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Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny (TV).


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undeadben



Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 1212
Location: West Texas
PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:41 pm Reply with quote
I wasn't planning to start another weekly anime until a couple others ended but when I saw this title my reaction was pretty much: What the.. ? HUH? All the anime out there and their making a sequel to this? So of course I had to check it out. Wink

First of all, for all who had not heard of it yet here's the Encyclopedia info (It doesn't have a summary and I suck at summaries so we'll have to wait for someone competent to write one up):

Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny

Now, I have not read any of the manga so all I know of the story is what I have seen in the first episode so that's where my thoughts come from.

To begin I have to say that for all of those who are worried they might forget and leave out the fanservice this time, "ya really don't have to worry." In the opening sequence we already see Shimei Ryomou heading to battle in a very small Chinese dress with buttocks hanging out of either slit and the wind, of course, blowing in a fanservicy direction. And then she breaks a huge lock with a side-kick making sure not to leave too much to the imagination. This is just in the first minute. Then there is a nice Ikkitousen style battle, and they even stop fighting long enough for a shower scene. So no, you don't have to worry, they did not leave out the fanservice.

Well aside from the pantyshots, cleavage, side-boobs, camel-toes, and whatnots, the episode was pretty interesting too. It is just an introduction, and an incomplete one at that, so not much has been given away. However there is still the power struggle between the schools; most other schools, especially the weaker ones, are either being intimidated or beaten down into joining Kyosho. And it looks like there might be just a tad more intrigue and suspense in this series, although I can't really judge that off the first episode. However there are a couple of mysterious elements that come into play with a mysterious object at the beginning and a particularly interesting awakening at the end. And of course there are also still the humorous elements that swam around the first series, in this first episode mostly revolving around Gentoku Ryuubi, who is pondering her own awakening. And Hakufu is not in this episode, but I'm sure she'll come around.

The character designs were cleaned up a bit from the first series, but the animation is not much improved, however it was not really horrid to begin with, just not phenomenal. The action scenes are also still pretty neat, not amazing but fun to watch. However this is only the first episode and from the plot being set up it sure looks like there will be a lot more action and fanservice to come. Oh and the music, though still generic at times, is still fun enough to accompany those action sequences.

Well there is not a lot one can take from a first episode from most series, but this one does a decent job with introduction and it looks like that will continue at least somewhat into the second episode. And so far it doesn't really seem like it will be bad at all so I'll just keep watching.
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Iwatch2muchanime



Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:10 am Reply with quote
I'm glad someone else watched this too.

I knew this was coming and when I saw it, I decided then and there to watch it with an open mind, not judging from the first.

This may have been the reason that I viewed this as a decent first episode. Undeadben already geve you the lowdown on what happened and I also thought that the character looked a bit better and the fight(s) were also pretty good, considering what Ikki Tousen is. The animation looked polished but not really good, but not bad to any extent. The story though, seems pretty cool to put in the Ikki Tousen fighters in, although the High School thing is still bugging me, and it just being mentioned in the episode dummed down the entire plot they were trying to throw at you. What does Shimei do exactly? She was wearing a maid's outfit in her room when she was attacked and a cop's outfit in the comercial break thing.
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JackCox



Joined: 22 Jun 2006
Posts: 386
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:29 am Reply with quote
Be serious the only reason anyone watches this series is because it's got so much fan service. It didn't earn the nickname Boobie Tousen or Camel Tousen for nothin, you know.
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omar235



Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 1572
Location: Florida, Jacksonvile
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:16 am Reply with quote
I to have been anticipating this one and finally saw it. I thought it was pretty good...though the plot was dumbed down as the episode progressed (I don't know the first episode of the first Ikki tousen seemed a bit more serious), at least thats how it felt to me. I do like the story and I am looking foward to the next episode
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Redbeard 101
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:07 am Reply with quote
I'm looking forward to this. Sure the show is based around boob and butt shots but who cares right? Wink The animation quality is actually rather good all things considered. I mean this is no Kino's Journey we're talking about here. The manga actually has a decent plot once it hits the second main arc. I believe that's what this season covers. Hopefully they can clean the series up a bit and polish it off. The first season was rather bland, minus the fan service, so hopefully they'll put a bit more effort into the plot. I really enjoyed the first season so hopefully this one will improve a bit and be as enjoyable.
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undeadben



Joined: 06 May 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:40 am Reply with quote
Iwatch2muchanime wrote:
The story though, seems pretty cool to put in the Ikki Tousen fighters in, although the High School thing is still bugging me, and it just being mentioned in the episode dummed down the entire plot they were trying to throw at you.

