meganbmoore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
meganbmoore) wrote2007-06-13 03:49 pm
meganbmoore) wrote2007-06-13 03:49 pm
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anime: Soul Hunter/Hoshin Engi eps 1-10
From the previews I'd seen and what I'd read, all I'd really expected from this one was a distracting action-comedy anime based on Chinese mythology. While it certainly has it's share of comedic points, it actually has a pretty complex plot. As they're both based on Chinese mythology, it occassionally reminds me of Twelve Kingdoms(as far as I know, they're the only 2 anime based on Chinese mythology to make it over here. Fushigi Yugi has a fantasy medieval China setting, but it's not really rooted in Chinese mythology any more than it is Japanese...less so, really) but the two are extremely different series.
If you skip that: Dated animation, but very good anime fantasy series so far. Hope it doesn't get screwed up in the end.
A young immortal, Taikoubou, is sent by his master to round up 365 evil spirits on Earth and send them back to heavens for imprisonment. Soon after setting out, he decides that the reason so many heroes have a band of sidekicks is so the sidekicks can do all the fighting for them, and he sets out to acquire some of his own. He ends up with Nataku, Raishinshi and Youzen.
Nataku is a boy with mystic powers who was killed by a dragon after killing the dragon's son in a feud. His father desecrated his grave and threw his ashes in the river because he was afraid the dragon would destroy the town for giving Nataku a proper burial against the dragon's wishes. But an immortal saves him from the river and resurrected him, and Nataku set out to kill his father, but was never quite able to succeed because his mother kept getting in the way and Nataku still loved her, and eventually, Taikoubou was able to talk him out of it. He doesn't know what a sense of humor is, hates being kept out of the loop and is very much of the "shoot first, ask questions later" mindset(actually, he tries to kill you just for annoying him...)
Raishinshi was abandoned as an infant but saved and adaopted by a lord named Ko Shou. Even though he was raised by immortals, he was greatful to Ko Shou and is very loyal to him. When one of his brothers is framed and assassinated as a traitor and his father accused of treason, he sets out to get revenge on Dakki and the emperor(more on them in a minute) and ends up with a reputation as a Robin Hood-like vigilante. When he meets Taikoubou, Raishinshi thinks he's a villain and tries to kill him, but joins up soon enough. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, but has no brain with which to make wise choices and is extremely hotheaded. He and Nataku pretty much hate each other.
Youzen is anotherimmortal in training who is actually better than most masters...he just doesn't want to take on a student and so he remains an apprentice out of necessity, even though he drives his master crazy becauise he's better. He's sent to help Taikoubou but makes him prove himself before he'll so so. He has a superiority complex, but it's pretty justified and not overwhelming, and he comes across as very laid back and tends to like to travel at a leisurely pace. Which makes Raishinshi lose his temper and yell at him. Which makes Nataku shoot at him and tell him not to blame people for things they can't help. Taikoubou spends a lot of time staying out of the way.
Meanwhile, on the more serious front, the Yin Emperor, once a good and noble ruler, has been bespelled by Dakki a thousand year old fox demon who wants to rule the world. By the time the series has started, she's made him her puppet and is using him to take over the world. Or at least ancient China. She tricks all the highst nobles into attending a feast and then offending the emperor by objecting to his excesses while the people are starving and they're all executed except for Ko Shou, who's imprisoned as is able to excape only after his oldest son is framed for treason and executed, and soon she frames the empress for an assassination attempt.
The only people left near the emperor who aren't under Dakki's thumb are Bunchu and Kou Hiko. Bunchu leads the emperor's armies and even though he dislikes what's happening, he's served the Yin Dynasty for several generations(yet still looks thirty...) and wants to return the emperor to his true self, and when Kou Hiko is eventually forced to rebel, he tries to save them both, only to have the emperor cowardly try to kill Kou Hiko.
Kou Hiko(my favorite character so far, followed by Bunchu) is married to the empress's sister and is also a warrior and one of the king's advisors. He actually talks Bunchu down from his fury when Bunchu first realizes how corrupt the kingdom has become, but Dakki later forces him to rebel when she manipulates the emperor into forcing Kou Hiko's wife and sister to commit suicide so they can't be used against him(one so she won't bring him dishonor, the other so she can't be used as a hostage against his good behavior) He also ends up protecting the emperor's sons(yeah, he ends up the sole protector of the children of the man who was responsible for his wife and sister's deaths, go figure...kinda sucks to be him...) because Dakki wants them killed.
