Ikkitousen

Ikkitousen is loosely based on the infamous Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is set around 200 AD. As a person who knows quite a bit of the history during that period, I find easy to understand the relationships between characters and what the anime is trying to bring out. But I must admit it will be quite difficult for an average person with no background to try to understand what is going on in the story.

So before any further rating of the show, I would like to give a bit of advice to those who plan to watch this. IF YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN CHINESE HISTORY (though rather twisted if you ask me), AND IF YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO DIG OUT SOME HEAVY FAN SERVICING ANIME, THEN THIS IS NOT FOR YOU! You might as well go watch hentai instead.

Yes, I agree that the fan service is very abundant (ridiculous is the term I would use), but I don't see the point in watching this if fan service is all you are looking for.

Story:
Trying to make a modernized version of the ancient war in China was a good idea to begin with. Though trying to retell it (even a small portion of it) in 13 episodes is just too much a task. The concept of the story is simple enough if you know the history.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the government became corrupted and the local governors and warlords took over and began building up their power. Which in our case, the local governors and warlords are nothing but the seven schools. At the end, three overlords eventual dominated China resulting in the period of the Three Kingdom (which was explained at the end of the anime). Here are some links if you are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms

I rate it 7 because I don't find it very original, and messing up the genders of the characters in the Romance of Three Kingdom is just...wrong. Oh, and I really don't see much point in all those street fights.


Art:
Nothing too fancy...don't expect too much from it, after all it is made in 2003. But it is still decent for its time. Note that I am rating it based on the year of its production, NOT by current standard.


Sound:
I like the OP but everything else is just what one would call "standard" in the anime industry.


Character:
I can understand that the producer tried to build up some character introduction/developments but mostly ended in failure. That is not to say that they did poorly, but rather it was just too much for 13 episodes. (One got to understand that the actual cast for the Romance of Three Kingdom is ENORMOUS, the producer handpicked a very few exceptional ones only)


Enjoyment/Overall:
I don't recommend Ikkitousen to people looking for fan service. It is better for you to watch hentai. Seriously, there are more than enough scenes in Ikkitousen that are on par to hentai. However I do recommend this to fellows who might want to see how the story of Romance of the Three Kingdom can be turned into in a modern day Japan. Overall, I enjoyed the anime and had no regret watching it. In fact I might rewatch it after finishing Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny and Great Guardians.

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Ikkitousen is by no means a good anime. Though, that's not to say that it wasn't rather enjoyable, and I must admit that I was surprised that I was able to finish it, and still feel a sliver of satisfaction after watching it. There were many things that could have been done much better-- that would have made this a better series-- but if you leave your expectations and occasionally your sense of decency behind, this is not a terrible watch.

Story: A good concept gone to waste most of the time, and slightly silly to boot. A plot lightly touching on pre-destination and the inevitability of fate is often overshadowed by minor squabbles or situations clearly designed to pander to more base tastes. That said, there are some moments of inspired story-telling, but these are very, very few and far between. After watching the entire story through to the finish, I must admit that I am left a little confused as to the point of the whole thing. Is destiny inescapable, or can it be overcome with sheer willpower? Even though this should be a thought-provoking ending, I found it felt rather lazy and incomplete.

Art: Some nice character designs, restricted by outdated animation and again pandering to lusty teens. Big-breasted characters, multitudes of up-skirt shots, and clothes apparently the consistency of tissue-paper tell you exactly the demographic this series is aimed at. The background art is so-so, and the fighting sequences are nicely executed-- have seen better though.

Sound: Again, there is nothing particularly outstanding about the OP or ED for this series. In fact, the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with the series as a whole, and feel decidedly out of place. Seiyuu performances aren't terrible, and despite being a rather annoying character, Asano Masumi's performance as Hakufu fits with the feel of the character. Other characters of note are Kaida Yuko as Ryoumou and Watanabe Akeno as Ryoufu.

Character: With a slew of characters from different schools all introduced in thirteen episodes, it can get very difficult to place who is from what school, what their relationships are to one another, and what their motives are for fighting. Often inconsistent characters (see Ryoumou from the first few episodes to the rest of the season), at times shallow personalities and changeable alliances, make it somewhat difficult to empathise with particular characters. Some of the female characters are fleshed out a bit -- not a lot -- but significantly more so than the male characters, who all seem to be suffering from two-dimensional personalities. That's not to say the female characters fare much better. Some moments of character growth shine like diamonds in this series, but again they are very few and far between.

Enjoyment: As a female watching this series, I probably can't rate it as highly as some might, as I found the fan service a little too distracting, and the situations a little too laughable to rate this a 'good' series. Despite multiple 'roll-eyes' scenarios, this series was rather enjoyable. The fights were interesting enough, the characters dilemmas were occasionally interesting and while it wasn't expanded on nearly enough, the whole pre-destination/pre-determination concept was really what kept me hooked throughout the thirteen episodes. Enjoyable in parts, and rather cringe-worthy in parts, I still found myself smiling by the time it was all over.

