In 1863, Izuminokami Kanesada and his partner, Horikawa Kunihiro, arrive in the streets of Edo from the future to investigate their master's reports of an upcoming enemy invasion. As humanoid manifestations of the famous Toshizou Hijikata's swords, they have been tasked with protecting history from the Retrograde Army that seeks to alter it. Soon enlisting the help of other sword warriors, they continuously battle the mysterious army throughout the Bakumatsu period.
However, their journey will not be an easy one. Fraught with blood and betrayal in the chaotic era closest to their hearts, the duo will be forced to make difficult decisions with everything they care about on the line.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
PaladinAlchemist
I have issues with Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu. I honestly have no idea how UFO Table managed to take such a fantastic premise partnered with stunning animation and make it so incredibly dry. This is my first (and probably last) experience with the Touken Ranbu franchise. I have never played the game, nor seen the other anime adaption. It didn’t take long to get the gist of it. The two dudes with unique designs were fighting baddies to prevent history from changing. Later on, you learn what time period they’re in and that they aren’t human, but famous weapons. And . . . that’s it. Why are thebaddies trying to change history? I don’t know. Why is Hijikata’s sword now a pretty man. I don’t know. What are those fox things? Still don’t know. What on earth do the baddies have to do to change history, since killing people, saving people, and burning cites to the ground apparently doesn’t change anything. Will anyone ever get a personality? Answer: not really. Will this plot ever get a direction? Answer: no.
I would’ve given this anime a stupid high score if it just got rid of it’s thin excuse for a plot and bland characters and just left the stunning back drops of historical Japan and beautiful nature scenes. UFO Table has never written a character I’ve cared for, but I always keep coming back for more blandness because of flashy fight scenes and beautiful backdrops (of which Katsugeki has plenty of).
The problem isn’t the animation (though, I still think UFO Table’s characters tend to look a bit plastic and lack facial emotions), it’s (almost) everything else.
Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki was easily the standout character of the main group. His genki personality helped lighten up an anime that otherwise took itself too seriously. His connection to Sakamoto Ryoma (of which I am a major fan), also helped. The episode where he helped Sakamoto survive the assassination attempt at the Teradaya Inn was easily the highlight of the series (but it only really hits you in the gut if you know Sakamoto was assassinated about a year later). The other characters were too briefly introduced (all of Unit 1), too angsty and inconsistent (Izuminokami Kanesada), or too bland (everyone else).
Izuminokami Kanesada was an especially frustrating character. Initially, he insisted that everyone “preserve history,” even if it meant letting someone die. Such a hardline approach would’ve made an interesting character. But he breaks his own rule in episode one, saving someone, and then proceeds to continue to take action that would change history (saving other people, talking to people, etc . . .) all of the while maintaining the angst level of a character that did stick to his rule. He also doesn’t seem to know the rules, telling the viewer that people are sent out in groups of two to stay under the radar, but that’s clearly untrue as far more than two people act as a group for other than the first few minutes of the series.
If the plot or world-building or even art or tone are interesting enough, it’s easy to overlook bland characters. But Katsugeki doesn’t offer up much.
The plot has no direction. The characters are given vague orders to “preserve history,” and they follow it. No one even takes any interesting action until the last few episodes and any drama about how to go about preserving history falls flat because people live and die without having any effect on the timeline whatsoever.
There’s also never an end goal, just beat up on random baddies until (for some unexplained reason) they give up on one time period and jump to another. Why they also just keep attacking Japan instead of a country that might mess history up even more like Rome or China, is also never explained.
There is also no explanation about the historical significance of the events the main characters are trying to protect. Thankfully, I knew who Katsu Kaishu, Saigo Takamori, and the others were, but if I hadn’t, I would’ve been even more lost about why the characters are protecting these people in the first place. Also, the episode featuring Sakamoto Ryoma packs a far more serious punch knowing he died about a year after the events in the episode took place - something the show hardly alludes too and not until the end.
The lack of character depth, world building, plot, and explanation about anything makes it rather clear that Katsugeki isn’t interested in telling a good story. All anime try to make money, but I’d appreciate it if they tried to do so by telling a solid story instead of promoting a video game and pretty-boy sword figures.
CosySpectre
I choose to watch this anime on a whim and wasn't disappointed. . At the beginning it was difficult to understand at times because it is based on a game, so the viewer is expected to have previous knowledge of the mechanics of this world. I pieced it together myself, but otherwise I recommend finding a quick summary of this universe, because it can be complicated. Story: 7/10 The story itself was pretty good. The concept for the anime was different, and though I had read it was similar to drifters and was intrigued, it was different enough to be interesting. For the first few episodes Ifound the story to be a bit slow and somewhat predictable, but if you can plough through that the story line progresses fairly well.
