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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2678#1552] |
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This one was a surprise for me. I am somewhat familiar with the Japanese serial novel series Hakkenden from having watched the 90s OVA series a few years ago in its focus on eight feudal era warriors descended from a dog spirit. For this modern spin adapted from a shoujo manga series, Hakkenden offers a mixture of Eastern and Western settings and religious elements in its focus on brothers Shino and Souske Inukawa who have to seek other bearers of spirits and jewels like themselves, while also dealing with a number of occult cases involving spiritual phenomena. The series devotes a good deal of time to focus on how a number of the major characters gained their spiritual abilities and how the circumstances affect their lives. More of the world of the series is also explored with the unique mix of Christian and Eastern-influenced myths and icons with the spiritual influences that Shino and the other Bead Holders encounter. There are some issues with the series such as hints dropped of a looming enemy threat that are not unveiled at all (assuming this continues into the show's second season) and a number of comedy moments doing little to make me snicker. Otherwise, Hakkenden TV makes for a surprisingly engaging fantasy-adventure series with its unique take on the Hakkenden novel series and is worth a look if you don't mind the anime's fairly loaded cast of attractive looking men.
Last updated Monday, July 25 2016. Created Monday, July 25 2016. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:2678#628] | ||||||
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(One episode watched): All sorts of weird stuff--talking animals, a guy who can sprout a talking crow out of his arm, bishonen clerics, conspiracy--yet I just couldn't get into this show. Apparently, in this alternate reality setting, the Christian church in Japan has realized that there are in fact numerous deities, some of them dangerous. With or without the blessing of their superiors, some hot bishounen priests have set up teams to deal with these troublemakers. I don't object to this, and it did seem that some effort was being made to spin a complex story, but again I just didn't find this to be particularly interesting. Perhaps the effort to make things mystical and occult-ish just confused me and I couldn't grasp the really important points. Maybe the makers assumed that viewers would be familiar with Japanese mythology. None of the characters jump out at me as having anything remarkable about their personalities. The fight in this episode was unexciting and inconclusive. I guess I just don't care how this story will work out, so I don't want to waste my time watching it. Others might be able to get into this tale much more thoroughly than I was, though. Last updated Thursday, January 17 2013. Created Thursday, January 17 2013. | ||||||||