What High school thing? If you are referring to the wars taking place involving High school students, well I think it is probably one of the only ways to tell the story in a modern setting. These are supposed to be descendants or reincarnations from warriors in the 1800's who battled within their clans. If not in high school the warriors in todays settings would pretty much end up looking like Yakuza or mafia fighting between territories which would somewhat cheapen them as true warriors. At least by having the power struggles among different high schools there is a passable reason for separation among the groups.

omar235 wrote:
I thought it was pretty good...though the plot was dumbed down as the episode progressed (I don't know the first episode of the first Ikki tousen seemed a bit more serious), at least thats how it felt to me.

I think the reason it feels dumbed down is because of the humor. When you take a show with extreme violence which is supposed to be serious, if the humor is silly and zany it just doesn't fit well. Even during the Ryuubi scenes, the main plot being her pending awakening is important to the story and is interesting when I think about it outside of the content it was told in, but how they go about introducing this story makes it look anything but important, and it does look dumb.

psycho 101 wrote:
The manga actually has a decent plot once it hits the second main arc. I believe that's what this season covers.

Thanks for the heads up. Good to know the manga story at this point is at least decent, hoopefully the anime follows suit.

Ok, I'm done with episode 2 and honestly not much has been added. Well except we now know a tad more about Sousou, although we only know more about what is happening to him and what he is doing, nothing at all about "why?" However still somewhat intriguing and a little more action. However there is also more about Ryuubi and it still doesn't fit well. Maybe I'm just more used to Hakufu's dumbness being the humor of the story but I am just not liking the Ryuubi scenes.

There are some series that can blend violence and humor well, this one is just not there. And now that I think about it I really did like the humor in the first season so maybe it is the way it is presented in this one that's bothering me. At least in the first series, Hakufu proved to be so dumb that it was only logical that silly things would happen or be said. Here it is almost like they try to force a moment to be silly when silly shouldn't be there to begin with. If they were going to use humor outside of Hakufu, they probably should have thought up a different way to do it that didn't clash so much with the story and violence.

Anyway, closing moment shows spoiler[Nanyo might finally come into play], so maybe we'll find out more about the object Shimei picked up at the beginning of the first episode, and maybe we'll also finally see Hakufu as well. And despite some of my displeasures it is still interesting overall so I'll still keep watching.
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Mephistophilus



Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Posts: 200
Location: Fresno, CA, United States
PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:32 pm Reply with quote
undeadben wrote:

What High school thing? If you are referring to the wars taking place involving High school students, well I think it is probably one of the only ways to tell the story in a modern setting. These are supposed to be descendants or reincarnations from warriors in the 1800's who battled within their clans. If not in high school the warriors in todays settings would pretty much end up looking like Yakuza or mafia fighting between territories which would somewhat cheapen them as true warriors. At least by having the power struggles among different high schools there is a passable reason for separation among the groups.


Well, the beads actually represent warriors from 1800 years ago, from the Three Kingdoms era of China... Just nitpicking there, though.

As for the show... I never really expected too much more than what it was from the series, as I know that it is pretty much centered completely around fanservice. That being said, I didn't quite mind the series, but I do wish the story was not so simplistic. This is based off spoiler[the Romance of the Three Kingdoms at least roughly, so the fights among the "reincarnations" are indeed obvious. However, it should be a bit more than "vague story line --> FIGHT FIGHT ECCHI FIGHT vague story line," as there are a lot of complicated bits they could have at least partially recreated.] Still, I haven't read the manga, so I don't know if the slightly mindless or disjointed bits are due to a simplistic adaptation or if the manga itself didn't exactly go into detail about the original story.

