As you know, I’ve been determined to figure out what the heck the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is about by using the least accurate, most ridiculous forms of media possible. And by god, I think it worked!
I was watching the third volume of Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny
You can be sure that I did not actually think this would work. But I guess if you see/read enough – and presuming even the worst aberrations have some minor connection to the actual story – I guess learning by osmosis does work after all. How unexpected. ^_^
In any case, Volume 3 ends with the legendary battle of Red Cliffs, sort of, and Ryuubi and Sonsaku defeat Sousou, sort of, and all the cool characters are very cool, as we both expect and desire.
This is followed by a shockingly sweet epilogue and then followed up with hideous extra shorts that basically go like this: Butt, Breasts, Butt, Breasts, Butt, Breasts. And everyone’s butts and breasts look exactly the same. Totally snoozariffic.
This was followed by a live event at Tokyo International Anime Fair, starring the Voice actresses for Kanu, Ekitoku and Koumei, which might have been interesting, but the audience was an Ikkitousen audience so…it wasn’t. “Which character breathes heavily alot?” Puh-leaze. They could have asked what it was like to pretend to break people in half, instead we watch them act like they give a shit talking about underwear. My fetishes are just not other people’s fetishes, I guess.
I also enjoyed the performance of the opening theme from the TIAF piece, as it was basically the singer, Kariyuki Mai, karaoke-ing her own song. ^_^ She did a damn good job under the circumstances.
Would have liked a little drama recording though- with Kanu, Chouhi and Koumei there, they easily could have a 5 minute thing about Ryuubi or something. Oh, forget that, I really just wished Nabatame-san used her Kanu voice for something. Anything. The ads for stuff would have been fine. Oh well.
What made this volume work overall was Koumei taking the lead on the strategies used, so it seemed for a bit like it all made sense…and watching Kanu and Ryomou kick the shit out of just about anyone is fun.
And of course, there’s a teeny bit of Yuri. Kanu has a shockingly frank scene where she admits to Koukin that she loves Ryuubi – and she’s really open about it, too. We knew this, of course, but it was nice to see her just getting it off her chest, so to speak. ^_^
If you’ve been able to put up with (or, god help you, enjoy,) the kind of lameass perviness that Ikkitousen serves up in shovel loads, then Ikkitousen:DD, Volume 3 is worth waiting for.
Nov. 27th correction: Aaack! I incorrectly thanked Media Blasters when I wrote this review. In reality, the credit belongs to Okazu Superhero Amanda M! My sincere apology Amanda and my thanks for your kindness and generosity. This is my favorite volume out in English so far and will remain so until we get Ikkitousen: Xtreme Xecutor, if we ever do.
I’m shocked – shocked! – that for “Loser Fanboy” you did not put “OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”…but I guess you got your point across. ;)
@BMeph – Eh, I’ve seen worse. ;-)
I’ve watched the first episode of Ikkitousen on Crunchyroll yesterday… And although I’m probably going to give it a fair chance and try a few more episodes, I admit I don’t really feel like it. My first impressions really aren’t too positive.
I don’t mind some “fanservice” (I liked the Himegami manga for example). Heck, I’ve actually sat through all three Koihime Musou seasons and through Strike Witches 2. Neither of those are high on my “favorite anime list”. On Crunchyroll I’ve enjoyed the following more:
-Hyakko (Beside 1 semi-minor character, there’s only a minimal amount of Yuri and the plot is nearly non-existent, but for some reasons I don’t understand, I find it absolutely hilarious a lot of the time)
– Sasakemi Koto (No need for explanations)
– Aoi Hana (Crunchyroll doesn’t have it anymore :()
– Saki (I love how every character have their own stories and morals: It’s not “good” vs “bad” in any sense of the words).
But even though I far prefered all those to Koihime Musou and Strike Witches, I still enjoyed them far more than that Ikkitousen episode. I definitively prefer adult characters (or at least high school since actual adults are unfortunately so rare in anime) compared to what is pretty much kids (half the Strike Witches cast and a third or so of the Koihime one).
The thing is, to me both those shows had at least some redeeming qualities. Koihime Musou had that ancestral china setting, cool weapons, some comedy and a few genuinely interesting characters (like Sei). Strike Witches had a few interesting characters, pretty original battle sequences, an unusual plot, battleships, and quite possibly one of the best humane “character definining” moment at the end I’ve seen so far in any anime, film or book (Okay, that might be pushing it a bit far, but it was definitively surprising considering the overall average-ness of the show in my opinion).
Both shows are swarmed with fanservice. But although it’s utterly stupid, the whole clothing thing made “sense” in their world. None of the witches wore pants because they’d interfere with their engine thingies. All female warriors in the Koihime world wore those extravagant outfits: It’s stupid, but it’s at least consistent in their world.
Ikki Tousen is worse. There’s tons of slow panning camera angles focusing on the crotch, pauses to show the skirt blowing up in a close-up. Even though the fan service in Koihime and Strike Witches is extremely blatant (enough that it decreases my enjoyment of the show), but Ikki Tousen somehow just shoves it into your face even more. And it seems to be fan-service only for fan-service sake: It doesn’t seem to “fit” at all or have any sort of in-built excuses.
Not only that, but the main cast is… ugh. I appreciate the “kickass female warrior” part, but the rest? You have the most air-headed main character I’ve ever seen in my life, with pretty much no redeeming quality so far (I definitively prefer the Koihime Sonsaku to the Ikki Tousen one). There’s stupid, and then there’s Sonsaku stupid: Even Rin-Rin is a genius comparatively. And then there’s the “wimpy yet good hearted guy that will save all the helpless women in their darkest hour, and whom the women will fall helplessly in love with”. And then there’s the guy that keeps molesting women (During episode 1 and also shown in the preview for episode 2) and none reacts as if there was anything wrong with that.
Yeah, I’m hard-pressed to find any redeeming quality to Ikki Tousen, at least based on the first episode beside the fighting. Maybe it gets better, or the story gets more gripping, or that there’s some enjoyable character introduced somewhere… I’ll give it a few more episodes in case, but I really doubt I’ll stick with it. And if the “wimpy guy” theory turns out to be true, then I definitively don’t want to watch this show!
@Ayra – You’re looking for things that are not in Ikkitousen.
What Ikkitousen *is,* is panty shots and exploding clothes and breasts almost showing and partially clothed women beating the crap out of one another. That is what it is.
If you are looking for other things, stop watching, it will only disappoint and annoy you.
@Ayra – But you are wrong about Koukin. The story is never about him. Hakufu is the lead character and she will shortly show why. But seriously….you are looking for the wrong things. This is a pervtastic anime with fighting. Nothing more.
The only two things I have to say about Ikki Tousen are:
(1) I obviously would not watch such dreck {sniff},
(2) and Kanu FTW.