Back to FacelessVixen's Profile FacelessVixen's Profile

This is quite the undertaking: One of the most vocal Ikkitousen fans around tries to either convince people to give this cult ecchi series a shot or avoid it like the plague. ...if only it were that simple. As much as I've championed the series over the years, I've also had some reluctance and reservations about giving a whole-heated recommendation to those that have asked me about Ikkitousen for fear of leading people astray and potentially wasting their time. So, hopefully I'll be able to coherently explain said reservations, which mainly apply to the first season, while also trying to explain what exactly season one ... has going for it beyond "There's just something special about it and that special thing works for me."

I might as well address the elephant in the room right off the bat, Ikki's artwork for season one was not great in 2003 and it's not great now. I wouldn't say that I have bone to pick with Shinya Hasegawa, but his character design is my lead reservation for why I say that Ikkitousen season one is a little rough compared to the massive improvements made in later seasons with Arms Corporation and Rin Shin at the helm, which have also aged but significantly more gracefully than Ikki season one’s character art. But at the same time, I suppose I could make a case for the artwork being nostalgic of the "good old days" of anime in the late 90's and 2000's and the purist notion of hand drawn animation, which wouldn't be a forgone conclusion for those like me who grew up in the 90's and 2000's. So just for the sake of clarity, I describe the character design as being just competent and could have used a revision or two, but it's also not as bad as Aku no Hana. Other than that, the environments/backgrounds and animations work well enough I suppose. It’s a far cry from how elaborate animation has become in later years, but the early 2000’s were simpler times.

Another, but significantly less of a concern, is Ikki season one's story. It's pretty straight forward and easy enough to follow: Hakufu is pretty much your shonen adventure hero akin to Goku both in terms of having a love of fighting and also their intelligence; specifically in that they’re both pretty dumb. As far as introducing a series goes, it's pretty standard. But given that Ikkitousen isn't exactly the Pulp Fiction or the Unusual Suspects of anime, the standard "protagonist on a quest to be the best that no one ever was" works just fine. After all, the story of an ecchi series might as well keep the plot simple in order to keep the other form of "plot" going. But with that said, there are some moments, or set pieces, that are kind of real and even a bit raw. If anything, Ikki season one's story works best as a character study since many of the events are relevant to Hakufu's growth and progression throughout the narrative.

While the story works well enough given the tools that ecchi generally gives, I can say with confidence that the characters can be one of Ikkitousen's strong suites depending on what you're looking for. As I've said previously, Hakufu is your dumb but capable primary protagonist that provides comic relief. Koukin is one of the few somewhat important male characters of the show and mainly serves as a foil to Hakufu's stupidity. Ryomou is your anti-hero and a way better Rei Ayanami. Chuuei Toutaku is the big bad antagonist who has a thing for tummy licks. Goei is a MILF. Kan'u doesn't become a main character until later on. And so on and so forth. The point is that there are plenty of characters to latch on to, though the female ones are generally the most important, as expected.

With some of my more elaborate thoughts out of the way, I think it's time to almost wrap this up with some miscellaneous thoughts. Ikki season one does deliver on the martial arts action set pieces. Given that a sub plot is a king of iron first tournament against the rival schools, it would be pretty silly if no none threw a punch, and season one's fights are memorable enough. As for the ecchi, I'm sure that saying "panty shot" a few times in a row rings familiar, and yes, season one delivers on that front as well, probably more so than the frights thanks to key scenes involving Ryofu. The Japanese voice cast works well enough. I can’t speak on the English cast much since my vague memory of Ryomou's English VO describing "fight orgasms" makes me recoil, so, my vote goes to watching the series subbed, And the opening theme, "Drivin' through the Night," makes me beg to have "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls on repeat as a significantly lesser form of torture. In other words: I don't like the opening theme very much. More power to those that do because it is not my thing, at all.

So with all that said and done, can I actually, without any sort of irony, malintent, or rose-tinted glasses, recommend that anyone watch Ikkitousen? Well, for better or for worse, my answer is going to have to be "it depends" because it's niche appeal really depends on the audience. So would I recommend this to those that are completely new too anime? No, that would be absurd, same to the Shonen Jump casuals, or anime fans that only stick to "high-minded" shows and movies. So though what I'm going to say should be pretty obvious, Ikkitousen (season one) is for ecchi fans, though specifically for those who like an old school art style, doesn't equate ecchi to just being harems, enjoys watching a very likeable cast of femme fatales duke it out, and actually want some kind of story to follow. Yes, season one is a balancing act between its faults and its niche strengths, but it did start the beginning for a series that’s a hidden gem to the right audience and has continued to go on for multiple seasons unlike it's contemporaries at the time, such as Tenjou Tenge.

