Wednesday, April 7, 2010

New Anime Series! Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan episode 1!


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I am sure this series will have plot too...

Apparently I missed out on an April Fool’s joke. Although I am not sure how as Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan wasn’t supposed to come out until the 4th and April Fool’s jokes are supposed to be on the 1st. Whatever. Apparently I missed some funny/stupid subs. Woe is me.

But yes I have finally watched my second new anime of the season. And as I write this I see that K-On!! Season Two episode 1 is up and subbed! Conflicted on what to do!! But since I did say I was going to blog Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan first I shall stick with that decision. K-On!! will probably be up after work tomorrow so that gives me something to look forward to right?

This post probably won’t be very long. Not that I didn’t like this episode just not a lot happened and it was a bit confusing with all that new characters and the not talking about what is going onness. But there are still spoilers for episode one so if you want to see what this series is all about from a confused person’s point of view this is the post for you!





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I love zombies!!!

Episode Summary: A young girl is running from some angry looking men on the mean streets of Kyoto (during the 1860’s I believe). Two other angry men arrive on the scene and appear to be zombies. The four men duke it out and blood is split everywhere. Three other men show up and take care of the maybe zombies and argue about what to do with the girl. Said girl passes out and they take her back to headquarters. These men turn out to work for/are the Shinsengumi, a sorta police force. The girl, Chizuru, is eventually taken to meet a bunch more men and the angry dude she saw last night. There is fighting over what should happen to the boy (because eyes are not for seeing people).

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Someone looks so very thrilled....

It is decided that the angry dude (Hijikata) will be in charge of Chizuru. Chizuru also explains her reasons for being in Kyoto. Her famous doctor father set out for Kyoko and hasn’t been heard from recently. The men all exchange looks and reply that they are looking for her father too so she can stay here. Somewhere in there the men discover Chizuru is a female. Despite being told by Hijikata that Chizuru needs to be confined at all times the other men let her join in during dinner but that turns out to be a mess as the younger member opens their mouth about something super important. The episode ends with the crew getting news that Hijikata has injured his hand and may never be able to hold a sword again. The end.

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Don't tell her our secrets until episode 2!!!!

Despite not having played the game I came into this series thinking a few things were going to happen. I thought that the batch of good looking men were going to be the ones fighting the zombies. But it turns out they might be GOOD zombies. They do admit to Chizuru that the crazy men from last night were their fallen soldiers so I am not sure why the younger member (Toudou) got slapped. I mean…wouldn’t Chizuru put two and two together and realize something is not on the up and up?

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Um sure we know you dad. And it has nothing to do with zombies!!! Yeah nothing about zombies!

But I suppose it will work. After all these men need a real reason to look for Chizuru’s father so this must be it. These men need a cure before they turn all 28 Days Later on people. Just hard to imagine this group of good looking men turning into ugly crazies later.

None of this matters though as it wasn’t explained in the first episode. I thought it might be touched upon more than it was but the main focus was the arguing over what to do with Chizuru and making sure each bishie got a line or two in so their personality would “shine”. I think if they cut down on the arguing and had a scene with Chizuru discovering one of the boys “losing control” the episode would have been much stronger.

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I'm not helpless!!!!

I don’t think Chizuru did enough to shine in this episode. She really comes across as a helpless girl (boy for half the episode) who is taking help from complete strangers. I mean isn’t it a bit ironic that these men are looking for your father? Shouldn’t that send up some red flags? Or are you just so happy that these men are sparing your life you are just rolling with the punches? Not that they are really sparing her life because even after they promise to protect here there were death threats. So yeah Chizuru, thought you were going to be a little tougher with that sword. At least she isn’t acting totally boy crazy though right?

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Behold our awesome looks!

I would talk about the men but….yeah not sure I remember any of their names. Also I might be way too used to the easy Japanese names (Yuri, Touma, Misaka) to remember anything complicated like Shinpachi right off the bat. Or maybe it was simply too many to remember for anyone. In any event some of the men appeared to be stereotypical but that is not always a bad thing. I am just wondering who else will be in the running for Chizuru’s heart. We know Hijikata will probably win but who will be the runner up I wonder?

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Normally the young kid (young being the same age as the girl of course) never has a chance with the main girl. Sorry kid.

I am not complaining about the eye candy though. Reminds me of a more serious Fushigi Yuugi. Funny how I hate period pieces but I watch them for the eye candy. Although this show wins with the most hair styles in a single episode award! We have to be able to tell people apart after all.

The music seemed to set the mood pretty decently. The art was good in my opinion and even though the story was a little slow on the pick up everything else seems to be in order. Time and effort went into this series.

So in conclusion…I am not sure how I feel about this series yet. The plot hasn’t really gotten underway and too many characters were tossed in my face. But I do like zombies!!! And I believe that things will improve and the plot will pick up soon. So I will be waiting next week for a better explanation of what is going on and why I should care about these characters. XD Hopefully other people will tune in next week as this series might hold great promise. It isn’t all about K-On!! and Angel Beats people!



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