Ikki Tousen Review (Anime)

Ikki Tousen is the king of pointless fan service anime.  Like, way, way, way over the top and unnecessary.  But it also tells a fascinating story and has some truly interesting characters, so it isn't merely fluff with no substance. 


Ikki Tousen in basically a modern retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Each of the characters in the show is a descendant of a person from the Three Kingdoms era of China.  They each have a sacred bead that has been passed down through the generations, and each person to have that bead inherits the fate of the person it originally belonged to some 1,800 years before.  That means that if their ancestor was close to a certain person, or killed a certain person, or betrayed someone, they are more than likely to follow that same path in the present.  Some people actively seek out their fate.  Some people actively try to change their fate.  Others don't care and try to live their own way.  Inevitably, however, fate usually catches up to them whether they want it to or not.

The characters in Ikki Tousen are all in high school in Japan.  The people with the sacred beads are known as fighters.  The fighters from each high school constantly fight each other to try and determine which school is the strongest and who will have control over the others.  Currently, Rakuyou School, led by a powerful fighter named Totaku, is in charge.  The story in Ikki Tousen centers around the other schools and characters fighting and double crossing and creating elaborate plans to try and kill Totaku and remove Rakuyou from power.  All the while, of course, following the same path their ancestors did centuries before.  It is really quite fascinating.

What ultimately sets everything into motion is the arrival of a new girl at Nanyo Academy, and the main character of the series, Sonsaku Hakufu.  She is busty (other characters nickname her the "Booby Bomb Girl"), remarkably stupid, but has a strong desire to fight.  She is mostly unaware of her fate, and fights not for power or control, but because she enjoys it.  Lurking beneath the surface, however, is a hidden power she has inherited from her ancestor.  In the Three Kingdoms Era, Hakufu was an extremely powerful fighter who dramatically altered the balance of control.  In the present, other characters are aware of the history of Hakufu, so they try to unleash her power. 

The show is a strange mix of politics and fighting and history and it really is pretty cool.  There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but they all play important roles and all of them, even the villains, are generally pretty likable and interesting.  Despite being a show about fighting, the actual fights are pretty lackluster.  The fights are generally pretty short and focus mostly on power attacks and Ki and stuff that sends characters flying across the room.  The meat of the show is the politics and dialogue and history. 

Of course, the other big aspect of the show is fan service.  The girls all wear short skirts while they fight, so it is pretty much constant panty shots.  Also, clothing has a unique knack in this series to shred apart very easily, so after the first punch of a fight the female characters are usually half naked already.  The breasts are huge and comically bouncy.  There is occasional nudity.  There are a couple of quick sex scenes (you don't see anything).  The show is kind of dirty, frankly.  "R" rated movie dirty mind you, so nothing too explicit, but it is really over the top.  Some people find it distracting.  I find it funny. 

You can buy Ikki Tousen at Amazon in a 2-disc (14 episode) set for around $30.  There is a second season of the show called "Dragon Destiny", but it isn't available in a set yet, only individual volumes.  Ikki Tousen comes to a satisfying enough conclusion, however, that it stands on its own and the second season isn't really required viewing. 

Ikki Tousen: The Complete Series Box Set at Amazon.com

The show has a great looking art style and nice animation.  The story and characters are great, and it is a fascinating take on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story that puts a modern spin on history.  The fan service is kind of unnecessary, but it certainly makes the show fun to watch simply because of how ridiculous it is.  I liked it.  I give Ikki Tousen an 8/10, or one pile of watermelons.