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(Rent- or Watch+) (All episodes watched): I had thought that this might be a silly short, perhaps like the one about the Roman who time-travels to modern day Japan and compares baths in the two cultures. But no, this is a quite serious tale about a boy trapped in a deadly situation with seemingly little chance of a happy ending, sort of like the Spartacus movie. I would have liked the depiction of Rome in the 1st Century and the characters themselves to be more detailed, but oh well. Cestus doesn't want to hurt anyone but would rather fight than die--and that's about all we know about him. Emperor Nero is repulsed by boxing but pretends to enjoy it since the people love it (recent research has suggested that he may not have been nearly as bad a person as we have been led to believe). The Emperor getting involved would be one way for Cestus to escape his seemingly hopeless situation, but actually Nero ultimately doesn't play a major part. I had thought that maybe Cestus would adopt the pankration technique of mixing boxing with wrestling that we see another character use in episode one (why else would the trouble of mentioning it have been taken?), but that doesn't happen either. Early on, the fights themselves aren't all that detailed and realistic. They seem to be rather one-sided, often with the underdog winning easily in some way which isn't clear. I wish this show had gone into greater depth with the characters, history, fights, etc, because I enjoy history but didn't really learn much from episode one (the Colosseum shouldn't exist yet during Nero's reign). But I liked this show enough to watch episode two in order to see if things would shape up. Episode two seemed better to me. We get a reset of things as Cestus' owner dies unexpectedly and he is sent to another city--Pompeii (that can't be good, though mount Vesuvius shouldn't erupt until AD 79). A couple of interesting new characters are introduced and in general the plot was looking more complex than it had seemed during episode one. Likewise for episode three, though it was hard to believe that any sane slave would reject the fantastic offer that is made to Cestus by a potential new owner, Sabina. I read somewhere that historical fiction will always be about the values of the era and culture for which it is written, not the one in which it is set, and Cestus' typically Japanese pride in solving his own problems would likely get him killed in the real world of ancient Rome. Cestus' fight with the fearsome champion Emden in episode four was pretty neat. I was slightly surprised that a fight which took most of an episode (and was still underway at the end) had held my attention so well. In general the animation has a computerized, awkward feel to it, but during the fight itself the fast moving actions were depicted well. Emden's motivations are clear and it's hard to blame him: he resents a newcomer becoming so popular with his master so quickly when he has worked so hard for many years without doing the same. The thought occurred to me that I had shelved the second season of Megalobox for the time being but was enjoying this boxing show in it's place. I was even more surprised when the fight continued for yet another episode without ending, yet I remained engaged. The slugfest is mixed with interesting technical details and background on a supporting character. This seems to be the sort of show which neglects to give it's main character a thorough introduction, but with time we get to know and like him. Indeed, while watching episode ten the thought occurred to me that even as the series neared its end, we still don't know Cestus all that well. He's a slave who wants to be free and is a good boxer--that's about all we know about him. I would almost (but not quite) go so far as to say that this is one of those unusual shows where its not the protagonist but the supporting characters that intrigue us the most. I would argue that Emden had more complex and understandable motivations than Cestus did. Fortunately, Cestus is likable enough, and his opponents are interesting, so the show is fun nevertheless. The big match between Cestus and Emden finally comes to an end in episode six, and it was handled pretty well. Rather than the usual 'good guy defeats bad one' outcome, both fighters come out of the match with their dignity intact. We are told of a mysterious trainer, 'Democritus of Cadiz', who seems to be on a quest to create the ultimate boxer, and surely we haven't heard the last of him. Not everything about this big fight made complete sense, but all things considered it was pretty neat. A new arc begins as Cestus is chosen to compete (if he makes it past the qualifiers) in a special tournament being held by Emperor Nero. Whereas he made a foolish choice when offered a special job by Sabina, here he is glad to get a chance to win his freedom--perhaps the difference is that here he had no choice, since the Emperor himself had selected him. We learn a fair amount about how Roman roads were built, though that has little if anything to do with the main story. Technical details like this or the medical effect of blows to various parts of the body are sometimes sprinkled about in this show as sidenotes. Cestus next major opponent is 'Felix the Lucky', a man with, as his name would imply, a reputation for good luck. It turns out that while he may seem lucky to ordinary people, his winning record is actually largely the result of clever tactics he has developed. Whether they would really work in the real world or are just a trick to refresh the story, I cannot say. If this fight took as long as the one with Emden did, there wouldn't be much time left for the actual tournament in Syracuse (unless this is a two-season show). As it turns out, one episode is left to wrap up the conflict between Cestus and Felix (which was done fairly well) and take us to Syracuse. We meet a host of new opponents, but the episode ends without even the first fight of the tournament getting underway. Was the story really over? I had to double-check to make certain this was really just an 11 episode show (it was). There was no promise of a second season, so I guess unless it does fantastically well we can only read the manga to find out how things wind up for Cestus. This was by no means a brilliant show, but it managed to keep me interested, in part with teasers like this Democritus person. I'm actually not so sure I want to go into this tournament with all the wildly colorful opponents when the trend of Cestus taking on just one perfectly plausible rival has worked so well so far. But if a second season comes around I think I would watch it. Last updated Tuesday, June 29 2021. Created Tuesday, April 20 2021. | ||||||||
