Togainu no Chi

Togainu no Chi is an embarrassment.

It is an embarrassment to Nitro+, the producers of the source material. It is an embarrassment to A-1 Pictures, who have proven with titles like Birdy the Mighty DECODE and Ookiku Furikabutte that they can do better. But the most tragic part is how horrifyingly embarrassing it is to the BL genre and its fans. The genre, despite its booming popularity and flourishing diversity in manga and doujinshi, suffers greatly somewhere in the transition to animation—for some reason, the anime industry doesn’t like the genre very much, and even hugely popular titles are treated to adaptations with cut corners and ... tight budgets. This does nothing to improve the reputation of BL, whose detractors dismiss it all as shallow, pandering garbage, insulting and even offensive to actual homosexuals; and its fans and followers as noisy, awkward high-school girls of unrefined taste with no appreciation for the finer points of artistic pornography.

Togainu may be the greatest slight to the reputation of the genre yet.

The story is simple (but don’t let the story know that—it carries itself as though it is the most sobering parade of man’s inhumanity to man since the last time someone made a holocaust film): in the not-so-distant future, a third world war has split Japan into two fractions: one which has been civilised and rebuilt (of which we see very little), and another which is a lawless wasteland. The main character, Akira, is some kind of professional street fighter in the more civilised region before he is falsely accused of murder. While awaiting trial, a strange woman offers him freedom on the condition that he move to Toshima, the lawless region, and participate in some kind of battle royale. The prize is, from what I can gather, leadership of some kind of illicit drug company, which the strange woman wants to take down from the inside.

You may have noted that my plot description is rather vague. That’s because, even after completing the show, I’ve barely been able to string together a series of events. The show is a clusterfuck. Firstly, the backstory—the splitting of Japan—is never mentioned in the series itself. I learned that from the plot summary on MAL. In retrospect, the opening narration of the first episode—delivered by an utterly bored, slow, monotonous and uninvolved Takumi Yamazaki—was probably describing the war and the proceeding division, but if it is, it’s through a metaphor so thick and incomprehensible that it’s completely nonsensical if the viewer is not already familiar with the plot (a point which I’ll return to later). Every episode opens with a similar narration, each slathered liberally with “metaphors” and “analogies” and other such things that the scriptwriter smugly pats himself on the back for remembering from secondary school, and none of them are any more meaningful than the others—and once the character n (pronounced ‘Nano’), who has been providing these narrations, enters the story, the viewer is treated to the same half-assed pseudo-depth in his dialogue.

Speaking of n, let’s take a little break to talk about the characters. Though the show boasts a fairly broad cast, the scriptwriter (or, possibly, the author of the original game) actually only knows how to write three kinds of characters. Akira, n, and Shiki all share a personality (or lack thereof): they are dead-eyed, silent, constantly bored, and rude and dismissive to even their comrades (but it’s okay, you guys, because they all have dark and tragic pasts that are never explained). Keisuke, Rin, and Motomi also share a personality: the ‘team cheerleader’, a ray of sunshine in dark and gloomy Toshima (maybe it wouldn’t be so dark if the animators didn’t airbrush solid black onto every frame). And every other cast member shares the third personality: annoying. Oh, sure, they have little traits and quirks slipped in to make them seem different—Shiki kills people, Rin acts like a twelve-year-old-girl, Arbitro partakes in gay orgies (I’ll also return to that later)—but they have such a lack of real personality, motivation and relationships that they are impossible to sympathise with or really feel anything for.

Shiki is supposed to be an ominous antagonist, but all he really does is wield a sword as opposed to a knife (like most of the cast) and wear black leather. Kiriwar and Gunji are supposed to be fearsome opponents whose quarrels provide spots of comic relief, but they’re so unfunny and so unintimidating that they feel more like a waste of time. And so on and so forth for every other cast member. I’m willing to forgive Akira’s lack of personality, to an extent—though I haven’t personally experienced the visual novel, the role of the protagonist in a BL game is usually little more than a cock magnet. That said, the scriptwriter could have at least tried to be flexible.

The series, with its convoluted writing that seems almost as if it’s trying to be harsh and unwelcoming to newcomers to the franchise, appears at first glance to be pandering to the game’s diehard fanbase. Yet, simultaneously, it drives off the diehard fans by stripping the story of all the naked, sweaty man-humping for which it is so beloved. In the anime, explicit homosexuality and eroticism becomes the exclusive property of the antagonists—Arbitro wouldn’t be such a wildly offensive depiction of the ‘depraved homosexual’ if he wasn’t the only character having actual gay sex. In this regard, Togainu fails for the same reason most eroge adaptations fail—when stripped of its sex appeal, the story is left to fend for itself, and it often does not fare well. But the difference between Togainu and a series like, say, Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka is that at least AkaSaka still makes time to denude its ladies and reward the viewer’s patience with gratuitous underthings and bare flesh. The cast of Togainu rarely, if ever, removes so much as a glove.

Which is probably for the better, considering to my next point: the animation. The horrible, awful animation. Togainu is hugely popular within the BL fandom and one would expect it to receive a lavish treatment—which it seemed to, when the PVs and opening animation were released. The opening, set to a Hot Topic-core J-rock number by GRANRODEO, boasts smooth, dynamic animation with thick, bold lines; the promotional videos were montages of exciting, intense, fast-paced fight scenes. At a passing glance, the animation seems, if not cutting-edge, at least impressive and visually stimulating.

Then, the series itself begins: Togainu seems to be funded on the contents of A-1 Pictures’ swear jar. The low frame count and complete absence of attention to detail could pass in a slice-of-life series, but in an action-heavy show where hand-to-hand combat occurs at least once per episode, it’s inexcusable. Backgrounds are plain and lifeless; every scene is deeply saturated in grays and greens and, for indoor scenes, browns. It’s one thing for a series or a scene to stick to a limited palette—it can draw the viewer’s attention to certain details or emphasise a mood—but it’s another thing completely to make every frame so dark that the show itself becomes a chore to watch. Oftentimes a black shadow will be cast across half the screen: sometimes it’s used as censorship, but more often it covers parts of characters’ faces or even (on multiple occasions) the entire screen, leaving only one corner visible. This, combined with the three-month delay in DVD releases, leads me to believe A-1 may be pulling a SHAFT here: Togainu is simply unfinished, and the DVDs will contain retouched and even re-animated scenes.

