Busou Renkin

Busou Renkin is a story that takes many of its elements from other anime. You'll see elements of Fullmetal Alchemist, Ruroui Kenshin, Shakugan no Shana, Fate/Stay Night, and probably a bunch more. Though Busou Renkin was developed by the creator of Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki, it is not as epic as the story of Kenshin was. However, despite some of the obvious points of this series, Busou Renkin manages to uphold fairly well and be a relatively enjoying series. Busou Renkin means Arms Alchemy. In this story, there are homunculi that are running about the land and its up to alchemic warriors,using these Arms Alchemy devices (which spring forth a weapon based on the users personality) to vanquish the homunculi. This does sound a little bit familiar but Busou Renkin does manage to throw in its own elements and enough plot twists to keep it original. Deep down, however, its still your run of the mill "regular kid rising up out of nowhere to save the world" theme. The animation is up to par with todays standards, but in some episodes however, you'll see it lacking. Or rather, in some places and characters. Otherwise, there isn't too much to complain of about the art. The music and such in Busou Renkin isn't all that bad, but its also nothing spectacular. The opening theme song is pretty catchy and the music scores during battles do raise your tension a bit, but what I found missing from this particular anime was that one, catchy song, piece of music that reels you in no matter what was happening in the anime. And thus, at some points, I found myself losing concentration a different points in the show. Nobuhiro Watsuki must have some kind of fetish with scars, because as with Kenshin, the main female protagonist here has a defining scar too (though the scar is not as important to the plotline as Kenshin's was). Anyway, back to the characters. Kazuki, the main male lead, is your typical hero who I found to be a little too perfect. Without giving too much away, you can say it was hard to go against him in battles. However, Kazuki was your only typical character. Nobuhiro Watsuki has created a plethora of unique (and some rather a little *too* unique if you ask me) characters which is a nice change of pace from the norm. All in all, a lot of Busou Renkin is pretty cliche and obvious as to what may happen. The ending, in my taste, was a little too premature, in other words, it seemed as if it was put together forcefully to have that particular ending. The pace of the story starts off rather quickly, immersing you immediately without giving all the details, but soon starts to slow back down to a reasonable pace. If you're looking for a series that's 26 episodes long that's rather enjoyable to watch, but nothing "eye-popping," as well as something with romance, Busou Renkin is something you definitely should check out.

EDIT: There is one thing i have to say. Watch the first three (or four) episodes, consisting of Papillon. If you enjoy them, continue watching. If you don't, stop watching. It's as simple as that. The first three episodes is like the mini-arc going into the main arc, setting the scene, and making the expression known. If you do not enjoy the style (art, characters, all around) then you won't enjoy the rest. I'm not saying that it's all exactly like that, but it is enough to tell if you will like it or not. This was a generally good anime. Though some of the aspects ofthe anime are stereotypical (Boy with strong convictions, girl who doesn't understand, fall in love when they understand eachother, etc.) there are some atypical points to it. And watching it along side by side with Shakugan No Shana has made it very interesting. STORY: 7 First off; the Story is relatively good. Not great, but good. The plot goes along the lines of "Hidden Monsters inside the City that we have to eliminate". Very stereotypical. They eat humans to survive, and they must prevent this. But, there's an added danger. Humans can become these homunculus creatures. Albeit they never actually take advantage of this added conflict, there is a point where it is used. I would've liked to have seen more of this aspect, to diverge itself from the other anime. If i could give this story an "Average" score, i would, because it's definitely an average story. ART: 9 The art was very impressive, and very flashy. The combat scenes were definitely Shounen, along with the other "relaxing" scenes, from the vibrant display of femininity in certain characters, all the way to the flashy display of masculine grittiness. I enjoyed the art sometimes more than the story, because a lot of the time they'd have pretty pictures to go along with the flashbacks that usually distracted me. SOUND: 7 The opening was fairly good, but nothing that inspired inspiration for me to watch it again, like Bleach or even Erementar Gerad. The ED sequences were fairly interesting, though by that time you're usually just wanting to go on to the next show (whether to see what happens, or in my case to get it over with). CHARACTERS: 7 (10 for Tokiko) The two main characters were interesting enough, but my favorite characters were the captain and tokiko. I enjoyed the captain because he strayed away from the typical "I will do the right thing, in my own opinion", and went with "I will do the right thing whether it hurts me or not". And, i enjoyed Tokiko because she went out of the stereotypical beautiful female lead, and was more masculine and gritty rather than perfectly manicured fingernails while weilding a sword. That was my favorite aspect of the characters, was that she was animated and voiced perfectly for the role she was in. I didn't like the submissiveness of the other characters, because it seemed like it was too convenient for the Writers. I give the general cast a 7, and Tokiko a 10. ENJOYMENT: 8 Overall, it's fun to watch. To see how everything turns out. But that's why you watch them after episode 1, yes? There are plenty of good love scenes, mainly battle scenes, in all its purest Shounen. This was a great anime to watch on a sick day. It definitely makes you happier and in some cases it'll make you angry with "The Man". So if you like action sequences and Dragon Ball Z style "Levelling up because i am inspired" sort of deal, then this is the Anime for you. OVERALL: 8 I enjoyed this Anime, for its atypical points more than not, but frowned upon the easy plotline. This isn't as epic as Rurouni Kenshin, or as deep as some of the other anime developed by these people. Though, if you start watching this show past the third or fourth episode, you might start to enjoy it! Be warned! It is enjoyable as a whole, but not really much unique value. The best part, i will say, of this series is past episode 18. You think that after the first three episodes that the plotline is over (Which it could've been), then new circumstances arrive. I'll just leave you with this. Watch the first three episodes, if you like them, continue. If you don't. Stop.