As of episode 10, Taikoubou and friends have just found out what's going on with Kou Hiko and are on their way to help him, as Dakki is the one behind the evil spirits, and Kou Hiko's son, Kou Tenka, who's apparently also an immortal in training(he was sent by the immortals to help Kou Hiko, but we don't find out who he is until the very end up the episode) has also just found him, so presumably, the two plots will come together pretty soon.
Nataku is a boy with mystic powers who was killed by a dragon after killing the dragon's son in a feud. His father desecrated his grave and threw his ashes in the river because he was afraid the dragon would destroy the town for giving Nataku a proper burial against the dragon's wishes. But an immortal saves him from the river and resurrected him, and Nataku set out to kill his father, but was never quite able to succeed because his mother kept getting in the way and Nataku still loved her, and eventually, Taikoubou was able to talk him out of it. He doesn't know what a sense of humor is, hates being kept out of the loop and is very much of the "shoot first, ask questions later" mindset(actually, he tries to kill you just for annoying him...)
Raishinshi was abandoned as an infant but saved and adaopted by a lord named Ko Shou. Even though he was raised by immortals, he was greatful to Ko Shou and is very loyal to him. When one of his brothers is framed and assassinated as a traitor and his father accused of treason, he sets out to get revenge on Dakki and the emperor(more on them in a minute) and ends up with a reputation as a Robin Hood-like vigilante. When he meets Taikoubou, Raishinshi thinks he's a villain and tries to kill him, but joins up soon enough. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, but has no brain with which to make wise choices and is extremely hotheaded. He and Nataku pretty much hate each other.
Youzen is anotherimmortal in training who is actually better than most masters...he just doesn't want to take on a student and so he remains an apprentice out of necessity, even though he drives his master crazy becauise he's better. He's sent to help Taikoubou but makes him prove himself before he'll so so. He has a superiority complex, but it's pretty justified and not overwhelming, and he comes across as very laid back and tends to like to travel at a leisurely pace. Which makes Raishinshi lose his temper and yell at him. Which makes Nataku shoot at him and tell him not to blame people for things they can't help. Taikoubou spends a lot of time staying out of the way.
Meanwhile, on the more serious front, the Yin Emperor, once a good and noble ruler, has been bespelled by Dakki a thousand year old fox demon who wants to rule the world. By the time the series has started, she's made him her puppet and is using him to take over the world. Or at least ancient China. She tricks all the highst nobles into attending a feast and then offending the emperor by objecting to his excesses while the people are starving and they're all executed except for Ko Shou, who's imprisoned as is able to excape only after his oldest son is framed for treason and executed, and soon she frames the empress for an assassination attempt.
The only people left near the emperor who aren't under Dakki's thumb are Bunchu and Kou Hiko. Bunchu leads the emperor's armies and even though he dislikes what's happening, he's served the Yin Dynasty for several generations(yet still looks thirty...) and wants to return the emperor to his true self, and when Kou Hiko is eventually forced to rebel, he tries to save them both, only to have the emperor cowardly try to kill Kou Hiko.
Kou Hiko(my favorite character so far, followed by Bunchu) is married to the empress's sister and is also a warrior and one of the king's advisors. He actually talks Bunchu down from his fury when Bunchu first realizes how corrupt the kingdom has become, but Dakki later forces him to rebel when she manipulates the emperor into forcing Kou Hiko's wife and sister to commit suicide so they can't be used against him(one so she won't bring him dishonor, the other so she can't be used as a hostage against his good behavior) He also ends up protecting the emperor's sons(yeah, he ends up the sole protector of the children of the man who was responsible for his wife and sister's deaths, go figure...kinda sucks to be him...) because Dakki wants them killed.
As of episode 10, Taikoubou and friends have just found out what's going on with Kou Hiko and are on their way to help him, as Dakki is the one behind the evil spirits, and Kou Hiko's son, Kou Tenka, who's apparently also an immortal in training(he was sent by the immortals to help Kou Hiko, but we don't find out who he is until the very end up the episode) has also just found him, so presumably, the two plots will come together pretty soon.
If you skip that: Dated animation, but very good anime fantasy series so far. Hope it doesn't get screwed up in the end.