Character models may as well not even exist for as much as the animators pay attention to them—characters often look unrecognisably different between scenes and even frames. Togainu has one of those particular anime art styles where small facial details such as eyelids and Cupid’s bows are outlined. This style is popular in manga, and it doesn’t feature in anime so much because faces must be very carefully proportioned—when they are not, they look freakishly distorted, as they often do here. When characters experience emotion, they talk or narrate about them rather than acting them out (this is because action costs money). This show is just as fond of Dutch angles as Battlefield Earth and misuses them almost as much. Action scenes are handled clumsily, to say the least: when stabbed or even lightly grazed, characters explosively spurt gallons of luminescent red Kool-Aid. In the show’s grand finale, the animation somehow finds a way to get worse, and awkward angles and slow pans over clouds and cityscapes are set to the soothing sounds of metal scraping against metal and characters grunting in pain. Then, the camera remembers where it’s supposed to be, and cuts back to characters grievously injured or bleeding copiously. “There’s a really kickass fight going on,” the animators reassure us, “but we just can’t show it to you.”

The show’s soundtrack is, surprisingly, one of its strong suits. The show swaps ending themes every episode, and the always reliable Kanako Itou provides no less than three of them. Itou’s numbers are upbeat without losing a dark, mournful atmosphere; the other ending themes are mostly forgettable (but not bad) J-rock numbers. The background music, on the other hand, runs the gamut from listenable, even pleasant, to absolutely grating. One of my favourites is a slow, mournful guitar piece with a soft electronic beat, and I’m also fond of the crunching hard rock that plays during the first fistfight of the show. A good number of the tracks sound like the show is tuned to an early 90’s grunge radio station—whether that’s a good or a bad thing is up to you.

Togainu sports a cast of big-names, but seems not to really know how to use any of them, haphazardly assigning them parts they’re not suited for. Jun Fukuyama as Rin is one of the more upsetting choices, as high pitch is not Fukuyama’s fote. Kishou Taniyama sounds strained and forced as Gunji, and (as I’ve mentioned before) Takumi Yamazaki as n could not possibly sound more bored and slow if he tried. Most of the rest of the cast—Tomokazu Sugita and Hikaru Midorikawa especially—have much greater ranges than the show gives them credit for, and, though they perform competently, it’s a shame they weren’t really utilised.

Most hentai is better animated and better scripted than Togainu no Chi. In fact, Togainu should have been released as a direct-to-DVD hardcore title. It still would have been terrible, but at least there would be cocks involved, and the show wouldn’t get lost in its own pretentiousness so easily. It doesn’t matter what you’re watching the show for—everything’s been done, and better, somewhere else. Looking for a plot-heavy BL series? Watch Loveless. Edgy, bloody, post-apocalyptic action? Highschool of the Dead’s a recent title. Grimdark drama with touches of sci-fi and supernatural? Any (good) Nitro+ adaptation. Togainu no Chi is a slight to its genre and, hell, the anime industry itself.

Watch something else. Watch anything else.

To those who read and enjoyed the manga (which is a thousand times better than the anime), then you might want to think about avoiding this. I loved the manga, so I was really excited about watching the anime. As I finished the anime, I was annoyed at how awful it was.

What they did wrong:
They basically made everyone a pretty boy, even the guy that was supposed to be an old hairy man (though technically the BL game has all the characters very feminine). While the manga had a plot, in the anime they just like threw it all around. I was able to ... understand what was going on since I had read the manga, but I feel for those who didn't they were probably very confused. They basically butchered the plot, and didn't even really develop the characters all too well. I was just very disappointed at how the entire anime was either slight fan service or just flashy bits with loud obnoxious background music. At times I felt like I was watching a soap opera at how much stupid drama was going on.

The Animation:
Okay. So at first I didn't think the animation was too horrible. But when the last episode came around, my mouth was just sort of hanging open. For some fighting scenes, they'd just basically focus up on the sky for a good chunk of time, while you could hear the sound effects of battle. Seriously? Cheap as heck. I also personally REALLY hate closings that are basically just a replay of parts of the episode. The opening wasn't too horrible, but I think it could have been better organized. As I mentioned before they made everyone basically look like a girl. I think I would have at least enjoyed it a bit more if everyone wasn't all sparkly with woman lips.

The only good thing:
I know Togainu No Chi is based on a BL game. In the manga there is basically barely any BL hints in it, so it was nice to see some action in the anime. Other than that, I can honestly say that I found nothing really super about this series.


Final words:
If you read manga, and are thinking of watching this anime. READ THE MANGA FIRST. Please. Or else you will basically think Togainu No Chi is the biggest pile of garbage ever. I am probably going to re-read the manga right now to clear my mind of how horrible the ending of the series was.

Quite simply, Togainu no Chi is the kind of awful show that you just keep on watching. The animation is awful, the direction is sloppy, and the whole thing is just kind of trashy. It also takes itself way too seriously. And, yet, I love it. It's just so bad it's good.

My only real criticism, since all my other criticisms are really just part of why I love this piece of crap, is that the BL is really light. But, hey, maybe it'll get better in that regard.

I like Togainu no Chi. I've played the game. I've read the different iterations of the manga. And now, I've watched the anime.

I really wish I hadn't.

[Story] [3/10]

The story was, well, a joke. A twisted, convoluted fusion of each different path from the game, yet at the same time not following any actual path at all!

My other gripe was the lack of BL. The game was BL. Aka, Boys Love. Yaoi. Etc. To remove it is like having Final Fantasy 7 without Cloud or Sephiroth. Like 'Tales of' games without Apple Gels. It just isn't right!

And to add insult to injury, they left Arbitro ... and his creepy shota perverseness in. Why? To make gay people look like creepy paedophiles?
Seems legit.

[Art] [3/10]

I've seen many comments on the art style. It's a bit of a 'love it' or 'hate it' thing.

Personally, the art style didn't bother me.

However, the static scenes with only moving faces, odd camera angles and panning shots, and the lack of any sort of dynamics or anything interesting in the fight scenes turned me right off. There were also scenes were they seemed to have gotten very lazy.

[Sound] [7/10]

Nothing too offensive, thankfully. A different song each ED. I particularly liked 'Still' (which was from the original game) and 'Honed Moon', which was by the same artist.

The BGM was alright, but mostly forgettable.

[Character] [3/10]

Now, don't get me wrong. I love each and every one of the characters. But this rendition of them made them flat. Like cardboard cutouts. No development, barely any background at all. No depth whatsoever. Which is a real shame.

[Enjoyment] [4/10]

As someone who has played the game, read the manga, etc, I was able to somewhat enjoy this. However, those new to the series most likely will turn up their noses and walk away, and if I was a newcomer to Togainu no Chi, I would probably do that myself. (Go off and play the game more likely).

[Overall] [5/10]

Overall, I'd say this is an anime 'For Fans'. Not that good for people who are looking for anything worthwhile to watch.

The word you need to think about when watching Togainu no Chi is potential.

