Anime: Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan

Animation 7/10

Although it's no surprise that the visuals aren't even close to those one can see in the game the series was inspired from, everything could have been better.
What actually attracted my attention, was the lack of detail in the character clothing witch is quite the opposite to the game.
But, never mind the game, it could still have been done better, at least for some characters like the courtesan.
Character design is quite good, but the huge difference between the looks of the main cast and the secondary is striking.
I wouldn't have liked to see every character looking perfect like in Saiunkoku Monogatari, but probably I would have appreciated if the rest of the characters, wouldn't look very much the same. I do have a good visual memory, but I can remember no face.
I find the huge difference quite a bad idea.
The main cast look great; everyone is just perfect. The problem is that only a few of them like Hijikata and Saito fit the samurai image. Okita is flashy but still ok probably, but the rest look like kabuki actors. People living during that time would have said that I guess.
The good thing is the scenery. It perfectly fits the mood. It's not Kara no Kyoukai, but it sometimes could provide the viewer the same "perfect fit" feeling.

Sound 6/10

This is something I did not like. The OP is very good till the first chorus, but it is repetitive after it and I think that is a bad thing. I find listening to the whole song rather boring. If I have to rate only the first ~ 1 min and a half I'd say it's nice enough, but still be happy we don't have to listen more of it.
I like the ED song though. It's rather peaceful and it's good to listen to it after seeing the episode.
I remember no other song in particular so I can't say it was very good, I only remember that at one time I found the music quite bad , and I remember no time I found the music as perfectly fitting.
I would have liked to hear some Edo-era themes, but the one and only time that could have been nice was the Gion festival they attended to. It left me disappointed.

Story 5/10

I found it very hard to rate the story in the series because I don't really know what to rate.
Why?
The real Shinsengumi history was mixed with fantasy elements, and the result is the real Shinsengumi history.
In the end, fantasy equals 0.
Every smart aspect of the story is taken from history, but the reasons of some actions are changed, so they can be related to the fantasy aspect. This is natural probably for it’s no documentary movie, but the characters are making decisions that sometimes seem strange just that the result of their actions fits a certain historical event.
This is not good, because doing this you only get a “rushed story” and no explanation. You might get a clue of why certain character is doing a certain thing when it’s related to the fantasy aspect, but very little on the realistic part.
I find the story “not so good” because it seems to me that it lacks courage to explain.
I find the story “good enough” because of the same reason. I am quite alright to seeing some close to reality Shinsengumi even if they are mixed with Oni and other supernatural creatures, and that is why it gets an 5 from my side.
The fantasy part is not as interesting as it could have been and I will say no more about it.
I need still to say this: when I say real Shinsengumi history I don’t mean the popular culture one where Hijikata is good friend to Okita, but only things that are proved.
Also, the historical events presented here wouldn’t do the job for a documentary movie. They are just close to reality as far it is known today.

Character development 7/10

I saw very little of this.
The only thing one gets to see is that the Shinsengumi members end up liking Chizuru.
This anime is inspired from a dating-sim game. I was quite scared about this aspect before watching it. I was afraid I’ll get to see every Shinsengumi guy falling in love with the same woman, but it ended up not being like this.
There you have Heisuke probably falling for her but she does not seem to respond his feelings.
She quite treats everyone the same.
There might have been hinted in the OP that there should be a connection with Hijikata, but we don’t get to see much of it either.
Her feelings about him do change over time, but for now, Hijikata is only a historical character doing the things he has to do.
This is the case for the rest of the cast.


I'm giving it a 7 because in the end the characters wouldn't be bad at all if their reasons would be explained. The fault is not in them, but in the story.

Value 5/10

There are little chances I’ll see this again. I will watch the second season though.

Enjoyment 8/10

I did like it I guess, but I am a die hard Shinsengumi fan and as long as they don’t really spoil the characters to the core I would still like any related show.
I acknowledge I quite ignored the fantasy in it, for I find it bad.

*Note: There will be a lot of Japanese cultural terms used in this review. It'll get pretty messy if I tried to explain every single one of them, so please google or refer to Wikipedia if you see an italicized word you don't recognize.

"Hakuouki" is based on a PS2 romance adventure otome game (games targeted toward girls).

The story starts with Yukimura Chizuru, daughter of a doctor in Edo (Tokyo's old name), arriving Kyoto in search of her father. She is saved by two Shinsengumi members from zombie-like demon, and gets taken into custody. Eventually she gains their trust and helps them out while looking for clues of her father.

Shinsengumi is an organization that actually existed in the late-Edo-period that acted as a 'special police' that served to suppress any anti-government movement in Kyoto. The actual organization only existed for less than a decade, but their legacies have been depicted in various novels, movies, and TV doramas that they have become something of a symbol of justice in the Edo-era. The latest Shinsengumi hit has been the NHK Taiga dorama "Shinsengumi!" starring SMAP's Katori Shingo in 2004. NHK, the government-owned TV station's Taiga dorama series are known for practically guaranteed 15%+ viewership ratings and A-list actors.