Overall: Could have been much better than it was. Perhaps toning down some of the fan service and focussing on building a more substantial plot may have made me rate this series a little higher. If story and character development don't matter much to you, and you're looking for a little fan service, this will probably be your thing. If you can't handle a hefty serve of the aforementioned, I think it might be better to give this series a miss. I enjoyed it, but I didn't like it, though I was never expecting it to be a particularly deep or thought-provoking series. So if you are able to lower your expectations and enjoy it for what it is you might find yourself enjoying this series.

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When I read the official review of Ikkitousen, I told myself: "Yea! Another Tenjou Tenge. Some arse kicking fights!" But I was so horribly wrong!!

There is NOTHING great about the series. The characters fight for no reason. They fight like bersekers without using their minds, breaking each other for no reason, then will ally afterwards, then fight each other again, and use insanely powerful blows on each other, but still manage to come out alive. Dreadful!

Regarding character development, there is nothing great again here. The main girl lead is just a battle-addict-crazy. She is accompanied by another girly man who appears to fight like a god, but of which we are not shown almost anything. It's just fight, fight, fight and fight. No story, no reason for fighting.

The story is not well developed. IMHO, I really believe they just copied Tenjou Tenge, changed the characters and created a sort of pseudo story without any meaning. I really mean it, they COPIED Tenjou Tenge (TJTG). Go watch TJTG and you will see the many similarities by yourself.

The only thing good about it is the enormous amount of fan-service and ecchiness. In almost every episodes, you will get to see the panties and bra of almost all the main girl characters. In the middle of the fight, you will see shirts getting ripped and skirts being blown open to reveal the characters` underwear. There is also a fair amount of sex, although nothing much is shown. This anime, with some more ecchiness, would be a hentai. Amidst model-sized bodies, large bust sizes and lots of in-between leg shots, the fight rages... Lolz! Hentai, I tell you!

(I never knew girls would give such kicks with a skirt to expose their panties so often..)

Mind you! The cloth-ripping and underwear-popping-out thingies happen to only girls. The boys NEVER get their clothes torn, no matter what happens. What`s more? A kick is able to reduce a shirt or skirt to shreds, but the underwear remain intact! I don`t know of what material those underwear are made of, but I guess titanium threads. They NEVER get ripped! Skin can get bruised, bones crack, blood splurts but the bra remains undefeated! OMG! o_0

Returning to the story, the characters appear to fight for almost no reason. They wear some ear-ring objects which supposedly contains the soul of legendary fighters. So? They are supposed to fight because of that? And for what? The domination of the territory? In what way is this useful? Wakaranai! I have no single idea! Conclusion? The plot line su*ks!

Now, I would like to point out parallels between Tenjou Tenge and Ikkitousen. Tenjou Tenge (TJTG) comes first, followed by Ikkitousen.

Nagi Souchiro => Sonsaku Hakufu
Bob Makihara => Koukin
Todoh Accademy => Nanyang School
Disciplinary committee => Disciplinary Committee
4 main characters (Nagi, Bob, Masataka, Aya) = 4 main characters (Sonsaku, Koukin, Ryomon, Gakushu)
Main character has a dragon => Main character has a dragon too, though pitifully illustrated
Ultra powerful blows => Here too
Fanservice => Duh! Same!

As you can see, there are many similarities between TJTG. But nevertheless, I will still prefer Tenjou Tenge. I have been deceived by the anime, and I do not believe I would be re-watching it anytime soon. Conclusion: It`s just a fight-fight-fight-ecchi-hentai-fight-kick-fight-ecchi anime with no good plot line. A great enjoyment for those who appreciate fan-service. Watch TJTG if you want the same thing, but with more fun, and better story but with a long filler. (Can't get everything, can you?)

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Ikkitousen: A poor attempt at action, or a drivel of goo at your shoes?

Ikkitousen is not your regular anime, as it masterfully and elegantly sets itself apart from others by being as unoriginal as it can be. Not a common sight in the world of anime today you might conclude and nod, and most everyone can only but concur. Indeed, it is so awful for its genre that even animes that reek of incompetence and utter failure, laugh and triumphantly raise their arms in victory, when compared to this piece of cancer in your lung.

It might not kill you, true, but then again, it might...

Story: 18/100
Story you ask in a manner that is much similar to those who try to resurrect the dead. Story you ask in a manner much very similar to those who strain themselves with effort, becoming exhausted from the sheer pressure of forcibly trying to travel in time with only their minds. Indeed, you are wasting your time, go look elsewhere. As long as you are in this realm you will neither time-travel as likely as you will find a grain of story in this anime. As this anime throws about ideas of books and "chosen ones" with their own made-up words, forcing a community of their own into existence within the anime and finding it logical to make one character fight the next to fight the next to fight the next - indeed, it makes not much sense, none of it, ever. As the anime is coming to a close it tries to no avail to connect all the dots and gather around all the strings, but by then everyone already knows that there is no point trying to make a memorable story from that which never was. It is as foolish as trying to make a car appear in front of your eyes with only a pen at your disposal. This anime tries to redeem its lack of story by a string of events in the end, but horribly fails to do so.

