Audience reviews
16 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Haplesstree
Shion no Ou/Shion's King/Flowers of Hard Blood is a compelling series that, whilst ultimately floundering in a few aspects with the two plot threads and side characters, is a quality watch with interesting plot developments and a deeply lovable protagonist. Shion is an incredible character and her journey helps substantially in reducing the negative impacts that the narrative structure brings to the series.
Shion's King sets itself two main plot threads it has to juggle: The playing of Shogi itself and the the murder mystery plot, with the main character (Yasuoka Shion) developing through each. Each individual thread is compelling, but the series fails to properly split interest and growth between them. In particular, the stories growth and central growth (Shion) is essentially solely in…
Read at the sourceGodslayer27
Well in few words an really worthy anime to actually spend your time watching it, i gonna to deepen into it a little more to present you what i consider their charms and also the ones that werent really good.
What i gonna let you in clear before to beging with, its the even the following negatives points that i gonna to metion below, i should aclare that its an really good anime that we actually dont use to get anymore in more recents days, so you are informed of it even throught at the end of the review i gonna metion it again, i wanted to say it.
First and foremost the anime its about an murder to the paretns of our protagonist that take place when she was a around 4 years old, after a time and being raised by his adopted parents (which she considers his real ones after of how much lo…
Read at the sourcejohnbradshaw
It is often assumed that there are genres dont go too well with each other. A sport series opening with a murder is definitely one of those prime examples. Shion no Ou is once again proving this tedious fact.
So why do I give this anime such a high score? While it did failed as a sport series, what Shion no Ou managed to achieve is a compelling and intense story about obsessive love, overcoming the odds and most important of all, growing up.
To me, Shogi is such a boring game. It's not something I want to play even with my friends let alone someone who would murder my family. But that's the case for our little Shion, traumatized by the horrible event, she lost her voices. Seven years later, being quite masterful at shogi, she eventually emerges in the pro scene. There she met her rivals…
Read at the sourceits_complicated
In the beginning, I was very hesitant to start watching this anime. It popped up in my recommendations a couple of times, but I waited months until I finally started to watch it. The first episode was not the most amazing, but it got me interested in the story. I wouldn't say that the artwork is anything special, but there were times when the art caught my eye. My favorite thing about this anime, though, is the story. I just love the direction this anime headed. I would find myself bored at times with this anime, but I couldn't bring myself to stop watching it. If the story wasn't so well portrayed I would have never of taken a second glance at this series. I can guarantee that it will keep you on the edge of your seat, questioning what is yet to come!
-Raz
Read at the sourcepiano_kat
This is my first ever review, but i hope it helps.
This anime is much more than it seems, i have never like these genres of anime, i have always been more into romance, but this is the first time ive changed my mind, I recommend this to all no matter you're genre, it is the kind of anime that will stick with, leave that feeling that you have learned something, it it really has taught me a lot, i have fully enjoyed this anime greatly!
Art- It may not be the top newest art, but i don't think any other kind of art could replace it, the art itself gives off so much emotion, i absolutely loved it.
Story- The plot of this anime fell together like a masterpiece! It kept you guessing but gave you a feeling of completeness, just when i thought i figured it out, it came up to be something differe…
Read at the sourcegreatyu
I don't know what Shougi is in the first place, just know it' s just a game. I don't know the name of the pieces nor the rules, still the whole basis of this anime is Shougi and yet i enjoyed it. Yasuoka Shion the main protagonist, a victim of a tragedy makes Shougi her strength and battles on through and through and wins. My game when watching this was to find who was the murderer and i'm pretty satisfied.
Story: The story might be a lot out of place to anyone who doesn't know the game. They could drop the anime from one episode unless they are patient enough to watch how the interesting stuff settles in. I saw many elements of Psychology, i thought reading people through their games were a myth, but this anime proved that wrong. Even though it doesn't look like it, the whole anime is a…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
*SPOILER WARNING*
One has to wonder what the makers of Shion no Ou were thinking in mixing aspects of mystery and board game developments into a title that quite often goes overboard with its plot and characters. The series covers Shion's rise in the game of shogi and slowly unveiling facts that reveal the killer of her parents from years earlier. The series does do fairly good at setting up reasonable character depth with a number of its major characters and they have enough personality where they don't feel tacked on with a random character archetype, with Ayumi's character having the best development of the characters in this series with his personal issues and the conflicts he has for his reasons of playing shogi. On a basic level, it also does well at setting up suspense with its mys…
Read at the sourceendlessnine09
At first, I really didn't think I will enjoy this series as much as right now. Looking at the main theme of the story, 'shougi' look didn't much interesting and probably be boring. But, I was wrong. The story starts off slow-paced, but as more as the story follows, the tension starts. Little by little, the pieces scattered connected to the mystery of Shion's parents death slowly form a thread that leads to the truth.
The art and sound are fair to me. The opening and ending songs are quite ordinary, but the bgm in the story is fitting and you could feel the tensions in the match.
