War is a terrible thing. One should never even wish for it to fell upon him or others. This show portraits the horrors of war in a really good manner. People lose ones they love, and the ending is not always happy.
Unlike many other shows, this one does have the courage to show likeable characters die, and unlike sooo many shows it actually does tell you "You don't forget the ones that died".
Wow, huge intro to this review, but I really felt that many shows just shrug off the ones that die, and that so many shows have characters that in the end just forget all those they loved and lost. Luckily this is not one of those.
Story [7]
I wouldn't mind giving story a higher grade than 7, but I can't force myself to do so. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends how you look at it) the story is pretty generic. It has been said million times so far. A story about two ninja clans in war, two people in love and their followers is nothing new, and if you've seen one of them, you know what this one is like. The difference is how it is played. Luckily, this one doesn't go generic way of killing all but main characters. You will see characters you came to like die in a second, and the ones you expected to live through die next second. There is no safe character in this war/love story.
Art [8]
Meh. I can't say it's bad. But I can't say it's good either. While fighting is nicely done most of the time, characters are just out of proportions and unlike themselves (art meaning) at other times. The colors, the reflections of sun, the colors of the trees and overall "atmosphere" art is really done great.
Sound [9]
Soundtrack for this one goes almost completely non-vocal style (I think only exception being op). And it hits top marks with it. Music never interferes with character talks, it never interrupts fights or bothers. It is there almost all the time, you can hear it and enjoy in it, but it's not going to distract you from watching the show. I gave it 9 just because of the fact many, and I mean many characters sounded so similar it was really hard to voice-recognize them. If you don't mind not recognizing characters by their voice, put 10 here.
Character [9]
To start off, huge cast. I see many people mention underdeveloped characters. But I disagree with that. I actually think characters are very well developed. The fact that I cared more for secondary characters than for the main ones tells a lot considering main characters have most of the screen time. 20 characters here in total (some minor ones in background). They go from harmless sexual maniacs to crazy old man. These characters have their emotions, they have their loves and their fears. One of my favorite characters in this shows acts all tough most of the time, but when shown with the one he loved in flashback, it is obvious even he enjoys peace when with loved one. Most of the characters in this show are like that. They are all strong and powerful, but they are also caring and gentle.
When it comes to characters, this is closest to reality I've seen so far. They are doing their duties flawlessly, but they are still people touched and hurt by the horrors of the war.
Enjoyment [9]
As always, I won't comment this one. Those who read this review probably noticed a lot of "I this...", "I that...". Enjoyment is different from person to person, the fact I enjoyed it doesn't mean others will too.
Overall [8]
With some art flaws, not so good voice acting and generic story, this show gets "only" 8. That in no way means I didn't like it. I did, and a lot. It is a really great show, and a definite recommendation.
There is a if you liked this you'll like that.
I say, if you didn't like shows which just write off characters and horrors of war (for me it was valkyrie chronicles), you'll definitively like this one.