Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

[Apraxhren]

Summary:
End of Edo Era - It was the last time a man lived as a samurai and fought entrusting his life and briefs to a sword.

It was the time when long peaceful Tokugawa Dynasty began to be overshadowed triggered by the arrival of Westerners. During the upheaval, when youths were seeking for new age, there was an existence that brought turmoil and chaos. It was called Hasha no Kubi, or the Head of Conqueror. It was said that the person who could obtain the head awoke in revolution time could rule over the whole country. On the other hand, there was another shadow existence called Eternal Assassin. They have been destined to fight Hasha no Kubi in order to seal. Both had been fighting each other behind the history. Their fights have affected the history involving those who wanted the power.

Someone wanted it for themselves, someone wanted it for avenges, and someone wanted it for their ideal.

Their thoughts cross each other over the Hasha no Kubi. Their thoughts put tougher as if they were complicated gear wheels. Then, it began to move the history as if it became an engine that moved to the future.
[Source: Animenfo]

Releases:
Shinsen/Pino no Usagi - Episode 01 (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BPNU_%26_SHS%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihohe to_-_01_%5B5BFD17E0%5D.avi.torrent)
Shinsen/Pino no Usagi - Episode 02 (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_02_%5B40EDF3A7%5D.avi.torrent)

Oyasumi - Episode 01 (http://datorrents.com/download.asp?id=15527&name=%5BOyasumi%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoh eto_01_%5B8392CA45%5D.mkv.torrent)
Oyasumi - Episode 02 (http://datorrents.com/download.asp?id=15728&name=%5BOyasumi%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoh eto_02_%5BB1306C6A%5D.mkv.torrent)


The encode quality is low because it's a web-only broadcast show. The DVDs come out in January. EdwardK, our skilled encoder, was able to make it look much prettier than the original, but only so much can be done.
More Info:
http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=4570
http://www.irohanihoheto.jp/

[Lucifus]

Definatly interesting. I'm sticking with it. The Intros pretty decent too.:cool:

Check out the first ep.

[Zati]

The first episode was confusing for me but I will watch another episode and see how it goes.

[Yukimura]

It seemed interesting, though I feel more at a loss as to what's going on then most other first episodes. However the font of the subtitles was absolutely terrible. Both the color and the style made it extremely hard to read what was going on. I hope other people agree with me and it changes b/c I don't think I could watch 26 more episodes of that.

[Zati]

I agree didn't like the subtitles myself and I share the same thought as you about the first episode.

[Apraxhren]

Well it seems it was assumed the audience would have knowledge of the late Tokugawa shogunate and Meiji revolution; foreign audiences most likely were not on their minds. Many of the figures that were named early on don't seem all that significant mainly samurai and naval commanders. The one interesting figure that isn't named on the screen is Sakamoto Ryoma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakamoto_Ryoma), who is the feature of the play that is shown in the middle and also the final scene. The play depicted two scenes from his life and then at the end his death. Here is a nice biography (http://www.baobab.or.jp/~stranger/kochi/ryoma.htm) of his life in which paragraphs 14 and 15 help explain the two scenes of the play they features in the show.
The other named people:
Prince Arisugawa Takahito (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takahito_Arisugawa)
Saigo Takamori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigo_Takamori)
Katsu Kaishu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsu_Kaishu)
Yamaoka Tesshu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaoka_Tesshu)
Kyuunosuke Masumitsu (never found any info on him.)

[Zati]

Oyasumi just released this.

Episode 1 - Oyasumi (http://datorrents.com/download.asp?id=15527&name=%5BOyasumi%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoh eto_01_%5B8392CA45%5D.mkv.torrent)

[Apraxhren]

Hah, both posted at the same time.

It seems they are taking the time to explain the historical references and I bet their subtitles are easier to read.


Like most of our recent projects, Irohanihoheto will be encoded in the XviD/Vorbis format in a Matroska container. The dialogue will be hardsubbed onto the video, but the additional notes are softsubbed (and off by default). These additional notes aren’t required, but the show relies heavily on Japanese history; the notes will most likely enhance your enjoyment and comprehension of the occurrences that take place throughout the episode. You will need VSfilter to view the additional notes properly; if you’re using VLC, good luck with that. Mplayer users, you may want to consider upgrading to the 1.0 RC1 build and use the new -ass option (see the manual page for details).
Source: Oyasumi (http://oyasumi.leechanime.com/)

[Apraxhren]

Episode 02 by Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_02_%5B40EDF3A7%5D.avi.torrent)

[Bucket]

Summary:
...entrusting his life and briefs to a sword.
Man... can we get a proofreader in here?

