Anime: Busou Renkin

So , Busou Renkin is a for some a "typical" shounen anime but for me it is much more.
Combined with awesome OP it builds up your adrenalin as you await what is going to happen. Busou Renkin was created from rips of several sucessful shounen anime so in my opinion this anime will be above avg. for anyone that likes shounen anime.
Now it is, of course, about personal opinion as well (if you like the weapon designs, etc.) but this anime has really good humor, nice voice acting and in all a very decent set up.

First of all, I'll like to say that this review is meant for viewers who HAVE WATCHED this anime already. These are also people searching for some interesting comments about this series. So for those who HAVE NOT WATCH this series, you are strongly NOT advise to read any further. This is due to the nature of my descriptions, where there may be potential spoilers. If you find that intriguing and you want to proceed, DO NOT say that you have not been warn.

Ok enough! You have agreed to read, and the very 1st thing I will like to say about this series is this: there are so many similarilarities this anime have with others I think it should be considering "parody" in its genre.



All these said, I actually enjoyed this anime to the extent of actually writing a review about it. It really does have its own funny parts besides all the above pointers mentioned above. On a serious note, I do not think the anime try copy any anime, it is probably just coincidence or perhaps, lack of more original ideas. Most fighting scenes are however, original and interesting. And no, we did not see any rurouni kenshin in here.

You will grasp the strength to live once more within your hand.

One night, Mutou Kazuki uppon seeing a light in a abandoned factory heads there and uppon his arrival is about to see a scene of a girl being attacked by a monster. Without a further thought he jumps in to save the girl but loses his life instead. The girl, not as helpless as seemingly seen, decides to give him a second chance to live, thus dragging Kazuki into the world of Alchemy and daily battles.

An average anime with average animation. Some episodes are really bad and have a high amount of bad drawn frames but overall it's on a tolerable level for XEBEC (for far worse see Negima or Fafner), there are also a few episodes with rather interesting sequences but lots of the series suffers from the usual shounen stillframe syndrome, featuring lots of stills and cuts centered on the headpart or characters talking too much during a battle while doing nothing. Unlike other series it doesn't also do much to make up for that, lighting effects, level of details, everything is pretty much average without going out too much. Directing is rather standard as well, the comedic parts stand out best early in the series and there are some really good scenes in the last few episodes using unusual cuts and angles, not seen before in the series.

That way it fits to the series' averageness in most points.

What starts out as a light parody of the shounen genre quickly falls prey to the usual flaws, taking itself too serious and complete with at times completely ridiculous and cheesy lines and actions, resulting in some very painful scenes for the viewer. A tighter script and better directing could have certainly improved uppon those dead spots, as seen in the last few episodes, which were anything but overflowing with originality and still had a far better impact because of their presentation and a short-cut script.

One of the better points of the series is its cast. Mind you, the main character could have just as well been the main character in any other similar series, but he has something about him that makes him more likeable than other leads and there are some surprisingly well characterised people amongst the rest of the main cast and the support cast, such as Tokiko, who is rather refreshing and not the usual tsundere type character for such a show, Papillon or the twins.

The plot as well, while staying clear from originality, does have some good bits, some bad bits and lots of average bits. The second half does improve over the training and powering-up of the episodes in the beginning but isn't without flaws. Uneven pacing and inexplainable actions of some of the characters are the second half's worst problem. Too much stuff packed into too little episodes and the have to of living up to shounen standards with characters battling each other and changing sides randomly without much thought given into it. Could have be done better but seemingly suffers from the episode count which wasn't enough to properly include everything from the original manga. Once again.

Ohohohoh Ohohohoh Dadadadada Ohohohoh Ohohohoh Dadadadada Omae to...

The opening Makka na Chikai by JAM Project's Fukuyama Yoshiki (King Gainer OP, Macross7) is just as expected, loud, manly, awesome. A very upbeat and energetic rock song that sets up the series, conveying its overall theme and is very good to listen to as standalone. Video features mostly stills of all the main characters, foreshadowing a few latter parts of the plot.

