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Legend of the Dog Warriors - Hakkenden Actor: Dog Warriors-Hakkenden Number of Items: 3 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Format: Color, Animated, Box set Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 420 minutes Studio: Pioneer Video Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-10-09 Buy from Amazon |
 "If only they hadn't run out of funding...."I watched this entire series in one sitting several years ago with some friends - right after it was realeased actually. The storyline has great depth, both in plot and character. We all watched it again about 6 months later because it was so good. I only wish the makers had not run out of funding before finishing the series. The artwork is great when it's good, and disappointing when it's bad. One good thing is that the bad artwork is not enough to kill the storyline, which keeps you hooked waiting for the next episode. I give it 5 stars because there are plenty of poorly drawn anime, but none of them hold you with their storyline like The Dog Warriors. Make sure you watch the subtitled version though. We saw one episode of the dubbed version and the story lost a lot of it's meaning (same fate many kung-fu movies suffer). Hakkenden is a series I really appreciate for it's more mature storyline and good artwork (when it is good). Whether you buy this one or not, watch it - it's worth every minute.  "For the most part, pretty good"The Hakkenden is the story of eight warriors reincarnated from the bizaare union of a woman and a dog. Sounds weird but it's presented in a mature (not explicit) manner. This is complicated by the fact that they don't know each other, so the story is basically their meeting and what transpires. From other reviews, it seems that changing animation styles within the series is the biggest complaint, so let me address that. The first three episodes have consistent animation which is quite good. Episode four is a different style, but it's not too offensive. By the end of the episode, I liked it. Episodes 4-8 and 11-13 all have the same style, which is similar to the first one. Episode 9 is very basic, but you probably won't wince too much. Episode 10 is a joke. It contains the worst, most comically bad animation I've ever seen. At times the characters' faces are little more than blobs. I spent most of the episode laughing at the animation, so all in all I probably got my money's worth. Bottom line on the animation: it's not as big a deal as lots of people make it out to be. Read on. The story is pretty intriguing in many places. It seems confusing at first because they dump a hundred different names on you at once, but you really only need to know a small fraction of those names for it to make sense. The characters are not brilliantly developed, but most of them are still interesting. The villain is well done and creepy, although he gets no closure at all. Having a few more episodes to flesh out the eight warriors wouldn't have hurt. One thing I liked was the atmosphere. Especially in the last three episodes, the feudal Japanese style is really well done, aided by some very good combat animation. When characters fight they do so with grace and fluidity and best of all, most fights are brief and decisive. So all in all the Hakkenden is an enjoyable, pretty well done anime. It has its flaws, but so does everything. (plus, it's affordable. doesn't that [upset you]when a series has thirteen episodes and they want over a hundred dollars for it? what's the deal?) Anyway, that's the story on The Hakkenden.  "Not verry well put together"When I watched the first disc I thought this was a really good series, but once I went on to the next disc I was outraged. The next disc starts out with what looks like a 1rst graders attempt at animation, I think the next episode had bad animation too. But after that it seemed like they went back to the original animators, I was a little mad but I figured the worst was over now. Well a couple episodes later the 1rst graders where back in the animation studio. Changing animators like this is the worst thing you can do, I could see if the animation started out horrible and they upgraded it but why make it worse. On top of all that the story was another one of those stupid make no sense Akira, Ghost in the Shell types. The ending was horrible, the only reason I give it 3 stars is some of the episodes where actually really good. I will bash any anime I dont like, I dont care if everyone else thinks its great or not. "Ethical dilema of strangling animators...."I was given this as a gift from a friend of mine for a birthday. First off I want to say that the idea behind this series is awesome! Its rare you find a good Fuedal Era Japan series but this definatly ranks up there with the best. I will get to the point quickly tho: why the 3 star review? Well like I said, the STORY is great but the animation is sorely lacking. Everything else about it (except maybe some of the english voice overs) are great, but for about 2/3 of the series you just want to walk away from the bad animation. Some people say that only the parts where they switched animators is where it falls apart, but I disagree. If you watch even the first episode you catch little nuances that are very very annoying. I am going to cut this short but be advised, I STRONGLY recomend a rental (if you can) before you buy this. Or better yet, get a friend to buy it and watch it that way ;)  "Very Dissapointing"I read the back cover and got ready for some real entertainment. While I like some of the mech warrior type anime, I really just love history/fantasy based, anime of ancient Japan. I thought the story was a little hard to follow at first because they kept throwing in new people in every episode. Then about the time when I could watch the movie without having to think who was who and how they realated to everyone else they went and messed with the animation. There was 2 or 3 episodes in the middle of the series where the animation was quite horrifying and someone nausiating to watch. Everyone had horses teeth and their faces looked like a wax doll stuck in the fire. At that point the series went back to confusing (since it was hard to tell the people apart since the animation style changed so drastically). All in all, if you are going mostly for story and don't care about animation style, then give this one a try....but my biggest suggestion on this one is rent it or borrow a copy before you decide to buy!!! |
