Sakigake!! Otokojuku

Sakigake!! Otokojuku Review
Now I understand that this isn't Fist of North Star which you can obviously see the resemblance and is also most likely the reason Toei decided to pick up this series to do an anime adaptation for because they were obviously trying to create another Fist of the North Star so it's not surprising if this was their plan.


Story (5/10) Average
The Story starts off like how a lot of anime starts off (which I don't mind), this is a slow start with a combination of introducing characters and episodic arguably filler comedic episodes in between. Then once it gets all of the character ... it takes off.
You can break this entire anime adaptation into about 4 Arcs.
1) Otokojuku Introduction Arc
2) Second Years Part 1 Akashi Gouji Arc
3) Second Years Part 2 Date Omito Arc
4) Third Years Daigouin Jaki Arc
With about Four Arc covered in the anime adaptation by Toei within 34 episodes I think as far as pacing with the first arc could have been better there is a bit too many little filler comedy episodic episodes within that arc. Now I'm not saying there's a problem with those types of episodes but one can easily tell that the last arc (3rd Years Arc) suffered because Toei most likely (and this happens a lot to Toei) ran out of budget. Certain fights where entirely skipped in the last arc only to be shown to use in quick slide shows by a character telling another character (who was asking what happened) what happened and what he missed, it was a sad attempt to quick skip over fights that could have been good and where most likely not skipped in the Manga which has 300+ Chapters if I'm not mistaken. Toei obviously just wanted to quickly throw this adaptation out there as pacing suffered in my opinion.

Art (7/10) Good
For an anime that came out in the late 80's you can't really judge it by how things look today. But you can compare it to how other things looks back then like the other Toei animated adaptation Fist of the North Star. Now when you take that into consideration this looks identical to that obviously it was the same animators and artist from that team to do this and I didn't have a problem with it. I know how Toei does things to I my expectations where already at a point were I could be impressed or disappointed I kind of knew what I was in for.

Sound (8/10) Very Good
Probably the best thing about this show is the sound and by sound I mean everything sound related. The Opening was catchy I never skipped it, the voice actors were good, the OSTs that played through out the anime was also enjoyable and it fit very well. Even though I did hear sound effects that I know Toei obviosuly migrated from FOTNS to here (example the nerve reaction sound effect prompts in FOTNS when Kenshiro hit's someone's vital points and also the explosion sound of that person when it happens) but I didn't necessarily mind it but I do feel they could have found or created a sound effect that was unique for the anime instead of being lazy and just re-using stuff but oh well it was the 80s and it's Toei.

Character (6/10) Fine
I think the characters introduced was fine nothing more nothing less. But I do feel a backstory on Momotaro should have been addressed whether the manga did it or not we do not know anything about him. If anyone got a good backstory presentation I would say it would be Togashi Genji but even the way they present it was fine of mediocre (and this most likely the mangaka's fault but Toei once again). He had a reasonable backstory which I felt connected to but Toei I felt could have done a better job presenting it as some details on his backstory weren't explain until the very last episode (which was a 17 minutes of recap of the entire anime.) All the other characters that had backstory were fine, little or none-existent which I'm not asking for a amazing backstory for every single character it's just the one's they decided to focus on should have been done better. And I would talk about Plot armor but I'll save that for the next section.

Enjoyment (6/10) Fine
My enjoyment of the entire anime adaptation is sitting at a 6 which is fine. The one thing about this anime that urked me a bit at first then quite a lot around the end is the plot armor. I'm not going to say anymore about it but just know this anime doesn't like to kill off it's characters it'll definitely spend the time building up a death and the tragedy of it when it happens and watching the other characters cry over it but then something will happen and they'll try to vaguely explain how this person isn't dead which is fine when you do it like once maybe twice or three times the most but the amount of plot armor in this series definitely felt like a slap to my face. Other than that enjoyment of other things like the comedy was fine not hilarious just fine, the fight scenes were also fine nothing mind blowing just fine, honestly the mot enjoyment I got out of this anime was singing along to the intro music.

Overall (6/10) Fine
The anime I personally felt would have probably been better if it was not in the hands of Toei basically trying to make another hit like FOTNS (even the the series hints at a lot of the similarities between the to down to character design between characters examples include Akashi's should pads or Hien basically looking like Shin from FOTNS's twin brother) that doesn't give them the right to try and treat it like it's FOTNS because at the end of the day it's not FOTNS it's Sakigake!! Otokojuku and I don't respect Toei for the decisions they made when it came to adapting this series it could have been better if it gets a remake by a different company in the future you would know what I mean but this isn't the first time I've been unsatisfied by the decisions of Toei but they still get me every time.

I'll just say it flat out. I don't think this show is all that good. There are a few factors that are keeping me from giving it a lower score, it has SOME memorable moments. Like when Ryu runs on the legendary treadmill of death, that's not what it's called, but I'm calling it that anyway; very fitting. And it also has SOME good fights. Like Kenshiro w/sword vs. Bigger Kenshiro w/bigger sword. I'd call it a cock fight, but I'm above that (^w^). The reason why Japan gets so many earthquakes is because it's the sound of the character's massive swinging logs slamming against ... the floor. Causing tectonic plates to shift. Otokojuku's goal is to be the manliest anime to ever man. And I gotta say, it mans well. This show has a lot of testosterone. Otokojuku is a militaristic high school for troublemakers and delinquents. This show gives me flashbacks to when I was in boot camp, so I'm a little biased, considering I hated that entire experience.

Leader of the first years, Momotarou Tsurugi. Clearly inspired by Kenshiro. I find it somewhat funny how his friends call him "Momo" all the time. Momo meaning "peach" in Japanese. It's just a little silly whenever I hear it, because they're calling this huge manly man a peach. His friends, Genji Togashi, Ryu Toramaru, J, and Hidemaro Gokukoji must survive the trials and tribulations of Otokojuku. There's not much I can say about this show. It starts off as this goofy, delinquent, comedy series that takes advantage of it's gross-out humor, then it evolves into this seemingly serious battle shounen series. I guess that's technically better than before, however I find that element of Otokojuku to be very obnoxious and tiresome. The main group of characters must fight to the death or go through this "legendary" trial that no one have ever defeated. It's a bit cliché, and Otokojuku does this over and over and over again. You quickly get tired of that formula, because most of the show is just constant trails. Now that I think about it, I believe this battle shounen aspect is about two-thirds of the whole show. I might be wrong about that, I can't remember, sorry. My point is that the story arcs are very repetitive and drawn out.
Comedy is subjective...duh. With Otokojuku, I wasn't really vibing with it's sense of humor. I'm sure someone out there loves it when a character farts in another character's face or whenever a black character is introduced they're portrayed as dumb fuck with no manners, who can only speak in broken English or when the upperclassmen try to sabotage whatever the first years are up to and screw up every single time because Momotarou "Peach Man" Tsurugi is so ahead of the curb. I didn't really like this show all that much. I'm glad I watched it, but I'll never go back to it again. Go watch Hokuto No Ken. That series is infinitely better than this one. And there's better delinquent anime out there. Be-bop High School, Kyou Kara Ore Wa, and I'll reluctantly recommend Cromartie High. That show quickly stopped being funny for me, but the beginning episodes made me laugh more than this one. Otokojuku doesn't have much to offer except for some cool fights and a cool OP. Not a fan.

Story: What story? It's mostly trials/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Characters: 4/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall: 5/10