Hakuouki

[Buffalobiian]

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7277/44840.jpg

Alternative title: Hakuōki Shinsengumi Kitan

Plot Summary: Based on Idea Factory's romance adventure game: Yukimura Chizuru has come to Kyoto looking for her father, a doctor who has gone missing. While there, she witnesses a fight between an Oni and the Shinsengumi. Taking her into custody, the Shinsengumi debates on what to do with Chizuru when they discover that she is the daughter of the doctor they are also looking for. The Shinsengumi then takes Chizuru along on their search after the missing doctor, from adventures to adventures.
ANN

Links: ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11286), AniDB (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=7405), MyAnimeList (http://myanimelist.net/anime/6895/Hakuouki)

Phantom - Episode 01 (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=124379)

[Kraco]

It's a bishounen show and thus I was somewhat dubious when I watched the first episode, not knowing what to expect. However, I wanted to give it a chance because of the historical setting. And historical it indeed is with many names flying around that anybody who has seen his samurai (and Shinsengumi) series would recognize.

I turned out liking the series well enough. The dudes (that are as plentiful as one would expect from a bishounen show) are always ready to cut things and I also quite like their dialogues. Fortunately by the second episode also the girl in distress is seeing some action so the whole show is not just conversations.

I'll likely keep watching despite the extremely twisted male-female ratio. Although I've been watching the Aoi-Wasurenai subs, not those Bill linked to.

[Buffalobiian]

How do those subs spell the names?

I was annoyed at seeing Phantom spell Chizuru Chiduru.

Edit: A-W's episode 2 is out, but the tracker's down.

Meanwhile,

DB - Episode 02 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h02.torrent)
A 170MB avi file.... so I'm not sure about HD/SD specs

edit2: urgh... SD... and shitty SD at that..

[Kraco]

I didn't notice anything strange with their spelling. I wouldn't call their subs high quality but they are decent - and especially decent enough for a show like this. And no doubt got better with their cooperation effort. I don't think they are making a mistake with Chizuru either.

[masamuneehs]

only watched the first episode, and it surely didn't wow me. i really dig samurai period stuff, but there was a bit too much chit-chat (spread too thin with too many characters) and not enough substance for me to seriously get into this episode.

also, gonna call right now that the soft spoken guy with glasses is a bad guy

i'll see what 02 is like. but this one's not off to a great start

I watched KSN's sub of episode 01, and while i thought the karaoke was nicely done (the TL was tolerable, but mediocre at best), the purple font throughout sorta got on my nerves

[David75]

The translators advised to wiki shinsengumi, bakumatsu and Tokugawa Shogunate.

Great

Then I watched this.

And I thought to myself I really shouldn't have read about shinsengumi, as that show really is too different from the image I got after the read.

Other than that, there isn't much I can say, will have to wait for ep 2 to get a better idea, like for many shows.

[Kraco]

Shinsengumi is one of the stock staples of Japanese fiction and historical drama. In that sense it's no wonder they are portrayed in myriad forms. The fact they were bad guys, that is, fighting for the shogunate, hasn't diminished their romanticized shine; quite the contrary in fact. I have no doubt great many works of fiction show them in an altogether unrealistic way, just like knights are often shown in European fiction.

[Buffalobiian]

It's a bishounen show and thus I was somewhat dubious when I watched the first episode, not knowing what to expect.

I picked this up precisely because it was a bishounen show.

[shinta|hikari]

What do you mean..?

[Buffalobiian]

What do you mean..?

Hmm? Pretty much just as I said it.

"Oh, there's a bishounen anime. Haven't seen one of those in a while."

/click

[Archangel]

Hmm? Pretty much just as I said it.

"Oh, there's a bishounen anime. Haven't seen one of those in a while."

/click


http://i.imgur.com/U8B1k.jpg

So does the samurai aspect supplant the pretty boys? If so, i might give this a go.

[Buffalobiian]

@joke: then there'll be more pink tanks. I don't get it.

As for the story, not much has happened yet.

[Archangel]

So they just stand there looking fabulous?

[Buffalobiian]

More often than not they sit and do that, yes.

[Kraco]

They also run around and cut people. It seems their every other line to the main character girl is: "... or we will kill you." She doesn't seem to mind, though.

[Buffalobiian]

Aoi-Wasurenai - Episode 03 (http://www.anirena.com/viewtracker.php?action=download&id=34806&code=5c70ca9e48eac3a162afb5c254fc11a0)

[Nipponsei] Hakuouki OP Single - Izayoi Namida [Yoshioka Aika].zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Hakuouki%20OP%20Single%20-%20Izayoi%20Namida%20%5BYoshioka%20Aika%5D.zip.tor rent)
[Nipponsei] Hakuouki ED Single - Kimi no Kioku [mao].zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Hakuouki%20ED%20Single%20-%20Kimi%20no%20Kioku%20%5Bmao%5D.zip.torrent)

[Buffalobiian]

Aoi-Wasurenai - Episode 04 (http://www.anirena.com/viewtracker.php?action=download&id=34959)

[Kraco]

This series is getting better with the occasional fights and hostilities. Intriguing enough that the more interesting of those fights don't even seem to be between real enemies.

