New
Jun 11, 2012 1:16 PM
#1
| Esta review también está en español. Additional line break After Ring no Kakero, his first great success as an author, Masami Kurumada would create [created] another battle shounen series, this time focused on ninja clans (in which, obviously, no member is older than fifteen years old) fighting to death, using ingenious and crazy techniques: Fuma no Kojiro (FnK). In this series, many elements will be born and reused in wich[what, not which] would be the masterpiece of Mr Kurumada: Saint Seiya. Yasha-hen is the first set of OVA, and adapts the first story arc of the manga (there’s also a second set, Seiken Sensou-hen, and a final OVA, Fuma Hanran-hen). Despite being a series that can be enjoyed on its own, just like Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is specially interesting for Card Captor Sakura fans, and[or, not and] whatever created by Leiji Matsumoto is appealing for Matsumoto fans, FnK is especially attractive for Saint Seiya fans (mostly because Kurumada tends to use the same characters in all his works, just like Matsumoto), so throughout this review, don't be surprised to see several comparisons between the two series. FnK's story shows us (that) the Hakou High school[School, capitalised] is having serious problems: bad boys from (the) Seishikan High don't[won't/never] stop bothering[pestering] (read: beating the crap out) their students! At[In] such situation, Hojo Himeko, the leader of the Hakou, takes the only reasonable conclusion: hiring a ninja clan. Thus, Kojiro, a representative of the Fuma clan, leaves his desolate mountain and go to the civilization to kick some evil asses. Of course, Seishikan fellas have their own shinobi clan, the Yasha, so after a few skirmishes, both clans (since Kojiro's companions arrive short after) agree to face their best warriors in a fight without rules, Basilisk style. That's basically the plot of FnK. Not a very deep story, and it doesn't try to be it: what's important here is the excitement and action, and in that regard this six part OVA don't[doesn't] disappoint. There's a constant succession of battles (especially from the third episode (and) onward, since the first two are introductory and rather slow), in which the most varied techniques are implemented. And something very important, anyone can die in these duels, which makes the result even more exciting (since not always the good ones survive). On the character department... this is where a series oriented exclusively on combats suffers: there's practically no character development, since a good chunk of the cast will die pretty fast n_n. The hero, Kojiro, is a pretty common guy, if a bit annoying. But, like Seiya, he's determined, stubborn and cares for his clanmates. His bokken (wooden sword) skills defy the laws of physics, even for the standards of a ninja show xD. Also, from the Fuma clan, we have Ryoma, the Dokugan Ryu (that's right, he shares his nickname with the legendary Date Masamune, since both characters lost an eye). All in all, he is the more focused and respectful of the clan, and is the one that throw the formal challenge to the Yasha[who challenged the Yasha]. His psychic abilities are the strongest[comparative or superlative, make up your mind] of their clan. There are other Fuma members, but the last one I want to mention is Kirikaze. Not only he physically resembles Andromeda Shun, but he's also the only member that at least expressed his discontent with the fight. Of course, he still kicks ass, and without much remorse xD. In the opposing side, the most important character (by far) is the leader of Yasha, which[who], ironically, is someone outside the clan: Asuka Musashi. He's not only ridiculously powerful, but it's the only one who really has an established background: he fights as a mercenary for the highest bidder to pay the bills from the hospital where his sister is interned. Although not evil per se, he's very efficient, practical and ruthless: when an opponent is considered especially dangerous, he will kill it quickly, to avoid problems in the future. No hate or honor in the table, just pragmatism. Like Kojiro, his weapon is a bokken that cuts flesh like butter. The visuals are correct... but it could be better. In fact, it should be better. The manga of FnK is older than Saint Seiya, but this OVA are[these Ova are / this OVA is] newer than the anime of the bronze saints. That's why I can't understand why the quality is slightly higher in the case of Saint Seiya. {Budget, animators. Don't say you don't understand, the reader will think you're dumb. And don't say "recent is better", you'll upset a myriad of people} Not only everything has a greater brightness and