Art: 45/100
There are no qualms to be had with the art, at all; it is decent for its age and for its budget, and does its best with what it has.

Sound 36/100
Both the opening and the ending was awkward to say the least, neither was memorable nor catchy. Definitely not anything to set ones ears on. The music throughout the anime was not memorable either, but the seiyuus (voice-actors) were actually quite okay. Truly, not expected but pleasantly true though.

Character 22/100
Most remarkably no characters you will fall head over heels for, and far from actually liking greatly.There is no more to say about this bit, seeing how awful and incomplete it is, to begin with.

Enjoyment 27/100
Although being a complete waste of time, those who are prone to fanservice will delight in this anime. To give this anime some compliments you can actually only but agree that the fanservice was not too horrible, although remarkably misplaced and foolish.

Overall
Pointless and stupid.

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Ikkitousen is by far the worst anime series I have ever watched. With way to many panty shots, and an overall patheticness surrounding it, I don't understand why you would want to watch it, unless you were into Hentai.
When I read the review for Ikkitousen I thought that it would be worth the watch, but boy was I wrong, I literally had to force myself to watch it to the end so then i could advise people not to watch it. It is awful in every sense of the word.

Lol Bai.

Overview:

A brilliant, modern adaptation of the Chinese novel: Romance of the 3 Kingdoms... in the same manner that the movie Friday is an adaptation of Tale of Genji.


Plot: 1/10

The plot is that a bunch of high schools are engaged in a turf war for control of Japan. The show tries at first to convince us that this is a clever allegory for the warring states period of Chinese history in which 3 kingdoms called Wu, Shu, and Wei fought each other for total domination of China. Firstly, a writer should never start out painstakingly explaining their own allegory and treating the audience like idiots. Secondly, any attempt at being clever or actually being a modernization of the classic novel are tossed out the window about 5 minutes in. This is a soft core porn that makes a half assed attempt at claiming to be a brilliant adaptation of a classic. Honestly I prefer it when the "plot" of a porn involves fucking the pizza delivery guy and not being ridiculously pretentious. The characters all are supposed to represent characters from the novel and for some reason wear magic beads that insure that they will have the same fate as their namesake in the novel. The real plot is that a bunch of chicks fight each other and tear clothes off with every kick and punch. There are also plenty of BDSM scenes involving hand cuffs, erotic asphyxiation, and urination. No one and I repeat NO ONE, has ever watched Ikki Tousen for the plot and left satisfied.

Characters: 1/10

The main character is Hakufu Sansaku, who is supposed to be the reincarnation of Sun Ce. Why the creators chose a secondary character as the series lead and not a larger role like Liu Bei or Guan Yu is honestly beyond me. The main villain, who looks like a bitch and has the threatening power to decimate watermelons, is based of Dong Zhuo. Serious? That guy got killed in the first 50 pages. Apparently a character based on the actual main villain Cao Cao turns up in the 2nd or 3rd season, but honestly I felt I had watched more than enough Ikki Tousen after 1 season! If you haven't read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, let me sum this up in a simpler fashion. The main male protagonist is a bland loser, the only thing developed about the female characters are their tits, and the villains are laughably stupid.

Sound: 2/10

the soundtrack that plays during the fight scenes is completely underwhelming and the the opening and closing themes to quote Fullmetal Jacket, both can suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

Art: 5/10

The art is I guess the high point of this series, if you want to call it a high point. It at least sucks less than everything else. Studio Arms knows how to draw tits decently well.

Enjoyment: 1/10

As a porn, this series probably won't arouse you. As an adaptation of a great Chinese novel, this series is a steaming dump on the source material. As an anime in general...this series sucks man!

Overall: 2/10

If you are a true connoisseur of crap, this is one notably bad anime that you can't afford to miss. If there was an anime version of MST3K, they would watch Ikki Tousen. Strictly for masochists only!