Looks like Chizuru already has tasted some more succesful variant of her old man's medicines. No wonder she had the guts to travel alone, despite being seemingly unable to use her sword when it would be really needed.

[Buffalobiian]

This series is getting better with the occasional fights and hostilities. Intriguing enough that the more interesting of those fights don't even seem to be between real enemies.

Looks like Chizuru already has tasted some more succesful variant of her old man's medicines. No wonder she had the guts to travel alone, despite being seemingly unable to use her sword when it would be really needed.

I'm guessing the secret to that healing ability is also what her father's kidnappers (assuming he's kidnapped) are looking for.

[masamuneehs]

when i started this show i thought it was going to be a pile of garbage, and i almost quit on it midway through episode two until i started to realize that i was recognizing some of the names.

once it got to the Ikedaya incident, i was pretty happy (and somewhat impressed) that this series was going to try to tell a good bit of the actual history behind the Shinsengumi. i'd written the theme and actually using the Shinsengumi names off as just another gimmick, but with episodes 3 and 4, it looks like they're going to try to keep a little bit true to history.

well, except for the whole bit about regenerating wounds, mysterious zombie soldiers and super-powered bad guys... then again, the fact that there's a bishounen show with heavy doses of violence AND heavy doses of history is pretty fucking awesome.

this show is pretty fucking win, actually. anybody spot or catch any names they recognized? Pretty sure Hajime Saito is the guy from Kenshin. and, unless I'm wrong, there's an Okita somewhere in the Kenshin OVAs as well, right? I only recall Hiijikata from some of the war museums that I visited in...

... wait a second... if i dropped that, would it be... like, a spoiler? can you spoil a show like this just by recounting history???

[Buffalobiian]

Aoi-Wasurenai - Episode 05 (http://anime-addict.info/torrents/%5BAoi-Wasurenai%5D_Hakuouki_-_Shinsengumi_Kitan_05_%5BH264_720p%5D_%5B7C860793% 5D.mkv.torrent)

[Kraco]

It's strange how the miracle potion seems to work so perfectly for Chizuru yet all of Shinsengumi's seem to be failures. If we believe Sannan, Chizuru's old man was developing it further. If it was already perfect for Chizuru, what's there to develop? Or did Chizuru receive a dose of the original Western stock that her old man couldn't then manage to replicate?

In any case too bad for Sannan. But I suppose it was worth the risk, seeing how his days as a swordman were over and he couldn't cope with the fact. He chose his second somewhat poorly or cowardly, though, if he really expected somebody like Chizuru to kill him should anything go wrong...

Other than that, the new dude has quite a forked tongue.

[Buffalobiian]

Perhaps Chizuru's potion was too mild? Hard to say really, since if Sannan's comments are to be taken solely and that losing one's mind is the only side effect, then the muscular transformation in his hand was an intended effect, something that Chizuru doesn't have.

Then again, he didn't mention the white hair neither, and Toshi in the OP looks pretty well behaved.

The new guy pisses me off, but I'm almost equally annoyed at the Kondou for keeping him. That guy's been a pretty incompetent leader so far.

[masamuneehs]

i have a feeling Yukimura didn't become a monster because she's a woman (this whole show is pretty heavy on the theme of a single woman's worth amidst a band of incredibly powerful men). that or maybe (also) she was going to die as a child and it was given to her, and it has different effects on an adult.

but, man, why do they drink these blood red potions? has the blood red potion EVER done a good thing to anybody?

i like the new guy. he's nasty and creates some nice tension within the oftentimes yawn-inducing Headquarters talk-talk-talk. it makes for a much better watch than "i think i'll wash the vegetables, too"

Itou (the new guy) looks to be a bit of a flamer. he has this awfully feminine air to his speech (especially his "wa" following most of his sentences).

let's get some action back up in this bitch

[Inazuma]

but, man, why do they drink these blood red potions? has the blood red potion EVER done a good thing to anybody?



Regain HPs

[Buffalobiian]

DB: Episode 6 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h06.torrent) / 7 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h07.torrent) / 8 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h08.torrent)

--------------------------

I totally did not realise the entertainment lady was actually the Kunoichi serving the Princess. Her skintone always appeared dark to me since she always talked from the shadows, leading me to believe she was of similar appearance to the one her serves Princess Tomoyo from Tsubasa Chronicles.

The original story was that the Elixer was brought over from a foreign country, but now it seems more like they're reverse-engineering it or something.

Chizuru's gettup looked slutty at first (as expected from clothes coming from such a place), but that feeling slowly subsided. I think it was mainly due to her expression changing from an embarrased/insecure one to a more easy, happy one.

[Buffalobiian]

DB - Episode 09 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h09.torrent)

[Buffalobiian]

DB: Episode 10 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h10.torrent) & 11 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h11.torrent)


----------------------------

I really can't discuss much about this series since it seems to flow with the history that I know nothing about. It's funny that the idea of Rasetsu being what we commonly know as Vampires only just hit me when they mentioned "vampiric urge" not too long ago.

I suppose the tradition Japanese setting along with "oni" puts it off until it smacks you in the face.

[Buffalobiian]

DB: Episode 12 (http://www.dattebayo.com/t/h12.torrent)