Gift is going to release the Hakuouki Plushie Series 02 Okita Soji ( 沖田総司 ) plush from the game/anime “Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan” ( 薄桜鬼 新選組奇譚 ). Will be released in August 2010. Around 200mm tall (sitting postition), 2,667 yen. Hijikata Toshizo, Okita Soji, Saitou Hajime, Toudou Heisuke (left to right) Here is a good news for the [...]
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Gift is going to release the Hakuouki Plushie Series 01 Hijikata Toshizo ( 土方歳三 ) plush from the game/anime “Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan” ( 薄桜鬼 新選組奇譚 ). Will be released in August 2010. Around 200mm tall (sitting postition), 2,667 yen. Hijikata Toshizo, Okita Soji, Saitou Hajime, Toudou Heisuke (left to right) Here is a good news for the [...]
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Episode 9 of Hakuouki sees the Shinsengumi breaking apart. Sannan finally gets to fight as Rasetsu. Also, Chizuru’s secret is revealed. This is an unusually fast-paced episode, indicating that the events of the final arc have begun. One of the Rasetsu soldiers breaks into Chizuru’s room at night, hungry for blood. Chizuru is wounded, and, [...]
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In episode 8 of Hakuouki, Sen gets more involved in the plot, disagreements surface within the Shinsengumi, Harada’s men are attacked by Chizuru’s look-alike, and everyone goes to an ochaya (tea house) in Gion, where the drinking leads one member to dress up in women’s clothing (yes, a double-reverse trap). Sen invites Chizuru out for [...]
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Episode 7 of Hakuouki begins with the Shinsengumi defending Chizuru from the three oni. Later some things are confirmed, including Okita’s health problems and the whereabouts of Chizuru’s father. The three demons (oni) associated with the Satsuma clan admit openly that they are oni, and they insist that Chizuru is one as well. They withdraw [...]
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In episode 6, Chizuru meets real-life oni, a doppelganger, and is told by Hijikata that the Shinsengumi would have no problems killing her. Keisuke Sannan has taken the formula, but it is believed he is keeping the ill-effects in check, despite indications that he cannot go outside in the sunlight. The Shinsengumi leaders decide to [...]
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Quick tip: if you ever wake up in the middle of the night and see that there is a red moon in the sky, it is not a good idea to go out for a walk. Not even if you are just following someone suspicious. Unfortunately my advice comes too late to protect Chizuru, who [...]
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Episode 3 “The Flower that Blooms in the Twilight” Summary: Kondou and his gang of bishes barges in the shop and announce that they’re arresting anyone who resists. The Choshuu and the bishes starts fighting each other meanwhile Chizuru goes to inform Hijikata and his army that the meeting is in Ikedaya. Heisuke and Souji gets to [...]
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In the first three episode of Hakuouki — Shinsengumi Kitan, activities are split evenly between: smouldering with masculinity while lounging around in a den of exposed chests, or looking doe eyed and getting saved by gentlemen heroically cutting up other gentlemen. Building on the romance game source, its target audience is plain [...]
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I thought that after I’d been watching anime for a certain amount of time, things would just come to me naturally. The “traps” that catch out anyone who’s new to anime would be glaringly obvious to an older watcher such as myself.  Then I watched Hakuoki. In a way, it’s testament to Deen’s skill that [...]
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Hakuouki – Shinsengumi Kitan Only a few more first impressions to go through! When I first read that Hakuouki was based on a romance adventure game for female players, I was skeptical as to whether I would like the series. Three episodes later, I’m left impressed by the sheer amount of bloodshed and killing that went on. [...]
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Episode 3 kicks off with the bloody events of the Ikedaya Affair, in which Chizuru plays a spirited, if minor, role. Some mysterious (and powerful) villains appear. The Shinsengumi do not have time to completely recover from sustained injuries as events move towards the rebellion outside the imperial palace’s Hamaguri gate. Warning: this post includes [...]
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Episode 1 and 2 OP – “Izayoi Namida” by Aika Yoshioka ED – “Kimi no Kioku” by mao Episode one: Chizuru (disguised as a boy) is chased by some guys, who gets killed by these crazy zombie men who then gets killed by normal Shinsengumi men. Chizuru gets taken back to their headquarters for witnessing what happened and [...]
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Okay, so now it is getting a bit annoying to see the lead character run everywhere, only to get protected. You can see that she really wants to help, and I can very much understand that she’s not going to get good at swordsmanship in order to be able to take on a number of [...]
