Sengoku Basara: Japanese history on steroids.
So, Sengoku Basara. Originally a game series made by Capcom, the first game reached the states under the name Devil Kings, flopped, and that's about all that the english-speaking countries know about ot. Meanwhile, the series went over better in Japan and produced a sequel, an updated rerelease called Sengoku Basara: Heroes, and now an animated adaptation, which hit the streets in the spring season of 2009, being made by the relatively well-known studio Production I.G., which animated it side-by-side of Eden of the East. And, in case you're not paying attention, what you're reading a review of right now.
I picked up Sengoku Basara for viewing more or less by accident and not really expecting anything out of it: I had never heard of the game, and I'd never seen any previews of the show either. What met me was a full-frontal, over-the-top, take-no-prisoners fighting anime filled to the brim with memeworthy material, running gags, and more BURNING MANLY PASSION than I could shake a stick at.
So, as I consign myself to reviewing this, I guess all that's left to ask before I start is:
ARE YOU READY GUYS?! PUT YA GUNS ON!
*Ahem*... Sorry. Got carried away a bit there.
Animation and Visuals: 8/10 – Ok, dudes are fighting… Holy crap did they just turn into meteors and start colliding into each other all over the place? Awesome.
Sengoku Basara was animated by Production I.G., probably my favourite animation studio, and the way it was animated only helps reinforce that. The show is pretty much 50% fight scenes, and they’re all very well and fluidly animated, showing an impressive amount of variance while at the same time avoiding to become utter incomprehensible messes. The occasional use of off-model usage for art and the massively glowing combat auras just add to the cool, and the backgrounds are, if nothing else, competent enough to work and occasionally goes beyond the expected, even if plenty of action scenes are animated without background. The main cast of characters is colourful, with extremely distinct costumes, emotive patterns, and Nobunaga has thunderstorm with a giant red ominous centre that follows him wherever he goes… And all the males are unfailingly pretty. I understand why women would want to watch this anime for the eye candy if nothing else, if you catch my drift.
Sengoku Basara isn’t entirely flawless, though: The flaws are mostly in the occasional scene featuring a few cut-and-paste faces in some of the armies, the drawing distance for details could possibly do with a beef-up, and a few of the backgrounds don’t entirely match up with what should be going on on-screen.
Sound: 9/10 -- Did somebody order the all-HAM buffet?
Ok, the first thing that should be readily apparent in Sengoku Basara is its voice acting, or perhaps I should say voice *over*acting. The cast consists of several veterans from the voice acting business, who are basically allowed to tear loose and ham up their lines like nobody’s business (with a few exceptions). I probably can’t do this series justice just by listing all the voice actors that struck a note with me, because they pretty much all did, but of particular note is Norio Wakamoto as the evil Oda Nobunaga, who gets criminally few lines but is well able to match his Code Geass performance on the occasions when he does get to tear loose, and Show Hayami as Nobunaga’s psychotic second-in-command Akechi Mitsuhide – you can literally *hear* the slime dripping off of his voice.
The SFX is also very well-done, and the music equally good, being a good mood-setter and inter-meshing very well with the action on-screen without becoming dominating or ignorable… With one exception: Nobunaga’s leitmotiv, “Sixth Heaven Devil King” (roughly translated), which plays whenever he makes an on-screen appearance and immediately drowns out pretty much everything else. It’s immediately recognizable as it combines those immortal villain music clichés, heavy rock and ominous chanting in Latin, and is pretty much made of pure awesome.
Story: 7/10 -- Being a tale of civil war and BURNING MANLY PASSION.
Alright, short history lesson for you brats before we start: Sengoku Basara takes place in the Sengoku jidai (Warring States period) of Japan. The period lasted between 1467 and 1600; the entire length of time was basically a free-for-all fight-'em-out between various warlords and their factions. Various great clans rose and fall as their warlords tried to become the head honcho that would rule Japan, leading to a period when you didn't need an excuse to turn on and ruin your neighbour's stuff, but an excuse *not* to. This state of affairs basically ended when one warlord called Oda Nobunaga turned out to be more badass than the collective rest of them, kicked most of their backsides (while the rest died of alcoholism, age or dysentery), and basically laid the groundwork for his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu to go on and unite Japan and bring the Warring States period to a close. Nobunaga himself was killed in a backstab move by his lieutenant Akechi Mitsuhide before he could do it himself.
Naturally, in order to do this, Nobunaga also basically had to be more ruthless than the rest of them combined, so a lot of historical works, like Sengoku Basara, makes him out to be the villain. The story follows the various other clans of Japan as they try to keep Oda from utterly trampling them, focusing on Sanada Yukimura, a retainer of the Takeda clan, and Date Masamune, the leader of the Date clan. Although its cast are based on historical figures and its story on an historical war, Sengoku Basara doesn't even try to be historically correct; Masamune rides around on a cross between a horse and a Harley Davidson and sprouts psuedo-engrish while Nobunaga himself (who had died 3 years before Masamune even became a warlord) is basically a demon from hell who uses a shotgun and wears a european full-plate worthy of Sauron from Lord of the Rings while babbling about turning Japan into hell on Earth.
