Hakuouki Reimeiroku: Excellent addition to the whole series ^_^

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on July 12, 2012 at 3:44 AM

"A prequel to Hakuōki, the series takes place in 1863 after the Tokugawa shogunate creates the Roshigumi, a group of masterless samurai meant to aid Aizu forces in Kyoto. However, things don't go as planned, and the group is soon split into two opposing factions. One man is obligated to enter the conflict because of a blood debt, and must go up against the more powerful faction." (Summary from ANN)


Review? I'm pretty much breaking my own policy here, writing a review after only a single ep of the anime is out and seen. However, "Hakuouki Reimeiroku" promises to be just as good, if not better than the original Hakuouki series (Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan / Hakuouki Hekketsu-Roku / OVA: Hakuouki Sekkaroku).

Sure, as it's only the first episode, not much has been going on storywise yet. From what I read about the game behind this, this anime adaption, and from what I can tell from the first ep only, the storyline's going to be a masterpiece though. Set years before the original series (and Chizuru), "Hakuouki Reimeiroku" looks like it's going to tell the background tale on the Shinsengumi's development and their internal strifes before they became the (in)famous group of warriors they were when Japan was invaded. Promises a solid and intense plot, and a superb focus on characters and chara development.

Speaking of which: There's few new characters for a long-time Hakuouki fan, and those new characters are just as intriguing as the known ones.
No Chizuru this time. AKA, no weak-willed main character. (Nah, I could deal with Chizuru, but I know there's loads of people out there who were annoyed by her slight genericness. <-- Is that even a word??) Instead, this time, the MC's a GUY (yup, you read that right), and one with a quite funny personality for something set in 19th century Japan. That aside, nobody known is out of character, and everyone's personalities are drawn clearly. I won't say 'everyone is likable', but everyone has their own charm in a way. Character interaction again is realistic and at times quite funny. Character development and any conflicts among the group aren't yet to be seen, but are sure to be intriguing as long as this season sticks to historical facts as well as the original (i.e. not mix history up completely even if they include another supernatural story string; the original anime managed that quite well, and I do think this season won't be all too different).

Dialogue: No new seiyuu in known characters, so no confusion can arise. The dialogue in itself is just as good as, if not better than in the original series. There's the good old humour that got lost along the original series' last episodes; everyone's personalities get across clearly in both lines and voice acting; and the (few) typical otome-game lines (or Chizuru-naivety lines) from the original anime are sure to disappear. Other than that, the dialogue flows smoothly and so far doesn't seem to contain a single line too much. Fast-paced, if there's any such thing for dialogue, but it's not like you'd lose track.

Animation: Dazzling - and that's probably an understatement. Putting aside that there's few women out there who don't like a bunch of bishounen (handsome guys) from time to time, the whole Hakuouki series amazes with stunning artwork, clear lineart, masterful animation, and quite realistic fighting. I'm not exaggerating saying that the animation in the whole series is one of the three best animation styles I've seen in anime this far.
There hasn't been much in terms of action in the first episode yet, but I'm pretty sure we are gonna see some blood in time. Not like 19th century Japan had been exactly peaceful :P That aside, the original series already amazed with shockingly realistic swordfighting, and I'm not expecting a change in that.

Entertainment: It's only been one episode, and I might be rushing this review just to get it out there, but I'm hooked. Perhaps that's no surprise as I've been a Hakuouki fan ever since I got introduced to the series, but I'd say it's worth the try, and if you get hooked from the first ep, it's worth sticking to it! The storyline shows great potential; intriguing characterisations; realistic and funny character interaction; dialogue and voice-acting stays true to the characters, provides more humour, and amazes with no word too much; action is sure to come plenty in the future; and last but not least, stunning visuals and music. Add to this a historical setting, decent storylines from the same producers before, and - I can't tell you whether this is for you or not, but I sure as hell got more than I could ask for from an anime.
S'long as you're a Hakuouki fan anyways, or are interested in history even in the slightest, this is sure to be intriguing, and might just prove to be the best season in the whole package. Personally, I'm not-so-patiently waiting for the second ep to see where this is going. ^_^

Cheers!~




(PS: This is completely unrelated, but does anyone know when the site will be up entirely again? The absence of the 'recent reviews' box is kinda freaking me out.)