I love the characters for this series. It's been quite a while since I saw a series that has revealed character development. As the story goes on, the characters learn from the experiences and grow to a better pe…
Read at the sourceTWM
With a rating of 5 being average this series is in between mediocre and perfection. So it's pretty darn good to view. You should enjoy the character interactions and revelations along with the story progression of this "who done it". It's not very psychological or mentally demanding so it's an easy watch. The excessive hints were a bit much, if they had cut back on it a bit the climax would have been much more fulfilling. After it's all over and done with there's nothing to be left for interpretation it's all relatively superficial and open before you.
Read at the sourceSaralonde
I always had the impression that playing games like shougi (I am more familiar with chess) is boring, and watching games like shougi being played is torture. Two people sitting on two sides of a board with a lot of pieces on it pondering for a long time, wrinkling eyebrows and stroking chin and doing other similar unconscious activities indicating that their brain is working overtime. They take a long time to finally make their move. However, the shougi sessions in Shion no Ou are a real treat.
I was glancing through the synopsis of different animes, and Shion no Ou caught my eye. A murder case made it seem interesting enough. Add to it the fact that the only person who witnessed the murder loses her ability to speak, and this qualified it as promising. On top of it all, there is shougi w…
Read at the sourcezabu_san
Shion no Ou's description painted a picture in my head of Hikaru no Go + (a bit of ) Death Note, and it delivered on that promise...Kinda...
If you don't know what shougi is (like I didn't at the time of watching) it's practically Japanese chess...Not knowing ANYTHING aboot Shougi/chess, I was rather hesitant to watch, but I figured I gave Hikaru no Go a shot, why not?!
What's start out with a rather dark opening, devolves into a half and half story...On one side you have Shion and her friends playing through tournaments and up the ranks ofshougi in order to better themselves...On the other side, you have a couple of detectives trying to unravel the mystery of Shion's parents murder 8 years ago...
So the Death Note portion isn't as deep as I would have liked and the ending seems rushed…
Read at the sourceKona_chan
Well, I've always liked chess, but I didn't know anything about that game called shougi. At first, I thought for sure that Shion no Ou was going to be a really boring anime, just because one of the main themes was something like chess.
Oh, How I was wrong...
I watched every single episode already waiting for the next.
I also got interested in shougi...
It's just that, well, this anime is really great.
And it is so great because it focuses on elements that, for me, are the most important in every anime: The plot and the characters.
The characters are all very well developed, and the show focuses accurately on every single one, so they really appear deep when you look at them, they appear also more real.
The plot acts really wisely, slowly creating a suspense and mistery aura around the e…
Read at the sourceZelman
Just finish watching Shion no Ou lol I Gotta say this anime is really well written and I enjoy watching this till the end! the story is well plan out and not like any other anime I watched. If you like/enjoy Hikaru no Go then you should Definitely check out this anime too, If you don't know Hikaru No Go then I still recommended watching this. I'm a really big fan of Tragedy animes and so this anime is seem really good to me.
Read at the sourceKitycatgirl
Shion no Ou is the story of a young girl with a past full of tragedy and a present full of love.
This anime made me redesign my entire scoring process...
Story: Unique, genius, suspenseful, and even funny at times. I barely knew what Shougi was before I watched this, and while I was watching it, but I still enjoyed it. There are several twists and turns, but they all follow the main story line, and are extremely well thought out. It is easy to keep up with this show, but at the same time you have to think a lot.
Art: Near the end it got funky, but for the main part the art in this show was good. Very dramatic, cute, silly, and so forth, but only when it was needed. I loved it.
Sound: You hardly notice it in the background, but it makes your heart pound and increases the suspense.
Ch…
Read at the sourceakagi111
This is a outstanding anime one i highly recommend, it has 2 very distinct stories going along with this anime the mystery element of it as well as the shougi game part of it and they combine it so well, each character in this anime is amazing even the smallest characters seem to fit perfectly to the overall story. The story starts of pretty well paced but once it gets to the big shougi tournament that is when it kicks off from the first match to the last it has you thinking all the way plus the twist this anime throws at you is one of the best i have seen, if you havent seen this anime yet please do it is well worth it
Read at the sourceRanivus
::QUICK REVIEW::
Story: 9 (Shougi connected to a crime mystery is impressive)
Art: 7 (Good quality for today's standards)
Sound: 9 (The way Shion moves Shougi pieces is sexy)
Character: 8 (If you find a way to hate Shion, you're going to hell)
Enjoyment: 8 (Very good from beginning to end)
Overall: 41/50 = 8.2 (Serious sports anime are a rare find ) ::FULL REVIEW::
Shion no Ou was a fairly fun take on the game of Shougi. It could easily have taken the tired and true route by just making this a shounen sports title with an emphasis on comedy. But instead, they manage to make this quite an involving story concerning dead parents, corporate undermining, a mute loli, and a sexy trap. Sounds pretty ridiculous for a show centered around Shougi.
But I'll be damned if I didn't love every minute…
Read at the source