The story is equally unhistorical, spinning a tale of trying to stopping Nobunaga while doing it all in an extremely over-the-top, shonen manner. Sengoku Basara plays all the expected elements from a superpowered fighting anime to the hilt and gleefully throws most pretences of seriousness or realism out the window. Almost *everything* in this series is based purely on how cool it is. This kind of works for it, at least in the beginning: The two first episodes exhibit an all-out over-the-top energy that could almost rival Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
The story falls into a bit of a lull after it and never *quite* manages to reach the same heights of energy after it -- don't misunderstand me, it's still got moments of extreme cool and most of the drama is successful, but the overall effect is somewhat diminished, and it never manages to go entirely to Tengen Toppa levels. There's also something of a side story halfway through; while the episodes are entertaining, I'd rather they'd used those on trying to stop Nobunaga instead. Finally, given that a second season has been announced, I'm also left wondering a bit what they're going to do, given the end of this season, given what happens to the villains -- still looking forward to it, though. Hideyoshi has yet to make an appearance, so maybe they’ll do something with him.
Character: 8/10 -- Hideously unbelievable, but horrendously funny for it.
The character cast of Sengoku Basara is dominated almost entirely by famous personalities from the Sengoku era, cast in its own unique style. Famous personalities from the the conflict like Takeda Shingen, Uetsugi Kenshin and Honda Tadakatsu are running around; most of them twisted beyond compare to whatever ludicrous idea the designers had for them. While the cast are exaggerated parodies of their real-world counterparts, they work as *characters* -- most of them are extremely funny to watch and also have time to sneak in the odd characterisation moment as well. Their interactions are equally silly, like Takeda and Yukimura's tendency to hold conversations by shouting each other's names at the top of their lungs and punch each other into nearby walls. (A running gag that may wear itself thin quickly for some people; didn't for me, though). The homosexual subtexts that run undercurrent to most of the male cast is somewhat entertaining as well, making this both one of the most masculine AND one of the most gay (no pejorative intended) animes I've ever seen.
As for the villains, Nobunaga and Mitsuhide act as the central antagonists of the anime, appearing whenever the rivals in the main cast cannot be counted on to fight amongst themselves. Nobunaga himself is painfully deprived of screen time; his complete, and I mean COMPLETE, over-the-top villainy is a delight to behold, and it's kind of a pity that he stays in the background so much (not that it would be very in-character of him to lead from the front; it's just a pity, is all). Mitsuhide, unlike most alternative histories who tend to treat him as a hero for killing Nobunaga, is here treated as sadomasochistic psychotic who dual-wields a pair of scythes. Both characters work very well as villains and as a driving force behind the events of the storyline, even though I do wish they could show up a bit more.
Value: 7/10 -- Fun AND educational, and a damn good video game adaptation on top of it.
Sengoku Basara isn't original; heck, it's based on a video game which is itself based (loosely) on historical events, and most of the anime's style brings to mind any of a number of innumerable superpowered fighting series like Dragonball Z, Bleach, Naruto, etc. What makes Sengoku Basara stand out is the sheer production value, rewatchability (very high), and quotability, not to mention the fact that it is historically the best adaptation of a video game that I've ever seen from an anime. The anime is squarely aimed at the young male audience, but its tongue-in-cheekness of its action and the ridiculously prettyboy heroes may lead to a bit of multiple demographic appeal.
One of the main value issues in Sengoku Basara comes from its historical basis. The history of the Sengoku era is one that is probably a matter-of-course for most Japanese people but may not be as obvious for non-japanese -- in the same way as steampunk takes on the American Civil War may not get the same reception outside the States. This is, I expect, the main reason why Sengoku Basara was renamed Devil Kings and all the history removed from it when the first game was ported to the US. Still, Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors seem to be doing ok without losing any of its historical elements, and if you're willing to learn a bit from it, Sengoku Basara highlights, despite its anachronisms, several important people in Sengoku jidai and may prove educational if you're willing to cross-reference a few of the events with Wikipedia.
FUNimation has licensed this anime for a US release. If it ever reaches region 2 with official subs, I'll buy it. Frankly, I don't have high hopes for its translatability, but time will tell -- just as long as they don't try to make Devil Kings: The Anime out of it.
Enjoyment: 9/10 -- The most fun you'll get from the Sengoku era since Shogun: Total War.
Despite the occasional lull in action and story advancement, Sengoku Basara has been nothing but a complete brainless joy to watch for me, from start to finish. I have no qualms with stating that, as pure entertainment, it stands unmatched this season, even if it can’t match Eden of the East in pure fascination factor and how much I expected next week’s episode. Barring Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, it is probably the most purely entertaining fighting and super-power-based anime I’ve ever seen, never letting itself fall into the lulls, meaningless romance and melodrama that tend to plague more long-running shows of this type.
Total: 8/10 -- Masamune's horse is a motorbike... My criticisms are invalid.
Ultimately, the at times somewhat infantile story, the cultural barrier and the odd graphical flaw cannot stop Sengoku Basara from being an utter joy to watch and another success story for Production I.G. to add to its belt. Sengoku Basara may just be a very blatant piece of advertisement, cynically speaking, but it is surely an extremely awesome example of one. Frankly, I’m almost kind of torn between making this an 8 or a 9, but the individual components just *barely* don’t add up to that score. Anyway, it’s still great; I, for one, will be awaiting the next season.