The first ending, Hoshiakari by Jyukai, is a soothing slow ballad over stills of the school, ending with a shot of Tokiko and Kazuki at her favourite spot, fitting to the other main theme of the show. Second one, Itoshiki Sekai by Aya Kagami is solely about Papillon, in both video and lyrics and has a somewhat interesting style.

Most of the soundtrack consists out of tracks solely using wind instruments showing obvious characteristics of battle, which is very fitting to the anime and used quite well accompanying the many battle scenes but also some others over the course of the series. Overall a solid orchestral soundtrack by Tanaka Kouhei. If there's one thing to complain about it's the lack of originality and especially outstanding tracks, most of the soundtrack feels like his past works on Gunbuster/Diebuster, GaoGaiGar, King Gainer, Sakura Taisen and others. Certainly not a bad thing but also not exactly on the same outstanding and grandiose level as those works. Nevertheless one of the better soundtracks to find use in an anime.

You and I are one. If you die, I will die too!

Overall Busou Renkin is a pretty average show, neither outstanding nor especially repulsive. It's strangely entertaining though and has some fun stuff, with the first opening and the music as well as some characters and the romance part being the best parts of the show. One thing I especially liked was actually the very ending of the show, it was also nice to see the first ending connecting into the last scene.

If you like action/fighting shows of the shounen type, then it's worth a shot, if you like romance in an unusual setting, it's also got some nice parts, other than that it's rather forgettable and not of interest for people who aren't into that kind of shows. You should definitely get the opening single though, which is just awesome.

This is an entertaining anime, and therefore worth watching, so I don't mind suggesting it to you.

The battle scenes are well presented for the most part, though the amount of cheesy dialogue is overwhelming and unfortunately does not only occur in the battles.

The story is original in the sense that everything in it was originally in Bleach, FMA, Naruto, and pretty much any other action-oriented anime that you can name.

The plagiarism does have its positive side, as one of my favorite characters from Bleach, Inoue Orihime, is cloned in Buso Renkin. Unfortunately she's the main character's sister in this anime, so there's no possibility of a romance, but she's not as busty here, so it's ok.

To wit, Buso Renkin is a decent and entertaining anime, but far from a masterpiece.


Animation~A bit bad for 2005
The animation is of poor quality compared to other 2006 anime. Heavy black lines frame many of the foregrounds in cells, and the background designs don't form an exciting, vibrant world.

Mind you, it's not bad, just not on par with most other anime from this time period. The use of CG is done well, at least, integrating properly and flowing and even enhancing the art.


Sound - Nice opening themes
I like the opening theme, it's energetic and sets the anime up well. It's also got that nice cheese factor that pervades Buso Renkin. The first closing is ok, but not so special, the second is more suited to the anime, and also fair musically.

BGM is decent as are sound effects. They maintain the world well enough, but aren't invigorating.

Voice acting is fine. Most of the characters have appropriate voices that suit their personalities well.


Story - Bleach was a great anime for a while
I really liked Bleach for a while. It had a great storyline that was very original and set its world up well...

oh yeah, I'm rating "Buso Renkin".

Right right, alchemy. Bleach with alchemy and no DD-Inoue.

I've read other reviews that claim that this is a clone of Fullmetal Alchemist. I don't buy that at all. Why? It's far too much like Bleach. Sure, they use the idea of alchemy poorly, and include words like "Renkin" and "homonculus", but aside from that, this is a Bleach clone all the way.

It feels like Bleach in almost every respect:
1) The setup of the story.
2) The main character is ultra-powerful and strives to accommodate his power.
3) It looks a little like Bleach, and even has some characters that feel right out of Bleach.
4) It's an action-oriented hero-powers-up-more-and-more with every battle anime, just like Bleach, and even
5) the poor development (just like Bleach) of the storyline mirrors Bleach in some rather critical aspects, and
6) if I say Bleach one more time I think...

