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To me. Akumetsu is everything Death Note should have been (in terms of Death Note's story). I hope I haven't angered anyone by saying that. I consider Akumetsu's story-telling to be wonderful.

The entire philosophy of "What is good? What is evil?" is something that alot of series integrate into their plot.

And so Akumetsu might seem to follow that, it takes a contemporary approach. Featuring science-fiction as opposed to magic.

Story: The details keeps you intrigued. They can be essentially divided into three parts that are all developed as the story progresses.
1. Akumetsu actions and political background of Japan
2. The people trying to understand Akumetsu and/or stop ... him
3. The revelation of who/what is Akumetsu and how he came to exist.

The first part makes up the most of the story. The 2nd part humanizes the story, and the third part keeps you interested.

I give the story a 9/10. I personally never tired of it. But I can imagine that some people will find the repetitive nature alittle annoying

The art is very cool. It reminds me of a a more artistic sin-city. You shouldn't try to find "moe" in this series, but the female characters are still quite beautiful. (10/10)

Characters get 10/10 from me because for the most part they were all hunanized, made sympathetic, and thus had "depth".
-Shou's anger at the system yet his realization that what "he" is doing is evil
-Shiina's sadness that Shou has put himself up to this task
-A police officer who's sense of justice puts him at odds with Akumetsu, but also puts him against his administration.


Enjoyment. I give enjoyment an 8/10 because the mid part of the story is alittle hard to get into. However overall Akumetsu is a manga that will remain with me as one of the peaks of seinen manga.

I

PLEASE NOTE: I rate all tens because I really don't want to fiddle around with numbers.

Story:
Shigurui is a story with amazing presentation. The story is both linear and not-linear at the same time.

The story is of two men and their respective paths toward each other. It relies heavilly on narration with description.

What inspired me to write this review is that the manga has continually been able to keep me wanting to get to the next chapter. The story never reaches a moment of stagnation. Things keep happening.

Art:
The art is very very detailed. I don't usually prefer art like this. But Shigurui is a ... story deserving of such art.

However the detailed art may also disturb some. As violent and sexual images are abound.

But best of all is the the drawings that depict the movement of the characters, it is juts remarkable to see it done.

The fighting scenes are very easy to follow. And therefore

Characters:
Shigurui features some of the most unsympathetic characters in all of manga.
But their hinted emotions are what make the story great.
The main characters are driven by one thing, and it is not love. It is the maintenance of their honor.


Enjoyment:
I find it enjoyable.
It's a deep story with remarkable art.

This series does not get alot of love. If you don't enjoy enjoy thinking alot about your anime, you will not like this.

However if you can think about it alot, you will enjoy this alittle or very much.

First of all the story deserves it's credit. Gambling is not interesting unless it is presented in a interesting way. The original author of the manga (Noboyuki Fukumoto) has created series based on gambling, finances, detective work, and basic struggle of surviving. And he does his work with perfection in psychological description.

Kaiji is a character you see grow. By the end of the series you will ... see this.
Kaiji himself gives this series 10/10 in character.

Human nature is a very core part of the story, and it is described through the use of a narrator. Without the narrator the story would lack something. A sound to fill the gaps of the moments.

The art is something I like alot. From 2006 I have noticed animation getting sharper. Kaiji's animation uses hard-solid lines to emphasize the characters facials expressions. There are also visual props for when a character is describing something and I find this aspect intriguing and cool.
The animation is nice. Especially when emphasizing the dramatic moments of the characters.

The sound. The music of the series is made by Hideki Taniuchi. And I love all the tracks of Kaiji. Much the tracks are used to enlarge the suspicious atmosphere of the series. The sounds effects are top notch nothing much else to say. Voice work is fine.

Overall. I give Kaiji it's 10/10 because it was able to do something great. Create a dramatic portrayal of a person's hardships.

This is a show I really enjoyed when it was airing... But I later realized It I didn't retain those feelings.

First of all the story is really fun to get into. The setting is a land resembling feudal Japan. So it provokes a cool cultural feeling when it's watched.

The character are good, some are cute others are just cool. But it's a shame the show doesn't focus on them heavilly (but apparently the original game does). So yeah the character focus is a bit off and thats sad.

The fighting is alright. But nothing special. It's not fast (with some exceptions) but it's well coordinated. ... And most of the time it's not like the single animation still action shots (most of the fighting is REALLY animated haha)

Story is fun. But it's very slow. I didn't realize this at first. But the pacing is very bad. The developments are fun to watch. Especially as the cast becomes bigger.

Sound isn't much of a issue. Sword clanging is heard alot but it's not annoying.

For Enjoyment. I would say it's enjoyable. But you won't want to rewatch it.

Overall. Give it a watch if you want a nice feudal war anime.

Note: Tears to Tiara (which hasn't aired) has the story by the same people (the VN company Leaf).