[Kraco]

The second episode was also pretty interesting. I still don't quite get what exactly is the bigger plot in practice, but as long as the action and character interaction continues at this level, I certainly won't be complaining.

[Apraxhren]

Episode 02 from Oyasumi (http://datorrents.com/download.asp?id=15728&name=%5BOyasumi%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoh eto_02_%5BB1306C6A%5D.mkv.torrent)

[Zati]

Episode 3 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_03_%5B8CE82E67%5D.avi.torrent)

[yallo]

Finally, another samurai series set in the bakumatsu era that looks promising!
:D
*runs off to download it*




Summary:
...entrusting his life and briefs to a sword.
Man... can we get a proofreader in here?
Haha I believe that sentence was supposed to be "beliefs" instead of "briefs".

[Kraco]

The third episode continued the intriguing trend this series seems to follow. There are surely lots of characters around and at least for me it's quite impossible to try to figure out and remember who belong to which faction, if they belong to any. Nevertheless, it isn't really confusing and holds together somewhat because the main characters still are kept steadily enough in the middle creating a nicer and simpler focus.

[Zati]

New episode!

Episode 4 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_04_%5B5526A7C0%5D.avi.torrent)

[kAi]

Just finished watching episode 4 and still I don't have much to say on it, but I'm liking it so far, there seems to be alot going on, but we haven't been showed enough to say to much on it.

I'm liking the theatre thing they have going on, it looks mad, I liked how they made the ending for episode 4, it was nicely done.

[Kraco]

The theater is indeed a nice detail and setting they are using. The voice and tone they use when they advertise the plays and also in the plays itself nicely remind me of those repeating announcements of the salesmen using cars to drive around neighborhoods selling this or that in many modern anime series (and I suppose maybe also in the reality in Japan).

But the play in this episode ended indeed interestingly. Realistic acting! And the audience of course never realised it wasn't quite normal acting...

[Kraco]

During Bakumatsu swords were always hungry; swordsmen even hungrier:

Episode 5 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_05_%5B7E5782D5%5D.avi.torrent)

Edit: A very interesting and also quite funny episode. Warcraft style bloodlust was also finely depicted... And that British honour guard... What was it even doing there? Part of the appeal of this show is certainly how it mixes realism and fantasy together so effortlessly, yet still they clash just enough to be interesting and funny, yet never disturbing.

[?igma]

Which subber would you recommend, Shinsen or Oyasumi ?

Im currently looking for another anime and this one seems interesting enough.

[Kraco]

Both are good groups, so I don't think it much matters.

This series is certainly worth watching, so don't think twice about picking it as your next choice. I just wish the OP and ED would get released soon, as they are fine pieces, both of them.

[?igma]

Youre pretty fast today :)

Thanks, Ill check them both, Oyasumi is larger on average, although that doesnt have to mean anything..except that Im running out of my 600GB HD space ( thank god I recently had to make a pc for my kid sister /gogo 300Gigs over network :P)

As for OST's .. Im still hooked to Berserk's nr 4 Gattsu. Ill probably put that one in my will for when I get either burned or fed to the earth..not sure which I'd prefer :)
(Not meaning to be morbid, its just ..beautiful :P)

[Apraxhren]

Which subber would you recommend, Shinsen or Oyasumi ?

Im currently looking for another anime and this one seems interesting enough. Well Oyasumi includes alternative subs with additional notes of the history, and they have always done a good job on series. With that said there isn't anything wrong with Shinsens releases either they just don't include the history, which isn't really necessary to the plot. So pick the faster group or the one with a history lesson neither is a wrong choice.

As a side note Oyasumi released episode 03 (http://datorrents.com/download.asp?id=16182&name=%5BOyasumi%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoh eto_03_%5B96D69723%5D.mkv.torrent) a while ago.

[?igma]

Well, Ive seen 5 episodes now and Im still not sure whether I like it. Ill definately download and watch it, but I cant help being annoyed at some point by the theatre . Ok..so we have this group that performs for people as a cover, but do they really have to be so annoying about it ::>?

[Kraco]

I'm no expert, and I could be totally wrong, but maybe the Japanese theater was like that back then. That seems more likely than the anime studio having invented a peculiar style like that.

Well, I don't find it annoying at all, so my pov is different all in all, no doubt.

[?igma]

Oh Im sure it was like that, no doubt :P

Well, Im not hating it, its just ..sometimes :P

[Kraco]

Not enough men have lost their heads, so let the bakumatsu continue:

Episode 6 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_06_%5BEC86488E%5D.avi.torrent)

[kAi]

Episode 07 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_07_%5BF123B9C6%5D.avi.torrent)

[w8woord]

Episode 08 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_08_%5B8FEBC5A0%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

As long as true men don't sell their souls and swords, the bakumatsu continues:

Episode 9 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_09_%5B8F88FF62%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

Men may falter but swords stay true.