I didn't mind it, but it was a really nice premise and could have been a lot better with a little more balance with regards to fanservice. I hope the "second season" delves into the story more deeply.
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undeadben



Joined: 06 May 2006
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:52 am Reply with quote
Mephistophilus wrote:
Well, the beads actually represent warriors from 1800 years ago, from the Three Kingdoms era of China... Just nitpicking there, though.


Oh, by all means, I am one who prefers to be corrected, especially when someone else may be looking at this topic and get the wrong info for the show. So Thank you. And I don't even know what drug was going through my brain when I wrote that, the show drills that into our heads almost every single episode, the 1800 years ago part, so I must have just had a brainfart.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7983
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:52 pm Reply with quote
As a fan of the original I had to check out the sequel. So far the story is pretty interesting, Kanu plays a bigger role, the animation looks really great, Kanu, the action is kicked up a notch, and did I mention the beautiful Kanu is in it? Obviously the rampant fanservice is still there as well. I think I'll have no problem liking this one too. Wink
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undeadben



Joined: 06 May 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:55 am Reply with quote
Episodes 2-7 (Yeah, I was a bit behind here)

I’m not going to give a lot of episode specifics; anybody interested in this topic probably knows what’s going on better than me already anyway, so this will be just a ‘random thoughts’ type of post.

At about episode 3 I finally figured out why the series is called Dragon Destiny and why it is actually a really good name. I know, I’m slow on picking things up, but this also explains why certain characters are featured over others in this series which has suddenly become plot driven, rather than character driven as the first one was. Yeah, yeah, I know others would prefer to say it’s fanservice driven, but what are you gonna do? I’m just trying to show that despite all the cool action which ends up being highly distracting because all the cheap material (seriously, where do these people shop?) keeps tearing off with each blow, and sometimes just from the air pressure of a near miss, yes it is chock full of fanservice, I’m just saying that the series does have some kind of central plot and it is actually pretty entertaining. Razz

Anyway, quick hits: watch out for a tease of woken Ryuubi; more power, more violence, even less clothing! Yes characters powering up also shed clothing (I’d imagine DBZ would be quite a different series if people became naked every time they powered up). Also spoiler[Kakuka dies], that was surprising so early on, and at the end spoiler[Hakufu finally appears], yay!

Story starts to come together in episode 4. There are more hidden plots and more attacks, however it also comes with a bit more silliness. Hakufu and Ryuubi meet at one point; it’s like the stupid leading the stupid. Still can’t get into the comedic parts with Ryuubi. She was cool for almost half an episode, and now she’s back to this. More Hakufu overall in the episode, and I do like her funny stuff, so it is just a Ryuubi thing. Hakufu’s still not as the main character, but has a few more scenes and even a scene with Mama! Also a bit of a cliffhanger at the end.

Looses a couple of points for being extraordinarily cheesy a few times in the early part of episode 5, and gains some points in sheer gore. An awful lot is being edited in this; I’m surprised it is not an OAV release instead. Actually the series might have worked better in about 6 OAV episodes as it is already starting to slow down a bit here. Still, there’s enough action to make up for the slow moments. I won’t mention the fanservice again, that would just be an effort in redundancy. Again the ending is enough to keep me interested in the next episode.

In episode 6 Ryuubi and company head into the forest where they battle some weird monks. A young girl who fishes for dragons, likes big breasts, and is apparently a spoiler[great sage] joins the fray. We learn just a bit more about what’s going on, nothing really major though, well aside from the young spoiler[sage] girl with the breast fixation, and then get what probably is the worst fight of the series so far and it may as well be in the weakest episode so far. Major fight coming up in…

… episode 7, where we join the butt whooping at Nanyang already in progress. Major destruction and I have to say they must spend all of their money on repairing school buildings after fights like this, maybe that’s why they can’t afford more durable clothing. A lot of rehashing in this episode so that’s never really good. We do get a glance at more of what Motoku’s really up to, and Ryuubi takes the breast fetishist spoiler[sage] girl to a festival. A nice fight and interesting development near then end, too bad next episode preview is not as bright.