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this is one of the worst and most disgusting animes i have ever seen. thairs no plot to this anime and zero character devilment the main hero is a idiot. and its mostly underwear and brest shots 100% of the time you dount want to watch this anime its a waste of time and if you hear some say ikitousen you beater run for the hills . the voices are 100% horrible.
if you are looking for good anime i recommended sekirei or rossario +vampire thay are two great animes with stroy line and is way better than iki tousen

I'm just gonna try and prevent people from watching this by adding my review here as well.This anime already has those who oppose it,I'm one,but I'd like to point out a few of its ood points as well(if it has any of course)



Story 6/10
For those who lack the knowledge about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms or the Chinese history,then they probably gonna rate it a 1.Good thing for me that I wasn't so clueless and I'm gonna have to thank Dynasty Warriors.Actually the reason why I gave this a try was this reason,the PS2 game by Koei that I so like.But it was a big mistake cause there's no relation between them.It does try to do something "original" but fails in the process for a number of reasons.
1st-Because it's a 13-episode anime.No time to et used to it and characters.
2nd-Speaking about characters,it introduces a lot with very hard names and different kinds of roles that one can hardly remember.
3rd-It doesn't focus on the story,it focuses on the fan-service.
4th-If it still didn't focus on the fanservice it focuses on all the other things except for the story.
5th-If you want to make a good story,let's ignore the fanservice for now.It wouldn't be full of females.
Although it des try to do somethin as far as fate vs freedom of choice goes,but it's so terribly written that its basis is easily ignored.

Art 2/10
I don't have to o into detail.Just cause this is old it's not a big reason enough to explain this anime's aweful art and animation.The characters are just ugly,the hair weird,the animation awkward.

Sound 3/10

Didn't love any of it.The OP was very cheesy,somethin that should not be taken seriously.Heck I don't even remember the ED or any of the in anime music accompany the events.That alone shows that who ever decided to animate it didn't intend even for a little to make this a worthy anime.

Characters 2/10
I couldn't stand the main character.We have to do with an immature little irl who all it cares about is beat others,et naked in front of her cousin and call him a pervert after that.It's a shame that she is entitled being the strongest just as every main character but can't even beat her own mother who punishes her by spanking her(one more reason why it can't be taken seriously)
Too many characters to remember that only appear once and then they disappear.Maybe Kouki was good out of the whole cast,but his role was only to appear in two or three episodes.He then disappears like the rest to make way for fanservice.Except for Kouki it's worth pointing out another good character and that bein Ryomou Shimei before being raped by Ryofu.

Enjoyment 3/10
I literally forced myself to watch all 13 episodes and I congratulate myself that I made it,same goes for the rest of the fellows.This was more of a hentai than a anime.Call it ecchi or whatever,this was just censored hentai and nothing more,nothing less.Even hentai would be more enjoyable than this anime.

Overall 4/10
This is high,but I consider myself a generous person and I wouldn't want to drag with it the good elements you can find in it(even a few) by giving it 1.
It tries to hard to be many things at times,but by surprise fails in all of them.

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I often consider "Ikkitousen" as a crappier version of "Tenjou Tenge" - they are two of the most popular fan-service filled fighting anime around. But the resemblance ends at this point. While "Tenjou Tenge" upsets the trend of ecchi fightin anime by actually being GOOD (yep, you heard me correctly), "Ikkitousen" came off as a more typical offering of this type by letting the fanservice get in the way of everything else. In fact, "Ikkitousen" is so overflowing with fanservice that it's probably the closest an anime can get to being hentai without actually becoming a hentai.

The concept behind Ikkitousen is rather bizarre. Basically, people who were involved in the Three Kingdoms era (one of the most illustrious periods from ancient Chinese history) are being reincarnated as school girls from different schools. These girls all have a lust for battle (predictably), and so the battles from the Three Kingdoms era gets played out between these people from rival schools (each school is supposed to represent a Kingdom I think). It's like an anime about delinquents with a peculiar twist, and with all the characters being girls (in order to provide fanservice, of course).

By now, you've probably fallen off your chair laughing at this utterly ridiculous concept, but you might be surprised to know it didn't turn out to be a complete disaster... but not for the reason you might think. The reason had to less to do with competent story development and more to do with the fact that, between all the ecchi and fighting, there's not really much room left for "Ikkitousen" to expand on its farcical ideas. It's content to mostly sit back and give the occasional two-sentence narrative of how a current event is a parallel to what went on in the Three Kingdoms era. Though I'm vaguely aware of some parts of the Three Kingdom's history, I won't pretend I'm an expert, not by any stretch of the imagination. Armed with my primitive knowledge, the barebone armchair narrative helped me to understand... virtually nothing at all. Of course, it doesn't help that they're referring to those famous historical figures by their names translated into Japanese, but still, I can just imagine how lost someone would feel coming into this anime with little or no knowledge about that part of Chinese history. On the other hand, not developing the storyline can probably be considered to be a blessing in disguise. The concept is absurd enough as it is, god knows how it could have turned out if they actually tried to work something from it.

As it stands, the anime ditched most of the story in favour of the ecchi and action. Though there are some intriguing personalities thrown in the mix (well, intriguing by the standard of an ecchi anime at least), they suffer somewhat from the lack of cohesion in the story, as it's hard to figure out what their motivations are at times. The action sequences are quite awesome in places, especially when you compare it against other anime of similar genre (such as "Variable Geo") and see how sucky they tend to be. However, the fanservice factor is just a plain nuisance. Its presence is so strong that it tramples over everything else that's going on, and is often distracting at the most inappropriate moments. It really needs to take a leaf out of "Tenjou Tenge"'s book and see how to provide fanservice without disupting the viewer from other aspects such as action and story. And while it's at it, it may as well learn a thing or two about proper plot development too!