What I really loved was the fact that as a viewer you can see that this anime came from a game. Its great to watch the characters complain about being put on mission after mission, like you would do to characters you control in a game. And I loved the previews for each episode.
Art: 9/10
I loved the art for this anime! I honestly kept getting distracted from the plot and obvious violence by just how pretty it was. Don't get me wrong, the backgrounds at times were a bit iffy, especially compared to the character designs, but when there is blood liberally flying yet I'm still focused on a pretty face I'll say thats impressive.
Sound: 7/10
I was a fan of the opening and closing themes, they gave the anime a good vibe. As someone who always watches both, regardless of whether I'm binging the anime (as I did) or am watching it episode by episode, these themes were decent.
As for the sound during the anime, the effects were good and the 'battle' music was well chosen, adding to the suspense.
Character: 8/10
As I already said, I am in love with this character design. As for the characters themselves, they were well varied and interesting. As someone who hasn't played the game (although I really want to now) or watched the other adaption, I didn't really know what to expect.
The mix of personalties, while at first a bit cliche, grew on me and I loved the inclusion of a range of other characters, rather than just the main 6.
Character development was pretty good too. As I've said, at the beginning this anime is rather cliche, with the two characters (Izuminokami and Mutsunokami in this case) who constantly butt heads etc. But as the story progresses so do the characters, and their backstories, while pretty sad, were also interesting to learn as you could see how their 'owners' (that will make sense) shaped the characters.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I really enjoyed watching this anime! Although it was a bit predictable at times, I was drawn to the characters and their story and had to keep watching (as seen by the binge that ended at 6am). All of the elements worked well together and by the end I was very wrapped up by the characters and their emotional turmoil.
I really want to play the game now, and will find a way... eventually :)
Overall: 8/10
Overall, I really enjoyed this anime. For something I chose to watch offhandedly, it was a surprising success, and I can't wait for the apparent movie adaption in the future(!). While you should probably know some of the backstory behind the story, especially the mechanics of it, if you want a challenge just do what I did and wing it.
Polkadottedsky
If there's one thing I'm grateful, it's that the game got adapted into the anime. I've literally enjoyed this series a lot, and now let's get on with it. Story: 7 I would say that the theme is basic, preventing time traveling alternating the history in terms of major events. Simple, right?, right. I gave this a 7 because of the characters influencing the plot throughout the series, and their "background". Sadly not a lot was the other characters got covered but that's somewhat expected for a 1 cour series if you ask me. Art: 9 Honestly, usually for any series, I'd give a 7 in terms ofanimations and whatnot because it's decent and I sure as hell can't draw. This time, however, Katsugeki Touken Ranbu was crisp and sharp, heck, frame-by-frame was good too. And the characters' art was very pretty, along with smooth animation throughout the entire time [I know what some of you are thinking about with the animation part especially "ufotable", lol].
Sound: 9
Sound? OST? Oh yes, definitely. I think the soundtracks were really suitable to the series, especially the "strings" and the flute part, befitting for a historical series. The action soundtracks were pretty awesome, fast paced and heavy. [Kept replaying the entire OST, lol] Also the ending song was pretty great done by Kalafina.
Character: 7
Although there's quite the characters that appears in the series, the main focus is our Second Unit for the entire time.
As briefly mentioned, only a couple of selected characters' 'past' were covered, but regardless, they stuck to what the story was focused on, which I really thought was a good thing. You could see some of the characters kind of developing (second unit) in the series, or at least towards the ending, somewhat. These pretty much got my 7.
Enjoyment: 9
Personal enjoyment is definitely a 9 for me, I haven't played the game yet I kept seeing a lot of the gorgeous characters fanart without knowing anything, so I was always irked. I want to clarify it, the game is still somewhat targeted for the female fanbase so yes, there's some personal attachment to this series.
As with this factor, being able to watch the anime during the entire time and getting to see the characters and their tidbits made me happy, I felt a bit closer to the franchise(?) now instead of not knowing anything before.
Overall: 7
I think it's a series that's good for anyone to start, with or without playing the game. Now unfortunately, although a lot of the factors were pretty great, I do think the plot lowered it down slightly. But hey, it's still a decent series to watch if you ask me.
