Story: The plot's really simple: kill everyone, blood's everywhere and fighting is a rather pointless means of achieving results. Through flashbacks we learn more from the characters' backgrounds. The first few episodes I was expecting a real sympathy for either Iga or Koga, but I gathered that I could not have real sympathy for either side. My attention focused more on the fights than the story which was not the thick plot I expected beforehand. The story's entertaining but don't expect a very original plot.
Art: The visuals are really stunning. Nice use of panoramas and the fights are really well executed. I like the Edo era and its authenticity is something I appreciate. Some characters look strange though such as Shogen and Jingoro. This diminishes the otherwise realistic representation of the environment.
Sound: The sound itself is realistic, even the gorey sounds. The music fits really well and makes use of classical instruments which makes you feel you're really in the past. None of the music really stands out for me, so it can't earn more than a decent 7.
Character: This left me wanting more. Most characters had one particular character trait and it was just repeated over and over again. Some of the men were perverts and they stayed that way, some of the women could fight but were actually squishy. Even from the two main characters we don't learn that much except that they were always good persons, why they want peace was never really clear. Well there's this mantra about stopping the endless cycle of hate, but you don't really get any further than that.
Enjoyment: I'll be short on this one, the fights are great and the background stories entertaining.It did lack this "I gotta see the next episode right now" feeling but the series is definitely not a bore!
Overall: I was expecting an anime like "Samurai Champloo" providing an alternate history on the Tokugawa era. But that wasn't really the case. With great art and exciting fight scenes I could enjoy myself with the series.It's unconventional to have an anime without a clearly distinct good vs evil story, I give the writers props for that. For entertainment value, it's a solid 8.