So I finally caught up. The series seems to be slowing right now, what with half an episode of recap at seven, however it also looks like the big war is ready to break out, which is what it is all leading up to, and that is sure to be fun. Motoku is still in control of all the mayhem, but he is the big villain here so he has to do nasty things.

The series is just past the half way point and to here I’d give it a “Decent” for my rating. Not shining, but not bad either. It is entertaining enough as it is and if it lifts itself up in the coming episodes, and the action coming up lifts the pacing, it should end fairly well. For now I am still interested in next week’s episode, despite the less than stellar preview, so the show has not really started to loose me and I hope it, at the very least, keeps up.



ETA: Someone had asked me why I start topics for shows nobody really seems to care too much about or watch, and then keep posting in them. My answer is, “that’s exactly why.” Because not a lot of people are watching them and it’s fun every once in a while to read what people may say about a show that doesn’t have characters named “Haruhi” or “L.” Nothing against those shows, I really like them both, and it’s not that those are the only two shows people talk about, but all the popular shows will get their threads eventually. I like to see even a tiny bit more variety, so I’ll start threads about shows not a lot of people will like or watch. It’s an anime forum after all; why not have more topics about… spoiler[anime]? Strange idea, no?
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Iwatch2muchanime



Joined: 19 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I’d imagine DBZ would be quite a different series if people became naked every time they powered up


Y'know DBZ had quite a bit of clothing shedding going on too. Goku's pants are always in shambles and his shirt is off by the end of almost every fight. same with Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, and Gohan in the later series, but not Pan.......
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Redbeard 101
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:09 pm Reply with quote
Iwatch2muchanime wrote:
Quote:
I’d imagine DBZ would be quite a different series if people became naked every time they powered up


Y'know DBZ had quite a bit of clothing shedding going on too. Goku's pants are always in shambles and his shirt is off by the end of almost every fight. same with Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, and Gohan in the later series, but not Pan.......


I always hoped they'd figure in a scene of Videl with some nice fanservice. Some nice little clothes being ripped or shower scene. Oh well. I'll just have to stick with my precious Ryomo and Kanu Very Happy
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omar235



Joined: 02 Apr 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:08 pm Reply with quote
psycho 101 wrote:
I always hoped they'd figure in a scene of Videl with some nice fanservice. Some nice little clothes being ripped or shower scene. Oh well. I'll just have to stick with my precious Ryomo and Kanu Very Happy


Word on that, too bad it didn't happen...but hey I will settle for Ryomo...and Kanu...and Ryuubi, and Hakufu...hell the whole female cast. Razz That girl whos in the wheel chair is pretty damn hot...I can't spell her name without looking back and I don't feel like it...gotta love her servant too...right. Razz

Any ways back to what 20% of the reason this show was made for...its story...I will go ahead and talk about random events that occured throughout the episodes 1-7. The last episode was really cool with the battle between spoiler[Kanu and the three Pillars of God.] It seems the re-birth of the battle of Chibi is under way. I really am curious about the girl in the wheelchair...I am seriously hoping she fights, hoping the wheelchair is just some cheap gimmick...yes it is because I want her clothing to detierate off her body.

Getting back to the story, Kanu and company have enlisted the help of the spoiler[crouching dragon, Shoumei or something like that.] I have to say I like alot of the new characters good and bad ones. Also I noticed this is a bit more bloody then the first Ikkitousen, I think this is the first time we see somone get ripped in two...thinking of thespoiler[ leader of the gang that used a crow to attack.] Hey Ryomo seems to now have spoiler[a dragon...or at least they now talk about her having one ]always wondered about that eye patch. Hmm is it me or was Kanu a bit to nervous around spoiler[Ryomo when she went to test the Dragon's Jade on Ryuubi, I mean I remember Ryomo getting her ass handed to her by Kanu, Ryomo only managed to break one of Kanu's arms]...I don't know maybe I saw Kanu as god like compared to Ryomo due to the fact that the spoiler[battle went down like Ryomo was practically no match for Kanu]...that or it was just Kanu's cool atmosphere she had you know the "fudge with me and you will be crawling out of here on the stumps of your limbs" feel she gave off...very cool Cool glad she had that same attitude during the fight spoiler[with the three pillars of god monks.] Very Happy