Episode 10 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_10_%5BB7A85D67%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

If a sword is merely a tool, then a man is merely a fool:

Episode 11 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_11_%5BFCCFE400%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

There's always room for a few more heads rolling on the ground:

Episode 12 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_12_%5B064472D6%5D.avi.torrent)

Edit: this series is still just as hard to follow as ever. A multitude of people talking about a multitude of places and events and yet more people. No way anyone could remember them all. Yet, I still enjoy this immeasurably.

[shinta|hikari]

I actually quit bothering with the details a while back and just enjoyed what was going on onscreen.

[Kraco]

Just when you thought your head is securely on your shoulders, the katana comes and swipes it off.

Episode 13 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_13_%5B8A44C2DE%5D.avi.torrent)

[masamuneehs]

started watching this show recently.

not the best ever, but satisfies my crave for samurai anime. the story is still confusing the hell out of me in episode 4... so many characters...

[Kraco]

Don't worry, it's pretty much as confusing still after episode 12... Still, to be honest, this series has more like two partially intertwined stories than just one. The Eternal Assassin one (head hunter, literally), and the historical Bakumatsu one. The Assassin plot seems quite straight-forward, but the historical one has like 220 characters introduced in 10 episodes (and counting), which makes it somewhat tougher to follow.

Well, I do what shinta|hikari said; I don't even try to remember all those doods and they factions and allegiances and ambitions and plans. This is highly enjoyable, in my opinion, even without trying to catch everything.

[Kraco]

Chase after the Samurai-san, ye solemn girl...

Episode 14 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_14_%5BB47BB754%5D.avi.torrent)

[masamuneehs]

nothing witty like Kraco usually puts up comes to my mind before noon...
...episode 15's out

Bakumatsu Episode 15 _ Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_15_%5BDEC99BA5%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

Few things in this world are more beautiful yet terrible than a clean swipe of a sword that chops a head off.

Episode 16 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_16_%5B68A8E32D%5D.avi.torrent)

[Munsu]

Started watching this today and thought the first two episodes were pretty good, the action especially. Anyways, I recommend the conclave-ayu joint for archiving, they're using DVD sources and the picture is much better and clear. I remember when I browsed the first episode by Shinsen the picture quality sucked ass.

[Kraco]

Hence the saying: If you know the enemy's katana and know your own katana, you need not fear the result of a hundred sword fights.

Episode 17 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_17_%5B2CC81F39%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

If you know your katana but not the enemy's katana, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

Episode 18 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_18_%5B5029081E%5D.avi.torrent)

Quite an episode, indeed. I can't say I didn't see something like this coming due to the opening, which always seemed somewhat metaphorical, but still it was a powerful scene.

[Sapphire]

I can't wait to watch this series. Downloading!

[Kraco]

If you know neither the enemy's katana nor your own, you will succumb in every sword fight.

Episode 19 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_19_%5B2EA4486D%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

To secure our katana against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating
the enemy's katana is provided by the enemy himself:

Episode 20 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_20_%5B701E7020%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

Thus the good fighter is able to secure his katana against defeat, but cannot make certain of
defeating the enemy's katana.

Episode 21 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_21_%5B5114EA89%5D.avi.torrent)

[Apraxhren]

The one who posts to remove the stupid "it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks" message and interrupt Kraco's spree.

Episode 22 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_22_%5B6D1E3536%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

Hence the skillful swordsman puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible,
and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

Episode 23 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_23_%5B8FC1827E%5D.avi.torrent)
Episode 24 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_24_%5BB792F07D%5D.avi.torrent)

[Kraco]

In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

And with these words the series ends:

Episode 25 - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_25_%5B5527F587%5D.avi.torrent)
Episode 26 Final - Shinsen (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Bakumatsu_Kikansetsu_Irohanihoheto_-_26_%5BF095C4F5%5D%5BFINAL%5D.avi.torrent)

Edit: It was decent ending to a good series. I didn't particularly like episodes 24 and 25 because I'd have preferred the head to stay mainly a psychological entity, apart from the force field it used to protect itself from mundane weapons, and so the floating invincible fortress with it's death beams was a deviation that conflicted with what I expected from this series. Now it changed from a supernatural agitator to a real demonic entity with all manners of super powers, and thus at the same time the series changed from a far more subtle unrealism to total fantasy.

Well, 26 had some nice scenes and as an ending it wasn't bad at all. I particularly like the confrontation between Assassin and Chief. It was pretty beautiful even if it ended with no sacrifices.

[darkshadow]

just saw 25 and 26, beautiful ending to a brilliant series.