Forum - View topicREVIEW: Buso Renkin DVD
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1586 |
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Since this boxset only covers the first half of the series, I have to say I agree with the reviewer about how unoriginal the story and most of the characters are.
The second half of the series, on the other hand, is actually pretty good. The fight scenes get much better, and Kazuki is forced to make some pretty hard choices, which lead to some great twists and a very poignant ending that made me glad I stuck with this show. I also loved the development of his relationship with Tokiko. |
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BrothersElric
 Posts: 1996 |
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I'm definitely going to have to agree here. By the end of the series it was really starting to get interesting, which really surprised me from how it began. And if it had been allowed to be longer I think it could have had so much potential......... Whatever the case though, yeah, it most certainly is by far not one of the best things you'll ever see. Heck, it's not even close to being one of the best shounen series you'll ever get into. But at the same time not by any means is it a bad series. Basically yeah, it's just a fun little generic shounen series that's a lot better than pretty much any of the more generic shouen titles like it, even though it still doesn't even hold a candle to the better ones, such as Naruto, One Piece, Shaman King, Fullmetal, ect. I guess you could basically say that this series embodied everything I love about the shounen genre, even though there have been better shounen series that have done the same and then some. And quite surprisingly, the anime version of it is actually, in my opinion, one of the better handled anime versions of a shounen series. The animation, music, and voice acting are all superb, and personally I thought the action/fighting sequences were actually quite exciting and epic, though I can't deny they could have been better. And certainly I'm not the only one who absolutely LOVED the OP I'm sure.  Once again, I felt like the OP embodied everything I love about shounen, even though others have done it better.
Even though I thought the reviewer was a bit harsher than he needed to be, I still feel like the grade he gave it, about a C+/B- was a fair one. That's probably what I would have given it, in a positive way of course. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7550 Location: Maine |
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Buso Renkin is like a cross between Scryed and GateKeepers and every bit as enjoyable as both in my opinion. Yeah, it's the same type of story we've all seen before -- different groups with unique powers based on the same source are often at odds and sometimes on the same side as they face an ultimate evil and so on -- but if that's the type of shonen fare you like then just enjoy it!
Emerje |
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bluegreen
Posts: 29 |
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Man that was a pretty harsh review lol. Honestly, the show is pretty generic but it seemed to me that it was supposed to be a kind of satire on the whole genre. Plus, like the reviewer said Tokiko is awesome. Her alone makes the show worth watching and yeah, she needs to have her own spin off series lol
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Ari-chan
Posts: 215 Location: Florida |
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Wow, that was a pretty harsh review.
I have to disagree with the reviewer in some areas. I've seen lots of other anime and manga from the same genre doing the same cliches as Buso Renkin, but I felt Buso Renkin actually was one of the better ones in the pile. It didn't take itself too seriously, and had planty of enjoyable characters I thought, especially Tokiko, and Papillion. It also ended. I thought of it as "Shounen done right". I don't agree with him about Kazuki, as I like actually really liked Kazuki as a lead. He was an average Joe, who already had the I'll save others drive in him from the get go, and unlike other male leads, had a sex drive and was smart enough to go after the girl instead of be oblivious to it all. He got scared, he got hurt, he had problems that made sense, and solved those problems as best as he could without beating around the bush. He does get a bit extreme in his values though, but I can look through that. I found Kazuki to be rather refreshing in that sense. I also thought the action scenes weren't that bad. Sure they could have been better, but they were in no way horrible. I still found them entertaining, and have definitly seen worse. I thought Kazuki's was pretty neat. Most shounen series have a character going for something like a regular sword, or a Katana, or a magic hax power, or some kind of gun. Not Kazuki though, he needs to have this big looks hard to carry lance WITH powers. I though having something really big was pretty neat. not to mention all the other characters had pretty neat weapons too. I thought they were pretty inventive. Which entertained me more. As for the character design, I don't agree either. I've seen some pretty unimaginative and puke-worthy dating sim designs. At least Busou Renkin characters have diverse faces between one another. They may not all be the epitome of beauty, but I wouldn't say they were lame. Also how could he not mention more about the Opening? That was one hotblooded OP, and definitly set the tone for the series very well. It's also catchy. I do agree about Buso Renkin not being the bearer of origionality story wise. But I don't see why it has to be origional to be any good. It's seems a lot of people now a days compares every title they see to another as if being anything similar is a totally bad thing. Busou Renkin took a lot of the generic shounen stables and played around with them in a way that makes fun of it. It seems like the reviewer has seen so much of the genre that he can't be entertained with the cliches anymore, which is understandable, as they only keep thier luster for a certain amount of time. When something like that happen though I feel that it creates the inability to judge a show fairly. To me that's like hating a kids shows because it's too childish. Overall I was really entertained by Buso Renkin, and don't agree with him all that much at all. I would give more of a B or B- rather than a C+. |
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Ichida
 Posts: 5 |
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Okay, so the main pole up the ass of this reviewer is the lack of originality. I will simply respond that a series doesn't have to be totally original to be great. I never get tired of sky pirate anime, no matter how many get churned out, so not even being a devout Bleach fan could diminish my enjoyment of Buso Renkin. Loved it, would watch the next series with a dead, screaming, huge weapon-wielding teenage boy in a heartbeat.