color in SS, but the character design in KnK borders the ridiculous. Kojiro is a clone of Seiya, and that’s fine, since it's intentional (every Kurumada MC has[have, since MC implies "main characterS" in your sentence] the same face). The same is true with 97%[don't be so precise when you're taking numbers out of your arse. 90% or 95%] of the characters, all of which can be homologated with a Saint (Musashi-Dohko, Kirikaze-Shun, etc)... the problem is that the same design is used in[for] various characters. There are three characters that look like Shiryu (Ryoma, Anki and Mibu), and in the future, there will be even more! All the female characters are either Athena or Pandora (which[who] are essentially the same, to begin with), and minor characters are so generic it's scary. This is particularly serious because these are OVA{no, OVA only implies better potential in terms of animation.}... Anyways, although below the expected, it complies (by the standards of the eighties)[no parenthesis]. The animation is fluid, the techniques are well represented[animated], and there’s blood everywhere (especially in[on] the forehead[s]... seriously, no matter what happens, there will be blood in[on] the forehead[s], and always a few seconds later after the attack, not immediatelyin[on] the forehead{that last clause is overkill, we don't care}). The sound's fine. An interesting detail is that, while both Kojiro and Seiya animes[anime, the plural of anime is anime] share some seiyuus, none of them acts as the character with the same face. To name a few, Keiichi Nanba is Kojiro's voice actor, while in Saint Seiya was Pisces Aphrodite and Poseidon (and many other characters, like Ziocite in Sailor Moon, Ryo Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden, Raoh in Hokuto no Ken, and so on {We don't care}), not Seiya (whose original seiyuu was Toru Furuya). Sho Hayami is Musashi's voice, and was Sea Horse Baian (and Wolfwood in Trigun, Sairei in Shakugan no Shana III, Akira Hojo in Sanctuary, etc{We don't care}). Hideyuki Hori is Ryoma and Phoenix Ikki's voice (and Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa J, Ginyu in Dragon Ball Z, Nobuo Tanaka in Memories, and many more{We don't care}). Finally, Kazuhiko Inoue is Mibu in FnK and Ohko in SS (as well as Mamoru Kusanagi in Blue Seed, Anthony in Candy Candy, and Kakashi in Naruto{We don't care}). As for the music, although not even close in quality to the one present[used] in Saint Seiya (although, to be fair, not many can compare), it goes well with the ninja atmosphere of the series. The opening, Don't go away, is a calm rock song, and the ending, Good-bye Marry, is a powerful heavy metal song (both are interpreted by Night Hawks). Anyways, veredict[verdict] time. I'll try to be direct cause i[I] wrote more than usual: Fuma no Kojiro is highly recommended for Saint Seiya fans in particular, and for battle shounen fans in general. Here, you will not find lots of character development or a great story: the important thing here are the fights. And luckily, the combats are fast paced, unpredictable and ingenious, so, in the end, the whole experience is pretty enjoyable. And if you liked this, the next logical step would be Seiken Sensou-hen, the second set of episodes of FnK. - - - Replace every ’ by '. You used both, you must settle for one. And the latter looks much better. No emoticons in a review. The comparisons aren't very useful. WILL BE UPDATED |
Reply Disabled for Non-Club Members
Jun 13, 2012 2:04 AM
#2
| Esta review también está en español. After Ring no Kakero, his first great success as an author, Masami Kurumada created another battle shounen series, this time focused on ninja clans (in which, obviously, no member is older than fifteen years old) fighting to death, using ingenious and crazy techniques: Fuma no Kojiro (FnK). In this series, many elements will be born and reused in what would be the masterpiece of Mr Kurumada: Saint Seiya. Yasha-hen is the first set of OVA, and adapts the first story arc of the manga (there's also a second set, Seiken Sensou-hen, and a final OVA, Fuma Hanran-hen). Despite being a series that can be enjoyed on its own, just like Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is specially interesting for Card Captor Sakura fans, or whatever created by Leiji Matsumoto is appealing for Matsumoto fans, FnK is especially attractive for Saint Seiya fans (mostly because Kurumada tends to use the same characters in all his works, just like Matsumoto), so throughout this review, don't be surprised to see several comparisons between the two series. FnK's story shows us that Hakou High School is having serious problems: bad boys from Seishikan High never stop