this is a new post "series" I guess you could call it, just like my First Impressions and Top 10 Lists, hidden gems meaning Anime that I've come across that are really good (not necessarily my favorites) and yet don't get a lot of popularity. Now anime that get posts like this are gonna be ones that I didn't do a post on for another reason, and/or don't appear in my Top 10 Lists a lot. Also before I get started, please in addition to commenting click that little Facebook 'Like' button on the side. By doing that you'll get to see smaller anime musings of mine, questions, funny pictures I come across, give me post suggestions, etc.
Related Articles
Story:
This is essentially a Romeo and Juliet but in feudal Japan, ninja form which is pretty awesome. The basis of it is that there's these 2 ninja clans that hate each other, the Koga and the Iga. For the past...I forget how many years, there'd been an anti-hostilities pact between them but that pact is nullified (by someone in the government, I forget who, maybe Ieyasu) and 10 warriors from each clan are ordered to fight each other to the death. Each clan has a scroll with the names of the 10 opposing ninja and they are to cross out the name in that person's blood when they are killed. Basically a last clan standing sort of deal. Now to throw a monkey wrench into the deal, Oboro the daughter of the Iga leader is engaged to Gennosuke, the Koga leader, and now the two lovers are forced to kill each other. It's carried out pretty well and as you can imagine it's really dark, also probably one of the bloodiest anime I've seen, but either way very good. It has a way of pulling you into the story so you develop "noooo they're dead!" or "finally! its about time someone killed them" feelings towards certain characters. It also manages to have a romance background, without focusing on that and getting really weighed down with "but I love him/her!" drama. Also all these ninja have special powers such as prehensile body hair, stretching, poison breath, summoning butterflies, etc. which is pretty neat, nice twist to the historical setting. Also as a nice bit of teasing to make you guys curious to watch this, I will say that the ending is very sad, it was one of the only anime to even bring me close to tears.
Animation:
| The 10 Iga clan warriors |
From what I recall the fight scenes are very fast-paced and done very smoothly, also very bloody but...yeah this is just a very bloody anime. There are what you'd call "ecchi" scenes but they're not for fan-service, it's usually a girl getting brutally raped or tortured or something which is yes very disturbing, it doesn't make you wanna punch the creators in the balls for filling the show with useless ecchi fluff, because it's really not. The only thing that really bugs me about the art is the body shapes/proportions of some characters, such as the old guy you see in the picture above, Rousai, who the hell thought it would be a good idea to give him a peanut head? Then that guy with the gray bumpy skin and then there's this other guy, Kazamachi Shougen I believe, who's literally part spider and looks part monkey, just why? What kind of weirdo thinks it's a good idea to draw characters like that? And don't even get me started on the dude who's chin looks like a rotting tumor.
Characters:
Well to put it simply I watched this anime about 3yrs ago and I can still remember most of the characters names and powers, so that should say something right there. Some characters fit into stereotypes but not really in a bad way, most of them are also very unique and memorable. And yes that guy in the back, Kasumi Gyobu I believe, is in fact naked, he can melt into objects such as walls and become invisible.
One thing I liked about the characters is they all had depth to some extent, enough for you to sympathize with them, develop favorites and pick sides. Personally I enjoy characters like that, characters that we care about and for lack of a better term characters that seem real. And this anime definitely accomplishes that. Something else that I kind of enjoyed is it starts out as there's no clear villain, you just kind of pick a side (personally I like the Iga) but later on it turns out one guy actually is a villain, and a sick, twisted fuck at that. Actually...a lot of the characters are sick and twisted, but that doesn't mean they're not good, which they are.
Overall:
Well obviously this is a really good series if I felt the need to title this post in the way that I did. So in stead of focusing on that I'm gonna try and compare this to something. I already gave the Romeo and Juilet analogy, which it's a lot like but it also reminded me of a very mature Naruto. If you make Naruto bloody and dark and more historical and cross it with Romeo and Juliet you get this. And actually now that I think of it Romeo and Juliet really is quite bloody and dark...not to the extent of this but still. Also some of the deaths and torture-esq scenes really are quite gruesome, there's also a rape scene or two, so basically what I'm saying is not for the faint of heart. If you're someone who's into a lot of flowery shoujo, as good as this is it might not be your best choice. I suppose I'll just leave you with the fact that this is a great anime, something I'd even rewatch if I had the time, the story is awesome and the ending honestly almost made me cry, and that's saying a lot.
*gasp*! I really don't have much to say here, just hope all the returning students are off to a good school year and please comment, subscribe, like the Facebook page (this especially), etc. Also, I'm probably not going to Comic Con this year because it's so expensive and I'm too lazy to make a costume and personally I'd feel weird without a costume. So probably no post on that =(
