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meganbmooreBased on the same novel as the Satomi Hakkenden drama, which is supposedly one of Japan's most famous books, Hakkenden is the story of the spirits of the eight half-dog children of Princess Fuse of the Satomi clan.
Years ago, the lord of the Satomi Clan ordered the execution of an evil sorceress who had bewitched her husband into being evil and...you know...killing his buddies and such(it was a sudden flashback with little lead-in, so I was still adjusting.) With her dying breath, just before getting her head lopped off, the sorceress cursed the lord, saying that his grandchildren would be half-mongrel. Years later, Lord Satomi was losing the war against another evil lord(and they continued to plague him for the rest of his life.) After his soon-to-be son-in-law, Daisuke, is lost in the battle field, he jokingly tells the family dog(who is not normal dog) that it can marry his daughter, Fuse, if it brings him his enemy's head. The dog brings him the head, of course, and the lord treats him like a king, hoping he'll forget the promise. The dog doesn't, of course, and when Fuse learns the truth, she insists that her father's word must be honored, and leaves with the dog as his wife.
Fuse vows that it will be a marriage in name only, and doesn't allow him to consumate the marriage. The sorceress, of course, refuses to be satisfied with this, and uses sorcery to impregnate her anyway. Meanwhile, Daisuke did not die in battle, but barely survived, and when he learned of the marriage, he went off to save Fuse. He shoots and kills the dog, but the bullet goes through the dog and kills Fuse, as well. The spirits of her eight unborn children leave her body and find new homes, some almost immediately in young boys, some such later in unborn children. Each enters into a family with "Inu"(dog) in the family name, and each boy has a peony-shaped birthmark and a blue bead with a character on it. When they grow up, they encounter each other on their vaious adventures and vengeance quests, and eventually learn their origins and set off to save the Satomi from yet another evil lord to honor Princess Fuse.
Years ago, the lord of the Satomi Clan ordered the execution of an evil sorceress who had bewitched her husband into being evil and...you know...killing his buddies and such(it was a sudden flashback with little lead-in, so I was still adjusting.) With her dying breath, just before getting her head lopped off, the sorceress cursed the lord, saying that his grandchildren would be half-mongrel. Years later, Lord Satomi was losing the war against another evil lord(and they continued to plague him for the rest of his life.) After his soon-to-be son-in-law, Daisuke, is lost in the battle field, he jokingly tells the family dog(who is not normal dog) that it can marry his daughter, Fuse, if it brings him his enemy's head. The dog brings him the head, of course, and the lord treats him like a king, hoping he'll forget the promise. The dog doesn't, of course, and when Fuse learns the truth, she insists that her father's word must be honored, and leaves with the dog as his wife.
Fuse vows that it will be a marriage in name only, and doesn't allow him to consumate the marriage. The sorceress, of course, refuses to be satisfied with this, and uses sorcery to impregnate her anyway. Meanwhile, Daisuke did not die in battle, but barely survived, and when he learned of the marriage, he went off to save Fuse. He shoots and kills the dog, but the bullet goes through the dog and kills Fuse, as well. The spirits of her eight unborn children leave her body and find new homes, some almost immediately in young boys, some such later in unborn children. Each enters into a family with "Inu"(dog) in the family name, and each boy has a peony-shaped birthmark and a blue bead with a character on it. When they grow up, they encounter each other on their vaious adventures and vengeance quests, and eventually learn their origins and set off to save the Satomi from yet another evil lord to honor Princess Fuse.
I've been half wanting to see this since seeing the drama about a year and a half ago, figuring(correctly) that they would have very different takes on the story. The anime is very dark and is rather generous with its illustrated blood. I swear, every episode hand a loved one dying in front of one of the heroes, someone being falsely accused of a crime, arrested, tortured, etc. Every single woman but one in the thing died, usually in front of a boyfriend, husband, brother, son, or father(sometimes in front of more than one) typically with the male in question getting splattered in her blood. Oh, and almost every parents dies too, usually with, yes, whichever hero who happened to be their kid getting blood splattered. At some point, I considered making a count of the tortured heroes/dead loved ones, but then realized that I'd long since lost count. There is also, with one of the characters, the theme of child abuse, along the lines of-but not to the extreme of-the Saiyuki manga. That said, it's a very interesting, and usually well told story. I say "usually" becaise it sometimes jumps around, following the brothers in a group, and then not explaining why they've separated, and doesn't always warn you when it's switching from the present story to a flashback. It wasn't to the point where I was lost, but I sometimes had to work hard enough at keeping up that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should until I made the connection.
Then there's the art. Typically, I don't place a lot of emphasis on art. I'm more about story/character than art and, unless the art style and approach is crucial to the work itself and the story approach(Ayakashi/Monomoke, Blade of the Immortal, xXxHolic, etc.) generally try not to let the art influence me unless it's something that I just really, really dislike, or if I just can't understand what's going on...or if fanservice is the whole point of the art(all of which is why I never really understand why some people won't read or watch some thing because of the visuals without worrying about the story, but that's something else altogether, or when all people seem to care about is the prettiness.) The animation in Hakkenden, for the most part, is pretty decent, if dated(my DVD case says 1993...I don't know if that's when it aired in Japan, or if that's when it was originally licensed, but that makes it either one of the or the oldest animes I've seen.) However, about halfway through, something happens and suddenly, the art is all blocky and unfinished and half the time, I could only tell who characters were by the voices and by the continuation of their stories, and it was very hard to follow what was going on. Fortunately, it only lasts for a few episodes and it went back to the original style for the last few episodes, but still...
General opinion: Despite it's share of flaws, it was generally good and interesting and I'm glad I watched it, but it won't go down as a favorite. Plus, I suspect you have to have at least some familiarity with the story, in one form or another, for it to make sense.
ETA: I almost forgot, there is exactly one girl who lives. She apparently dies and then gets better several times, and seems to be the reincarnation of both Fuse and the evil sorceress, but they weren't originally the same person(I don't think.) I was reporting her alive/dead status tocalixaas I watched so I could keep track.
Then there's the art. Typically, I don't place a lot of emphasis on art. I'm more about story/character than art and, unless the art style and approach is crucial to the work itself and the story approach(Ayakashi/Monomoke, Blade of the Immortal, xXxHolic, etc.) generally try not to let the art influence me unless it's something that I just really, really dislike, or if I just can't understand what's going on...or if fanservice is the whole point of the art(all of which is why I never really understand why some people won't read or watch some thing because of the visuals without worrying about the story, but that's something else altogether, or when all people seem to care about is the prettiness.) The animation in Hakkenden, for the most part, is pretty decent, if dated(my DVD case says 1993...I don't know if that's when it aired in Japan, or if that's when it was originally licensed, but that makes it either one of the or the oldest animes I've seen.) However, about halfway through, something happens and suddenly, the art is all blocky and unfinished and half the time, I could only tell who characters were by the voices and by the continuation of their stories, and it was very hard to follow what was going on. Fortunately, it only lasts for a few episodes and it went back to the original style for the last few episodes, but still...
General opinion: Despite it's share of flaws, it was generally good and interesting and I'm glad I watched it, but it won't go down as a favorite. Plus, I suspect you have to have at least some familiarity with the story, in one form or another, for it to make sense.
ETA: I almost forgot, there is exactly one girl who lives. She apparently dies and then gets better several times, and seems to be the reincarnation of both Fuse and the evil sorceress, but they weren't originally the same person(I don't think.) I was reporting her alive/dead status to
calixaas I watched so I could keep track.