pestering (read: beating the crap out) their students! In such a situation, Hojo Himeko, the leader of Hakou, takes the only reasonable conclusion: hiring a ninja clan. Thus, Kojiro, a representative of the Fuma clan, leaves his desolate mountain and go to the civilization to kick some evil asses. Of course, Seishikan fellas have their own shinobi clan, the Yasha, so after a few skirmishes, both clans (since Kojiro's companions arrive short after) agree to face their best warriors in a fight without rules, Basilisk style. That's basically the plot of FnK. Not a very deep story, and it doesn't try to be it: what's important here is the excitement and action, and in that regard this six part OVA doesn't disappoint. There's a constant succession of battles (especially from the third episode onward, since the first two are introductory and rather slow), in which the most varied techniques are implemented. And something very important, anyone can die in these duels, which makes the result even more exciting (since not always the good ones survive). On the character department... this is where a series oriented exclusively on combats suffers: there's practically no character development, since a good chunk of the cast will die pretty fast. The hero, Kojiro, is a pretty common guy, if a bit annoying. But, like Seiya, he's determined, stubborn and cares for his clanmates. His bokken (wooden sword) skills defy the laws of physics, even for the standards of a ninja show. Also, from the Fuma clan, we have Ryoma, the Dokugan Ryu (that's right, he shares his nickname with the legendary Date Masamune, since both characters lost an eye). All in all, he is the most focused and respectful {Do yo mean respected?} of the clan, and is the one who challenged the Yasha. His psychic abilities are the strongest of their clan. There are other Fuma members, but the last one I want to mention is Kirikaze. Not only he physically resembles Andromeda Shun {Those who haven't seen Sseiya won't get what on earth you're talking about}, but he's also the only member that at least expressed his discontent with the fight. Of course, he still kicks ass, and without much remorse. In the opposing side, the most important character (by far) is the leader of Yasha, who, ironically, is someone outside the clan: Asuka Musashi. He's not only ridiculously powerful, but is also the only one who really has an established background: he fights as a mercenary for the highest bidder to pay the bills from the hospital where his sister is interned. Although not evil per se, he's very efficient, practical and ruthless: when an opponent is considered especially dangerous, he will kill it[them] quickly, to avoid problems in the future. No hate or honor in[on] the table, just pragmatism. Like Kojiro, his weapon is a bokken that cuts flesh like butter. The visuals are correct... but it could be better. In fact, it should be better. The manga of FnK is older than Saint Seiya, but this OVA series is newer than the anime of the bronze saints. That's why I can't understand why the quality is slightly higher in the case of Saint Seiya. Not only everything has a greater brightness and color in SS, but the character design in KnK borders the ridiculous. Kojiro is a clone of Seiya, and that's fine, since it's intentional (every Kurumada MC have the same face). The same is true with the vast majority of the characters, all of which can be homologated with a Saint (Musashi-Dohko, Kirikaze-Shun, etc)... the problem is that the same design is used for various characters. There are three characters that look like Shiryu (Ryoma, Anki and Mibu), and in the future, there will be even more! All the female characters are either Athena or Pandora (who are essentially the same, to begin with), and minor characters are so generic it's scary. This is particularly serious because these are OVA... Anyways, although below the expected, it complies by the standards of the eighties. The animation is fluid, the techniques are well animated, and there's blood everywhere (especially on the foreheads... seriously, no matter what happens, there will be blood on the foreheads. and always a few seconds later after the attack, not immediately [on] the forehead The sound's fine. An interesting detail is that, while both Kojiro and Seiya anime share some seiyuu, none of them acts as the character with the same face. To name a few, Keiichi Nanba is Kojiro's voice actor, while in Saint Seiya was Pisces Aphrodite and Poseidon (and many other characters, like Ziocite in Sailor Moon, Ryo Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden, Raoh in Hokuto no Ken, and so on {We don't care}), not Seiya (whose original seiyuu was Toru Furuya). Sho