Other than a handful of great fights, this anime has very little else to offer. If you're after an anime of this particular genre, I would point you in the direction of "Tenjou Tenge"... unless it's eichi that's primarily what you're searching for.

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Seven high schools in Japan are waging out an all-out turf war for ruling the terriorities and one fighter stands out and her name is Hakufu Sonsaku. She is a high school student transfer to Nanyo Academy and she is a highly skilled fighter, but to make more amusing, she has the personality of a ditzy valley girl.

Hakufu Sonsaku is basically just there for the money shots in the series. In mostly every scene in the series, this is an upskirt panty shot whenever she's fighting or doing whatever the hell she does. Not to mention, she really adds the unnecessary relationship between her and her cousin Koukin whenever she obviously does stuff like spanking her ass, almost having her top off, and her uniform getting ripped to shreds every time she fights. Seriously, who made those uniforms, Brawny? Koukin is basically the guy who gets nervous whenever he's in the presence of being near girls' breasts; however, he gets a pass because IT'S HIS FUCKING COUSIN. The other characters like Ryomou are really there for more applied fanservice and Ryofu for the same reason and for a little yuri. That's right. She goes both ways with another girl named Chinkyu and blah blah blah. Who really cares?


As for the animation……Oh wait, what animation exists here? It’s mostly still shots of fighting instead of actual fighting because the animators were too busy of ridiculous boob physics. Some of the background work looks fine but still, the main part of the series was supposed to be the fights and yet the fights are really weak and uninspired to intent.

The music is so-so and nothing to give a damn about. It’s mostly generic J-Pop in the beginning and in the end something that was sentimental and yet doesn’t fit the tone to the series due to his overwhelming ridiculousness and speaking of that, I can’t believe how bad the Geneon/New Generation Pictures dub is and fuck, this is one of the worst dubs I ever watch with Carrie Savage, whose natural charm of naïve and cuteness, doesn’t work on a character who’s not even hateful but just pure damn annoying. You might as well just watch the sub…..wait, wrong statement…..yeah, just don’t watch it.

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I began watching this as a filler in between my other shows. I finished this season for 1 purpose only, to write this.

UNLESS you enjoy overly ecchi content and RAPE scenes that end in death, I suggest you avoid this at all cost. I personally am unable to handle RAPE or blood when it comes to women and this reflects in my ratings. Same reason why I refused to watch Freezing past a few episodes. (I broke a new 300 dollar monitor when I got pissed and lost it.)

I don't have anything else for this. Watch at your own discretion.

Ikkitousen stands as a prime example of what's wrong with the majority of anime in the market today. A decent amount of action topped with too much fanservice. Even amongst the fanservice crowd, it was too much for me to swallow. Showing pantyshot after pantyshot was the equivalent of overfeeding a goose for foie gras (yes, I was forced to watch it in full by my friend - as a result we are no longer friends). And even with that analogy it left a bad taste in my mouth.

It had a plot. I think. If it was anything worth remembering, I would write it here. Funny enough, I've actually seen hentai with a better written plot than this (Urotsukidōji anyone?) If it was a hentai anime, sure, I would watch it for what it is. But it's a mainstream, albeit mature-themed anime (as if there's anything really mature about it to begin with) that caters to those fans that like seeing animated boobs, butts and panty lines as they're kicking and posing in overly suggestive positions. The average adolescent boy or young man would have a wank fest at the series, but even past the first episode I thought it went simply overboard.

I didn't bother writing out a full in-depth review on what I liked and didn't like about it, because honestly, this anime has about as much depth as a bowl of pho after a starving third world family has been through it. The fact that they tried to justify the story being based off the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a riot in itself.

If you're a horny guy under the age of 20 that likes tits, ass and fighting in-between, this is surely the anime for you. If you want something with even a grain of substance, don't bother.

Story: 1
Art: 4
Sound: 3
Character: 1
Enjoyment: 2
Overall: 1

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Okay not going to bother with a full review since I only watched 3 episodes but I feel like I need to say something about it. Maybe it's because I haven't looked into Romance Of The Three Kingdoms which it's said to be based on but from what I've seen the story's fairly bland. Seven schools at war and the main character is a decent fighter with a secret power which many other fighters recognize which leads her to have all sorts of battles.

I really expected to like this more since I always enjoy anime like Sekirei and Rosario + Vampire. Characters were pretty lame and the voice acting was subpar at best. The Art is probably the best aspect of this anime and it's not all that great. Sure some of the girls are hot but the fight scenes could be better.

I've seen some decent reviews for it though so maybe it gets better as it goes along but personally if it doesn't grab me after 3 episodes, I don't plan to continue. I wish I had more to say but I didn't see enough to review it any further. No offence to those of you that like it but this just isn't for me.