Izevrente
Haaa.... Perhaps I'm being too generous because I'm bias, but I found this anime absolutely amazing. I personally play the game and I'm very familiar with the franchise. To those who give this anime a bad rating and are not familiar with the franchise whatsoever, that makes me sad. Touken Ranbu has never been released outside of Japan (you even need a Japanese VPN to even try playing the game) and the game is in Japanese. The audience is completely Japanese, or, they'd hope them to be. This anime is meant for the fans of Touken Ranbu, not for those who have no idea what it is.They don't explain much because they don't need to. From the start I could name every character off by heart. (Higekiri said Hizamaru's name correctly. Not accurate. 0/10) The animation was gorgeous and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. As someone who loves TouRabu, it was a treat to be able to watch it completely animated. (Also, unlike Hanamaru, not sugar coating everything. I swear, Tonbokiri... T _ T gosh that hit me hard. I can never //not// repair my swords.)
While yes I agree they didn't explain much and the premise may seem boring to others, I didn't care because I knew everything beforehand. It was also interesting to see the saniwa as an actual person, since most of the fandom just depicts them as a person with a paper that says 'sa' in front of their face lol. The Saniwa is you/the player, by the way.
If you're coming into this blind, I'd recommend doing a tiny bit of reading up on it before watching. It'll help a lot. There's an English wiki that many people contribute to, so that'd probably be your best bet. Try to keep an open mind as well.
First review. Wahoo~?
riorangel21
Recently, Ufotable's production is just not that great, having these very poor/one sided characters and somewhat very linear story making some of their modern shows very predictable. It's just the same for Katsugeki/ Touken Ranbu. I'd rather say that this show was produced just to advertise the original game. I don't blame ufotable that much on this one because they really can't control the content by themselves but I do think the studio can do better than this. Ever since Unlimited Blade Works was produced, ufotable's overall direction went downhill. Tho I highly praised them with their stellar visuals but it's not the samelike Fate/Zero and Kara no Kyoukai. Katsugeki/ Touken Ranbu's direction is quite generic I would say.
The show struggled on pacing, developing its characters and this very weird 1st episode. They just throws you right into the action without explaining anything on what's happening. The show is like forcing you to understand and feel bad for the characters without giving you any major knowledge about them. ( Minor Spoiler ) There's also this one episode where someone died but I just don't care because how plain the character was.
All I can say that the series lacks alot, noticeable flaws making this show generic and plain on the direction part. Although the show is very pretty but I don't know if people would like this show or not. Do I recommend you to watch it? Yeah sure, why not for starters or for you guys who just love action but I won't recommend this for people who takes anime as a serious subject/medium. For my perspective, the show is just an advertisement for the game. ( most likely for additional content ) Games like this often doesn't really work on this medium, the game has its own charm to it that you can't just take and put it on the adaptation.
Overall - 5/10 it's not bad, it's just that ufotable can do better than this, I know they can pull it off.
Unyil
When I saw this anime at first, I didn't really think that I'm gonna like it, since it seems that my fav characters from Touranbu won't be there, but after I watched some episodes, it felt like, I can take a liking to these characters since they unfold the characters' feeling really well in here. Compared to Hanamaru, this one's is really deep in story and feeling (oh, I do love Hanamaru btw).. And their fighting scene is so cool and pretty! Not only the fighting scene, but every scene is portrayed beautifully and so detailed.. I cried in some episodes.. Their final battle was superb!And the BGMs, OP & ED song are also awesome!
I'm waiting for the movie version! I hope they'll make the 2nd season as well (not only a movie) with the other characters as the main! Love this!
JackYagami
There are benefits on watching a show without knowing the source material: you don't create expectation. I was interested on this anime because the amazing artwork, especially Tsurumaru and Mikazuki. I know nothing of the game, the mechanics, the enemies, or anything else: to me there is only cool looking samurais fighting evil looking enemies (and lots of fujoshi artwork) Somehow my desire to see a character I personally find amazing, made me break the Three Episode Rule and when he finally appearead I just... continued watching the show with a blank expression on my face. This anime is a redundant (pretty looking) shallowness. Also... I know from thefirst episode that the sole purpose of the touken danshi is to preserve history... but they tell this to the viewer at least 7 times per episode. If you play a drinking game and take a shot everytime you hear a character saying "rekishi o mamoru" you'll be wasted in no time.
