Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Valyada
This is so right plotted that I couldn’t sleep the night before 1st and second season cause of curiosity and emotions (i watched them all in 2 days, I reccomend u to watch it in the release order, not in the cronological one) .
#Spoiler
2nd season was all just crying for me. Im still so sad..but after watching the rest of the series and the 2 movies I feel a bit better…still it would be worth watching a next season to see what happened to Hajime kun and the rest..and how did Toshi and Chizuru escape then and if they made it back to Edo…. What did they do there… id really like that Hajime, Shinpachi and Harada to live again with Toshi and Chizuru and all get married and have childern, and y not to get all along with Kyo and even Kyuju....I am still crying…
Read at the sourcecitycat
I really wanted to like this series. Maybe it was my fault for starting the first episode with high expectations.
Pros: If you're into ikemen, then this is a fine show for indulging your fancies. In fact, there's a gratuitous episode where the shinsengumi need to get topless for a physical. However, the pros end there. Beyond the beautiful faces, there's not much else. As there are many characters packed into 12 episodes, you never really get to know any of them.
Cons: I'm not sure what they were thinking when they thought they could pack all that Japanese history into a dozen episodes. At any rate, it's not good as a historical anime. It's also no good if you're trying to watch it for romance or drama because there isn't enough of it. Again, way too overarching, packing all the charac…
Read at the sourceVorodor
So when i started to watch this, i was really not sure if i was going to like it or not. It's a little old so i wasn't sure if the art styles would be as good as i am used too, on that account i was wrong to be concerned. Once i started watching it, i just loved it. The fighting is really well done and i like that the plot loosely follows historical events while adding in a good slice of fantasy. It was enough to keep my hooked the entire way threw. I don't think you have to be a girl to enjoy watching it either, although its certainly catered to that audience. If it has any major flaw, i agree with others who don't really like the female lead very much. Although i don't think she is so bad as deserve some of the criticism. She is a little washy washy at times but she also has good moments…
Read at the sourceatKatlin
I was bored to death. Seriously, watching this anime makes me told myself "please end it soon". I feel like the 23 minutes is too long. Although, I still did manage to finish watching it even all the prequels, if you are not aware of the history of Shinsengumi I would recommend you to watch other anime. So, what did make me watch this. I was drawn again by the art and synopsis of it. I was expecting a historical gender bender anime but was disappointed by it. The gender bender thing is just an accessory. I think the art is the one that lifted the anime. The sound is just so-so. The characters are likable except the heroine my goodness. Given the fact that she is weak okay, fine but if she will carry out the story I think I cannot barely watch it. Her only major part is to narrate the story…
Read at the sourcedark_meowlord
This is the big one.
The story is interesting, it's dynamic and, except the supernatural stuff, it's history based. This, for me, was the biggest surprise and enjoyment, the facts, the characters, the battles, the war, the ending, it all happened, and it shows the shift moment in Japan from swords to gun-power.
The characters (existed like I said). There are interesting, quite classic, the serious one, the funny one, the childish one, the quite one, the smart one and so one. (from girls perspective) they are sexy as hell.
The battles are enjoyable to watch, not bloody, but enough to show the fact, that it's life and death.
The supernatural line in story bends in quite good and doesn't mess with the history fact to much.
The ending is perfect, even if you need a little drink after…
Read at the sourceBluefyre
The added fantasy in this anime helps it stand out among other historical anime. Despite what most people would think, the fantasy and historical drama themes are woven together perfectly. The romance isn't exactly the best, mostly because it's just an afterthought in my opinion.
The story ties your thoughts on what the participants in war go through to protect their honor and country. Though like most historical dramas, it's a real tear jerker. The plot makes it so that you start to understand what the characters are feeling throughout the many battles they fight.
One of the downsides to the anime was that Yukimura Chizuru can't really protect herself. It makes sense, yes, but I have yet to find a good historical anime that features a female protagonist that doesn't constantly need savi…
Read at the sourceSeryne299
This anime is one of the few rare decent reverse harem anime that exist. The fact that it was based on real life events may not seem original but it interprets them in its own way with supernatural twists added to it. I have not played the game, but as an anime only watcher I found it could be a standalone anime adaptation. The events that happened made sense to me and there is sufficient explanation of why certain events took place.
The plot progression is at first quite slow, but it is understandable to take some time for world building and understanding the characters and their motives better.
The characters such as Hijikata Toshizo and Souji Okita were based on real life people in that era and if one has some background knowledge on them it may increase your enjoyment of this series.…
Read at the sourcegreatyu
I dislike anything that has to do with war- and Japanese wars are prettty boring right? The word "Shinsengumi" seems like a refined word for battle and it's not because of the fact that this had good looking characters that i watched this anime- i was literally bored.
