Buso Renkin

  Title: Buso Renkin

  Manga Chapters: 82 Chapters (completed)

  Anime Episodes: 26 Episodes (completed)

  Author: Nobuhiro Watsuki

Genre: Action, Supernatural, Romance

Rating: 7 / 10

The Plot
A boy by the name of Mutou Kazuki suddenly became involved in the war between alchemist warriors and homunculi, artificial life form, when he attempted to save a mysterious girl from one. And by doing so, losing his life. However, he woke up the next day as if nothing happened. He nearly dismissed everything as merely night terror until he received a mysterious text that says “treasure your new life”. And so the story takes off….

The premise of the story was promising. Being a big fan of both sci-fi and action genres, Buso Renkin, to me, spelled out a great empirical formula which I thought would guarantee its success. The plot itself was very entertaining and promising. Though I get the feelings that they are trying to squish in too many things into a short series that they fail to expand and explain everything to its fullest potential.

The Characters

The character designs, for the most part, is rather generic. Our main protagonist Kazuki just looks like your typical hero in an action-based anime. However, the one thing I really like about the characters in this anime is their character growth. Regardless of which character you choose among all, yes, even them side kicks or support role characters, ALL of them shows a character development one way or another. However, I would argue that perhaps they over did it in some cases…just some…

The Medium

The animation was done by Xebec studio and, for the most part, they did a pretty good job with it! However, one can definitely tell that they were given a low budget to this project by the short-lived battle scenes. However, whenever a battle does commence, it is pretty breath-taking, considering this work was done all the way back in 2006.

Please please, for the love of God, tell me that you readers out there are familiar with a classic manga series called Ruroni Kenshin. Why is that important? Well, because it is by the same author that’s why! Need I say more about the drawing style? If you love Ruroni Kenshin, you are going to love this one! If you are one of the few that does NOT know what Ruroni Kenshin is, please do yourself a favor and go read it. I INSIST!

The Tunes

I have to be honest here, none of the music featured in this anime really stands out for me. The opening was hyped, but that’s about all it has going for itself. The animation during the opening seems to be minor modification of the anime footage and thus, involved bare minimal effort. I got to say though, toward the end of the anime when the ending scene was paired with the emotional pitfall, I could not ask for more. That particular part made me realize how attached I was toward the characters involved with the show, and that, my friends, is a bonus to any anime!

My Personal Enjoyment

Ok, I am not a big fan of overused corniness or cheesy, and unfortunately this anime followed such pattern…however, this does not stop me from feeling satisfied with the way it ended. It ended with a definite note of happiness that all the characters well-deserved and longed for.

As short-lived as this series was, I definitely enjoyed it while it lasted. Although there were a few flaws that may or may not, depends on the kind of anime watchers you are, prove to be detrimental to your enjoyment, but if you can look beyond those flaws, you will find nothing but a very quick but fulfilling anime. If you love action genre with a splash of romance, this is definitely for you!

Anime/Manga Reflection Guide

As many of you may aware, this blog has a section dedicated to anime and manga! How awesome is that!  \^o^/

This section of the blog will be dedicated to the authors’ reflections of various kinds of anime and manga. In other words, it is solely our opinions and thoughts as we watch and/or read them. As unique individuals, there is no way, and I repeat, NO WAY, for our taste in entertainment to be identical. Therefore, there will bound to be things which you, as intellectual readers, would disagree. Not saying that it is a bad thing, rather, I would encourage readers to voice his or her opinion in the comment section! That way, I can perhaps gain a different perspective. In other words, growth!

As the first post in this section, I would like to address the format of my personal reflections as well as my thought process and opinions. Please do keep in mind that different authors of this blog may use different approaches and different methodologies when it comes to reviewing an anime or a manga series. So this is guide only pertains to MY REVIEWS.

Now with all that said, let’s get started, shall we? xD

At the beginning of each reflection, I will include an image (or multiple) of the corresponding series that the reflection is written for. In addition, I will also include the basic information about the series such as the name of the author, how long the anime or manga is in terms of episodes and chapters respectively, and my personal rating of the series on a scale of 1 to 10. Unless you have somehow skipped your entire years of eduction, I would hope you know that on such a scale, 10 is the best possible score an anime or manga can possibly score.

Furthermore, each of my reflection will be divided into these categories:

The Plot- If the premise of the series is captivating and entertaining, or is it the opposite?

The Characters – How the characters in the series express character development, and other thoughts pertaining to this category.

The Medium- How good the actual animation of the anime is or critique on a manga’s art style.

The Tunes (Anime only)- Is the opening and ending of an anime series good? Who’s the composer and artist for the songs?

My Personal Enjoyment- Whether I enjoy the series or not. This is where I would either recommend you to watch it, or skip it, or to BUY IT. Yes, I went there. If you enjoy the work that a studio put out, why not support them so they can have more chances to put out more work for your enjoyment?

After all that shenanigans, there is one more thing that has to be mentioned: Spoilers. I will try my personal best to NOT give away anything major while writing my reflections. However, there will be times where it will be downright impossible to write a reflection/review without giving away vital part of the story. Please be aware of this fact before you decide to click on the posts. If the reflection itself contains major spoilers, I will try to warn you by including something obvious…like..I don’t know…maybe include the words (CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS) in blood red or something along that line.

NOW with all that said, I hope you guys enjoy reading my reflections in the future! Please do not hesitate to leave a comment if you disagree with anything I say or have an opinion that you believe is vital to my understanding.

Like always, keep aiming higher!

S4E- Joe