Unless you are a fan of the game, skip it
DemonKingRavan
****SPOILER FREE**** Blurb: Katanagatari meets Fate/Stay Night. The concept of weapons (especially swords) being presented as sentient beings/characters is hardly the re-invention of the wheel. Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu borrows elements from several Fantasy/Action shows and brings them together in a stunning and beautiful tapestry which only UFOtable can do. In terms of story, there's nothing too complicated. Neither are the personalities of the various swords that have been summoned in Human form. You have your typical mixture of goofy, serious, innocent, broody, hot-heads & philosophers who at various times during the show bring up the age old question of ends justifying the means. Some moments and episodesare genuinely well put together but on the whole, the series offers nothing new or groundbreaking in terms of a story. If anything, there are plot-points that have been simply ignored, and at the end you are left with no clear vision as to exactly who or what the villain/s are. Perhaps they are saving further development for the second season, but there should have been SOME explanation as to why the swords and their master do what they do, and what series of events led them to do this moment.
Hands down the one and only reason (for me) to watch this show were the visuals, which are breathtaking. In the end all that can be said about the 'Wild dance of Swords' is that it's worth watching for just that. The dance, the swords and the costumes.
felixlovesanime
Before I start, I would like to begin with a note of which, there should never be a comparison between Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu and Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru. The former is skewed towards Shounen demographic and the latter is skewed towards the Shoujo. Comparing the two would be as meaningless as comparing Haikyu!! with Fruit Basket. Now, about Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu. It is not an overstatement to say that the art and the animation are exquisite to the max! We finally have the delight of enjoying cinema-level of quality in our television/computers therefore, kudos for ufotable for basically turning Makoto Shinkai (I assumed) green with jealousy. Regardless the fact ofwhich Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu is originated from a multimedia project with heavier focus on the female demographics, the geniuses of ufotable managed to provide a different flavor with stylish execution and without betraying the origins that had become the vital foundation. The action sequence is slick, the visual effects blend beautifully with the hand-drawn animations, no 'lazy' 3D animation in place, and it doesn't hurt maintaining the bishounen-ness of our brave Touken Danshi. Unlike other multimedia spawns, though, Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu never feels like a companion piece per se.
Nonetheless, as we learn over and over again regardless of changes in season, a beautiful anime to look at does not necessarily constitute as an excellent anime. The biggest flaw of Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu is the narrative that it chose. This universe consists of around fifty Touken Danshi with interesting histories that are yet to be depicted in popular anime but sadly, Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu chose to tell the story as overused as a samurai's pair of sandals: Shinsengumi again and again and again. It feels safe and nowadays, 'safe' is just the polite term for 'boring'.
However, there is still a glimmer of hope. Perhaps for the next reiteration of the saga (the movie has been announced), they no longer have the need to blend in with the Shinsengumi crowd. Ironically, for an anime regarding history, this one really needs to learn from the past for the sake of better future.
#felixlovesanime
RauLeCreuset
This anime I thought was very amazing, in fact, the only thing I didn't like about, was the fact the way the enemies were slaughtered. I thought it was going to be gory and limbs and heads were going to be cut off and decapitated. But, instead it was just red smoke and then they disappeared. Otherwise, this is the first samurai historical anime that I watched, that swords actually had human forms, it was a very interesting anime to watch to say the least. At least I thought so, it was one of those short, but sweet kind of animes. You know the animeseries is short, but packed everything into a certain amount of episodes. But, I enjoyed it.
BlackCicero
Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu is an action anime set in 19th century Japan for the most part. I thought the show was alright but it definitely could have been better. The story was mediocre in my opinion. It was bland in the beginning up until a point near the halfway point of the series where it then had a 2-3 episode run of great episodes after which it then returned to a bland state. The art on the other hand, was outstanding as one can expect from studio ufotable. The animation for the action sequences were also very good. The soundtrack was nicely done and the sound design oncertain effects stood out to me as well.
While the show looks and sounds great, the characters suffer from much of the same problems as the story does. It was difficult to get invested into what the characters were going through(the anime managed to do this at one point but it was then done away with soon after) which is unfortunate because I believe that this was a missed opportunity.
In the end Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu is a beautifully drawn show that has no deep impact or enjoyment to be derived from it.
ari-e-s
The infamous Ufotable strikes again, - to ruin another one of my favorite game franchises. This time, Touken Ranbu. To give a slight synopsis, Touken Ranbu is an internet browser card-game that's centered around collecting and leveling historical anthromorphopized Japanese swords. Let's begin now. Ufotable ruined what could've been an amazing adaptation of a game that has little, to no plot. All that is known with this given game is its historical swords, and basic character personalities (that were given a basis by Hanamaru). Character:Most of the characters were out-of-character, especially Kane-san. He was troped as a typical shounen protagonist, and lacked his own goofy personality.