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This is a good series to get into if you like all kinds of things. You'll like it if you enjoy ecchi anime, fighting anime, or yes, So Bad Its Good series. I enjoy it for being a good show myself, but I can see how people would watch it out of sick fascination. The fact of the matter is, most people haven't read, and quite a few probably haven't even heard of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so the story details it takes from that shouldn't matter. It's a fun series that knows what crowd is is trying to appeal to. I got into it through the English manga, and I enjoy the macekering done to it; but I would suggest wary viewers start with the subtitled version of the anime, because the English voice acting is subpar, but does get a bit funnier because they can throw in more jokes with the script changes. If you're the kind of anime fan who can enjoy all kinds of shows and will give anything a chance, give this a try. If the anime doesn't get you into it, try the wackier English manga version for a bit. If you still don't like it, that's fine, but it won't have ruined your world forever because you watched/read it for a while.

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First of all, I'm a girl that enjoys shounen and ecchi series but this was way TOO much -.-"
This is not really a good anime but I enjoyed some parts watching it.
I really liked the story, most characters are well developed and the art is such a classic but... BOOBS. PANTIES. BUTTS. That's everything about this anime, it's like they take advantage of every silly opportunity they can use to see girls' underwear or their boobs :/
At the end, I just got tired of too much exhibitionism.

Ikkitousen is a mixed bag in terms of what you will hear from people largely due to its heavy fanservice. Many of the reviews you will read will mention the excess of fanservice and overall it just a waste of time and is nothing but boobs and panty shots. That aspect of the series isn't hidden, it isn't a surprise, so to watch something you don't like then bash it for the thing you knew you didn't like beforehand is quite silly.

With the above being said, this series is heavy on fanservice, but know that compared to other fanservice-heavy series, the ecchi within this series is 95% for YOU, the fan, has near zero to do with the interaction of characters and how they perceive each other with the exception of minor throwaway characters usually a part of a 'mob'. The female fighters of Ikkitousen don't have the time to worry about the state of their clothing in the face of an enemy who has the intent to do serious harm or kill, they are professional fighters and largely behave as such. The world of Ikkitousen isn't filled with nervous nosebleeds, blushing bashful girls, typical ecchi antics and weak male leads, so if your looking for that, this is not for you. Ikkitousen is serious, deadly serious. Not like a typical shounen action series where people get beat up and sleep it off; people get seriously hurt, hospitalized, disabled, and die.

Story:
Ikkitousen is a based on the Romance of the Three kingdoms, and as such, has an extremely high overhead in terms of potentiality to understand right off the bat. Personally this is one of the most difficult anime series we've tried to fully understand and grasp. After our 3rd re-watch in 4 years we only now feel that we fully understand it enough to write a review about it. This adaptation of the Three Kingdoms is not set in a historical time period as would be expected, but is instead superimposed on a modern day Japanese kanto region with the kingdoms and lands being represented by a series of high schools. These high schools in the region are essentially treated as kingdoms and lands and their students as warriors, each with the potential to be conquered and overthrown. In this world, the souls of warriors and lords from the Three Kingdoms era are sealed within 'Sacred Beads' and the spirits of these warriors and lords heavily influence the fates and destinies of these modern day students (simply called fighters) who bear the same name. It should also be noted that there is gender switching as this is modern day school life and male and females are both equally present opposed to the warring era where nearly everyone whom the story involves is male, so a large percent of the females share fates and names of male warriors of past (if you don't already know the Three Kingdoms, this will not bother you). Because of the modern day superimposition, sometimes some points of the story may seem a bit far-fetched, but nothing out of the realm of it being an anime, but what you must keep in mind that it is supposed to be as such, being a huge reincarnation of an entire era played out with high school students. Clothes rip, a lot, leaving ample room for fanservice, but what most don't notice is that the in-world reason for this is that, although not always apparent, the fighters in the world of Ikkitousen use ki/chi with their attacks which inevitably effect clothing, and the show isn't limited by audience or rating to how much clothing will be effected (compared to something like Dragonball Z where ki effected clothing only sometimes or very little).

Story and Characters:
Ikkitousen as a whole is a compelling story about conflicting feelings and emotions and a constant struggle towards the acceptance or rejection of predetermined fates given to fighters at birth. Most of the characters know history of The Three Kingdoms and the fates they have been handed down. Most characters are decently fleshed out considering the series length and some of the main focused ones undergo quite deep development and growth. The actions of the past are inevitably heavily influential over the actions and sequence of events in the world. At times the influx of information can leave you feeling a bit overwhelmed at the story, for Ikkitousen suffers for what we like to call 'The Curse of the +/-12 ep anime'. Its scope was too wide for its duration and because of that, we feel some leniency should be allowed. You will have to try to keep up with both first and last names of each character, what school they are from out of about 7, the historical significance and relations between characters atop of present day current events. All that being said it is a comfortable challenge and one that should be embraced for it encourages your mind to watch more actively over a passive experience.

