Ikki Tousen

Rating: 2 and 1/2 stars
Content rating: R
Warning: Sexual and homosexual situations, fan service, violence, gore, nudity, implied rape

For almost 1800 years now, many great warriors have fought for supremacy over the feudal land of Eastern Japan. Now, the endless battle continues with seven high schools vying for this supremacy. The lives and fates of the fighters from these schools are guided by strange jewels, called "Magatama", which contains the spirits and destinies of warriors from the Three Kingdoms period of China.

In the midst of this chaos one girl Sonsaku Hakufu, a rather air-headed girl who some believe is destined to rule over the land. The magatama passed on to her by her mother is believed to be infused with the spirit of the legendary warrior Sun Ce. Are the Fighters condemned to follow the fate and destiny of their namesakes , or can their future be changed?

Review

What do you know? I found this anime while browsing Romance of the Three Kingdoms on wikipedia. I hate spoilers so I read a bit and was like 'oh this sounds cool' and watched it. It was... bad. I mean in certain parts it was ok but after a while I just had to cringe.

Now, the main selling point of Ikki Tousen is 'fan service'. I'M A GIRL!!! I hate it! Now for a while it can be tolerated, just ignore it. But seriously after a while you just feel like smacking some sense into the creator. It's like PANTY! FIGHT! Shirt rips open! Fight! Panty! Fight! Bra! >_<

Now for the story, it was so-so (no pun intended). A bit typical in some sense. Hero/ine gets stuck in some destiny whirlpool and must defeat the evil man. I guess it's a good thing that our heroine is not the typical hero/ine character. She is well, short to say, an idiot. Oh she can really kick ass but in anyway else she is an air-headed, ditzy idiot. I guess she is meant to be funny but she can really be annoying.

Shuuyu Koukin (Zhou Yu) is Sonsaku's cousin and of course he has a major crush on her. He does what all guys does, he swears he will protect her, bla bla bla, problem is, he can't fight. He too gets quite annoying after a while.

Toutaku Chuuei (Dong Zhuo) and Ryofu Housen (Lu Bu) and the antagonists of this anime I guess. Contrary to history or Dynasty Warriors, Dong Zhuo is a bishonen in some ways and Lu Bu is a green hair bisexual slut.

Ok so I bet you're wondering since I'm complaining so much why did I even watch this thing. Well I'm crazy about anything Romance of the Three Kingdom related. Even though Ikki Tousen is only loosely based on RoTK the ones that are related is not disappointing. It is annoying to figure out which character is which because of their japanese names but after getting used to it it's good.

The opening and ending songs were very good. The OP was more techno dance where else the EN was more like a ballad. Both didn't get old even after listening to it countless of times. So I guess buying the soundtrack isn't a bad idea.

So all in all the whole thing is worth a watch only if, you enjoy fan service or you love RoTK like me. Another reason is so that you can watch the second season, Dragon Destiny. Now that is good, but that's for another review.