Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan 2010

Having a hankering for something historical, I decided to give this series a try.  It aired in 2010, and consisted of twenty two episodes.  Samurai drama, a hint of fantasy, wartime Japan, and the indomitable Japanese fighting spirit comprise the series’ main themes.  It first came out as a video game, but soon had an anime series, manga series, and feature films.

The story revolves around Chizuru, the daughter of a western-trained doctor who abandoned her.  As she travels from Edo to Kyoto in search of her father, she is assaulted by monstrous vampire-like soldiers and is saved by members of the Shinsengumi (Kyoto's police force).  It just so happens that the Shinsengumi are also on the hunt for her father, so they keep her with them.  Chizuru then begins to get to know the members of the group and soon becomes unwilling to separate.  She also discovers that her father created an “elixir” that was designed to create a superior soldier for the Shinsengumi.  This elixir’s formulation is based on the blood of a special race they called oni who possess extraordinary abilities such as rapid healing and heightened fighting prowess.  However, the elixir was a failure – whoever ingested it turned into uncontrollable blood-lusting monsters called Rasetsu.  The Shinsengumi needed to find Chizuru’s father to get him to make an antidote or to improve on the said elixir. 

Perhaps the best thing I could say about the series is that the events were pretty much historically accurate.  The series was set during the time when the Shinsengumi is drawn into the shogunate’s efforts to ward off the impending dominance of a new government and western culture.  I liked how it showed the despair of the soldiers as they watched the slow but inevitable death of the samurai culture – swords give way to guns, and so on.   The series focused more on this theme rather than on the more fantastic aspect of the story, i.e., their battles against the oni and the Rasetsu.  I’m also pretty thankful that they didn’t give the story any corny romantic “harem” angle even though it was the story of a young girl surrounded by incredibly handsome young men who are likely to fall all over themselves falling in love with her.  No such thing – what a relief.  And it also had an appropriately moving and tragic ending.  Well, given the fact that it is about war and a dying culture, it would have been pretty unlikely that nobody would die.  Good thing it didn't have a cheesy happily ever after ending – it gave the whole thing more credibility. 

The art was good and clean but I wouldn't call unique or remarkable.  The pace and plot development of the story was good, and the characters were interesting, if a bit underdeveloped.  I wasn't bored, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next, either.  I appreciated the series, but wouldn't say it’s among the best I've seen.  Still, you might want to give it a try.  

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