Basically JE is about how Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari make their armies and get new frien---allies, so they can clash in The Last Part---, I mean: battle! And I say it: it's REALLY about that, with no "friends-no-jutsu" - it's a pretty diplomatic story.
Oh, and you have to know something important: this Basara isn't a lovely comedy. In JE there's no:
a) absurd thingies (besides Tadakatsu - Tadakatsu is a personification of absurdity),
b) abnormal fighting (hu-huh, really, no Jumping Jack Breakers! But still beware of Tadakatsu),
c) architecture ruining.
In lieu of that you'll get plenty of:
a) crying Mitsunari,
b) talking about alliances (a lot!),
c) more crying Mitsunari,
d) demonic Oichi.
Wait. I'll explain it properly.
1. that plot!
Game based, totally. I've never seen so many elements put into one adaptation. So. Many. I love this game, so I'm happy.
The main point: there's no "let's beat the big bad wolf!". No Oda? No Oda. No big bad Toyotomi aka. The New Oda. There's only the clash between Mitsunari and Ieyasu who both are pretty equal. If there's no better-than-you opponent, is it still cool? A little. Personally I prefer such plot - how many times can I watch the same beating the bad guy? In JE no one is really bad, so...
Though, for people who like good-evil conflicts it'll be boring as hell, and for fans of Oda - 0/10.
2. those characters!
I truly love Basara guys. Maybe they're just my type, so please ignore my "kyaaa!" screams.
Masamune got a kick in the balls and lost half of his normal coolness. He's running around, biting everyone and he told Ieyasu to "get lost". How nice. It's pretty hard to gulp this picture of him, but since I love torturing characters and exceeding limits, I found him more interesting than in both previous animes and the original game.
Yukimura is now so smaaart! You'd never guess! And you probably won't like him, if you prefer old good stupid Sanada. As for me, he has become more interesting with his simple mind spiced with some windom.
Mitsunari is hysterically melancholic. If you like him in the worst state of his depression, you'll love this anime. If you have already enough of that soap-opera, forget. He's pretty scary when he cries blood.
Ieyasu, poor Ieyasu... He's not the Sun of Japan now. His dark side was activated, but without very intensive glare it's not visible why.
Outside this Great Four Heroes we have ALMOST all known characters (no poor Mogami, sob) - every one has their small show and cute moments. I love~...
3. that graphics! that music!
I'm one of those people who actually can completely ignore technical things, get blind and deaf - as long as plot is fine and it doesn't look like my drawings in age of 5, it's okay.
Less frames - less smooth animation. A little more like in older American cartoons. But I like it anyway.
Less stupid faces. Really. You can pause whenever you want and characters won't have cross-eyes - I.G. did it and I have a superpower "catching bad frames in anime". But the design is another thing! Yukimura, use your tweezers! Ieyasu has a really awesome nose. So square. I like how their faces vary.
Though, someone probably thought that Basara guys are too gay, so their shoulders got sooo wide! That makes me angry every time I see it!
As for music: opening is Jmetal with crazy vocal (and it's in EngRish! Can you hear that?) what I found amusing, ending - Ishikawa Chiaki. Cute. BGM is similar to previous Basara animes, though I found it actually more rhythmical.
Notes for that anime are pretty ambivalent, so I tried my best to find why.
If you're a fan of previous animes' absurdity, funny battles, careless & cool characters - that's 1/10.
If you don't have enough of my talking about drama-llama and you don't care for cool Masamune - 5/10?
If you liked the sad and crying Sengoku Basara 3 - hm, I don't know, 8/10?
If you adore moe-Mitsunari and want to hug him - your scale will blow: 11/10 - and here goes me.
Thank you.
Sorry for my EngRish.
