's done that bad, I can only see it as a mockery, an insult to their intelligence.
And the story ... is not helping, of course. 3 to 4 episodes are enough to know where the whole thing is going (here's come the convenient monster... yay !).
Mostly, this anime goes down because it's cheap. Everything's cheap. There was no real effort to strenghten the good points (if any) and alleviate the weaknesses.
You can still watch this, nevertheless, if you're in need for a way to spend some time. But there's no way you will remember Donten ni Warau as an unforgettable anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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