This anime's events and characters are inspired by the actual Shinsengumi, but the story is completely fictional.
The title "Hakuouki" is a made-up word comprised of kanji "Light-colored Sakura" and "Ogre". It describes the fictional vampire-like white-haired (light color) undead (Sakura) demons (ogres) in this series. Sakura (Cherry blossoms) symbolizes death or short-lived beauty for the short span in which the pink flowers blossom in spring. (Sakura also symbolizes farewells and new meetings since they bloom during graduation and new school year, which is April in Japan, but that is probably not the case in this series)

Animation: 5/10
Animation in general lacked detail, and characters' faces were really deformed in some scenes while they were extremely well-drawn in close up and action scenes.

One thing they really succeeded in this show was use of lighting to create mood. From hazy moonlight to orange glow in the daytime to bloody red sunset, the light always seemed to shine from one direction, and matched the atmosphere they were trying to create.

One fatal flaw in the animation... was character design in the sense that they were all too idolized. Sure, all the main characters wore Shinsengumi uniforms with swords around their waist, but all I saw was a bunch of host and a school girl in cosplay. It all comes down to fan service, and they all seemed out of place amid peasants and lowly Shinsengumi members who looked legitimately from the Edo-era.
They even went as far as trying to have Chizuru pass for a boy. I know back in the day, it was unthinkable for a girl to be dressed like a boy, but please, you must be joking.

Sound: 8/10
Main characters looked like hosts, at least they sounded like hosts too. Despite the fact that they were totally out of place, they stayed consistent by speaking modern Japanese the whole way and all the characters sounded like they should.

Music in slice-of-life scenes had a serene, calming flow that worked very nicely in the background, which intensified in plot twists or confrontations, enhancing drama in every occasion. Powerful drum beats are added in action scenes, which not only fit the era well, but also made them all that more exciting.

Theme songs were ridiculously good for this series. OP song was epic with extremely catchy tune, elegant lyric, and great vocal. Amazing piece of contemporary Jpop-Enka hybrid that really blew me away. ED was pretty good, the somber song worked nicely for this series since many episodes ended with a tragedy. Sound and Marketing department sure have a lot of work ahead of them if they're to match or surpass the theme song quality and compatibility in season 2.

Story/Character: 4/10
Before we even get to the story... there was a major problem with power balance in this anime. I can accept Oni villains being insanely strong because they're not human, but how are some of the Shinsengumi members able to fight almost evenly against them? What's even more puzzling is that those fighters struggle against lowly samurai when outnumbered. From their performance against the Oni, they should be able to easily defeat 10 minions by themselves.

This leads to the main problem with the story: Irrational character motives and too much sudden story developments between events. Just to name a few...

What we have here is generic shoujo anime character setup with completely helpless heroine being rescued by many guardian princes every time she's in danger. Character development was weak due to rushed storyline. All the characters just did things they need to do to advance the plot. I especially feel Sannan's elixir decision and Heisuke's decision to enter or leave Shinsengumi could've been expanded a lot better, but all main characters seemed to have made up their minds on every dilemma from the start.

It was also unclear what the producers were trying to do with the romantic aspect of this series. Considering it was based on a 'romance adventure' game and there were so many guys and only one girl, you would expect more competition for Chizuru, but it seems only Heisuke is making any attempts to get her attention, and getting completely shut down because she's into Hijikata for some unknown reason. I feel sorry for Heisuke because ultimately, girls go for better looks and ranks.

Making a non-cheesy fictional story based on historical events is difficult. Add vampires, Oni, forbidden medicine, and this feat becomes practically impossible. The least they could've done was provide more backgrounds to each incident rather than "XXX advanced their troops to Kyoto", battle scene, "And this will eventually come to be known as Battle of YYY" before jumping to another historical event.

I think they should've just used the Edo-era setting with original events rather than try to camouflage an actual event.

The DBZ-style talking during battles, or talking for so long that backup arrive certainly didn't make the story any more believable.

Value/Enjoyment: 5/10
Another unrealistic jidaigeki, I would have to say this is girl's version of "Sengoku Basara". Instead of mindless battles, you have mindless melodrama, which starts to get pretty predictable even without knowledge of Japanese history. In the end, it was a bidanshi cosplay fest, as expected of a shoujo anime. The story jumps from one historical battle to another, it's easy to tell this is just another "Rurouni Kenshin"-inspired piece that hopped on bandwagon of the latest Shinsengumi craze initiated by the 2004 NHK Taiga dorama.

However, I have to say that the characters are charming as intended, and the Oni villains are cool enough to have me watch this season to the end, and if I have a lot of time to kill, I'll be able to tolerate another season just to see how bad it gets.