Shion no Ou

Shion no Ou is the story of a young girl with a past full of tragedy and a present full of love. This anime made me redesign my entire scoring process... Story: Unique, genius, suspenseful, and even funny at times. I barely knew what Shougi was before I watched this, and while I was watching it, but I still enjoyed it. There are several twists and turns, but they all follow the main story line, and are extremely well thought out. It is easy to keep up with this show, but at the same time you have to think a lot. Art: Near the end it gotfunky, but for the main part the art in this show was good. Very dramatic, cute, silly, and so forth, but only when it was needed. I loved it. Sound: You hardly notice it in the background, but it makes your heart pound and increases the suspense. Character: I don't even know how to go into this. Shion has amazing development, considering she was mute. I changed my suspects in the middle of the show, before it became obvious, because of the dropped hints that made me think. The other characters are also very interesting, Ayame in particular. It is hard not to love some of the characters, and hate others. They design it in a way that made the wins and losses somehow make sense. Overall, This show, as I stated before, made me redesign my entire rating method. It brought into my eyes a whole new meaning to a 10 score. I will never watch anime the same again. =^.^=

*SPOILER WARNING* One has to wonder what the makers of Shion no Ou were thinking in mixing aspects of mystery and board game developments into a title that quite often goes overboard with its plot and characters. The series covers Shion's rise in the game of shogi and slowly unveiling facts that reveal the killer of her parents from years earlier. The series does do fairly good at setting up reasonable character depth with a number of its major characters and they have enough personality where they don't feel tacked on with a random character archetype, with Ayumi's character having the best development of the charactersin this series with his personal issues and the conflicts he has for his reasons of playing shogi. On a basic level, it also does well at setting up suspense with its mystery as the series drops hints to keep one guessing over who may be threatening Shion and had killed her parents. Also expect a good number of cliffhangers at the end of many episodes of the series that make for effective hooks to suck you into seeing the next episode. However beyond all this, a good amount of Shion no Ou got quite a bit ridiculous with its developments thanks to its board game/ mystery mix. While Shion makes for somewhat of a likeable character with her strong determination and resolve to avoid intimidation in heated shogi matches, the levels in which she is committed, despite issues affecting her like harassment and health problems, gets quite ridiculous in attempts of forced drama. Elements to the plot also get their absurd moments with the amateur/ pros tournament organized later in the series with the heavy amount of media coverage and how the games are promoted, as well as the reasons for why its lead sponsor even organized it considering the likelihood of how the whole thing would go. The mystery element also runs into its flaws thanks to the depictions of Shion's killer. When they are in cognito during early episodes to threaten Shion, the killer's attire sticks out so much that it makes them look more silly than threatening. Then when you come to learn who it is and why they pulled off the murders, their personality takes a sudden change that wasn't consistent with their personality in earlier episodes and their reason for killing makes no sense at all. This series also might alienate Western viewers not familiar with shogi as Shion no Ou is made in mind for Eastern viewers familiar with the game as characters frequently toss out different terms and scenarios of the game. Unless you are either familiar with the game or are watching a fansub with notes on the various terms discussed, you could get lost following what is being discussed or understanding what is going on in current competitions. Also with the series being a game based one focused on Shion's efforts, the outcomes to games can get quite predictable at many points which kills much of the suspense one has from anticipating who they think could win them. On the visual end, Shion no Ou does get a bit inconsistent with its animation quality. The first few episodes and scenes throughout the show at points feature character designs and scenery with clean details and lush color that make the series look like an above-average work. However, later episodes have a number of scenes where the quality of design details take a hit either looking rough or being simplified and the color applied within scenes look washed up. I wouldn't recommend watching this series if you are looking for a worthwhile game-focused title. While Shion no Ou is fairly engaging with its character developments and having some surprises with seemingly hostile characters, the blurring of its mystery and gaming genres creates enough of a mess with creating believable situations and developments facing its major characters and plot. You'd be better off checking out Hikaru no Go as the series retains believable developments with its exploration of Go without attempting a mish-mash of different genres.

Just finish watching Shion no Ou lol I Gotta say this anime is really well written and I enjoy watching this till the end! the story is well plan out and not like any other anime I watched. If you like/enjoy Hikaru no Go then you should Definitely check out this anime too, If you don't know Hikaru No Go then I still recommended watching this. I'm a really big fan of Tragedy animes and so this anime is seem really good to me.

This is my first ever review, but i hope it helps. This anime is much more than it seems, i have never like these genres of anime, i have always been more into romance, but this is the first time ive changed my mind, I recommend this to all no matter you're genre, it is the kind of anime that will stick with, leave that feeling that you have learned something, it it really has taught me a lot, i have fully enjoyed this anime greatly! Art- It may not be the top newest art, but i don't think any other kind of art could replaceit, the art itself gives off so much emotion, i absolutely loved it. Story- The plot of this anime fell together like a masterpiece! It kept you guessing but gave you a feeling of completeness, just when i thought i figured it out, it came up to be something different, it really was an amazing anime i will never forget, so for me i (obviously) recommend this to everyone who like anime period, lol well thank you for reading all the way to this, have a nice day and watch this anime! Its a must see!

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