The story revolves around a guy named Akira who is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He is offered a path to freedom if he agrees to participate in a competition called Igura, and takes down the undefeated Il-re. This is all supposed to take place in the chaotic area of Toshima, where everyone lives by an “eat or be eaten” mentality.

Premise 8/10: Like I said, it had potential. I was based off of the storyline of some pretty popular games, whose plot was pretty solid. The plot, by itself, gives ... off an air of excitement and danger. There’s violence, drug use, conspiracy, etc.

Writing 1/10: It saddens me to say this, but this anime didn’t deliver in terms of the quality of writing. The dialogue was awful in places; really awkward and unbelievable. The pace was not well thought out. In the first few episodes, nothing happens, and then, you can almost see the writers trying to cram the rest of the story into the last few episodes. The writing created noticeable plot holes. If you didn’t know already, the original games did have some male/male content, but the manga did not. A-1 managed to make it awkward for both sets of fans. I lack the ability to articulate/explain to you how they managed to do this, but it really was eye-roll worthy.

Character 5/10: They seemed interesting enough when introduced. Each character has gone to Toshima for different reasons, and being kept in the dark about their motivations adds to their mystery. Unfortunately, they are never given much depth, even towards the end of the story. There is also the big problem of characters doing things that don’t seem in line with their personality. There is unjustified character derailment by both the main character and several supporting characters. Plus each character's motive becomes so vague, it's difficult to tell what they're fighting for.

Art 4/10: The art varies from episode to episode. I think the key word here is lazy. Sometimes it’s ok, other times, it’s barely passable. The art for the trailer and opening are lovely. I really wish it was the same for the series.

Animation 4/10: Lazy. Not enough frames, poor transition, bad angles, and many mistakes. Sub-par.

Music 8/10: There is a lot of music in TnC. It’s one of the few things that sells the atmosphere of Toshima. There is a different ending song for each episode, most of which are very good. If you’re into J-rock/visual-kei, you’ll probably like the soundtrack. The opening is nice too.

Overall 4/10: This saddens me because I was really looking forward to this anime, and set out to watch it with an optimistic viewpoint. Fans of the game will be disappointed; anime fans will wonder why they wasted their time; BL fans will lament at the destruction of what had the potential to be a STAPLE within the genre.

When Togainu no Chi was announced, I was put before a tricky choice either to watch it or not. On the one hand, this anime is based on a visual novel created by Nitroplus, the company I mostly like. But on the other hand, it is BL. Well, I considered this issue carefully and finally thought: “Bah, I bore with relationship between von Lohengramm and Kircheis from Legend of the Galactic Heroes, so I have some ‘just do not give a thing’ skill. Let’s roll this party!” Yep, I decided to cross the border and take a light step to the dangerous territory of fujoshi. ... I’m telling you all this just because I want you to understand, that I don’t belong to the target audience of this anime, so my review can be a bit out of place. It’s probably more like a random passer-by telling other random passers-by what to expect here.

And with that matter cleared up, let me start with technical aspect. The soundtrack is done splendidly, with rocky and upbeat background music during action scenes becomes atmospheric and heartfelt when the pace slows down. Each episode has its own ending song, which is great, because this way sorrowful episode cannot be ended with some out-of-place jolly music.

On the other hand, visual part is dreadful. This is not how you do things in 2010, A-1. Distorted faces and bodies, cheapo choppy animation… Togainu no Chi has a lot of this stuff. The show is only 12-episode long, so such amount of *quality* is not excusable.

The plot leaves much to be desired too. It just goes in circles, with their radii changed by dei ex machina: random events happen, characters suddenly go nuts and all other things, which make you wonder, what the hell the script writer was doing instead of his job. (Light spoiler follows here; proceed to next paragraph, if you don’t want to hear it.) For example, one character barely avoids death in one episode only to turn into the furniture, to have no plot significance and screen time and then to be killed in one of the dumbest and meaningless scenes ever. That’s just fascinating.

Another thing I want to say is that Togainu no Chi has a nice cast of seiyū, but still utterly fails in voice acting. Firstly, Shiki voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru-shi. His typical role of bad-ass anti-hero at the first glance, but then it turns out that Shiki has no personality. He just wants power. Why? Because power is cool, dammit, are you dumb or what? And thus Midorikawa-shi had nothing to use his skill for, so it was disappointing. Secondly, Rin voiced by Fukuyama Jun-shi, who has an awesome voice range, which is completely not utilized here. I don’t get what was the point of hiring Fukuyama-shi to speak with high pitch — that could be done and probably done better by a lot of other seiyū. And lastly, Keisuke voiced by Sugita Tomokazu-shi. Well, at least he has his good moments, but his character still prevents him from using his talent to utmost. Concerning other characters, I especially want to mention Nano, the mysterious person who speaks in cryptic lines, which quite possibly are not intended to contain any sense at all. Plus his seiyū uses really weird intonations, so Nano was driving me mad every time he showed on screen. I just hate him.

And two words about BL part. No, really, is Togainu no Chi really based on a BL game? I think it has as many BL scenes as, for example, Code Geass. I mean, there is some tension sometimes, but nothing more. So the whole point of my hesitation about watching it or not was meaningless. Togainu no Chi is definitely safe for work for male audience, and I feel sorry for all fujoshi who were looking forward to this anime. Really, girls, I heard that the original novel is highly regarded in your circles, and I know what the mental anguish dealt by a poor adaptation is, so hold on there, okay?

Sigh. Putting aside the music, the best part of Togainu no Chi were Mahō Shōjo Madoka★Magica advertisements aired within it. And when actual show is outrun by commercials, you know immediately: this is a bad show. It is terrible, disgusting, detestable, repulsive and every other synonym one can come up with. And that is what Togainu no Chi is. The worst thing I’ve seen for a long time, and even 4 points I gave it were probably too much.

Ok. I will start of by saying the I have not read the original novel for this series. I just kinda happened upon this show wile looking through different shows here on MAL. Now another thing I want to say is... I don't understand why this show has so many bad reviews... It literally baffled me when I saw how hated his series was.

Let me start with the music. The soundtrack for this anime has to be one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to hear. The music is hard and raunchy as well as soft and melodically at times. They know ... what music to put where and when.
There is a different song for the end of each episode and I never heard one that I did not like. The ending music did a great job of wrapping up each episode with a mood that matched with the mood of the episode.

I saw a lot of complaints about the story in this particular series. Again, I'm not sure why. The story and plot where intriguing and managed to hold my interest so well that I rarely paused wile watching this series. I was so engrossed that I finished the show in one day with out even noticing how much time had passed.
I saw a lot of people say that they weren't sure what was going on and that the sow was all over the place. I really don't agree with that. Again, I have yet to read the original novel but I never found myself lost and always had a pretty good understanding of what was going on. This show kept me guessing and was not predictable at all, and I love that.
And wile some had problems understanding Nano an important character and at times the narrator, due to his tendency to speak in riddles and indiums I, again, had no problems.

