Back to CodeHiyari's Profile CodeHiyari's Profile

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter is a bit hard to explain without seeing the source material. This is what I'll start off with.

Story: The story, by source material, is amazing. However, the anime continues to let down those who know it by cutting out chapters. Not just one or two, but dozens. If I had to compare how the story feels, it's like watching the last season of Tokyo Ghoul without reading the manga. Things happen spontaneously that leaves the viewer bewildered how they even got to this point. I give it a 3 just for recovering, if even slightly during the Pompeii Arc.

Art: Its CG ... is honestly not that bad. It's not as "good" as Baki's CG, but it's good enough for a fighting show, and it probably shows a lacking budget due to how many fights the show has. It's bearable, overall. I give it a 5.

Sound: The music isn't really something noticeable, although the ending is quite nice. However, the crisp sounds that they use during fights are something I like quite a lot. Their feet shuffling, the sound of punching... it all feels like really solid design, and honestly the anime being in CG only makes it better, in my opinion. Giving this a 6.

Character: I can't really say I'm proud of character development at all in the anime. They skipped so much character development, you can probably skip the first episode and see episode two or even three as episode one because of the absolute monstrosity the first few episodes skipped. While later they end up going more into it, the damage is done and not everything has been properly explained as the pacing becomes more "normal." Giving this a 1.

Enjoyment: If you came for a gladiator slugfest and you don't care too much about the theatrics the story entails, then it's fine. Fights might be a bit dragged out in some scenes, but they're all relatively solid fights. I personally like them, maybe you will too. Only giving this a 5 because I feel upset about the lack of storytelling. Based on fights alone, maybe a 7.

Overall: The anime of this amazing manga is a letdown, basically. Between skipped story, lack of character development and CG characters, there's nothing that's particularly "good" about it. The only unique thing it has to offer is its unique perspective as a story about a combat slave, not some random kid growing up in a normal family. You can watch this if you want action, nice fights or really like old boxing styles. However, if you want to watch this for a unique story, I'm honestly going to have to refer you to the manga instead. You will feel infinitely unsatisfied with this disappointment.