The second thing that impressed me immediately was the sound. The background music was very refreshing, and more importantly true to the era depicted in the setting. But again, it failed to hold its own became it became extremely monotonous by the end of the first episode. It was almost like a very good loop was played throughout the series. This caused many awkward moments where the music did not match the scene appropriately.
The character development was almost non-existent. There was very little evolution of any type. Other than perhaps two of the characters, there was also a dire need for more emotional voice-acting in order to instill some life into the inhabitants of the dojo, the focal setting of the series. Due to a problem with the chronology of the story, the viewer becomes even less involved.
As far as the animation was concerned, the majority of the effort was put into the action sequences. Yet again, this factor of the anime failed to deliver. Although a unique and interesting method of representing the tension before each fight was used, the fights usually lasted about a second or two with very little actual animation, which doesn't say much about the rest of the anime.
There is a decent amount of gore, and the faint of heart are warned to stay away if that is not your cup of tea. One particular molestation scene stands out as one of the most blatantly gratuitous scenes in any anime I've watched recently, and I can handle a lot of disturbing violence. I can't help but think that it was used for shock value rather than being an integral part of the story.
Overall, I had to force myself to get through the coma-inducing pace of the entire series. All that was left was a bitter taste of needless gore, and confusing story-telling with a few artistic qualities worth mentioning. I strongly recommend looking elsewhere if you're looking for a historic anime revolving around the patriarchal society in a dojo, with a peppering of inadequate samurai action sequences thrown in for giggles.