I really enjoyed watching the characters. Wile it is true that there is not a whole lot of growth in the characters and there personalities in this series it was fun to guess and learn about each person and why it is they are doing what they are and why they are playing the game. I did find myself wishing for a little more back story for some of the characters but by no means did this keep me from enjoying the show. Nano had to be my favorite. I never stopped wanting to see and hear him. I loved Shiki too for the most part. Toward the end (specifically the last two episodes), however I did find myself a little annoyed with the guy. Some said that they didn't understand his whole "power" trip... thing. I did. He wanted more power so that he could never be that weak boy who stood there in fear watching Nano kill ever again.
I understand it but I do wish they had introduced that back story a little sooner.

I fond the art to be really enjoyable. I loved the color palate and the animation, wile it had some glitches wasn't too bad. I liked the character design for all of the characters aside from Rin and Albrito or whatever his name was. He upset me a little bit. The backgrounds and environments were really beautiful, however.

Now I will say that the whole reason I watches this was because it was listed as Shounen Ai. It really shouldn't be. There is a little tension now and then but nothing worth mentioning. There is implied sex and homosexuality but that is about it. Nothing to really keep men from watching this series and nothing to make the fangirls squee. But I got over it pretty quickly and ended up really enjoying the series. I really think that it is worth a shot to watch this series. It's not the best I've seen but it sure as shit isn't the worst either.

When Togainu no Chi was first announced, I can honestly say I was incredibly excited. What more could I possibly ask for? There is nothing quite as satisfying as watching attractive men fighting each other and engaging in a wide array of homosexual actions.

Unfortunately, the only thing this anime has to offer is mind-numbing direction and plot, as well as the most uncreative and dull color palette seen in anime since Death Note. If you ever feel the desire to watch this, you had better have an unnatural love of the colors red and gray.

To be honest, I feel a bit ashamed giving Togainu no ... Chi the generous score of 2. The only good thing this series had going for it was Jun Fukuyama, although it is sad that his career will ever have to carry the red and gray shit stain of this anime.

You should not watch Togainu no Chi. If you are looking for homosexual subtext, there are plenty of anime that do it much better. The characters are bland and annoying. The soundtrack was entirely forgettable. The animation, when there was anime, was so hilariously terrible and awkward I felt embarrassed while watching it. The show was riddled with off-model character shots I sometimes felt as if I was watching something drawn in Microsoft Paint. Don't even ask about the story, because there isn't one.

If, for some ungodly reason, you decide to watch Togainu no Chi, I suggest you drink plenty of alcohol and stock up on a myriad of recreational drugs, although I cannot guarantee they will make the experience any better.

I can understand the criticism coming from the anime lover population. Yes the story was lacking. Yes the art was choppy at times and yes the characters were pretty basic. The story wasn't horrendous just lacking. It didn't have the essentials or the time to tie it all together. I have to say I had zero expectations for this anime and completely loved it. The theme is what any anime/gamer fan girl could want. Violence, hot guys and some hinted BL. I would definitely suggest this to people who are looking for something more then just BL with either rape or sappy romance. I can ... enjoy hot guys kicking ass any day. If you don't go into this anime ready to chop it into little pieces I'm sure you'll enjoy it, because now that I've turned around to review I've realized that it really was lacking but I enjoyed it none the less. Don't give up on it until you've tried an episode.

The theme is what makes this anime though. There is not another bloody action anime with BL in it. Give me another anime with that theme and I will LOVE you forever, but it has to be beautifully drawn not any of that old Gundam Wing art style, thats not hot. (No really post it on my profile or something)

Ah the art. As i said it was bad at times. If people pay close attention its just in the far away views. The close ups are amazing and drawn quite well. I have to say the Adam's apples and collar bones were drawn nicely. There was never any doubt whether the character was male thats for sure. (except for Rin) My favorite part was the blood. They like to make it neon red and i just think thats beautiful in comparison to the dull red most anime's use. And they where spatters of blood not splats, huge globs of round shaped blood is retarded. It annoyed me to no end though when the blood didn't fade in the rain. I for one also enjoyed the fact that no one was hideous enough to make me barf my lunch. I loved how even the cast away characters were better looking then most heroes in anime. It made me giggle when the bar scenes came around. If it wasn't for their mess ups the art would have been a definite 10. Oh! Did i mention the red rings on their eyelids occasionally. I thought that was a nice touch. I really liked the style it created it, gave it a unique flare. Made them stand out more. When the close ups came i couldn't help but think how beautifully it was drawn which I mentioned several times to my friends while watching it. I think the close ups were what got me. The backgrounds where drawn well also, the colors they used fit.

Sound! I believe this is what they spent most their money on eh? A different song for every ending theme? They had better things to waste their money on. The sound track was amazing. They had nice background music, ending themes and the likes.

You dont really love any one character. The story line doesn't last long enough for you to fall in love with one of them. They had the potential but not the screen time.

In short yes there was some problems. But come on. Cant people enjoy what its about. The theme is what dragged me in and i found it amazing! It covered every aspect an awesome anime thats not rated R could cover. It would have been awesome if it was better but hey beggars cant be choosers. I'm glad they even made the anime.

Well, this is my first review and my English is not that good, so please don`t be too harsh on me, okay guys?
~
When I first heard about this anime I found it really interesting, because it is a new combination of different things;
Action, a huge amount of blood and a lot of pretty guys ( And like it is said in the discription even shonen-ai).
So, I don`t think that a lot of people would watch this series anyway.
Because for the male audience... well there are too many boys (and in fact only a single woman), and for the girls there is just too much ... blood and violince.
But I am one of the girls, who really love all this things, so I decided to give this anime a try.

And now after 12 episodes I am really disappointed.

Story 5/10:

In the beginning the story seems to be kind of interesting:

After the third world war, Japan is splited up in two different areas.
Toshima (Tokyo) is controled by a criminal organisation, called Vishio, who are holding a battle game known as Igura there. ( I wonder if this “Igura“ comes from the russian word for game: Igra)
And than we have a guy, who is arrested because of a crime (in which he isn`t even involved), and who have to win against the most strongest player in the Igura, if he wants get his freedom back.
So the story has got potential...but the producers failed.
In fact I think that they could put the whole story in 6 or 7 episodes, because there is really no need for more.
Some episodes wese so „empty“ that in the end, I couldn`t even tell something about the content, because there isn`t any.
Only in the last 3 or 4 episodes the whole anime became interesting and finally I have got the feeling, that something happens there and that it ins`t just about stupid dialogs (which are horrible in fact) an a lot of absurde violence.