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tebalith
Posts: 134 |
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OK, I just have to comment again and say that this is absolutely true and needs to be mentioned. The anime stays incredibly close to the manga, and only changes things a little towards the end in order to fit the story into 26 episodes, and some of these changes I even consider to be for the better. It's a faithful adaptation, and that makes it a satisfying experience for a reader of the manga. |
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Monsieur Pink
Posts: 141 |
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I found that the adaptation of Buso Renkin manga humor in the anime to be a mixed bag, some of the jokes were handled better than in the manga while others were handled a lot worse (like most jokes involving Kazuki's sister). Don't know why, but that's the thing I remember the most when someone mention this anime. Otherwise it was the good kind of mediocre, but not something I would buy.
Edit: Actually, I might buy it for the dub during some sales, after a price drop or convince a friend to buy the set and then borrow it, yeah, I'll do that. |
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fmagrave
Posts: 23 |
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Wait a second, you can get the first 13 episodes for as low as 31 USD. I don't see why any wait is necessary. Anyways, onto the review. Having seen the anime, I've found that the review did a good job capturing the strengths, weaknesses and the overall essence of the series. The writing was quite fun to read with some clever metaphors that managed to be relevant to what was said. The problem I had with the review was the bit about the action. While his descriptions of the fights were fairly accurate, I wonder if the statement that fights in Buso Renkin "suck" at the pros/cons section was truly justified. Yes, this is a purely subjective yardstick but I can't help but believe that the fight scenes in Buso Renkin are at least better than the median found in anime DVDs being released today. Considering that I found the fights in Buso Renkin quite good overall, I wonder what the reviewer considers a "mediocre" fight scene. |
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animedj2006
Posts: 2 |
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this series is definately a bit underrated, it's not a perfect 10 or anything but better than this review gives it credit for. the dub is definately well done, though it feels like there's a behind the scene's arguement sometimes over the pronunciation of "buso renkin". and while Kazuki is definately your "average joe," it gives you more of the feeling like he could be anyone, rather than have him be of a special liniage or born in some special way like many shonen series that are starting to get a little played out.
one of the things i find quite amuzing about this review is that some of the faults pointed out are taken care of in the next couple of episodes after this box set ends, for example:spoiler[kazuki gets a new lance. and in the very next episode after this box set, there is a fairly decent twist that semi-alters one of kazuki's "main character abilities" as i call it, and drives the plot in a whole new and very interesting direction.] all in all, i dont think that this will be a lot of people's favorate anime series of all time, but it's a fun series that deserves more credit than it's given. |
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mrsatan
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 932 |
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I rented the first couple of disks.
A couple good things I noticed: 1) Ryoka Yuzuki's performance as Tokiko is really, really good. 2) I actually liked how it dispensed with some cliches. From the look of the series, I was expecting Kazuki and Tokiko to have that cliched "we appear to hate each other but really love each other deep down" anime relationship, but it never went that way at all, thankfully. |
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Monsieur Pink
Posts: 141 |
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Problem is I'm not not exactly broke, but I'm close enough and Buso Renkin is far from being one of my top priorities with all those amazing anime or manga that I still doesn't own (and I'm not even talking about the rest of my entertainment budget). |
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Uthred
Posts: 79 |
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Its always amusing to see reviewers resort to the same tired complaints whenever they dislike a show and feel the need to cover up a simply dislike with a facade of objectivity. For example the reviewer in question mentions the fact that shounen storylines are extremely forumlaic and then complains that Busou Renkin is formulaic, seems a little odd to me. Yet if the reviewer had liked the series then Im sure issues such as that wouldnt have been mentioned at all.
Also I wonder what kind of criticism it is to say that a genre piece tightly adheres to the tropes of the genre. |
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Monsieur Pink
Posts: 141 |
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I doubt that, not on ANN anyway. And I seem to remember a few shonen series that were well received still getting some criticizing for being formulaic (only sometimes good writing or exceptional art, etc. can transcend the rest you know).
Well, it does get freaking redundant after a while, I almost completely stopped reading shonen a while back and tropes aren't always good. |
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Son-kun
Posts: 345 |
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I will probably never get tired of the "Shonen" genre. Even with all of its cliches, it's something that got me into anime in the first place, so I can forgive it. This show is actually one of the few (if rare) very short "Shonen Jump"-based shows, only running at 26 episodes.
BTW, if you're a member over at Right Stuf, they're having a sale on all things Viz. Buso Renkin's running about $30, so if price is a problem, that's as cheap as it'll get. |
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