Postby Debitt » Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:28 pm
I actually watched this for a...history paper. It's a long story.
In some ways, I found the show really really interesting -- while it's not particularly historically accurate by any stretch, it uses a lot of the folklore and historical trivia in an amusing sort of way, though the effect would probably be lost if you're not pretty thoroughly versed in Shinsengumi history/popular lore.
As a show itself though, I found it a bit lacking. Tetsu is a really annoying protagonist, and while he grows as a character during the course of the series he really just spends a lot of it either being irritating or traumatized/emo -- the latter I could have empathized with if he hadn't made me want to punt him into a river beforehand. Most of the other characters sort of fall neatly into "nice guy" "goofy guy" "grumpy guy" "worried older brother" stereotypes, which doesn't make them much more than entertaining on a superficial level.
The plot of the anime feels a little disjointed as well -- the plot comes in bursts, and until the end is kind of sprinkled in with episodes that feel a lot like filler. I'm not sure if they really ARE filler since I haven't read the manga series, but there you go.
The manga had a longer run than the anime, so I'd imagine it's better fleshed out than the anime, so maybe give that a go? Because I found the anime to be "not bad" at best and "oh gosh when is it over? When will things start happening?" at worst.
[SIZE="5"](*゚∀゚)アハア八アッ八ッノヽ~☆[/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"]DEBS: Fan of that manga where the kid's head is on fire.[/SIZE]