Animation 6/10:

Nothing special at all.
Sometimes it was good, sometimes I just think: Holly shit what happend with the poor characters and backgrounds.
After all I have the feeling that the animation became better towards the end.
But what is really horrible...is the colour of the blood, I became every time so aggressive, when I see it.
Because it looks like some cheap acrylic colour, and not like blood at all.

Sound 6/10:

Well, the opening was really okay.
Also the whole endings, I suppose ( Altough I do not like so many different songs for a single anime)
The soundtracks couldn`t be good too nice, because even after 12 episodes I do not remeber a single one.

Characters 6/10:

Annoying, annoying and...yeah annoing.
It`s the same like the storyline.
They COULD be interesting.
They really Could.
But in the end they are just some pretty guys, who haven`t got any personality or depth.
They are just empty puppets, who are just acting like, the plot wants them to act, without any meaning behind it.
Only Kaisuke is discribed a little more, but his personality just going on my nerves, so I could not enjoy this.


This shonen-ai thing:

Where the hell is it?
Yeah I know the anime is based on a Yaoi game, but in anime there aren`t any scenes, which are near to this genre.
Yeah, you may say that Keisuke has a too depth connection to Akira, but I just think, that he has a kind of a complex.
So please, if somebody reads this and just does not want to watch this anime, because of this:
There is no shonen-ai, no boys love, no hints at all.


It is just a bloody anime with a lot of guys, a lot of fights and a lot of disguisting deaths.

So if you are a fan of all this things, you may like this anime.
If not, just forget about this series and search some new one.

I have to say, Togainu No Chi really got me hooked at the first two/three episodes but as it went along, the storyline and everything started to fall and I have never hated a finale of an anime so much than TnC's episode 12.

At first, I really liked how they introduced Akira and the beginning of the storyline. It was decent and could be caught up quite easily for those who have never heard of the game or visual novel before. When Shiki appeared, I had a good feeling that the anime will be a great hit. The first episode got me so interested and ... thus, I really supported the anime. After watching around, 6 episodes I saw that the storyline had gone a little…out of control. Well, it’s like it is too fast at one part and it wavered too slow at another. I started to doubt the success of the anime but I kept hope in it since I still have my attraction towards the main character and all. But as the anime reached its climax, I had a really bad feeling starting from the creator inserting too much attention at Akira’s friends rather than his enemies. There was also the abrupt change of personality in Akira which I will explain later on.

Let’s start with the storyline.
As I’ve stated above, I loved the beginning. It went on in a nice pace and the mood of the anime could be easily seen. All the business about Akira being sent to Toshima was handled nicely. As we ventured into Toshima, we can feel the intense craziness from the berserk drug addicts and the fighting scenes were good enough to be presented. Shiki’s appearance was at a nice timing and to leave a small cliff-hanger at the end of episode 1 was actually a good idea to keep viewers interested in the story. In the second and third episodes, the presentation of the other characters was done in the same nice pace. Episode four was rendered to almost become my second favourite episode as I watched it. The fighting scene between Shiki and Akira was well-made in my opinion and we can see the protagonist and the antagonist’s beginning of rivalry. As I reached episode seven, the anime began to run downhill. Akira’s abrupt change of personalities caught me confused in whether he was an emotionless all-cool guy, a serious idiot to let a friend turn into a drug addict or he has split personalities. The business with Nicole Premier, the military and the entire project that Arbitro explained managed to get the mood going on but as I met the second last episode, I realised the pace had totally changed and I felt as if I wasn’t sure of the actual storyline anymore. I hoped for the best for the finale but hope was destroyed in the most horrible way as they ended it in a cruel cliff-hanger for fans that have been waiting for a serious Shiki VS Akira showdown. At first, they told us that peace had come but there will be a storm after the calm. I became excited as the sense of a final battle was near but they abruptly ended the episode by a clash of swords and utter tension. All I know was that the ending crushed the hopes of fans like crushing a grape with a jackhammer. I hated it and I felt that it was the worst anime ending I’ve watched yet. The only way I can take back these words is if they make a second season to continue the cliff-hanger that they have scarred into our heads or remake the entire series piece by piece.

Next I’ll bold out the characters.
As a fellow fan of BL, I’ve seen a lot of the types of guys in a BL anime/game and my favourites had to be Shiki and Akira. At first sight, Shiki seemed as the insanely strong typical cold-hearted ruthless and attractively seductive seme and while Akira is a strong fighter but naïve on the inside uke; perfect for my taste. My interest in them grew by every episode and I was always looking for these two characters but I did not miss out on the others. Keisuke was my least favourite type of character: clingy and makes stupid decisions for their…loved ones. I was enraged as Keisuke actually took the Line and boasted on strength and all the crap and I’ll give credits for Akira’s sudden loyalty to friendship but this was the part that drove my interest in the characters of course. Akira suddenly changed from being ignorant to putting his comrades as first priority. Okay, I can accept this kind of change but it was this change that had me bored of all the characters. The producers seemed to be focusing on Akira and Keisuke’s relationship at these episodes but it was focused a bit too much that I found almost nothingness in Motomi and a little bit of Rin although Rin showed a bit of growth at the last few episodes. I was hoping for a complete relationship growth in, at least, all of the comrades but I can only see Keisuke in Akira’s head. True, he is Akira’s loyal friend and all but I don’t like it that he gets too much attention and to the fact he loses it all in the end. Then comes Rin and Motomi and well, I don’t think these characters were served enough justice at the middle but I guess they were well presented and I find it hard to dislike these two. I have nothing much to comment on these two. And about the supporting characters such as Arbitro, the dog and the Executioners, in my opinion, they were pretty much just small fragments to cover up holes in the series but I like them as well. The entire downfall in my eyes was just Akira and Keisuke’s complex relationship in which brought down my hopes for the complete relationship growth. Although this may be redeemed as favouritism I obviously am not satisfied with Shiki’s character in the story. He remains as the prime antagonist, the shadow the kills in Toshima and the vengeful power-craving jerk but to the way I see in the gameplay, I think Shiki deserves much more scenes even if it is only in the end but like in every episode, he appears in at least one minute and disappears after a fight, kill or mere confrontation. I hoped for more of his growth in the end but it was mere illusion to think it would actually end according to my guessing.

Art style? I found it decent at first but it looks as if the producers got some sort of inspiration-block in the end and it was horrible at a few scenes. The details of backgrounds were great but I prefer it if they would take at least a quarter of that focus to the characters. The characters sometimes seemed so plain and it was hard to get into the style of art they put the characters up with. But I managed to accept it in a way. The art style for me was below average but was not all that bad. I can still watch it without my eyes being burnt into crisps.