And also, Western Wolves is a thing. Do with that however you see fit.

If you think about it, Ikkitousen has been around for a while. It's inception into anime form started with JC Staff in 2003, being amongst other action oriented ecchi shows like Tenjou Tenge, Air Master and Grenadier. After that first season, the series was given to Arms and they produced Dragon Destiny for 2007, Great Guardians for 2008, and Xtreme Xecutor for 2010. So here is Ikkitousen: Shuugaku Toushi Keppuuroku which is supposed to be a sequel to Xtreme Xecutor. But honestly, I feel as though this edition of Ikki is either a little misplaced in the timeline, or it just could have done more ... than just more Ikkitousen for the sake of it.

Shuugaku is touted as the sequel to Xtreme Xecutor, but to me it feels more like an abridged retelling of the series. The story is more of a callback to Ikki season one, where it's pretty much about rival schools fighting all over Kanto. Since Shuugaku only lasts for about 45 minutes, it doesn't go into a long exposition about Ikki's Romance of the Three Kingdom mythos as it has previously, but rather just reminds you the show to loosely based off of the novel. So most of my understanding of the story can be summarized by saying "Oh yeah. That's what this series is about. I remember now." as opposed to introducing a new conflict or bringing a conclusion to something that has a few lose ends, and I feel as though Xtreme Xecutor left a few things open for further exploration. I guess I should mention that the premise of Shuugaku is that everyone is on a class trip, but it's in all honestly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

The characters in Shuugaku remain largely unchanged. Hakufu is still silly, Ryomou is still serious, and Kan'u is still kind to her allies and aggressive to her opponents. So the star femme fatales and few male leads that you've met in a previous season of Ikki haven't changed at all for better or for worse, through probably for better given the scope of Shuugaku. But I still stand by my saying that Shuugaku doesn't feel like a fulfilling continuation or conclusion to the events of Xtreme Xecutor. The interactions between certain characters feels like two steps back after taking a step forward in a previous season. Either I'm just missing something or refusing to accept the reality, but I still dare to say that if certain characters weren't present, Shuugaku would be a better continuation or side story to Dragon Destiny.

One of the draws that Ikki has is its action, which in my opinion hasn't been super fantastical but still pretty interesting and satisfying. Shuugaku features two main battle royals that are satisfying to a certain extent. Personally I feel as though the martial arts action Ikki peaked in Great Guardians, which by comparison makes the battles in Shuugaku feel somewhat stale. But the tropes of the series are still present: Two or more hot babes battling it out until their clothes are torn up to the point where they're piratically topless. No complaints in that regard, but I still yearn for the return of the more action heavy high octane fights that happened in Great Guardians.

And lastly, the ecchi. No special amount of nudity, but there's enough service to say that it's in there.

Ikkitousen: Shuugaku Toushi Keppuuroku is pretty much more Ikkitousen. It could have done more to feel like a true continuation of the series as opposed to just reiterating the original plot points. Despite my relative disappointment with Shuugaku, I still somewhat like it for what it is, but it leaves me with wanting Ikki to go on for at least one more season in hopes of getting a satisfying ending. So hopefully there's more to come and that this is just the beginning of the series' final conclusion, because this alone is not enough, especially when there's the potential to push things forward in a meaningful way.

I'm just going to be up front: I really like this anime. Eiken is one of those shows that is great to watch if you like an anime that is more focused on character quirks than the story. This is exactly what Eiken does within the hour of which it lasts, and it has totally worked for me.

The story of the show is its weak point as it just moves things along the track of funny ecchi moment after another. Without getting into spoiler territory, it's one of those stories that follows a boy that transfers into a new school and finds himself being put ... into certain comedic situations against his will. But again, it's a short anime so the clishe plot kindly doesn't overstay its welcome.

As I've said earlier, I am a fan of just silly humor be it sexual or not, and Eiken has a satisfying amount of gags and character personalities that kept me entertained and engaged. Yes, I'm aware that most of the girls are over endowed, I'm not saying it's a turn-on, but there were a few moments where I just found the big boob jokes to be kinda funny. But yes, though I was tickled by the humor, the jokes tend to repeat as the story goes on, but I was still amused after the first time a joke was used.


Eiken is a short ride that doesn't last longer than it should. It's not a show for those looking for something that's more serious and has women with more realistic proportions. If you want something that's ridiculous by design and to just laugh a little for just an hour, give Eiken a shot because it doesn't disappoint.