This anime adaptation is quite a real disservice to the original source material for several reasons. First is that it doesn't give any time to develop the characters, why the original story of the game worked is because you got to see all of the girls' perspectives on the current matters of the game and each one's style of combat felt different for whomever you played as. As for Ninja Flash, things are kinda rushed around and we don't really get to know them enough. Although we are given their backgrounds which for the most part are respectful to the original game (except Hikage) but
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at the same time they just feel forced, as if the anime is desperate to get you to care about them.
The game also goes the long way in deconstructing the line between good and evil to show that perhaps there really isn't that much through multiple character interactions and showing how their personalities clash while the anime just has the Hanzou and Hebijou girls just be like this 'we are friends and we get along well with each other' mentality which on the surface seems to good but it's not realistic, their clashing personalities would actually get them into a lot of conflict with each other just like real friendships can do, and that actually happened in the game believe it or not; although what makes conflict between characters great to see is simply just how the deal with and resolve them which helps contribute to great character development. In here though you get zilch of that!!
And if we need to cover the fight sequences, oh boy do I have gripes for that!! This anime is completely tone depth of how these supposed serious battles to the death are supposed to work!! Now to be fair the original game didn't show any gore when fighting which can be mostly forgiven because video game has its programmed limitations on what it can be shown and even made up for that by other means, in an anime however there are no limitation and you can go all out!! Like show bruises, cuts, broken bones, sudden amputation, evisceration, decapitation, anything to sate my intense battle loving self. I mean the beginning explicitly said that shinobi did assassinations, so what's wrong with killing a couple of red shirts in brutal ways? And another thing that I moan about the battles is that girls underwear for their combat outfits are all wrong!! I've watched or read HxH, Dragon Ball, Berserk, Afro Samurai, Dorohedoro, and Rorouni Kenshin after all. OG Burst has explicitly specific underwear for their combat outfits that for the most part feel consistent with what they are wearing but in the anime they simply ignore all that and go with the default swimsuits of the games with only being concerned about showing boobage. Now I know that Senran Kagura is a rather fan service heavy series and later games kinda do the same with the underwear (which I find disrespectful towards the original) but at the same time it's not the entire focus of the games, that is more of the hook to draw new players to the story which is really well thought out, the anime though disregards all of that just to show more T&A which just destroys it.
If we need to get to the voice acting, well I watched the English dub because I already heard their seiyuu from the original game which are perfect in my eyes but for the dub it's kinda hit or miss. Sure, some of the VAs are able to portray the characters to which they respect the original material like Ikaruga, Katsuragi, Yomi, Haruka, and to my surprise Homura; when I saw that Homura's VA was Monica Rial I was nervous, she is the VA for Stocking Anarchy and literal Homjira does not have a high pitched voice but luckily she actually was able to nail it. However there are some VA's that I would change out like for Hibari and Hikage, honestly it would be better if Cherumi Leigh were voicing Hibari and either Christina Stroup or Molly Searcy were voicing Hikage since they have voiced characters that have similar personalities (Patty Thompson and Arin Kannazuki/Akame respectably). And I don't have a problem with Teri Roger's voice for Haruka-sama but since she probably comes from a Western background why not try a French accent or something.
And I need to point out this major plot hole of the anime, how can Hibari read kanji?! Considering how poorly she handles in class that would mean that she likely can't read kanji, much less the spidery kanji of the Super Secret Ninja Scroll of Hanzo, in fact I could name more characters that could be shaky with their kanji vocabulary skills, Katsuragi, Asuka possibly, Yomi, Hikage, and Mirai. And it would be better if the anime actually took this into account because we'd get a fun sequence of Hibari wiping the floors and Haruka-sama just laughing her butt off. And also, their could've been a lot more swearing to spice things up, but Homura and Monica at least are not against it, and in Panty & Stocking there are other 375 clips of characters just using the f word.
Now if anyone only wants to watch a Senran Kagura anime and not play the game, the only think I can think of would be Bakemonogatari. I mean it does a really damn great job of character interactions, fleshing out characters, exploring their thoughts, and its fanservice moments don't feel forced at all. I really suggest to go watch it, although if you really want a good officially licensed adaptation that does the original source material justice, I can only suggest the Guren no Hebi manga, since not only does it focus on he Hebijou girls over the Hanzou girls, it gives the characters their moments for the readers to understand them, and they're a lot more blood in it, along with the fights feeling more real; plus it's written by Takaki, the creator of the series!! Otherwise, you're on your own.
On a final note, Ninja Flash has a lot of problems, and it is understandable that adapting a video game is quite a monumental task but the anime that succeed in doing so sometimes become the anime of the year, take Stein's;Gate, and Ninja Flash also had that potential but noooooo, Studio Colors threw all of that away just for booty claps and made a plot that feels like they only read the Senran Kagura wikia page and not played the game. If this adaptation were handled by a more competent Studio or if Takaki were directing then we'd get a proper adaptation (like SHAFT) but this is all we got.
Now I've mentioned the original game a lot and have praised it a lot, but to be honest Senran Kagura Burst for the 3DS is not perfect and not for everyone. Even though it's so far my favorite game out of the series there are somethings that I would've like more out of the game, but when comparing this anime to the game, the game pretty much wins out in the end. I wouldn't recommend this to someone wants to get into the, it's more something for the fans who have played the games to just mock and that's it.
Apr 18, 2020
Senran Kagura
(Anime)
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This anime adaptation is quite a real disservice to the original source material for several reasons. First is that it doesn't give any time to develop the characters, why the original story of the game worked is because you got to see all of the girls' perspectives on the current matters of the game and each one's style of combat felt different for whomever you played as. As for Ninja Flash, things are kinda rushed around and we don't really get to know them enough. Although we are given their backgrounds which for the most part are respectful to the original game (except Hikage) but
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Jul 3, 2019
Rosario to Vampire
(Anime)
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Okay, for one thing I can say, I watched the first 3 episodes of the anime and am up to volume 7 in the manga and the only thing I can say is...
INAGAKI!!! WHAT THE HELL?!! Story: 4 -Breathes in- Already one of the main problems is that for this anime they skip a lot of the good content of the manga series and rush things around. I even checked Anime Filler List and almost half of the show IS FILLER!! And one of the things that they did wrong was introduce characters who not appear till later volumes in the first eight episodes!! ... |