Although I'm aware that dark times such as those shown in Katsugeki are no place to mess around, he was far too serious and almost lacking emotion.
He's known for failing here, and there. And, having his own imperfections that were ultimately covered-up by cliches.
What angered me the most was Kane-san even raising a blade towards Hori. The two are incredibly close, and despite Hori's intentions, he'd never do such a thing.
Hori was another that I found incorrectly adapted. His character was odd in its own way - I understood his reasoning for wanting to protect Hijikata, yet he was acting overly obsessive at some points. His character is more cheerful and supportive than anything. At some points, I wondered if this was actually Hori. Despite his intentions, Hori would listen to Kane-san if he'd ever try to talk sense into him.
Hori's character is not of one to be a rebel.
Jiji, or Mikazuki's character was far too mysterious than he actually is. Although he is indeed an incredibly strong sword (which, I know for a fact since he is the leader of my team), his part made his personality seem odd.
He's nothing more than an old grandpa that loves tea. He isn't mysterious, and wouldn't hide anything to make it seem as such.
Mutsu's character was the only that was spot-on. His constant hyperactiveness, love for food, and guns; and being a literal dog, was perfect.
Story:
Ah, now we get into the horrible plot.
The climaxes, the climaxes. Must you be so terrible with these, Ufotable?
I decided to mention these first, since they're the key points that lost me whilst I watched Katsugeki.
There are two major "climaxes" that occur throughout the entirety of the show.
The first begins I believe in episode 10, when Hori encourages Kane-san to raise his blade towards him. This ultimately ends in a predictable drop of an intentional missed hit, and a petty response towards the latter. Neither seemed shocked to the very least, and tensions continue between the two, with the most anti-climatic drop possible.
The second climax is in episode 12, where Hori joins Hijikata, and the rest of the Shinsengumi. There are many oddities with this. Knowing for a fact that Hijikata was not the one to trust easily, he let an unknown boy join him. His intentions were shown, planning to die in Hijikata's place. Kane-san soon finds out about this, once again not shocked, and proceeds to convince Hijikata to return his second sword to the boy who was to deliver it. Hori, now, not shocked by this, simply sighs and says, "Ah, all my efforts were for nothing".
What? What? This was a far lower drop than the first climax. They both shake it off as if nothing had happened. What is this?
And, ah, let us reach the ending. We're told in episode 12 that 1,000 members of the Retrogade Army were to appear the next day to attack, as said by Konnosuke.
1,000, remember. Yet, the fighting that is shown in episode 13, is nearly effortless. None of the boys take critical injuries, although 1,000 would be quite a feat to fight. But, no. It gets better. They someone how manage to defeat each enemy easily, the ending pans with a group shot. And, an "everyone's okay, everything's okay" finale.
Extra slight nit-picking, but game mechanics were thrown out the window here.
You cannot summon another sword in the midst of a battle.
Sound/Art:
I very much liked the opening and ending sequences. The opening had historical easter-eggs regarding each sword's master and their deaths which I found very interesting and a great addition. The song itself is catchy, which I enjoyed a lot.
The ending's song was good as well, and the animation itself had me and my friend create a theory of a possible ending to the anime (rip).
The animation itself is great, obviously. It's Ufotable. The effects were outstanding, as well as the fight scenes.
In conclusion.
Story: 4/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Character: 4/10
Enjoyment: 3/10
Overall: ??/10
cocolita22
I want to start by emphasizing the art and music to this show is absolutely fantastic. I can not believe this show is so beautiful... it almost has no right to pop off that hard because the plot itself is mediocre and slightly boring at times. I admit I've no prior knowledge to "swords" or whatever game this show is based on but I was pretty bored and it took me forever to finish. What kept me coming back was the amazing opening sequence (it's in my playlist and I listen to it non-stop) and the stunning art. The cherry blossom trees, the skies, thebeautiful males, the bright coloring, the action sequences, the details... wow, wow, wow. I don't think I've seen a more beautiful show. I'm surprised by the budget they must have put into this show.
I will probably watch the other show in the Touken Ranbu franchise and I wonder if that art and sound is as beautiful as this one.
The last three episodes were probably the best in the season, but the middle section was dry and I stopped watching for an entire week as a result. I felt kind of bittersweet emotions at the ending and felt it was rushed, so I would say this show is good and enjoyable.
If just for art and music alone, I would say watch this show for sure, but it can be a relaxing background show.
