Hakuouki: Hekketsuroku

There was only one thing I can say after finishing this anime.

"What a waste of my time."

Recommended for people who want historical facts about Shinsengumi.

If you came looking to watch an anime about monsters, damsels in distress and valiant warriors. You've found the right anime. If you came looking for a anime documentary on Shinsengumi and Hijikata (pretty close to it), this is almost the right anime for you.

But you'll not get anything beyond that. It tried to hard to be too many things and in the end failed to accomplish much. It had monsters with little focus on them, it had damsels in distress ... that was damsels in distress with a very weak character development (actually I can barely tell if there was any) and couldn't do anything but get into trouble and be a burden to everyone.

I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a story on Shinsengumi or Hijikata or the girl. There was not much of a build up, definitely no climax and a terrible end (this is actually debatable, because I thought the end was the only good thing about it).

Been a while since I reviewed something with such a low score, so... get your popcorn ready if you wanna read my 100% personal, biased, interpretation of dirt. Because I'll be dishing it out by the PAN.

To start - I fully enjoyed Hakuouki Season 1. Even gave it an 8/10. It's got ridiculously good looking ikemen, fighting/action, natural dialogue among characters, and a solid plot based on real historical events in Japan ... sounds like all the elements of a 素晴らしい subarashii anime (let me be my weeb self). I loved every minute of it as much as I love my 'historical otome ... games.' Even if Hakuouki was mostly based on entertainment value and not actually worth much in history books, it was still a delight to watch. I was shocked I hadn't heard of such an excellent series.

Then I started Season 2 (aka episode 12 - 24, some sites display the videos together), and my thoughts turned to 'ah, now I know why.' The quality, story, and characters rapidly deteriorate. The biggest factor for its failure lie in its protagonist, Chizuru. The second factor was simply 'too many plot elements.'

I'll start with (2), because I could write a book on (1).
There's just too much going on, plot wise.
- History from centuries ago
- Samurai / warrior bushido code and lifestyle
- 7 handsome dudes
- Zombies/vampires being artificially created
- Demons something something supernatural world war (will detail this later).

It's a really ambitious undertaking for any story to include so many elements. Hakuoki might not have been 'the worst' at juggling multiple themes, but it still detracted from what could've been a really great series. Season 1 introduced each theme gradually, in a way that made sense. But Season 2 just threw everything at the wall, with each element taking turns on 'this is suddenly important' rotating cycle, with no clear logic or timeline.

People who enjoy ambiguity will probably enjoy this kind of momentum, but for others who prefer a structured progression, this is definitely not the series for you.

Now, onto the main failure that is known as Yukimura Chizuru - a character who should be banned from all screens, media, and devices, save for 'here's how to NOT write a character.'
- SPOILERS AHEAD -

1. Chizuru's sword is a decoration, not a weapon.
Set in times of war, strife, and battle, it's pretty natural that people 'kill or be killed.' Not Chizuru. We watch her get 'saved' as a damsel in distress more than eight times... and she doesn't lift her sword once. We don't actually see her fight, ever, so the sword might as well be a decoration.

I got real sick of it. It's okay to not fight, but don't pretend to - that's where my anger lies. It's just kinda insulting to people who actually can hold their own (and I assume) people like Princess Sen or her shinobi, REAL WARRIOR WOMEN!!!!!

Worse, the Shinsengumi guys go from warning her 'You need to hold your own, protect yourself, we're not always going to protect you,' to full on defending her and her INTENTIONALLY HELPLESS WAYS. I grew sick of whatever excuses people made for her, and angrier at the guys for allowing it / change of attitude. It doesn't get any more contradictory than that.

Initially, I liked her other qualities. It was just the 'helpless' habit that pissed me off and reminded me very much of 'Saya' from Blood+, where it's like, "I'll always be in the face of danger but conveniently panic and not actually do anything while people around me die and try to save me."

I can't stand that attitude. It is just really selfish and the battleground is too costly a place to be selfish.

The least she could've done, if it's something she was bad at. Was to freaking train. She basically lived with soldiers; is someone going to live in a dojo 24/7 and tell me they refuse to pick up a sword or even practice? Once? Yup, that's Yukimura for you.

2. Chizuru is playing house.
Chizuru becomes something of a domestic housekeeper to the Shinsengumi - yes, even though they were soooo reluctant to let her join them. If they had this been this lenient in real life. Heck, any woman could've joined "the ranks." She cooks, cleans, makes tea, and doesn't make much progress (physically or psychologically) beyond the occasional errand running.

She was very lacking and predictable as a character. I really, really would've enjoyed this if she actually cared about her demon blood and was less of a traitor / try to see other sides. She pretends to be this selfless and compassionate individual, but really. She was affectionate and compassionate to a SELECTIVE few, so not actually a kind or good person.

A demon princess who REFUSES TO acknowledge her heritage or have anything to do with it, even if it might actually save humankind or at least help someone...? it's like she doesn't have a brain, only a puppet with a heart.

3. She's reactive, not proactive, I hate it.
Everything is an "oh no" and not a "let's go" with her. Her role felt more like an observer in an otome story, than an actual 'player' in a game. I know there's situations where the character is intentionally written like that, to not disrupt the history or rest of the show. But I really can't think of a single contribution she made, unless we count the 'who can sacrifice more to save each other' game that she started when joining the Shinsengumi, an already struggling force.

- Other pointers -
- There should've been a romance tag. Despite the fantastic (reverse) harem, Miss Useless just chooses ONE guy and lives in denial throughout the series. If you aren't the biggest fan of romance media, I'd recommend sticking with Season 1 and ignoring Season 2 completely. Also a grief tag for excessive deaths of many characters.

- Even if this was meant to be an accurate historical portrayal of Japan's Shinsengumi era... I just don't see the point of it. Because Chizuru's presence means the whole story isn't accurate already, so like... stay with the inconsistency?

- By the second last episode, we STILL didn't learn anything about the master race aka the demon race. The whole plot was wasted on Chizuru. Just a tease like everything else in this show.

- Honestly, the military pacing of Season 2 was so slow to me that I started doing my craft embroidery work while watching. EMBROIDERY. If that doesn't tell you how boring the show was, I don't know what will.

The only character I cared about was Kazama Chikage. Chikage x Chizuru is something I 500% support, only because I like Chikage so much. So yeah. Give Season 1 a try if you must, but I can't recommend this show to anyone else unless they are a masochist with lots and lots of time on their hands.