Buso Renkin - Complete Series [DVD]

From the creator of Rouroni Kenshin comes an original brand new series, Buso Renkin. Being a farcry from Rouroni Kenshin, it is initially unclear whether Buso Renkin will be any good or not. However, the series turns out to be a very entertaining and easygoing watch.

Kazuki Muto is your everyday teenage kid who attends a boarding school with his friends and his siter Mahiro. He lives a pretty normal life until one night he is killed by a creature called a homunculus. However he is brought back to life by the mysterious Alchemist warrior Tokiko Tsumura, who replaces his damaged heart with a metallic object known as a Kakugane. This kakugane acts as a replcement heart yet it also gives Kazuki the extraordinary power to call forth a weapon, or Buso Renkin. With his new power, Kazuki decides to join the alchemist warriors plight to rid the world of all homunculus. Along their journeys Kazuki and Tokiko encounter many homunculus in the hope of finding information on their creator, the incredibly flamboyant Papillion.

If you are an anime fan, you may think that Buso Renkin is copying Fullmetal Alchemist with it's use of Homunculi and Alchemy, however, the series is better likened to Bleach with it's spiky haired proagonist being given powers by a mysterious female character. Nonetheless, once you get past this cliche, the series is very enjoyable in it's own right.

Buso Renkin lasts 26 episodes and is consistently entertaining throughout. The first thing I noticed about this series is the sheer quality of the artwork and animation. From beginning to end Buso Renkin is a beautiful looking series that has some lovely bright and vibrant art coupled with some nice use of CGI. The character designs are pretty good too with the cast of characters being very memorable.

There is also some good action, blood and explosions, yet the series also has some heart with some truly likeable characters and bit of young love to add to it. I was surprised to see that Buso Renkin pays special attention to comic relief with plenty of genuinely funny segments. Due to this, the series manages to create some very likeable characters, such as Kazuki's ditsy sister Mahiro and Kazuki's crazy friend Okakura who is the crazy one with the mad quiff.

Even though the series is very enjoyable, it can be extremely cheesy at times, but in my opinion this helps maintain a lighthearted aura about this fun loving, feel good anime. As a shonen (boys) anime, Buso Renkin has a lot of competition, in the form of Naruto and Bleach etc, but Buso Renkin manages to hold it's own and is really a unique series that is easy to watch and more importantly - fun.

This boxset, comprising of 6 discs contains the English dub and the original Japanese language with subtitles. Both are good but on recent watching, I've decided that I prefer the Japanese language. If you are looking for an easy going anime with plenty of comedy and action and a good story then Buso Renkin may be the one for you.

I am an anime fan (30 years old, female) and bought this DVD set because I have basically already seen most of what is on the market at the moment and was desperate for some anime- so it was not my first choice. The plot is fun, but not great and the characters range from cool to annoying. The initially good "bad guy" character of the Papillon masked creator becomes a weirdo who likes to strip naked and dress up, which has nothing to do with the plot. Just weird. The story plays in a world where the laws of physics and reality and common sense do not exist and although this is not necessarily a bad thing, it felt too crude for me. The whole alchemy story was a bit over the top for my taste. However, I guess its fun for teenagers as it covers a lot of teen problems including sizing each other up, first love and other growing up stuff. The story around the main hero couple is cute and kept me watching it until the end. To sum it up- its fun and was worth the money but don't expect too much.

To be fair - ALL and I do mean "ALL" anime shows have a non-hero, who finds he/she has a power and then starts an endless series of upgrades to fight ever more powerful enemies.

This show is no different and so should not be bagged for this - it has plusses and minuses.

On the down side the story is a bit thin and there is not enough of variety in the story line to make you feel eager to watch the next disc.

On the plus side it is a set length series and actually FINISHES. The battles do not always end in the death of the enemy and some of the characters are serioulsy weird. don't get me wrong - there is certainly so blood shed in the batteles, but less than some other shows.

I think the writters were just having a whole lot of fun with some of the designs - for goodness sake there is a serioulsy "camp" enemy character PAPILLION who walks around in a g-string for half the show. But he does add a lot of colour.

Buy this if you are wanting to introduce your kids to anime - but do not want the bloodshed of BLEACH and CLAYMORE.