Touken Ranbu Hanamaru - Season One (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlex

Prepping for convention season has caused me to fall a little behind on watching anime. Luckily I was able to find some time to check out the latest historical anime from Funimation, Touken Ranbu Hanamaru.

Plot

I know you’re not supposed to judge an anime by its slipcover, and I definitely did with Touken Ranbu Hanamaru. Based on the cover and the description, I thought this would be a historical action anime with some slice-of-life moments, similar to Rurouni Kenshin. In reality, Touken Ranbu is a slice-of-life anime with some historical action thrown on top as a garnish. This drastically changes the focus of the plot to be more about the daily interactions of the sword warriors, with some missions thrown into the mix.As a fan of slice-of-life anime, I thought I would enjoy this series even if it was different than advertised. But this show has a lot of continuity issues that made watching it a chore. For one, there is no clear protagonist. It seems like Yamatonokami, who is the main focus of several episodes. However, there are plenty of episodes where he is barely shown or acts as more of a supporting character. He also has an unresolved ending. In the final episode, he nearly changes the past when he attempts to save his former master, Okita Souji. This recklessness causes him to reflect on his actions, and he and his new Master decide it’s best for him to do some solo work. He leaves and returns extremely suddenly, with no mention of where he went, what he did, or how he knew to come back.Speaking of the Master, the mystery surrounding them starts off as interesting, but quickly fizzles out. The Master’s identity is never revealed, nor are they given a voice. Several characters are seen having a conversation with the Master, but it always appears to be one sided. As the sole reason these swords are being animated into men, you’d think we’d at least see the Master working. But alas, their identity is one of many unsolved mysteries.

Animation

One thing I really enjoyed about Touken Ranbu Hanamaru was the amount of color they used in each scene. Each character has something vibrant about them, be it their outfits or their hairstyle. The also do almost magical girl poses, which was interesting to see. The poses really allow the characters to express themselves in combat. The unique styles also make it easy to differentiate between each character.

Characters

Speaking of characters...there are a lot of them. At one point one of the characters mentions that around forty swords have been reanimated. Forty is a huuuge ensemble of characters for a viewer to familiarize themselves with. Unsurprisingly, I had an extremely tough time remembering all their names and their sword types. The good thing is that information isn’t particularly integral to the plot, so I had no trouble following the story.

Packaging & Bonus Materials

My hope in life is that standard DVD & Blu-Ray releases will include worthwhile bonus features. Unfortunately, that dream does not come true with the Touken Ranbu Hanamaru release. The only bonus features are a textless opening song and some anime trailers. It would be cool to see something about the adaptation process from video game to anime. Alas, something like that will probably be on a collector’s edition release.As a fan of historical anime, I find my viewing experience of Touken Ranbu Hanamaru tainted, which makes it hard for me to recommend the show. However, if you’re someone who enjoys slice-of-life anime with a bit of historical fluff, definitely check this one out. Fans looking to add Touken Ranbu Hanamaru to their collection can purchase it here from Funimation.