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HakuoukiBased on Idea Factory's romance adventure game: Yukimura Chizuru has come to Kyoto looking for her father, a doctor who has gone missing. While there, she witnesses a fight between an Oni and the Shinsengumi. Taking her into custody, the Shinsengumi debates on what to do with Chizuru when they discover that she is the daughter of the doctor they are also looking for. The Shinsengumi then takes Chizuru along on their search after the missing doctor, from adventures to adventures. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11286 Life is now a bit light and so I was able to start my Spring anime watching galore, and first on my list is Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan. To start with, let me introduce to you our characters for this Shinsengumi based series. Of course, these are the usual Shinsengumi people but now, they have a Studio Deen version for their faces. I am gonna start with the upper echelon of the group followed by the other members. KondouCaptain  Hijikata, a.k.a ToshiVice Captain SannanSecretary  Souji  Saitou Sano Heisuke Shinpatsu And now presenting the female lead role for Hakuouki: Yukimura Chizuru So now that I already presented the characters, it's time for me to say my initial thoughts about this series. If you have read my previous posts, this series is one of the many series that I am looking forward to watch for the Spring season. And so far, I think this series shows a huge potential in terms of story line and the bishies that are present in the anime. After a few seasons of anime without any Shinsengumi as it theme, I got a bit excited and ecstatic to see another anime that is based on the Shinsengumi. It kinda brings me back to the Edo period and makes me remember the days that I went gaga over Rurouni Kenshin. For the handsome-nability of the characters, for the first time, Hijikata caught my attention. Based on trend, it is usually Souji's character that I get to like. Surely, he will be one of the reasons why I will watch episode 2 after I finished downloading it this weekend. And that is also the main reason why I chose Hijikata to be the picture I placed above. So please do expect my Episode 2 post some time soon. :)
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 House of Five Leaves takes place in old Edo, now known as Tokyo I was running through a list of links to potential things I might write up, when I came across-- again --a piece at NPR about a new trend of otaku in Japan. These women are known as reki-jo, short for rekishi (history) and kanojo (girl). But I didn't really put two and two together until after watching House of Five Leaves yesterday. It should be no surprise that most of the more female-focused/friendly series are historical in nature, given the rise of the history girl. The NPR article actually suggests that the rise of rekijo is actually signalling a rise of female otaku-- not necessarily anime and manga geek-type otaku, mind, but just as there are military otaku and train otaku, we now have a group of female history otaku-- and they're organizing. But I'm not sure it's just women who are into history. Of the series I profiled this season, nine have historical ties, albeit some looser than others: Senkou no Night Raid is set in 1931 Shanghai, a period of great tension between China and Japan HetaliaHakuoukiHouse of Five LeavesIkki TousenRainbowSD Gundam Brave Battle WarriorsSenkou no Night RaidShin Koihime MusouShouka This is a huge jump over the previous season, winter (3 of 15), the season before that (fall, 2 of 34), or even last spring (2 of 30). So, is this a sign that people's overall interest in history is rising, or is it an attempt by anime makers to reach more of a female audience?  I also wonder about the similarities to women outside of Japan. I tend to think of historical fiction fans as more women than men as well...although there's also a lot of historical fiction out there that's more or less just romance novels, so I'm not sure if it's the history that draws women or not. What do you think? Are you into history and/or historical fiction? I think that no matter what, this'll be an interesting trend to watch.    
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TAAN: If you didn’t see my Daimaou post, I’m switching to writing as I watch (actually, I’ll probably try some kind of hybrid style) , since that discourages procrastination. Probably, this will be long and mostly off topic, but whatever. Personally, I don’t think it works for me, but it’s better than being weeks late, [...]
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See that character up there? Looks like a girl, sounds like a girl, acts like a girl and has a girl’s name {Chizuru}, but guess what, SHE IS A GIRL! lolwtf @ the Shinsengumi for thinking she was a guy for about the first half of the episode. Apparently, simply by wearing male samurai clothing a [...]
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A samurai reverse harem anime? Yes, and a good one, so far. A real story, involving the Shinsengumi. Good animation and backgrounds. Some action. Characters with presence. A heroine played by Kuwashima Houko. Heroes played by Shinichirou Miki, Morikubo Showtarou, Toriumi Kousuke, Yoshino Hiroyuki, Ohkawa Tohru, and others.About the only thing I find wrong with it is the difficulty of keeping all the names and faces straight.So I've made a characters/seiyuus page with pics of all the main characters (the thirteen whose pics are on the official site) and their seiyuus, with a bit of info about each seiyuu. Click here or on the image to go to the full page.
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In episode two of Hakuouki, tensions flare, and a plot to burn Kyoto to the ground, and kidnap the daimyo is discovered. Chizuru finds that getting along with the members of the Shinsengumi isn’t easy. She accidentally offends some of them with innocent courtesies, such as offering to help with the food preparation. By the end [...]
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