Hayami is Musashi's voice, and was Sea Horse Baian (and Wolfwood in Trigun, Sairei in Shakugan no Shana III, Akira Hojo in Sanctuary, etc{We don't care}). Hideyuki Hori is Ryoma and Phoenix Ikki's voice (and Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa J, Ginyu in Dragon Ball Z, Nobuo Tanaka in Memories, and many more{We don't care}). Finally, Kazuhiko Inoue is Mibu in FnK and Ohko in SS (as well as Mamoru Kusanagi in Blue Seed, Anthony in Candy Candy, and Kakashi in Naruto{We don't care}). As for the music, although not even close in quality to the one used in Saint Seiya (although, to be fair, not many can compare), it goes well with the ninja atmosphere of the series. The opening, Don't go away, is a calm rock song, and the ending, Good-bye Marry, is a powerful heavy metal song (both are interpreted by Night Hawks). Anyways, verdict time. I'll try to be direct cause I wrote more than usual: Fuma no Kojiro is highly recommended for Saint Seiya fans in particular, and for battle shounen fans in general. Here, you will not find lots of character development or a great story: the important thing here are the fights. And luckily, the combats are fast paced, unpredictable and ingenious, so, in the end, the whole experience is pretty enjoyable. And if you liked this, the next logical step would be Seiken Sensou-hen, the second set of episodes of FnK. |
lpfJun 13, 2012 2:15 AM
Jun 13, 2012 2:22 AM
#4
| Esta review también está en español. After Ring no Kakero, his first great success as an author, Masami Kurumada created another battle shounen series, this time focused on ninja clans (in which, obviously, no member is older than fifteen years old) fighting to death, using ingenious and crazy techniques: Fuma no Kojiro (FnK). In this series, many elements will be born and reused in what will be Mr Kurumada's masterpiece: Saint Seiya. Yasha-hen is the first set of OVA(,) and adapts the first story arc of the manga (there's also a second set, Seiken Sensou-hen, and a final OVA, Fuma Hanran-hen). Despite being a series that can be enjoyed on its own, just like Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is specially interesting for Card Captor Sakura fans, or whatever created by Leiji Matsumoto is appealing for Matsumoto fans, FnK is especially appealing for Saint Seiya fans (mostly because Kurumada tends to use the same characters in all his works, just like Matsumoto), so throughout this review, don't be surprised to see several comparisons between the two series. FnK's story shows us that Hakou High School is having serious problems: bad boys from Seishikan High never stop bothering pestering (read: beating the crap out) their students! In such situation, Hojo Himeko, the leader of Hakou, takes the only reasonable conclusion: hiring a ninja clan. Thus, Kojiro, a representative of the Fuma clan, leaves his desolate mountain and go to the civilization to kick some evil asses. Of course, Seishikan fellas have their own shinobi clan, the Yasha, so after a few skirmishes, both clans (since Kojiro's companions arrive shortly after) agree to face their best warriors in a fight without rules, Basilisk style. That's basically the plot of FnK. Not a very deep story, and it doesn't try to be it: what's important here is the excitement and action, and in that regard this six part OVA doesn't disappoint. There's a constant succession of battles (especially from the third episode onward, since the first two are introductory and rather slow), in which the most varied techniques are implemented. And something very important, anyone can die in these duels, which makes the result even more exciting (since not always the good ones survive). {The "character" section of a review shouldn't deal with development (evolution) only} On the character department... this is where a series oriented exclusively on combats suffers: there's practically no character development, since a good chunk of the cast will die pretty fast. The hero, Kojiro, is a pretty common guy, if a bit annoying. But, like Seiya, he's determined, stubborn and cares for his clanmates. His bokken (wooden sword) skills defy the laws of physics, even for the standards of a ninja show. Also, from the Fuma clan, we have Ryoma, the Dokugan Ryu (that's right, he shares his nickname with the legendary Date Masamune, since both characters lost an eye). All in all, he is the most focused and respected of the clan, and is the one who challenged the Yasha. His psychic abilities are the strongest of their clan. There are other Fuma members, but the last one I want to mention is Kirikaze. Not only he physically resembles Andromeda Shun from Seint Seiya, but he's also the only member that at least expressed