Story and Art:
As Ikkitousen is mostly about fighting and the life and fates of fighters we can't ignore that. Unsure of weather to say it was a budgetary constraint or simply how it was meant to be, but the action sequences are merely slightly above average with the art itself being quite standard of its era (early 2000s). Very few series have long drawn out fluent fight scenes and this is no exception. It definitely serves its purpose, but fights are not very long and consist of mainly several volleys before a winner is determined. It is also worthy to note that those of you who have feminist-type views, though you may not find agreement in the ample bosoms and skimpy clothing and its ease of removal, there is one thing of much importance and that is that females are not damsels; far from damsels the female members of the cast are strong, and deadly so. The females of the series are as strong as, and have the potential to be easily stronger than, any given male character at any given time. That isn't to say that simply all females are stronger than males but simply that gender has no bearing on strength in this series, and that is refreshing seeing as it can easily sway one way or the other. Much of the series you may find yourself mentally creating a ladder of sorts on how each character's strength compares to another in terms of who they fought and won or lost against vs others, and it is encouraged you do so for it creates a playing field for how future potential interactions may go and their relation to one another.

Summary and enjoyment:
Overall don't be put off by the fanservice and come to believe its just another serving of ecchi as usual. If you hate fanservice, maybe give it a skip, but if you love action, historical influences, an over-arching epic-style plot, and even gender strength equality then this all may have a heavier weight than an aversion to fanservice. We found it very enjoyable, more with each re-watch due possibly due to becoming more mature to understand it better. But do keep in mind that although far from perfect, Ikkitousen is an enjoyable first building block for a long continuing saga that has great promise to flesh out and improve upon in its 3 sequels.

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So, I respect fanservice. Ikkitousen has a lot of fanservice. But oh my god, it is absolutely not worth it here.

This season, and most of the series, is a nightmare. The art in season 1 is terrible, but it does make a significant leap as the series moves on. The plot is also so poor. In the end, you find yourself wondering what the point of all their bullshit is, other than simply being compelled via destiny. That is not a plot you grow attached to. The characters are not diverse at all and their names are completely bland and hard to memorize. There are scenes where two characters refer to the same person, by completely different names within the same 10 seconds. This absolutely boiled my blood. This mixture of characters that are difficult to distinguish and a uninspiring plot crushes the story and leaves you caring for nothing. I'm sorry, but do not waste your time here. Actually, if you want a decent Ikkitousen experience, proceed to season 3.

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Ikkitousen's story is just too confusing and mixed up if you have vague knowledge of Chinese History, which was my case. Even so, I watched the whole anime since it is decently drawn and animated. The soundtrack is decent, nothing too astonishing nor boring. The development of the characters was lacking; a lot of characters were introduced too quickly and you lost track who he/she was, why he/she appeared, or what were his/her intentions. This was probably due to the attempt of condensing a lot of Chinese history in 13 episodes.

The anime is alright overall. It entertains the viewer while watching it, with a lot of eyecandy for those who like ecchi and fan service. I would actually recommend it.

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This is my first review ever, so I would appreciate some if possible.

The first thing I wanted to point out (that mostly everyone did already) is that the creators really likes boobs, panties and buttocks that it's ridicolous, even in Highschool of the Dead it wasn't this ridicolous IMO.
The girls flashed their panties when they were kicking someone so many times that I lost count (or maybe I just suck at keeping count)
Now, enough of me babbling about pointless stuff and on with the review

Story - 4, Oooohhh, that gotta hurt. The story is basically based on/ripped straight from the Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (which I haven't read), I can't say anything else about it.
Every "fighter" has like this wierd earring crap containing the "soul" of some ancient figher, the earrings actually doesn't serve any purpose for anyone, the only thing the earring does is "forcing" the fighters to fight each other like a f*cking "gang from da hood". It's stupid.

Art - 7, Yeah :D. Ikkitousen has good artwork, no doubt, but it's not perfect, like the backgrounds for example, there's isn't much more I can complain about when it comes to the art, maybe it was the eye candy here and there that made me not to complain too much.

Sound - 6, Good. I really liked the intro (and no, it wasn't the embarrassing shots of Hakufu that made me like the intro), I would also say that the sound is pretty decent for an anime this old but god, the VAs didn't impress me one bit (the english dub, CURSE ME!), the sound part would get a 7 if the VA wasn't so bad.

Character - 4, Meh. We got a feminine-looking guy, a blonde bimbo, some half-emo chick who appeared to (at least to me) being saddistic, but apparently not.
Then we got minor characters who's stupid, like the rest of the cast.

Enjoyment - 5, Ok. I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy Ikkitousen, but what made me keep watching it was not the girls getting their clothes got ripped apart, not the panty shots either, it was for one, and one thing only: So I can understand WTF is happening in the later Ikkitousen series.

