Rekka no Honoo

Title:Rekka no Honoo
Flame of Recca
烈火の炎
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: MITSUISHI Kotono
Original Concept - ANZAI Nobuyuki
16 year old Hanabishi Recca meets a girl named Yanagi who has the power to heal. This power intrigues a dirty business man named Mori Kouran, who thirsts for immortality. Meanwhile, Recca finds out that he is actually a ninja flame master born 400 years ago, and his flame throwing half-brother, Kurei, wants him dead. Along with Fuko, a busty tomboy, Domon, a muscular oaf, and Mikagami, a loner who wants to avenge his sister's death, Recca enters a competition where they must fight the best elemental weapon users in the world. The last fight will be between Kurei and Recca...if he can stay alive until then.
[TV series, 1997-98, 42 episodes, 23 min]
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 10 10 10 10 10 10 Violet D [series:24#1393]
The flame throwing and the comming to Yanagis aide was excellent. I have only seen the first episode but I want to see more. I always thought it would be neat to have different powers that could take care of evil. So the flame throwing I loved that. Thrills, excitement and heroism all in one.

Last updated Wednesday, July 29 2009. Created Wednesday, July 29 2009.
Watch 7 7 6 7 7 8 Dreamer [series:24#2279]
Looking at the previews, I was skeptical that I would like it.... and that's mainly because I was judging it based on the art I was looking at. However...... it wasn't what I thought initially.

Art, Animation & Character Design
The art isn't up to par to today's standards, I mean, afterall, it was back in the late 90's. The animation was at times choppy and the art would drop in quality more times than not. In numerous episodes, frames/animation sequences would be reused. The character designs themselves weren't that good... almost ugly. However, from episode 14 forward, it seemed like there was a sudden improvement in both art and character designs. In fact, if you were to compare Recca pre-15 to post-15 you can see a dramatic improvement. Domo doesn't look as dumb but now more "refined". As for character development... there's none to be had. I mean afterall, the action is pretty fast pace that it doesn't have time to dig into anyone's backgrounds much.... rather very little. Finally, Recca's screams were shatteringly annoying. Let me say that again, his screams were ANNOYING!

Music
The music isn't too bad really. Nothing of interest however during some of the fight scenes, it would slightly pick up to give the scene more of a dramatic feel. The ending theme song was somewhat annoying but bearable.

Series and Episode Stories
One of the things that really bothered me about this series was the audio. No, not the music but rather the voice acting. Now, I don't know if it was just the copy I got or what but it seemed like everyone was recorded in a hall. The voices would reverberate... not alot but really noticable. For me, was a distraction throughout the whole series. The other thing that bothered me was some of the cheesy fight scenes. Take for example in episode 8, the fight with the Katashira (the puppeteer). The writers want you to believe it's a serious fight to the death... yet, at the end of the battle, there's hugs and tears for the bad guy. Like, WTF!? It's suppose to be an engaging battle but then it's dumbed down to a "friendly tag-you're-it duel". Episode 12, the battle between Recca and Kurei... just ruined because somehow, for the life of the battle, Recca had the time to engage in a chat with Houshi about his arm bracelet. WTF?! At episode 17, it really got serious.... not that it wasn't already kinda serious, but now with our heroes and heroins. Episode 22 was almost unbelievable. I had a hard time believing the fight that takes place. Though it ws interesting to watch, even for an anime, it just got a little too unrealistic. The ending of it all didn't really have me excited. In fact, I would almost say it was a let down because Recca and Kurei didn't exactly meet the expectations of what the last whole half of the series was supposedly concluding to.

Overall, it was enjoyable but not a "good" one. If it weren't for all the annoyances and the horrible reverberating audio, it might have made better scores.

Last updated Saturday, January 31 2009. Created Saturday, January 31 2009.
Rent Jan-Chan [series:24#967]
In the spirit of Yu Yu Hakusho, the main character discovers that he has hidden powers which has to learn how to master. His HIME (or princess) is someone with special healing powers - a gift that has made her the target of an evil man seeking to be immortal. So against the threat of her being kidnapped, Recca has to gather friends and allies, and gain the experience required to master his flame skill to protect her and defeat the nasty bad guy. In short, this is a fast paced and fun magical-ninja fighting story.

There are (if I remember correctly) about three main story arcs within 42 episodes of this series. And of course (just like YuYu) the last story arc is a battle royal elimination tournament in which Recca and his team of fighters have to win to save their princess Yanagi.