his discontent with the fight. Of course, he still kicks ass, and without much remorse. On the opposing side, the most important character (by far) is the leader of Yasha, who, ironically, is someone outside the clan: Asuka Musashi. He's not only ridiculously powerful, but is also the only one who really has an established background: he fights as a mercenary for the highest bidder to pay the bills from the hospital where his sister is interned. Although not evil per se, he's very efficient, practical and ruthless: when an opponent is considered especially dangerous, he will kill them quickly, to avoid problems in the future. No hate or honor on the table, just pragmatism. Like Kojiro, his weapon is a bokken that cuts flesh like butter. The visuals are correct... but they could be better. In fact, they should be better. The manga of FnK is older than Saint Seiya, but this OVA series is newer than the anime of the bronze saints. Not only everything has a greater brightness and color in SS, but the character design in KnK borders the ridiculous. Kojiro is a clone of Seiya, and that's fine, since it's intentional (every Kurumada MC have the same face). The same is true with the vast majority of the characters, all of which can be homologated with a Saint (Musashi-Dohko, Kirikaze-Shun, etc)... the problem is that the same design is used for various characters. There are three characters that look like Shiryu (Ryoma, Anki and Mibu), and in the future, there will be even more! All the female characters are either Athena or Pandora (who are essentially the same, to begin with), and minor characters are so generic it's scary. Anyways, although below the expected {doesn't sound very english to me}, it complies by the standards of the eighties. The animation is fluid, the techniques are well animated, and there's blood everywhere, especially on the foreheads... seriously, no matter what happens, there will be blood on the foreheads. The sound's fine. An interesting detail is that, while both Kojiro and Seiya anime share some seiyuu, none of them acts as the character with the same face. To name a few, Keiichi Nanba is Kojiro's voice actor, while in Saint Seiya was Pisces Aphrodite and Poseidon (and many other characters, like Ziocite in Sailor Moon, Ryo Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden, Raoh in Hokuto no Ken, and so on), not Seiya (whose original seiyuu was Toru Furuya). Sho Hayami is Musashi's voice, and was Sea Horse Baian (and Wolfwood in Trigun, Sairei in Shakugan no Shana III, Akira Hojo in Sanctuary, etc). Hideyuki Hori is Ryoma and Phoenix Ikki's voice (and Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa J, Ginyu in Dragon Ball Z, Nobuo Tanaka in Memories, and many more). Finally, Kazuhiko Inoue is Mibu in FnK and Ohko in SS (as well as Mamoru Kusanagi in Blue Seed, Anthony in Candy Candy, and Kakashi in Naruto). As for the music, although not even close in quality to the one used in Saint Seiya (although, to be fair, not many can compare), it goes well with the ninja atmosphere of the series. The opening, Don't go away, is a calm rock song, and the ending, Good-bye Marry, is a powerful heavy metal song (both are interpreted by Night Hawks). Anyways, verdict time. I'll try to be direct cause I wrote more than usual: Fuma no Kojiro is highly recommended for Saint Seiya fans in particular, and for battle shounen fans in general. Here, you will not find lots of character development or a great story: the important thing here are the fights. And luckily, the combats are fast paced, unpredictable and ingenious, so, in the end, the whole experience is pretty enjoyable. And If you liked this, the next logical step would be Seiken Sensou-hen, the second set of episodes of FnK. |
lpfJun 13, 2012 2:39 AM
Jun 13, 2012 2:40 AM
#5
| I'm done with proofreading. I'm not sure about a couple of expressions and I may have left some mistakes but it'd take me too much time to check it all, as I'm not a native myself. Other remarks. Character development (evolution) isn't what makes a character good. "there's practically no character development, since a good chunk of the cast will die pretty fast" => you can add that because they die before being given some depth, the death scenes aren't very memorable. Of course that doesn't apply if the dead characters are nameless, irrelevant faggots "Anyway" is a terrible world. It implies what you were saying before was useless and breaks any possible structure in your review. "Pretty" is good for conversation but too insecure for a review. As well as overused. "…" isn't suited for a review except for exceptional cases Avoid "I" as much as possible. |
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