I love the opening. I just love the opening so much that I would actually replay it 3 times while waiting for the episode to load. The soundtrack used was really good and it managed to get the feel of the situation out and reach the viewers. All I can say about it is that it was very good.

Overall I think the story deserved a 4 or 5 out of 10. I truly did thought it would manage to get a 7 but the ending in my opinion was the worst downfall of the series turning bad to worse and from interesting to shocking in a bad way. It was cruel to end the hopes of fans that were waiting for a good ending. Cliff-hangers are good to catch audience’s attention at the last part of an episode but not in a finale. If the anime doesn’t come out with a second season or so, I deem that the anime had the worst ending downfall I’ve ever watched.

[I’m terribly sorry if I put up way too many spoilers but this is one of my first reviews and I am still learning on how to make good reviews. And as for my advice on those who wants to watch it, it is your choice. You might enjoy it. But for those who wants to set high hopes for the anime I recommend you not to do so.]

So I've seen many horrible reviews for this anime and despite all the warnings to avoid it and/or at least read the manga I thought I would jump in and then give my opinion on it. Now keep this in mind, I have not read the manga yet (but I plan on it), and I have only glanced at it for the visual comparisons.

Story: 6/10
At the beginning of the series I was first enthralled by the prospects of Toshima and how the protagonist was going to go there after being falsely accused of murder. However after watching it all the way through I ... found it to be rather vague. Akira was sent to a battleground called Toshima after being falsely accused of murdering his opponent from earlier that day. His mission was to defeat Il Re, but after his friend Keisuke arrives things become a little more complicated. Along the way he learns about Line, a drug with horrible side effects, and the failed project known as ENED. He meets friends along the way, fights the biggest "bad ass" Shiki many times and then goes home. I don't want to say much more because there is some resemblance of a plot, but what I described is the gist of this 12 episode series. Honestly, if they made this into 24 episodes I feel that they probably could have explained the story better. They tried to jam pack civil wars and experimental projects in the last few episodes and I honestly felt a little cheated. There was just too many things introduced and not explained and so many questions unanswered, combined with the crappiest ending I have seen in a while it just made me feel go "meh".

Art: 6/10
What I enjoyed visually was how the characters all looked different and I could easily tell them apart (even though they tried concealing the identity of one of the characters in an episode, didn't fall for it Togainu no Chi!), however the manga was first debuted in 2006, and the art in the anime reflected the 2006 feel, which made this anime fall short compared to other anime's of this time. The coloring was nice enough and was appropriate for the ambiance of the anime, even in scenes of sunsets and grand mansions the tone remained bleak and grey. Compared to the manga though, the anime seemed to be simplified and prettier. The manga seemed to be nittier and grittier visually, and I was disappointed that this kind of technique didn't appear in the anime; because it might have just completed the dark feel if it had. The animation is a different story though; if it had it's own category I would have given it a 5 our of 10. Some might disagree with me, but the fight scenes were flat, stiff, and uninteresting which by far was one of the most disappointing aspects, considering there are much smoother fight scenes in other anime. And if you want 3 characters in the same frame you better forget about the quality. The ending was piss poor animation wise, with scenes of backgrounds rather than fighting almost made me turn it off. The character consistency was fair, with only a few frames where the characters weren't up to par. Overall, the art was okay.

Sound: 8/10
By far the best part of the anime. The soundtrack makes up for what the Art and Story lack. It doesn't completely blend into the background and get lost, but neither does it overkill and become overbearing. It amplifies any scene in the series, and has actually given me chills before. It was because of the soundtrack that I actually felt anything at certain times. The opening was okay; I judge the opening and closing theme by how often I want to watch it or at least listen to it. I tended to skip over the opening most of the time, but that doesn't mean I didn't occasionally listen to it. The ending theme was different for all 12 episodes which was a much appreciated welcome, because I almost never bother with the ending theme after the first time. If I wasn't so frugal I would buy the soundtrack. The voice acting was fair, the voices fit the characters well and they conveyed the right emotions. However, nothing really stood out or make any type of emotion come out. It was just fair.

Character: 7/10
I've heard people say that in the manga there was a wide variety of characters, but in the anime it appeared as though there were 2 personality types. The first is the lone wolf/silent type. You would see this in Akira, Shiki, and N. These typical bad boys have all had rough pasts and they like to show it by keeping their distance and pretending that nothing fazes them. Akira went through a little change though, he realized that being a dick makes people sad. Other than that they are your run of the mill "troubled" characters. Another type is the comic relief/tension easing characters, which could be seen in Rin and Keisuke. Even though these young boys have rough pasts too they like to make people happy and not think about themselves! Unfortunately these morale boosting boys get classified as annoying and burdensome. These happy-go-lucky characters always seem to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that was the epitome of Keisuke's character. He wanted to make sure his good buddy Akira was okay so he went to Toshima to participate in this killing game. What's worse is that he can't fight worth shit and he becomes the damsel in distress on occasion. However, and I will admit, Keisuke's character captured my heart. All he wanted was to prove himself to his friend and he did everything that he could to do it. His goal was selfless, and although a little pathetic, I couldn't help but rooting for the little guy. Rin wasn't as annoying but I found myself not really caring if he died or not. None of their background stories were fully touched on so it made these characters rather flat. In the second to last episode it focused on Shiki and I litterally thought "What's the point?", considering it just made me more confused. This series had shonen-ai tendencies, but they were so minuscule that Arbitro, the head haunch-o, seem so off putting that again I almost turned off the series. He seemed to be the only sexually depraved man in the entire series despite having a little boy toy and partaking in frivolous orgies. There were other instances of shonen-ai, but it wasn't as upfront as it was with Arbitro. Overall the characters fit in your typical shonen anime mold, with no particularly outstanding quirks to make them different than the rest.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Now despite what I've said, I didn't hate the series, it's just that nothing stood out. Honestly, everything in this anime has been done better. However if you want something to kill time when you're in a waiting room or wherever, then watch this. I'll give credit where credit is due though, it made me want to read the manga.

Now time for the Happy Panda and Sad Panda award; this is my little quirk where I point out the best and worst part in the anime and give them an "award".

Happy Panda goes to: The music! It was the best part in the anime, and it just made the whole experience better.

Sad Panda goes to : The animation! It was just sub par for the time period. A real let down.

Overall:
34/50
6.8/10=7/10

Off to read Togainu no Chi!

