Over the course of my anime watching pastime I was fortunate enough to have been acquainted with anime that were high in both rating and quality and this never experienced a time when I watched an underrated anime one which was a great anime but its rating didnt justify it at all or an anime that was not popular and deserved more attention life isnt always fair and as such Hakyuu Houshin Engi was sadly caught under the web of both these unfortunate situations mainly because of the manga elitists or sourcefags as the casual internet term coined it. Before we begin Ill cover the external problems Hakyuu Houshin Engi faced before it even aired before I review the show because I feel it is necessary to let the readers of the review know that they should understand what the show went through and the unfair problems it had to face and finally that they shouldnt judge this show by its rating and this review will answer all of that. The manga elitists of Houshin Engi were quick to outright reject the anime and this isnt surprising because the LotGH elitists quickly rejected the remake of the show as well. For Houshin Engis case the manga lovers complained that the pacing in the anime is too fast which was true for the first few episodes and that it deserves a 1 for doing so which is definitely something that didnt make sense since they didnt look at the other things in the anime at all or heck give the show a chance and watch it through because Hakyuu Houshin Engi did improve considerably from around the end of its first half and went on. As such another problem that was unfair for Hakyuu Houshin Engi was that not many people decided to pick it up when it first aired and before the elitists started giving 1s and 2s and the mean broke down completely since the show was pretty niche outside Japan. Unlike the monstrous popularity of Hunter x Hunter a show Houshin Engi the manga is comparable to according to people acquainted with both series which obviously was a great hit among the Western Anime market along with Japan as well and this is largely because the manga was still publishing around the time when the remake first aired and another fact being that Hunter x Hunter 2011 went on for a year with more than a hundred episodes thus allowing the hype to go on and keep on increasing Hakyuu Houshin Engi didnt have that unfortunately. Its manga ended long ago its budget was a mere shadow of Hunter x Hunters budget and the elitists couldnt swarm HxH since its casual view count steadily kept on increasing thanks to the benefits the famous show had. My point of rambling on about HxH a show I havent watched but have spoken to many readers/watchers about? Its that Hakyuu Houshin Engi had a lot of problems to face even before it aired that were against its power or control and this sadly took over and let to the shows drop in rating early on thanks to the manga fans. This ultimately led to casual watchers not acquainted with the series being discouraged from watching the show because of its unfortunately low rating and again didnt help the show garner the attention it so deserved either. Im not saying the show is a 10/10 at all but Im saying the show isnt worth its average score on the site and needs a person to have a clear mind when watching this anime. 720http://blog.draggle.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/01/hakyuuhoushinengi0102.jpg A last reminder when reading this review I recommend not having the prejudice about checking back with the shows mean score and read the review with a clear mind : To begin with Hakyuu Houshin Engi has a fantastic world. Its world building is such that I havent seen most fantasy anime equal at such a scale before. The Sennin World the Doshi world the Human World and the skies above it and to get into detail Kongrong Mountain and Yin. There were a lot of places covered in the anime and the way they were represented and created was done with intricate detail and much like other high fantasy shows it made you think a lot. As such the fleshed out world didnt feel bland or empty and surprisingly made you feel at home or imagine that there might be such a place far far away a lot like the Hobbit for you Lord of the Rings fans out there as an example of course Im not comparing it with Houshin Engi mind you. But it had a vibrant feel that such a world could exist and that it made you dream or imagine it as I mentioned above which is why I related it to the aforementioned book once again it cant compare to the Hobbit but its amazing in its own right. It also had an amazing set of characters with varied and detailed backstories. Be it Taikobo the MC Yozen Bunchu Genshi Tenson among others. Everyone had an important story to tell. Taikobos tragic and obviously noncliched past was a highlight since weve been used to seeing the pathetic MC type nowadays more on Taikobo below but then again the Houshin Engi manga first released in 1996 so we cant say hes a good MC among MCs in this decade even though he may be close since his original appearance was around 2 decades ago obviously. Yozens backstory was interesting since it had a dark feel to it especially when his mere existence is dark for that