I just want to point out that I managed to give a brief rundown of Ikkitousen: Dragon's Destiny, the episodes so far, with out using the words "breast" "boobs" "big" or "panties". Laughing

Maybe the reason, other then the fanservice, that I like Ikkitousen so much is because I am a huge fan of the Dynasty Warriors games...just thinking on why I like this show so much...I guess it is just the whole plot and story line the show is based on...ancient Chinese warriors.
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Stupidman007



Joined: 02 Feb 2006
Posts: 394
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:31 pm Reply with quote
lol, for some reason, I'm actually starting to follow this series pretty heavily. I guess I just cant get enough Kanu. O yea, Chou-un is awesome too, hope they give her some more screen time in the future. The problem with the first season was a plot that didn't really go anywhere. Here, with the second season, it's a bit more more faithful to the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms, not to mention the addition of characters that people actually cared for.

omar235 wrote:
I really am curious about the girl in the wheelchair...I am seriously hoping she fights, hoping the wheelchair is just some cheap gimmick...yes it is because I want her clothing to detierate off her body.


Her role in the story is supposed to be an advisor, which means she shouldn't be fighting. But then again, Koukin is also an advisor, and neither Sousou nor Sonsaku should be fighting either as they're all supposed to be more brains than brawn.

omar235 wrote:
Hmm is it me or was Kanu a bit to nervous around spoiler[Ryomo when she went to test the Dragon's Jade on Ryuubi, I mean I remember Ryomo getting her ass handed to her by Kanu, Ryomo only managed to break one of Kanu's arms]...I don't know maybe I saw Kanu as god like compared to Ryomo due to the fact that the spoiler[battle went down like Ryomo was practically no match for Kanu]...that or it was just Kanu's cool atmosphere she had you know the "fudge with me and you will be crawling out of here on the stumps of your limbs" feel she gave off...very cool Cool


The reason for that is because Ryomo was supposed to be the warrior who killed Kanu in history, as explained in episode 3. The earlier fight between those two in the first season was premature, and was not supposed to indicate anything.
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omar235



Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 1572
Location: Florida, Jacksonvile
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 10:03 pm Reply with quote
Stupidman007 wrote:
lol, for some reason, I'm actually starting to follow this series pretty heavily. I guess I just can't get enough Kanu. O yea, Chou-un is awesome too, hope they give her some more screen time in the future. The problem with the first season was a plot that didn't really go anywhere. Here, with the second season, it's a bit more more faithful to the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms, not to mention the addition of characters that people actually cared for.

omar235 wrote:
I really am curious about the girl in the wheelchair...I am seriously hoping she fights, hoping the wheelchair is just some cheap gimmick...yes it is because I want her clothing to detierate off her body.


Her role in the story is supposed to be an advisor, which means she shouldn't be fighting. But then again, Koukin is also an advisor, and neither Sousou nor Sonsaku should be fighting either as they're all supposed to be more brains than brawn.


Yeah I know, I was just hoping...and hey it is possible...you know you want to see some of her clothing fly. Laughing Yeah I am glad for this being claser to the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms.


Stupidman007 wrote:
omar235 wrote:
Hmm is it me or was Kanu a bit to nervous around spoiler[Ryomo when she went to test the Dragon's Jade on Ryuubi, I mean I remember Ryomo getting her ass handed to her by Kanu, Ryomo only managed to break one of Kanu's arms]...I don't know maybe I saw Kanu as god like compared to Ryomo due to the fact that the spoiler[battle went down like Ryomo was practically no match for Kanu]...that or it was just Kanu's cool atmosphere she had you know the "fudge with me and you will be crawling out of here on the stumps of your limbs" feel she gave off...very cool Cool


The reason for that is because Ryomo was supposed to be the warrior who killed Kanu in history, as explained in episode 3. The earlier fight between those two in the first season was premature, and was not supposed to indicate anything.


Ahh, you know they did say that when they meet, that they were meeting prematurly...I thought that Kanu was just saying that Ryomo wasn't strong enough at the moment to defeat her...you know if things go by how destiny wants...this is going to be a sad ending.
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