My first advice is, if you haven't played the game or read the manga yet, don't do it until you've finished watching the anime.
Togainu no chi is a good anime to watch for me, not wonderfully but an OK one. As long as you don't compare it to the game or manga version, the story is quite interesting, I even continued watching all 12 episodes without pausing. The ending was disappointing though, I don't think that's how Akira would have responded in that kind of situation considering his personality, and the story was left unclear in TOO many parts.
Now, compares with the game ..and that ... would make the anime become worse, like others said, they just combined all of the paths as much as they can, which resulted in diluting every path ..and even the character's personality. Shiki seems to be more considerate and more open-hearted in the game.
Anyway, I'm the one who have watched this anime without knowing anything about the game or manga before, and like I said, comparison aside and this will be one of a good-enough-to-watch anime.

Confusion-inducing. Aside from the fact that there are hardly any women in this show, there’s also that little problem of the viewer being thrown into a fictitious world that doesn’t even attempt to explain its existence, not to mention having to relate to characters whose ideas of a backstory come off as stale, contrived monologues. Technically, though, Togainu no Chi is wonderful, just something you’d expect out of A1 Pictures. Although the blood is a bit too lipstick-red – probably intended to stand out against the dark, shadow-filled environment – the EDs are amazing, and the camera angles bring out the best from the relatively ... realistic fight scenes. Possessing neither a strong plot nor remarkable characters, Togainu no Chi’s selling point is its close resemblance to a scripted but still exciting boxing match.

If you are looking for a shounen-ai anime with strong chemistry between well developed, interesting, and complete characters wrapped up in a clever plot, then you'll do yourself a favor by not watching Togainu no Chi.

Story: 3/10 (poor)

The plot of Togainu no Chi might not have appeared so pathetic had it been held up by better writing, characters, and art. I mean, fair enough, Japan is divided, run by drug lords who find it entertaining to watch people kill eachother. In itself, it's not anything appalling, but not anything original or particularly fantastic either. What made it embarrassing was the way the plot progressed, and ... the way the writers were clearly busting a bollock to make it seem deep and symbolic. I found myself crying inside at the cringeworthy monologues that started off the episodes that turned out to come from a character that was so clearly intended to be all-knowing and mysterious it was obnoxious. The way the character of Arbitro was written and the role he played in the story was incredibly irritating also. His 'pets' seemed an entirely unnecessary part of the story, simply there to make everything seem a bit more disturbing or messed up.

Art: 4/10 (decent)

This series was not difficult to look at. It was, however, nothing spectacular, and there was nothing really unique about each different character. The way the blood was practically neon was an eyebrow-raiser. Coupled with the desperate, pathetic attempt at colours appearing symbolic in the story, this was irritating and not subtle whatsoever. There wasn't really anything to praise in the art.

Sound: 3/10 (poor)

The OST for this series was nothing particularly evocative or tactful. The voice acting was also quite unspectacular.

Character: 1/10 (pathetic)

In the end, the plot of any anime, film, book, etc. can be as action packed or mild as you like - the most important element to keep a viewer interested is the characters and their personal conflicts and the way they relate to eachother. If the premise was the only thing that mattered, Slice of Life anime wouldn't exist. I think I could have forgiven the other elements of this anime for being so uninspiring had the characters grabbed my attention. They were all one-dimensional. The infinitesimally small amount of character development, dare I even call it that, felt forced and sudden, yet completely predictable. I didn't find that I cared about or rooted for the characters at all. I find it difficult to see how it successfully creates a believable relationship between characters whatsoever, and in an anime that is listed as a shounen-ai, this is confusing. The relationship between Keisuke and Akira just seems arbitrary and unexciting and barely develops whatsoever in the 9 episodes I've seen. Unless I have dropped the series before any real romantic development - though I fail to see how a convincing romantic relationship can be shown in 3 episodes out of 12.

Enjoyment: 5/10 (mediocre)

There is nothing special about this anime in my opinion, but somehow, I stuck through it for 9 episodes. It's really more of a time killer. It wasn't like I couldn't stand to watch 30 seconds of it, but I wasn't hooked on it either.

Overall: 3/10 (poor)

There is no real point in watching this anime in my opinion. If you want to kill time, there are plenty of less embarrassing anime in this world.

So first off I'll say that I never played the game or read the manga unlike a lot of people who have left reviews on this anime.
Anyway I'll start with my thoughts on the sound. At certain moments the sound seemed delayed or didn't fit the scene which annoys me to no end. At times Akira's voice acting seemed overdone or like the actor was trying too hard.
I've noticed that a lot of people called the plot confusing. I don't understand that at all. I was able to follow the plot just fine and I don't necessarily follow most anime plots well. ... There were really no sudden twists or anything left unexplained.
I know people say the characters aren't well developed but I disagree. The only characters who didn't really have a background were the "villians" and it wouldn't have really fit in with the show if they had taken time to explain their pasts. But Akira, Keisuke, Rin, Shiki, and even "Premier" were given interesting backgrounds that, in my opinion explained the characters' personalities and behaviors.
There were some clichés in it that I won't specifically mention so as not to spoil it. But if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about. Personally I don't really like the clichés but I think they were done well in this series.
My biggest problem with this anime was the ending. It felt too rushed I didn't really like the ending myself. And the very end seemed to be a cliffhanger as though they were giving themselves an opening for a second season which I realize is done with most anime but it drives my insane.
All in all I give this anime 7/10. It's not the best anime I've ever watched but it's still a good anime that I would probably watch again if I was bored and couldn't find anything to watch.

I do not understand the previous reviewer's because these BL animes (especially Nitro+Chiral) are based off BL mangas and computer games. The anime adaptations are made for popular (regular) TELEVISION in Japan. They cannot show explicit scenes let alone BL explicit scenes.

So of course they are not going to show the explicit yummy stuff we find online/game and in the mangas ... it is not "an embarrassment to the BL genre" because they are not doing explicit scenes in the anime; they are actually doing the BL genre a great service! They are expanding the audience for future BL customers. ^___~;

If you like ... the storyline and/or characters from the anime, then you would want the explicit stuff they expect you to purchase via the computer game or in the manga. The anime is to get you invested in the characters (if you haven't already). Just be glad that the BL genre are represented in the anime market!

Go Nitro+Chiral!!!! Keep making more!
사랑,
Bloodlette

I thought that Togainu no Chi is a very interesting series for those that are interested in genres such as post-apocalyptical and dystopia. For me being a person who's interested in history and the growth of a country and region developing overtime, this anime was right up my alley. I liked seeing the concept of Japan being split into two different regions such as Toshima after the third division. It made a huge impact on me to reflect and be grateful that we are not in another world war. It really does remind me of a "what if theory" and a decision on if other ... countries such as the U.S, Britain, Germany and many more, who were involved in World War ll, were to be in a third world war that actually happened in todays modern day society. How would it shape us as humans and the harsh problems and the conditions that many of us would have to resort to.