matter and his backstory is the same. Youd make a huge mistake if you wrote Yozen off as the happy go lucky type. And Genshi Tenson wasnt exactly as good as you might think either. He was involved in some shady dealings which came back to bite him and youll find out more about this seemingly very good man later on in the show as well. Bunchu as well set a different tone and you couldnt exactly label him a villain as well surprisingly since he wasnt invading a place for personal gain he was protecting the place he loved but took a strict stance on protecting it at all costs and the reason behind that has to do with a very important part of his past. All these were examples of characters who do change and have distinct changes within them that set them apart from other shows as well. A villain who isnt necessarily bad? Your master lying to you? Your existence being used for someone elses gain? These were examples of how deep the story was with its explanation and representation of its said characters and there are a few more of them as well who I cant cover due to them coming later in the show which could mean a spoiler and Im trying to keep this review spoilerfree. As such you see the development these characters had as well during the course of the show and how they deal with the questions I gave as examples above. How will you deal with powerlessness? Can you really save the world as you thought you could? Are you prepared for losing companions and friends if theres war? These were all questions Taikobo was faced with throughout the series and boy do they feel unfamiliar since theyre rare to see in Shounen shows of today because Shounen today is all about the MC defeating your enemy without any major losses and winning because of the spirit of your nakama and you. Houshin Engi shows us the harsh reality that you can lose much more than you thought in war and that spirit alone isnt enough to win a battle. You need power and if you dont have it you lose. Emotional and physical strength both are necessary. As for other characters we saw Yozen deal with his story and his existence Genshi Tenson deal with his past mistakes along with that Bunchu try his hardest to keep Yin alive Dakki control over the kingdom. These all are examples of what the aims and efforts of characters were and how they dealt with their problems. As such development was most certainly seen in the show and I covered this in detail in the paragraph above as well. Despite that Houshin Engi knew how to cleverly hide a few important details in the beginning and show them in the later episodes making for a decent surprise. Another thing I want to cover is the art. It being a remake obviously gives it a chance at having a better artstyle than the previous adaptation and so far Hakyuu Houshin Engi does really well for its time. Character models looked great the world and backgrounds were great and the fight scenes arguably the most important were done well. Speaking of things done well what was REALLY fantastic was the BGM BackGround Music to those unfamiliar with the term. It had a distinct Chinese root to it as was the shows theme for that matter and not once did I feel like it was bland. The same could be said for the OPs and EDs of which a very clever selection of songs were chosen a hype OP by none other than Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and peaceful EDs to balance it out and to be honest it wasnt at all underwhelming. It was a fantastic choice of music to go with the brilliant BGM as well. 720https://.fireden.net/a/image/1516/99/1516990518960.png Hakyuu Houshin Engi does a few things that set itself apart from other anime in the genre. Aside from the one I mentioned above a very important example is that Hakyuu Houshin Engi shows us character deaths. And no Im not talking about minor character deaths. We see important characters die. A LOT. After receiving the development they need as a character some of them were killed. Why is this important? Its important because it signifies that Taikobos side is not strong. Many Shounen anime try to paint the MCs side as weak but they dont FEEL weak because they usually win every time with no casualties but Houshin Engi was different. It as mentioned had a set of important characters who died perhaps horrible deaths while some died honourable ones giving the viewer a sense of gravity that the world of Houshin Engi especially Taikobos side suffers from. Speaking of Taikobos side as well Taikobo isnt a slacked of an MC either. His tragic past is clearly shown and his past is reflected in the present and as his brother said it shows in his future as well. He might seem like the happy go lucky type as most other Shounen MCs are but Taikobos sudden tense behavior when hes going through a tough time like for example dealing with the death of a close companion? isnt something youre gonna see so often in other places. Yeah the bright world is shown as being a colourful and happy place and yeah we have a wide variety of characters but Taikobo is the MC for a reason and his character clearly deserves to be called a good MC as a result of his actions. He makes you root for him. Not because he has more screen