Anime Streaming Review - The sexy reincarnation of ancient samurai

Japan somehow manages to come up with every excuse imaginable to show female fan service in an anime series. This series, on the other hand, makes fan service incredibly entertaining.

The Anime Network deserves kudos, for airing Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, a show which features a wide variety of sexy young girls acting as legendary samurai warriors.

I kid you not. This series includes a female reincarnation of Jubei Yagyu, the famous blind assassin who shows up in numerous samurai films. I have no clue why Jubei appears as a naked girl who floats down from the sky, just to kiss the male protagonist.

However, I can't resist liking this show. It's the only show where we can see Jubei reincarnated as one of the sexiest anime girls of all time. Although there isn't much of a story in this series, it makes up for its flaws with some really spunky character designs. The descendant of the Hattori Hanzo clan shows up as a sassy French maid ninja. The daughter of the Tokugawa shogun is dressed in a modern high school girl's uniform.

This show tends to follow a drab plot which resembles almost every other harem romance/action series. In the beginning, a samurai man named Muneakira Yagyu tries to meet up with his friend from from training, Sen Tokugawa. However, he gets sidetracked by two girl students, who are investigating the Tokugawa castle for various reasons. When the maid ninja Hattori attacks them, Muneakira agrees to help the two girls.

In the middle of an especially difficult fight, a mysterious girl named Jubei Yagyu floats from the sky to kiss Muneakira. She then turns into an ultra-powerful master samurai and almost kills the maid, until Muneakira tries to stop the murder. Jubei then mysteriously turns into an airheaded girl with a power level of only 20.

The first episodes serve up some intriguing questions. Jubei is probably the most unusual character in the group, because she only gains her wanton powers of destruction after her new "boyfriend" kisses her. Yet, her partner's possessive attitute always seems to revert her back into a little girl.

In spite of all the questions I still have about this series, it still follows a cool, modern vibe. Characters use their cell phones as often as they use their special ninja powers. Even the villainous samurai warriors drink fine wine in their fancy crystal glasses.

The art style of this show is also beautifully classy. All the characters and background objects have a thick black border, to make it look more like a mural which was painted on a scroll. Also, black splotches of pain cover up any inappropriate parts of the female body. This gives the artists some more freedom to show more skin for the female characters, in order to make the series more racy.

So Samurai Girls might turn out as a hit for the fall season. I'm not betting the horse on this series, but it holds plenty of promise for a pseudo-period piece. Watch it on The Anime Network.

DVD Review - Saving the Prince

"Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit" is still a brilliant series, with plenty of action and an engaging story about ancient spirits.

As we recall in the first DVD of Moribito, Balsa, the bodyguard, chose to defend Chagum from Emperor Mikado's samurai. Balsa took a serious beating, fighting those elite samurai in episode three. Fortunately, the herbalist, Tanda, is taking care of her.

With the second volume of Moribito, we learn that the shaman who visited Tanda was Torogai, Tanda's mentor. Torogai takes a spiritual peek, taking his face through Chagum's chest to examine the water spirit inside of him. Torogai then explains that Chagum's body contains the egg of a water spirit. If it hatches, the water spirit will revive the land every hundred years.

Balsa also contacts a slave holding company, the Blue Hand, to release slaves to confuse the imperial guard. Although two samurai still chase Balsa, Torogai summons a humongous wolf spirit to chase Balsa's horse off a cliff. The samurai assume that Balsa and the child died, but it was all a ruse to trick the samurai. Balsa and Chagum are still alive, and their horse is strong enough to climb up cliffs.

Thus, Balsa saves Prince Chagum and manages to fake their own death as well. It's an intense DVD with its own style of anime silliness as well. When the four samurai are trying to figure out where Balsa would escape, they meditate in order to predict where Balsa would move. They're so good and predicting her movement that they might as well be psychic. It's a humorous, science fiction-styled change of pace for a period-piece anime.

And I still have no idea how a horse could even climb such a tall cliff. Once again, this is a very fictional anime. However, it manages to plod on with an engaging story. The last episode gave me the sense that Balsa and Chagum finally have time to relax. However, the star diviner, Shuga, noticed in the stars that the water spirit still lives. If the emperor figures this out, then Balsa might have to face the samurai again. I'm looking forward to some more action in the next volume.

"Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit" is still a very solid anime, with plenty of ancient Japanese spirits and intense action. Hopefully the next volume maintains the anime's intensity.

Image courtesy of anime.tedfox.com

DVD Review - Bodyguard superstar

Sometimes I miss out on some of the best anime around, and Anime Insider magazine gave a good recommendation for this sleeper hit.

"Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit" may be set in ancient Japan, but the action and drama make this one of the coolest samurai anime of this decade.

Morobito begins with Balsa, a tough female warrior with a big spear, returning to Yogo to meet one of her friends. Along the way, Prince Chagum travel on a nearby bridge in a norimono (palanquin carried by four men). However, when the palanquin tips over and Chagum falls into the river, Balsa saves him.

As Balsa continues into the city of Yogo, four samurai encounter her. After fighting with them for a while, the samurai ask for her forgiveness. The samurai actually work for Prince Chagum. Chagum's mother wanted to thank Balsa properly.

Chagum doesn't just give Balsa a good meal and a place to sleep for the night, though. She asks if she could act as the bodyguard for Prince Chagum. The prince was sick, and nothing could cure him, so his mother called on a stargazer to help him. However, Chagum's mother suspects that the stargazer is also hiring other samurai to assassinate Chagum. Long story short, Balsa agrees to protect him.

However, there is more to this drama than it appears. The stargazer has found a water spirit within Chagum. The stargazer predicts that the water spirit could destroy Chagum's father's kingdom. Ironically, according to the legend, only Chagum's father, Emperor Mikado, can kill him. But is the spirit as dangerous as the legend proclaims?

This samurai drama is one of the coolest anime that I have seen this year. At the same time, too many people may pass this up as just another samurai drama. However, the epic scale of the animation, produced by Gonzo, is filled with easily the fastest and most intense samurai battle I have ever seen. The intensity literally rivals that of another samurai series, "Rurouni Kenshin."

Balsa almost dies after her first encounter with assassins, but she manages to rest up at the house of one of her doctor friends. The doctor also lives with a cool-headed priest, who shows off his own warrior skills in the beginning of episode four. The priest is shocked at finding the prince at his home.

The big question is where the story will go next. With an anime as exciting as this, I'm looking forward to watching how this series unfolds.

Image courtesy of haibra.wordpress.com