Summary:
Born as a human, Takibo lost his clan when he was a young boy because of the evil schemes of the Emperor’s Wife, Dakki. Takibo was trained for several decades on the Konron Mountain, when he finally reached to a Sennin’s level. The training seemed never ending and Takibo got tired of it. Hence, Konron Mountain’s leader Genshi-tenson dispatched him on a mission. The mission was the completion of the Hoshin Project, which was an attempt to capture Dakki along with her minions and hold her captive in a world that existed between the Sennin realms and the Humans. Yin’s immortal defender Banchu might speak up about his mission and Takibou seems to be getting into more trouble than he can handle, inspite of the spirit beast assisting him.
Review:
This Anime series started in 2018 and consists of 23 episodes. It is also the second anime series that is an adaption of Ryu Fujisaki’s manga from late-90’s, which also took some inspiration from “Investiture of the Gods” (Chinese novel). The novel depicts a mythological portrayal of the Zhou Dynasty’s rise and the events that led to the collapse of Shang Dynasty in China. The time period these events relate to was approximately 1046 B.C. This is important because of what I will talk about in a while. However, historical precision is obviously not my objective here.
The way the story is portrayed, it does resemble to some extent the basic storyline of the original where: The emperor falls hopelessly in love his his wife to the point that he cannot pay attention to his official duties and as a result of which the country is destroyed. Needless to say, this story was meant to be a lesson for men of power about not getting too carried away by their love that they neglected important matters. As a clever fox spirit possesses the empress and gives a paranormal reasoning regarding why the emperor has fallen so weak that he is unable to rule his empire. This anime does not exactly follow the same aspirations. Emperor’s wife Dakki is a cunning and attractive woman who twists the emperor around on her little finger and likes to ruin people’s lives for her amusement. She ultimately intends to completely destroy Yin. Taikobo will have to deal with all this mess when he will enter the human world in order to complete the Hoshin Project that was assigned to him.
The director (Masahiru Aizawa), does not settle down firmly on what kind of tone the series should exhibit, in spite of the fact that this is an amazing adventure story. So the viewers may find a haphazard direction which has a combination of both dark and lighthearted elements intermingled with each other. The story comes together quite well as far as individual scenes are concerned, but right after that the story makes a habit of making blunders. The problem with the execution can be seen in many places, but particularly early in the episode. This is where the story advances without much connection and the action haphazardly skips between different locations, so the viewer gets the impression that he might have missed some content. Overall, I think that much of the content in the script is skipped so that more screen time is given to the battle sequences. In the bigger picture, this does not seem to work.
Few anime’s have demonstrated that components from ideologies and desperate times could be shown together with some degree of success. However, this anime does not fall into this category. The artistic and architectural standards must be compatible with the era in which the anime series is set. If the series depicts old Chinese times, then the style and setting should also be similar. However, we get to see Dakki rocking an outfit that makes her look more like a stripper. One character can be seen walking around with a cigarette constantly in his mouth, while modern clothing is worn by other characters. Later on in the series we may get to see the Sennin become so advanced technologically, that in our times it would be seen as sci fi. This may imply that there is involvement of aliens and that the spiritual powers of the Sennin are in reality derived by their advanced technology. In the history of Anime, characters from almost every genre and era can randomly sampled to arrive the character of the Sennin. This could either be a cyborg or a character wearing boxing gloves. So, some effort can be seen in setting a level for the use of custom tools and clothing for the Sennin.
The art style of this series has a nostalgic touch to it because of the classic ‘90s designs that it has. The art designs exhibit common features of the 90’s era like the elaborate and bulky outfits, sharp noses and shoes with pointed toes that some of the Sennin are seen wearing. However, the name “Sennin” sounds quite different from the names of that time, so are their oversized hands and feet. I don’t find them too aesthetically pleasing, but that is just my opinion. The best artistry can be seen in the design of the Sennin strongholds and the palace of the emperor. In my opinion, the overall artistry exhibited can be rated as average for a shounen action series. Also, the series is not very impressive as far as animations are concerned. The battle scenes are not as dynamic as they should be and the power displays seem just fine.
The audio of the series is much better on the other hand. The audio is produced by Maiko Iuchi, whose most popular work is “A Certain Magical Index franchise”. By using a mixture of piano, symphonic orchestra, electronica and also rock music, she enhances the quality of the audio, which is a great match for the intricacies of the story. The dramatic scenes go really well with her numbers in the background. In my opinion, all the numbers are quite decent.
The series has been dubbed in English by Funimation. They have put in a good effort and the characters have been given sounds that are quite suitable for them. However, Tyler Walker’s voice for the mount Supushan sounds quite whiny for the character in my opinion. Banchu’s voice is done by J. Michael Tatum and he is particularly good at doing voice of arrogant characters without exaggerating too much. The Digital/ BluRay releases have extras, which include promo videos, commercials and clean closers and openers, as well as the OAV episode “Blood of the Koh Family” with subtitles included.
The series made its debut during the winter 2018 TV season. The series has received mixed reviews. However, after all the discussion in my review, I would not put this series up for recommendation, as I feel that there is so much underrated content out there that needs to be seen and appreciated.