Last updated Monday, May 18 2009. Created Monday, December 01 2008.
Buy 8 8 7 9 9 8 kyo [series:24#2144]
The first 20 episodes was pretty intresting as the story was progressing pretty nicely but after that it got quite repetetive, as there was one fight after another one, this made it pretty boring to watch but as it gets near the end it got interesting again.

Last updated Thursday, January 19 2006. Created Thursday, January 19 2006.
Buy Forbin [series:24#1573]
Drama : Med
Comedy : Low
Action : High
SciFi : Med
Ecchi : Low

3 Disks Reviewed
I love this series. Recca is here trying to save his princess.

Last updated Tuesday, May 31 2005. Created Tuesday, May 31 2005.
Buy 9 9 9 9 10 10 Red Fox [series:24#612]
The first anime watched and it actually got me hooked! I think that the storyline is cool, characters each got different abilities, and wats more... the manga is cooler!! Even the awesome psychic devices will send u drooling and wish u actually had them. Imagine u being able to control flame and summoning 8 fire dragons each with different powers... Everyone out there SHOULD watch this!!! And yeah the ANIME should haf shown wat the manga continued... that was disappointing for me.

Last updated Monday, March 31 2003. Created Monday, March 31 2003.
Buy 8 8 9 9 10 10 kenshin249 [series:24#453]
This anime is one of the best ones I have ever seen. I thought that it was too short. It has a great story. It is about this student Hanabishi Recca who loves ninjas and tries to be like them. Then he finds out that he is no ordinary person. He is a flamemaster. He can control fire and summon 8 fire dragons. By using this strength he needs get all of the elemental weapons back. These weapons are very strong and dangerous if given to the wrong person. His friends, Fuko and Domon, will help him get them back. So they all enter the tournment. And in this tournment Recca will have to fight his own brother, Kurei, who is also a flamemaster. This series is one that is not to be missed. It has real good action and comedy. The only bad thing that I didn't like about this is that the ending was too short. They could have made the ending better. Overall, I would not hesitate to spend my money on this series.

Last updated Friday, December 13 2002. Created Friday, December 13 2002.
Buy 8 8 9 8 7 Anonymous #130 [series:24#130]
This is a really good action anime filled with a group of friends who all come together and end up getting these Elemental weapons. Fighting scenes are totally awesome (yet i think its a little unreal how some people totally think their way out of impossible situations..). Only thing I hated was the ending, it just stopped (lack of funding I heard?) but it is a really good anime.

Last updated Thursday, January 25 2001. Created Thursday, January 25 2001.
Buy 9 9 9 9 9 9 Kaneda [series:24#87]
This is one of the best aime I have ever seen. The fight scenes are great but they dont run for too long like some other anime they shall remain unnamed. the charactes have actual depth to them, and they are good for both adults and children. It talks very well to most age-audience. The only downside is the ending doesnt really feel like an ending, it feel likes there should be much more. 42 eps where not enough!!

Last updated Tuesday, October 31 2000. Created Tuesday, October 31 2000.
Watch 8 8 9 9 8 8 Anonymous #75 [series:24#75]
This series is great! There's action, romance, comedy, everything! The fighting scenes are incredible! Sure there are *very* little nudity, but if you don't mind that, then you should definately watch this! The only disapointing thing about this was the ending, it kinda finished in such a hurry.

Last updated Thursday, August 31 2000. Created Thursday, August 31 2000.
Buy Jenn-chan [series:24#31]
This show is so awesome! Yeah sure, the characters are a bit dirived, but the fighting scenes in this rock the house! (oh boy..did i just say 'rock the house'?) In this death match of sorts and Recca and his team enter, they each take turns fighting other teams who possess elemental weapons. Some fight with magical music, some with their incredible speed, some with paper cranes, some with illusions, and one guy turns into a death machine if you punch him 3 times. Yeah, it may sound a bit hokey...but again, it's really fun to watch the good guys battle against these dudes! I found the show to be rather addicting, and I'd watch it all over again. Any gripes? The character design, for one thing, was really cool, but looked rather warped and ugly in some episodes. Yanagi's character, or lack thereof, was your basic damsel in distress...and nothing else. The ending wasn't really an ending at all, being that the anime was never completed. Sure, there's sort of a wrap-up in the 42nd episode, but not really. Bottom line: If you're into the Street Fighter/Yuu Yuu Hakusho genre, you should give this a try.

Last updated Friday, April 28 2000. Created Friday, April 28 2000.

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