Busou Renkin is an anime for those who are looking forward to see lots of action, great battles and a great variety of weapons and characters. So if you are a Naruto/Bleach fan you should watch this one, it will be for sure of your liking and probably (in some aspects) may be considered better than the previously named animes. The story in this anime is pretty much straight forward, those of you who are familiar with Bleach plot will find the storyline very tentative and it will be very likely of your interest, being similar to Bleach's. A boy wakes up from a nighmare, inthis nightmare he protected a girl from a monster, but he was murdered in the process. Later on he realizes that he really died and that, what keeps him alive, is a alchemic artifact known as "Kakugane". Tokiko-san (the girl who saved him) explains that this artifact materializes it's warrior's battle instict into the form of a weapon, an arm, Arms Alchemy: Busou Renkin. The enemies here are called "Humunculus" (is this similar to Full Metal Alchemist by any chance?) and do have "another type" of alchemy power. This monsters have a strong appetite for humans because of the unconscious desire they have to recover the humanity they've losed. Then there are other more powerful enemies like Human-Humunculus (Humunculus with Busou Renkin powers), Alchemic warriors made into something similar to humunculus, you get the point. Similar indeed to Bleach's concept of Vizards, Hollows and Arrancars. Also the story has a very common sequence, used in most action-shounen animes: you first got a treat to eliminate, you eliminate the enemies in episode one then another more powerful enemy comes in episode 2 and another and then another, the usual. But this sequence asures that the anime has a very wide range of characters which makes the story more interesting and worthwhile. It got it's twists, almost all being around the main character (Kazuki). This twists are what really will make you keep watching the anime to the end, because you will feel very attached to Kazuki, but not to any other character really. The artistic design is in a very high level. The locations look very good, even when thay get destroyed, and believe me, this happens a lot. But on the other hand the character's design is a bit... gay. Characters like Papillon and Moonface really look like taken out from fairytales. If you have watched animes like Speed Grapher you will find the appereance of the characters (enemies specifically) very similar and probably like it, if not and you are planning on watching this then get used to it, but don't worry you will learn that this characters really are scary (excluding Poke-Moonface Mooooooooon! Definitely one of the most stupid character's I've seen.) Continuing on let's talk about the sound. I have to say that this anime's soundtrack rocks. The opening is superb and almost all sountracks are just the perfect match for the Busou Renkin concept. Without the appropiate music the battles really would have been boring but, actually, the strength of this anime lies here: the battle soundtracks are stunning, they do give the battles more drama and spice and definitely makes them feel really sort of heroic, far from being boring. The ambience themes are also perfectly inputted and give the peaceful / critical feeling depending the situation. Characters are as various as episodes are in the anime. We've got personalities from idiotic and childish to sorrowful and really evil. Most of the characaters, as mentioned before, have a staraflarious look that doesn't escape from being stupid. But even so the personalities are not reflected by the looks. Take Papillon for instance: he may look like a butterfly, and some times act really gay but when he get's serious he really does look scary as hell. Every character has a different power (at least those who posses a Kakuganes). These powers are really original and different, are mainly represented as weapons. But actually each weapon have a different property, this properties go from high speed regeneration to gravity control, so really a wide difference between weapons. Regarding the personalities itself I have to say it's impossible not to take notice Kazuki's stubborn and "I wat to save everyone" behavior. At some times the way he acts is really annoying but you will get used to it and, at the end, really love this character. Also these guy get's trashed really bad and, supposedly, killed many times (I counted 4). But somehow he manages to stand up and win the fights, so we've got a hero that always wins and never gives up, even if he is supposed to be dead. A pretty often used model of character in modern Shounen animes to create sympathy around the main lead. The character development, again, only centres around Kazuki. He goes from having no powers to become the most powerful warrior in the Alchemic Society, and that progress does take time but still it gives a good amount of anxiety to go on watching it. Also note he always learns new techniques and, at some point, he unleases his real powers. This is a pretty good example for an anime that is good, not perfect, has factors similar to other animes, and can still manage to deliver great fun and satisfaction. I really enjoyed watching Busou Renkin. It ended good and there was not need for more content after it's conclusion. I recommend it to anyone, it doesn't matter if you don't watch this kind of animes, because really it's just the same formula that other animes, like Bleach, use. But Bleach is popular isn't it? So that means the formula works, it worked for me at least.

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