Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

Information of Anime

The Shogunate is near the end as the Edo era is closing with the British people immigrating into Japan.  Akizuki Yojiro is on a mission on finding a supernatural power of a head of a previous evil lord.  Along the way, he meets a travelling theater group that is portraying plays that lead to their killing of their parents.  In fact, they are actually out for revenge on the one who killed their parents.  Akizuki joins them as a bodyguard & lot of dark conspiracies that he's been looking for are following him along the way.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline.  This section does contain some spoilers.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

The show takes place in a actual historical timeline of Japan where the Edo period & age of Samurais are ending.  All the wars are caused by an evil head of a lord from China when the Chinese travelled to Japan to dispose of it.  However, a group of rebels found the head & use it to destroy the Imperial army which is controlled by the British.  Akizuki's purpose is to destroy the head while he travels with a troupe group as their bodyguard.  The theatre group is made up of members that have a tough past & are victims to crime they are falsely accused of.  With the scriptwriter Sakyonosuke Kanna, he writes scripts as mysteries for the group to show their revenge.  However, it turns out he is after the lord's head as well & succeeds by betraying the rebels.  With the head in Sakyonosuke's possession, Akizuki chases after him since he need to destroy it & new wars are being developed because of it.  Also, the troupe decides to follow the two as Sakyonosuke gave them a new script for a new play.

The new play involves all the cast members to be themselves & it includes Akizuki as the Eternal Assassin.  However, it turns out that the play is mainly a reality as the Lord's Head possesses the body of Takeaki Enomoto from the French side.  As the head commands his fleet to go North to start a revolution, Akizuki goes there as well to destroy the head.  However, Kobako follows him on his mission to understand his feelings for him.  Later on their journey, she would possess a Moontear sword as well & becomes determine to help Akizuki with his mission.  However, as time passes, Kobako would kill by surprise Akizuki during his attempt to kill Enomoto.  She was under mind control when she did it.

During her time to recuperate over her killing of Akizuki, Kobako would later be reunited by her old troupe group due to Sakyonosuke's new script play.  She also learns from him that Akizuki is alive.  As Akizuki tries to assassinate the head one more time, he's once again stopped by a possessed Kobako.  Sakyonosuke tells her that her destiny is to protect Enomoto & lead a confused Akizuki to him since his true destiny is the same.  As spring approaches, Enomoto's republic gains support from many people as they prepare for war.  As he powers the army, Kobako powers the public which her troupe members start to feel concern for her.

With the New Government army attacking the republic, Akizuki uses this opportunity to strike down the Lord's Head.  He takes down any barriers, including the possessed Kobako, to reach the Lord's Head which is now possessing Sakyonosuke.  Defeating Sakyonosuke, Akizuki seals the Lord's Head & restore peace throughout Japan.  The show ends with Akizuki dressed in Western clothing being seen off by Kobako as he travels outside of Japan.

My Personal Review

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto is filled with action & some education bits of historical Japan.  However, it's not something everyone will enjoy as there is a lot of talking due to political stuff in it.  It's very much geared to mature audience.

Animation

The characters look like something from the late 80s to early 90s.  It's nothing fancy & it's pretty plain.  The eyes aren't your standard anime ones as their are small & a less cartoonish.  Also, they are drawn differently.  The bodies are drawn a bit long & thin at times, but it usually occurs when you are looking at the characters from a distance.  They also look flat at those times.  As for the fashion, it's your standard traditional Japanese clothing.  Plain & simple.  The hairstyle on the males are that balding & thinning hair for the older ones.

The colours are pretty dull, giving it that 90s feel.  It's not bright & seems to give the anime a one dimensional feel with the small amount of toning & shadowing.  The backgrounds are a bit more duller than the characters because they are quite blurry.

In terms of the animation movement, the flow was quite nice & natural.  Although there were scenes that made them look weird, it is usually the ones with the long body parts.  It's not really smooth as they seem to be floating or gliding.

Sound

The sound effects aren't bad.  The things sounded like what they are in real life.  Good sword clashing, slicing, gunfires, etc.  All that & missing the blood.

The seiyuus are pretty average.  Not too great or bad.  They were either lifeless or too peppy.

The music is heavily on traditional Japanese music.  It fits the show very well with the Japanese musical instruments.  The opening & ending themes are more towards modern rock, but has a bit of that traditional Japanese feel.

Story

It's kind of interesting to see how a powerful cursed lord head cause chaos in Japan's actual history.  Using fictional elements to actual history isn't something new, but it can affect how the viewers sees this move.  For this show, it can be a bore.  There is quite a lot of talking & references from the narrator about Japanese historical changes.  For me, sometimes it does feel like a bit of a pain just to watch this show.  Lots of talking involved & most of it is political stuff.  Some of the action is exciting to watch, but they are quite brief & short.  But overall, the story is well written at a decent pace.

Characters are bit on the dull side in terms of development.  However, Sakyonosuke is the most interesting character in the show.  Although he crafts the real life events into his scripts, he does a fine job in during it to the way he wants them to be.  From the viewer's eyes, he changes sides a lot.  But, he's actually in the gray/neutral area when you progress deeper into the show.  You only see his true colours in the end & the viewers would be able to guess which side he was going for despite him jumping ships.  The development of the other characters such as Kobako's destiny adds a lot of twist to the storyline with some elements of suspense.  Although the story is a bit dry & dull, it has elements of a good storyline that isn't found in a lot of anime shows these days.

Overall Conclusion

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto is a fairly good anime set in historical Japan.  However, it's not a show for everyone as involves a lot of talking.  I would suggest watching this if you are prepared to hear a lot of words & learn about Japan's history with a twist.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto receives a 7.5/10  It's got a fairly good storyline & the use of Japan's history well with the influence of the Lord's Head.  However, the amount of conversations in the show will tone down the show a lot if you don't like listening to a lot of political stuff or want to follow Japan's history.  Overall, it's written well with a satisfactory ending.