Overall - 6, Bottom line: Watchable, but not re-watchable.
It isn't a good anime, I'm sorry fanboys, the only thing I can say about it is that it's decent, nothing more.


Feel free to give me some advice on how I can improve my review-writing. :)

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This is quite the undertaking: One of the most vocal Ikkitousen fans around tries to either convince people to give this cult ecchi series a shot or avoid it like the plague. ...if only it were that simple. As much as I've championed the series over the years, I've also had some reluctance and reservations about giving a whole-heated recommendation to those that have asked me about Ikkitousen for fear of leading people astray and potentially wasting their time. So, hopefully I'll be able to coherently explain said reservations, which mainly apply to the first season, while also trying to explain what exactly season one has going for it beyond "There's just something special about it and that special thing works for me."

I might as well address the elephant in the room right off the bat, Ikki's artwork for season one was not great in 2003 and it's not great now. I wouldn't say that I have bone to pick with Shinya Hasegawa, but his character design is my lead reservation for why I say that Ikkitousen season one is a little rough compared to the massive improvements made in later seasons with Arms Corporation and Rin Shin at the helm, which have also aged but significantly more gracefully than Ikki season one’s character art. But at the same time, I suppose I could make a case for the artwork being nostalgic of the "good old days" of anime in the late 90's and 2000's and the purist notion of hand drawn animation, which wouldn't be a forgone conclusion for those like me who grew up in the 90's and 2000's. So just for the sake of clarity, I describe the character design as being just competent and could have used a revision or two, but it's also not as bad as Aku no Hana. Other than that, the environments/backgrounds and animations work well enough I suppose. It’s a far cry from how elaborate animation has become in later years, but the early 2000’s were simpler times.

Another, but significantly less of a concern, is Ikki season one's story. It's pretty straight forward and easy enough to follow: Hakufu is pretty much your shonen adventure hero akin to Goku both in terms of having a love of fighting and also their intelligence; specifically in that they’re both pretty dumb. As far as introducing a series goes, it's pretty standard. But given that Ikkitousen isn't exactly the Pulp Fiction or the Unusual Suspects of anime, the standard "protagonist on a quest to be the best that no one ever was" works just fine. After all, the story of an ecchi series might as well keep the plot simple in order to keep the other form of "plot" going. But with that said, there are some moments, or set pieces, that are kind of real and even a bit raw. If anything, Ikki season one's story works best as a character study since many of the events are relevant to Hakufu's growth and progression throughout the narrative.

While the story works well enough given the tools that ecchi generally gives, I can say with confidence that the characters can be one of Ikkitousen's strong suites depending on what you're looking for. As I've said previously, Hakufu is your dumb but capable primary protagonist that provides comic relief. Koukin is one of the few somewhat important male characters of the show and mainly serves as a foil to Hakufu's stupidity. Ryomou is your anti-hero and a way better Rei Ayanami. Chuuei Toutaku is the big bad antagonist who has a thing for tummy licks. Goei is a MILF. Kan'u doesn't become a main character until later on. And so on and so forth. The point is that there are plenty of characters to latch on to, though the female ones are generally the most important, as expected.

With some of my more elaborate thoughts out of the way, I think it's time to almost wrap this up with some miscellaneous thoughts. Ikki season one does deliver on the martial arts action set pieces. Given that a sub plot is a king of iron first tournament against the rival schools, it would be pretty silly if no none threw a punch, and season one's fights are memorable enough. As for the ecchi, I'm sure that saying "panty shot" a few times in a row rings familiar, and yes, season one delivers on that front as well, probably more so than the frights thanks to key scenes involving Ryofu. The Japanese voice cast works well enough. I can’t speak on the English cast much since my vague memory of Ryomou's English VO describing "fight orgasms" makes me recoil, so, my vote goes to watching the series subbed, And the opening theme, "Drivin' through the Night," makes me beg to have "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls on repeat as a significantly lesser form of torture. In other words: I don't like the opening theme very much. More power to those that do because it is not my thing, at all.

So with all that said and done, can I actually, without any sort of irony, malintent, or rose-tinted glasses, recommend that anyone watch Ikkitousen? Well, for better or for worse, my answer is going to have to be "it depends" because it's niche appeal really depends on the audience. So would I recommend this to those that are completely new too anime? No, that would be absurd, same to the Shonen Jump casuals, or anime fans that only stick to "high-minded" shows and movies. So though what I'm going to say should be pretty obvious, Ikkitousen (season one) is for ecchi fans, though specifically for those who like an old school art style, doesn't equate ecchi to just being harems, enjoys watching a very likeable cast of femme fatales duke it out, and actually want some kind of story to follow. Yes, season one is a balancing act between its faults and its niche strengths, but it did start the beginning for a series that’s a hidden gem to the right audience and has continued to go on for multiple seasons unlike it's contemporaries at the time, such as Tenjou Tenge.

And also, Western Wolves is a thing. Do with that however you see fit.

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