The real point is, this is one of the least original plots and storyboards I've seen.

Aside from it's lack of originality, Bleachuso Renkin is not scripted very well for someone wanting to get into its serious side. It's cheesy at inappropriate moments, such as one vivid point in my mind where the main hero jumped in with this big fanfare and even had a swath of light glowing behind him like some glorious superhero, making me cringe with laughter instead of marveling at his greatness.

However, Buso Bleachkin has some funny moments (aside from the unintentional ones), the battle sequences are pretty cool and are written well enough into the plot that they're meaningful, and the storyline is ignorable when crummy and enjoyable otherwise.

One thing that is different from Bleach, Buso Renkin presents a relatively coherent story through its run of episodes... then again, so did Bleach for its first arc...


Characters - I can't remember any of their names
The characters are very poorly developed, more accurately, they're not developed at all. They're just sort of there, and if you want to know more about who they are or what their personalities are really like beneath the surface, you're not going to find out by watching this anime.

Their partially-dimensional personalities are stable, at least, so they're good foils for each other in order to get the comedy going and add some measure of excitement to the battle scenes, and overall they play their roles in an appropriate manner.


Worth watching? Sure, got nothing better to do...
This anime isn't very well done, but it's still enjoyable. Bleach, from which this anime stole pretty much everything except the vocabulary (which it stole from Fullmetal Alchemist) is a more intense version of Buso Renkin which really starts to suck after episode 60ish.

I can't see Buso Renkin going past 26 [and it didn't], but it's an enjoyable action series with some good comedy, just like Bleach, and so if you liked Bleach at some point you'll probably enjoy Buso Renkin somewhat, and conversely, if you enjoy Buso Renkin you'll probably enjoy the first two arcs of Bleach a lot more than this.

I came to hear about Busou Renkin and I told myself, gah is it a ripoff you say? so there I decided to go have a look at it to see for myself what the others are talking about.

Animation
I wasn't really impressed with the character designs. Nothing too special. Nothing too fresh. And yes, they don't change clothes that often. Well of course its high school, where uniforms are the norm everyday, dummy. Kidding aside, the cleanliness of the art and the crisp colors are most welcome. The CGI are rather normal fare and the fights aren't all that detailed or exciting. Though they do come up with interesting people like Cap'n. Bravo, the overly gayish Papillon and the Moon Man, to which the latter wasn't given any important role to my surprise. Also, I find Kazuki's Sunlight Heart as ungainly, and oh so Power Ranger~ish. ^^

Sound
I find the opening terrific but other than that the rest are mediocre. The bgm can sometimes be quite childish sounding but all in all they fit in with the scenes and sets the viewer's mood well, whether they may be for laughs or for huffs.

Story
Where was the similarity they were talking about? For me, maybe because as Busou Renkin started out the same way and they labelled it as such. But no, I think Busou Renkin stands out on its own. Yes it may be all that cliched but they managed to mix up everything into one interesting bit of package. I also thought that the story did not pan out well, but as it went on into the middle episodes it became more interesting, starting with the attack on the school. Yes there was an ending, I liked it and it was good in terms of interpersonal relationship closure but somehow something lacks. There are a lot of things that went unexplained and it seems that everybody just seems to have a good side to them for them to want to have a nice happy ending.

Character

The characters are quite one-dimensional. There isn't much development except for the main characters, while all the others are there to either cheer or jeer. Kazuki remains ever driven to become stronger to protect his loved ones. He was like that from start to finish. Tokiko becomes softer and more understanding and Papi just went on from bad to good. But in all, everybody seemed likeable enough and with the main characters' traits, who wouldn't want to root for them, no?

Value
I'll be rewatching it, but not any time soon, though that may not include the first couple of episodes as they are quite uneventful. Nothing too sentimental to hold on to but again its entertainment factor saves it.

