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.

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.

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.

Watching this anime felt like a crawl. Not to say I didn't like it I just feel as though It could have been way better, not to say it sucked, because it didn't. I was very confused when I started watching this anime, I was lost 4-5 episodes into it, but to my discovery everything started coming together. I suggest if anyone who hasn't seen this anime but wants to see it to come into it with an open mind. After a couple episodes I had to lower my expectations after figuring out it wasn't going to pan out how I thought or wanted ... it to. The story was overall decent, but as I mention before it could of been better if they put more effort into it. By all means don't let my review or anyone elses stop you from watching it. To each is own. Enjoy ;)

This show has a lot of characters, but it goes in depth with why they are there and how they got there. This series has a few ideas to pick up. One is the idea of destiny and whether you can control it or alter it. The characters have a wide variety from an innocent and loving girl to complete psychopaths. But each and every character has a story that is told (whether in the first series or not). This anime has a lot of fan service in and out of its fight scenes (some have the purpose of showing how determined the characters to ... showing how "Girly" they are). This show has a mix of school life, fight scenes, strong vs. weak, how people change, repetition of history, and of the likelihood to change your destiny.

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.

I decided to watch Ikki Tousen. I watched the whole series for this post, since it's all the same so it's not worth it making separate posts about every season, special, and OVA. Ikki Tousen was one of the legendary ecchi anime of the 2000s. In the late 2000s and early 2010s it was one of the biggest punching bags of the online anime community because of not only the fanservice, but also how badly written the plot was, and the idea that it even attempted to have a plot in the first place when the whole point of the story is ... the fanservice, but the fanservice takes away from what semblance of story there actually was here. Even I hated it when I first saw it a long time ago for many of the same reasons, which in retrospect I think are kind of pretentious. Don't get me wrong if you can't enjoy this anime I definitely understand why, but make no mistake this series knows exactly what it is.

It's about a bunch of sexy girls who wear skimpy clothing and fight each other for increasingly convoluted reasons, and when they fight their already barely clothing gets ripped off of them frequently. I say convoluted, but at its base it's basically a martial arts anime, and it has a lot of the tropes and themes of martial arts anime at the time, just not utilized very good. But I enjoy it for what it is. While I do still prefer ecchi anime like Maken Kii which are basically just slice of life with fanservice, not seemingly trying to be anything more, this one still delivers on the goods. Honestly the most surprising thing about this series for me was the fact that the most recent installment came out as recent as 2022.