time but when we see him interact with everyone else and vow not to let more deaths happen you really root for him because you get attached to the vibrant characters as well. Thats what Houshin Engi is all about. The world the characters the harsh realities of the world as well and of the people involved too. With that said Hakyuu Houshin Engi isnt perfect by all means. I spent the first paragraphs explaining the manga fans problem and how they overblew the issues with the anime but what is true is true the anime DOES have its set of problems although not to the way the manga fans over blew it and most of those have to do with the remake more than the actual story again its not as huge of a problem as it may seem to be to hear else Id be contradicting myself and the entire purpose of the review which is to give you an honest look at why this anime should be watched instead of take the easy route and bash it from every angle to the tune of the manga fans. The first halfs pacing was indeed fast. Things happened all to quickly without letting the viewers understand whats happening unless they have the ability to read fast or watch the dub and comprehend the situation fast and not need to backtrack. Unfortunately if you were not a part of that group you were out of luck. Youd have to backtrack for around the first 10 episodes since their pacing was on the fast side. On the other hand if youre someone who likes J.C Staff youd probably be able to handle this CStation.co Production the other much more popular show CStation.co did was Yuru Camp or LaidBack Camp for you English name fans out there. In contrast the second half was nicely paced. I think the studio felt that the pacing was fast and decided to cut on the pace which led the speed in the second half to be a huge improvement since everyone could understand what happened and how without needing to backtrack at all which is definitely something to be happy about now if youre bingeing the anime the sudden shift from fast paced to normal pace may make you feel like the second half is slow but I can assure you that is not the case with binging it may seem so but thankfully its not that big of a contrast. What did seem to be a problem though was that Dakki is largely unexplained apart from a one episode backstory that leaves out some important details. This is something to be concerned about since Dakki is the main villain of the anime and obviously she needs development or at least backstory to make her seem so. As mentioned she DID get an episode solely dedicated to her backstory and it did serve most of its purpose but viewers may realise that a few questions were left unanswered the biggest being where did Dakki come from? They did show a bit of what she was doing before she became the villain she is known for but they didnt show how she interacted with the world as a child or her as a child for that matter as well. Apart from her though other villains were covered well. Bunchu was sort of like a villain and his backstory was covered and his purpose was repeatedly explained whenever he made his appearance Ou Tenkuns backstory was dark and eerie and was a surprise since I thought hed have more of a villainlike backstory but instead his backstory was interestingly different which is reflective of the anime since when you expect something you get a different point and it serves as a great idea to keep things fresh. The last problem is a subjective one. Bunchus obsession with Yin was repeated and reminded a lot and many people could be frustrated with listening to him preach about Yin again and again. But the last arc opened everyones eyes on that matter along with the important fact that we do get to see Yin and its history earlier on in the second half so thats that I suppose. Overall my purpose for writing this review was very different from my other reviews generally the purpose of this review was to let the readers know that Hakyuu Houshin Engi isnt a show that should be written off just because of its mean score since its mean score isnt affected by casual viewers giving it a low rating but instead the manga fans voicing their frustration because this didnt happen and that didnt happen as strict manga fans usually do not like anime versions or remakes of what they hold to be the original but I dont see that as a bad thing 100. Its because if you liked this anime youll love the manga even more. Thats the most of what I could say which mirrors the manga readers but if Im asked to offer my personal opinion try this show without any prejudice on its mean score and just relax and watch. Im sure youll like Hakyuu Houshin Engi or at least it wont be a 1/10 or 2/10 show as the manga fans describe it and the criminally low mean it sadly has to put up with. Its never a good idea to judge a show by its mean score since a high rated anime can be bad and a low rated anime can be good as is the case with Hakyuu Houshin Engi so to end on a positive note I hope you get to enjoy Hakyuu Houshin Engi the way the creators intended it to be enjoyed : 1080https://myanimelist.cdndena.com/images/anime/10/90086l.jpg Story: 7.5 Animation: 7.5 Sound: 9 Character: 7.5 Enjoyment: 9 Overall: 8.1