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This anime is not exactly based on the original game, but based on the live action 2.5D stage play, where real people play the roles of the original 2D characters. It's anime adaptation of the live action adaptation of the original game. I don't know why they decided to go with that concept. Not like most of the other Touken Ranbu adaptations, stage one has its own detailed setting and overarching storyline, and it's pretty divisive too. So I think they should make it clear every time they promote this anime or sell collaboration products that it's based on the 'stage: touken ranbu'. For me, ... finding that out wasn’t exactly pleasant.

Even putting that aside, this anime is disappointing.

The animation is not bad, I guess. But there is no consistency in the character design. They do resemble the official character illustration though. There are scores of different illustrators in Touken Ranbu, and in this show, each character looks like they're from completely different anime. The other Touken Ranbu anime Hanamaru and Katsugeki have their own animation style, i'm not sure this one does. Even the same character looks different in every scene, as if they don’t have a proper design for this series. Really distracting.

The story is nothing special. It's too predictable. They also failed to get people to sympathize with the characters because they didn't explain much while dragging out the story unnecessarily. The way they portray the characters is subpar. Some characters were deliberately made into jerk or stupid for the sake of the plot's convenience. This anime lacks character development and throws in fanon tropes without much thought. It's shocking when Fudou Yukimitsu call Yamanbagiri Kunihiro "manba chan"

Maybe that would have been all okay if this was some fan service anime just introducing characters like Hanamaru. But they tried to create a complete story, and selected the characters for that purpose, deciding who to focus on and who to leave out. If the story had to be reused from the stage, at least it should've been made to stand out as an anime. This anime has no identity.

No offense, but please let this 2.5D playwright just write plays. This is more of an overblown tribute to the stage play and is intended to lower the entry barrier to the live-action stuff. For the most part, they didn’t satisfy both stage fans and original game fans.

I don't really hate the stage play itself, but as a long time fan of the Touken Ranbu, I want Touken Ranbu anime that is based on the original game. Especially when they're casting official voice actors. Seriously, in what kind of medium does the official voice actor who voiced the original character, end up playing that character based on the live-action actor's portrayal?

Plus saniwa character in this anime feels out of place. The production doesn't seem to respect their audience at all.