Some spoilers possible
Woo boy what is this? A bloody anime with loads of badass animation? AND it's by makers of Hellsing? Sign me up sarge!
Thankfully I was never that much into Hellsing, I liked it that's for sure but I've never been blinded enough to ignore any flaws made in it or in any further works of it's makers, so this review won't be too biased. I am however fond of art style presented here so buckle up Jimmy and let's slobber over some moving pictures.
As I was saying it's an art style I really like. I do like JJBA(JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) style that contains bunch of color changing and tension showing facial expressions but this one is somethin' I get to see more often. It's that thick,strong outline and damn detailed movement of muscles. It gives every strike a feeling of force and every evasive maneuver feeling of elegance and swiftness yet it makes them look like a lot of effort was put into their execution. Every move just leaves you in awe, especially when fight is between even opponents.
,,What about non fighting part gov'nor?'', I hear you asketh.
They vary from decent to poo bucket they still keep a strong outline going but from time to time they dabble in what I've come to call FMAB(Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) visual comedy. FMAB visual comedy relies on a really cooky, undetailed, almost caricaturesque art. Of course there are actual jokes mixed in but they aren't/are barely funny on their own. It's the wonky animation,and jokey delivery of lines, that makes 'em funny.
This isn't executed too well and is pretty hit and miss, mostly miss, except when jokes are about shows own weird dialogue lines or obsession about poo.
No seriously there's at least three strategies that involve covering enemies in feces and dialogue gets so repetitive at times you'd be forgiven to think you accidentally pushed rewind.
Well that got stretched so let's keep sound and story short.
Sound is good, OP is bloody awesome and the rest of the soundtrack compliments the atmosphere currently present in a scene.
Story is The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets The Lord Of The Rings. It's set in the world that you'd expect to see in Tolkien's works. Dwarves,elves, hobbits etc they are all here. In this basic fantasy setting historical characters duke it out,some on the side of evil some on the side of doing fuck all. To be fair non evil oldies eventually start an uprising and go against Orte,an empire that's oppressing minorities so think pre social movements 'Murica.
But what are those evil historical figures doing? Surprisingly there's a third faction which is led by Jesus, yes they call him Black King but it's obviously JC. Who wages war against humans and can apparently cause rapid cancer. What I gotta mention, but isn't touched too much upon, is that these historical figures are sent to this world by one of two entities and as much as I'd wish to talk about them I can't cause most we see of them is devoid of any info.
Characters are not too engaging methinks. They are certainly not bland but are also far from human.They are surely diverse in...well...characteristics and few are given to every character. I do love good characters so it's a bit of a shit in my cereals that these aren't touchin' my quiver bone.
Ah but the glorious bloody combat is more than you can ask for. There is some super natural diddling but it's still done in an a-ok way.
Mostly because the anime ends up being power against strategy. It would be expected that a flaming bitch would kill a guy whose only armor is bravado but trough some tactics and cooperation with a big breasted mage he can screw her the heck up.
Gore isn't too gruesome and it's almost at the perfect point,a bit less dissection classes with Mr Katana and ketchup splurts would be appreciated.Nobunaga, more of a tactician than a fighter, always thinks of strategies to screw up the enemy armies who are always greater in numbers. Orte is full of idiots tho. There are couple of tactics that rely on Orte's troops having a brain of a dead sparrow.
Overall Drifters is quite enjoyable and executes it's ideas quite well.It's art and lack of laser beams greatly please me. There are weak points in it and worst parts are definitely dialogue and some chops that will strain your suspension of disbelief.I'd say it's worth watching for spectacle alone but I'm unsure whether the plot will be to your liking captain Wankypants.