Enjoyment
The show has its own merits, all right. Again, it is not the most complex of stories but the altruistic nature of the characters (with the save the world motto), the thrilling enjoyment and the nonstop action more than makes up for a lack of depth on a good show that this is.

Busou Renkin is yet another Shounen anime. That pretty much sums it up completely. If you are a fan of the genre you can stop right here and go watch the series. If you're interested in more details read on.

Animation
For a TV series, Busou Renkin's animation was average to pretty good. There wasn't much use of still frames - and if they were used they didn't distract from the watching experience.
Animation in the countless battles was genre standard, the usual mix of fluid scenes and stop motion scenes in front of energy lines.
The backgrounds were ok. Nothing great here, but nothing glaringly bad either.
Character designs were a mixed bag. Some were pretty cool (Captain Bravo, the two heroes, Moonface) and some where absolutely horrible (Papillon). The bad thing is that the horrible ones were apparently done like this on purpose. Imagine the gayest outfit you can - go two steps further and you've reached Papillon. In some scenes he is an absolute eyesore. The character designers must have thought that a distasteful character design can make a character very funny. Well, at least it didn't work for me, your experience may vary.

Sound
Not much to say here. Background music of the kind you forget two minutes after you heard them, good voice actors and average sound effects. The voice actors fit their characters pretty well (I love Captain Bravo's voice, fits him really perfect), except for one total loss. In the second half of the series there is a flying green blob, inserted as a comical character. It's voice was the most bothersome I ever had to endure. Well, at least it didn't get that much screen time.

Story
Innocent high school boy gets super powers and is drawn into a battle to save the world. Sounds familiar?

Mutou Kazuki dies in an attempt to save a girl which is attacked by a monster. The girl wasn't as weak as she looked though she turns out to be an Alchemic Warrior. Alchemic Warriors battle Homunculus with alchemic weapons, so called Arms Alchemy. With the power of alchemy the girl gives Mutou a new life by inserting an Arms Alchemy into his body as a replacement for his heart. Revived and equipped with new powers, Mutou starts to help the girl fight Homunculus.

Alchemy, Homunculus - Full Metal Alchemist???
Dead hero is revived with new powers - Bleach???
Yeah, Busou Rekin shamelessly steals left and right from every popular Shounen anime in reach. Not all is lost though, as the combination of these elements works out quite well, and the story has some interesting twists towards the end which make it worth watching.
Especially the ending is worth mentioning as it's really good. First off, there is an end to the series. I can't stand anymore 500+ episodes endless loop Shounen series. The ending wraps up all story arcs and finishes with a highly emotional solution. Well done!

Character
The characters have likeable, yet stereotypic personalities. We have a typical Shounen hero who never gives up hope and fights only to protect his friends from harm. The female heroine is your typical cold but friendly deep inside type. Then we have the fatherly teacher and the insane, tragic and misunderstood bad guy. Nothing you've never seen, but it's a good mix and the characters are well executed. They follow their ideals to the end and develop a lot throughout the story.

Value
Due to it's generic style, I wouldn't recommend re-watching or even buying this series on DVD. Shounen Fans will find plenty to enjoy during their first watch, but there is not much which would make you want to go back. This is your usual entertainment fast-food - download, watch and forget.
If you can't stand the Shounen genre at all, then this will definitely not change your mind. In this case better pass this one.

Enjoyment
Reading this review you might get the impression that I didn't like the anime at all. That's wrong though. While it's really nothing new, it's an entertaining mix with a nice and fast plot and very likeable characters. I definitely had my fun watching the series.
If I was disappointed then it was due to the expectations I had of Watsuki Nobuhiro as the author of the manga this is based on. Compared to a masterpiece like Kenshin this really falls flat on the face. It's hard to believe that the creator of one of the most unique and interesting anime and manga heroes of all time, delivers this cast of fast-food characters.
If you watch this, shake of all comparisons with Kenshin right away. On it's own, the anime is decent enough.