The anime represented the use of taking a drug called Line, which enhances the person's capabilities and senses of becoming stronger. I can relate this to the real world as many people are resorting towards drugs and alcohol in their lives that leave a major impact on both themselves, others around them, and their bodies that they are putting harmful chemicals into. Am I saying that you should do drugs and alcohol? Well, that's up for you to decide what you are putting in your body.

Moving forward, I liked the concept of implementing a game towards the current position of Japan. A game that is known as Igura, where players are required to take other players dog tags in means of fighting in combat, in order to challenge Il Re or the King. Finally, I especially enjoyed the characters throughout the story and the roles that they play. Though, I'm not really a fond of the sadistic and masochistic Arbitro of course and his likings and interests towards having younger and older boys as sex-slaves. But, other than that, I think that each character and voice actor that portrayed their character did a fantastic job of expressing and getting through to their character.

What are my thoughts on the anime? Well, it's not terribly bad and a disappointment towards the anime community, though it's also not an "Oscar award masterpiece". But, I do give it credit for it's excellent job in making an anime adaptation based off of both the manga and the games. It's something I don't really see a lot of in anime's that implement and make the viewer think about the dire situations and consequences that the characters are going through and how it could relate to each one of us in a much later time. Overall, I give this anime an 8 out of 10.

This review is kinda biased. I played the original game and even own some figures of the characters. And I must say that I had so much fun watching this.

Let's start with the story
A story of a multiple stories visual novel is always hard to adapt in an anime format. But here ? It was great. They tooks scenes from each characters routes, changed a few things and it made sense. They also added new scenes (mostly around the end) that go well with the flow of the game.
It's maybe still a bit complex, I wished they spend more time explaining the situation of Akira ... when he was still a bl@ster player and more time on the ending.

The art is the thing I can't stand up for
The art is very inconscistent from one episode to another. I must say that aroud half of the anime I kinda liked it. But at the start and especially the last episode it was bad. The last ep was easily the worst of them. I don't know if they fixed it in the dvd release but since I had the Tv version I couldn't tell. It was so bad I didn't managed to follow the action, they also re-used the same animation many times. Another problem I had was the brightness of the anime, or the lack of it. Somes scenes were in total darkness, it was horrible to follow
But it doesn't mean it's all bad ! I loved this design of Arbitro and the designs of his 3 dogs, they had great movements and were just better here. Some fights are nice too
But one thing was innacteptable in the version I watched. They cut out the gore. I especially came to see blood gushing from everwhere, like the games. But I was so wrong, and that's sad. The speciality of Nitro Chiral is to make gory BL VN. One scene that was censored was one of the visions of Akira which is from one of the bad ends of Keisuke. The one where he has the guts of Akira in his hands. I was so disappointed.

The best apect of the anime is next, the sound
I cannot say I wasn't impressed. First thing the opening, you know it's good when you didn't skip it in all 12 episodes. Rose-hip bullet by granrodeo is just so good. Next thing the background music, very good. Sometimes a anime has such high-quality BGM that you start to notice it and tell yourself "hey I like it". And that the case here. Very fitting.
Now for the icing on the cake, the voice acting. Dare I say it's better than the game ? Heck yes ! Starting with Akira. In the game he was kinda emotionless and there were too few times where he showed emotion. Now the feels are more presents and we can see how much his seiyuu improved. I liked his performance in the anime, much more than in the game. Next Rin. His voice was perfect in the game and it's still perfect. Motomi, Shiki and Keisuke were the same than in the games, solid voice acting overall.

Time to speak about chracters
Nothing to say exept they were more or less the sames than in the game. Akira had a big glow up character-wise and Arbitro was perfect. I love so much this version of Arbitro. We also saw more of Gunji and Kiriwar, which was good because they are so fun to see arguing.
And spoilers, I was so happy when Keisuke finally died, I hate so much this character

You could say I had a great time
One thing I must say is that the game is heavily censored. The scene where Akira see a guy fucking a corpse is cut, the blood and gore censor was very present.
So was also the sexual censor. When Akira is attacked by three dudes, they started sexually assaulting Akira before slurping his blood. They not only removed the shoking scenes but also every notion of romance. If you're going to watch this cause it's tagged "shonen ai" DON'T. Akira and Keisuke are just two bros, Rin is a little touchy and that's all.
Personnally I don't mind, somes scenes in the game were kinda hard to watch (Keisuke I'm watching you) so to just focus on a action, mystery with a touch of gore show was not bad, 18+ elements were not so present in the game anyways. It's more of a 15 and up kind of show, not like the 18 and up rated game.

Skimming through anime series as I usually do to watch, I decided to watch this after reading the brief synopsis of it, not to mention that with a name like this, I thought it was going to be an excellent series. However, just as looks can be deceiving, the same can be applied to the names because although the name oozed awesomeness, the series itself was a total disappointment.

STORY 3/10
The story follows a young apathetic man named Akira who is blackmailed into participating into a tournament to defeat a drug lord and stop the spread of drugs in Toshima. There was no actual fighting in ... this tournament which was supposed to be a focal part of the anime thereby it defeated the entire purpose and was uninteresting and dull.

ART 8/10
The drawings were very detailed and the background animation was crisp and clean. The colours used depicted the mood of the anime, which was ominous and full of emptiness. The character movements were fluid and the camera angles and shots were picturesque. The costuming of the characters also reflected their personalities as well.

SOUND 9/10
The musical pieces in this anime were mostly rock but there were well placed in the scenes, which were a reflection of the action taking place at that moment. The opening song was not all that bad but the musical numbers within the anime itself were excellent. The voices of the characters were also very clear and audible.

CHARACTER 3/10
There was no significant development of any of the characters in this series. Shiki was an underutilised character although he had some excellent lines. Nevertheless, there were no noteworthy changes or effects in any of the characters from the beginning of the series till the end.

ENJOYMENT 4/10
At the start of the series, it displayed some potential as being a really good one but as it progressed, the realisation hit that that potential was just an illusion. There were moments that I wondered why was I still watching this anime and then it hit me. It was only because of Shiki and his awesome lines since there was no development of plot.

OVERALL 5/10
Honestly, I do not know if the writers believed that they were going to make it to twenty four episodes and hence did nothing to progress the nonexistent story since there were no fights in a tournament that was supposed to be about fighting. The best character in the series, Shiki, was not given enough screen time to display his skills which appeared to be colossal. Akira was just as weak as Keisuke because his skill level was as near to a rabbit compared with Shiki. This series was totally uninteresting and not worth wasting four hours of your life to watch even though Shiki’s appearances and lines is the only highlight of the entire series.