But this when compared to the original Hijikata Toshizo and the fictional one in this anime seems to share a lot of attributes. The whole story goes with the original one except for the supernatural elements, And this would be probably educational to a history buff or a Harem lover.
All starts with a girl who gets thrown unexpectedly into the Shinsengumi, gender bendered in order to find her father. This dedicatedly follows the true history written in Japan except for a few supernatural elements which were used for either…
Read at the sourceGrowler
Japan's history is written mostly in blood rather than ink, which represents the source of interest for many people, with me proudly among them.
The story evolves around the Shinsengumi, the late Tokugawa Shogunate secret police.
They are followed in their struggle against the changing times where the old samurai ways of fighting and living are replaced by the incursion of western culture.
In Hakuouki the concept of time is well determinate, meaning that events don't unfold day after day and neither do battles so from that point of view its a plus.
Being a historical inspired tale ensures a certain continuity of the episodes while presenting key elements of that historical period.
I was literally enthralled by the fighting scenes because they aren't just flashed at great speed and because…
Read at the sourceHinami
Chizuru's story starts off in quite a common manner ( minus the rounin who are chasing her for reasons unknown ). Her father goes missing and she decides that it's been far too long since she heard from him so armed with a sword and a boy's attire, she sets out. Only to attract the attention of rounin who have nothing better do than chase a "boy" who did nothing to them ( I still have no idea why they were chasing her but well, rounin are rounin and we need something to start off with ).
Much to Chizuru's horror, the rounin are cut down by demon-like men, their hair gleaming white in the dark of the night. And they're about to cut her down too, when three men suddenly appear and save the day. But no, these men are not your conventional heroes. They are part of the Shinsengumi, a group of…
Read at the sourceMistraal
I've seen a lot of negative reviews on this anime citing that it's boring, there is too much history, not enough action and so on. Frankly, you're in the wrong section. If you read a description and don't recognize the time periods or groups the anime is using, don't downrate it because you are ignorant of history.
Now, that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this anime. It's set in a very similar time period to Rurouni Kenshin except Hakuouki is set before and during the revolution. It revolves around a girl named Chizuru who left Edo to search for her father in Kyoto. While there, she runs into the Shinsengumi (who you may also remember from Kenshin) and they decide to keep her around because her father is the doctor they are looking for.
There is a lot of criticism for Chizuru's chara…
Read at the sourceUMB
This anime wasn't Unique. Nice story about this girl wanting to find her father but she ends up in the Shinsengumi Headquarter. One bad thing is that the plot unfolded quicklier than i expected, for instance: in one episode the main character was up to be killed by the Shinsengumi and in the next episode this girl was friends with all of them. as of the animation it was good nothing was bad there except from some spilled details in some fights. the anime generally was Enjoyable with many nice scenes and nice soundtracks. the characters were plainly good
Now the good thing about this anime is that despite it being a shoujo one it has no to much kissing huging and crying stuff that i expected... in the contrary it has many fights and killings things that can make the anime seem more like a…
Read at the sourcesugarbunny445
I hated this anime mainly because the main girl character was stupid, annoying, and totally relied on all the guys to protect her. The fighting was nice but her character completely ruined it. A lot of things are very very cliche which is annoying too with all the "I will protect you to the death" and meaningless flirting scenes.
Read at the sourceBryce-kun
**MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS**
"The protagonist, Yukimura Chizuru, is the daughter of a doctor who works in Edo. Her father "mysteriously" vanishes thus she has to leaves Edo to find her. When she arrives at Kyoto, Chizuru is attacked by criminals and witnesses a fight between an oni and the Shinsengumi...erm bishies. Taking her into custody and saving her, the bishies debate on what to do with Mary Sue errm Chizuru when they discover that she is the daughter of the doctor they are also looking for (whoa.. unexpected eh?). They decide to become Chizuru's playthings..ermm bodyguards and help her look for her father(the doctor). The story is overall not romantic with a poorly adapted historical and political background."
I tried to enjoy this anime.. several times... but it in the end it failed.…
Read at the sourcespiritsoftime
I really wanted to like Hakuouki since it presents a lot of interesting ideas. Ultimately however, Hakuouki never decides on a main plot. Instead it flirts with subplot after subplot, ultimately failing to adequately develop or resolve any of them.
Story - 3/10 (Poor)
The story is difficult to describe, because of the apparent lack of one. The anime begins with Chizuru, our appointed "protagonist", leaving her home and venturing to a city foreign to her in order to find her father. With this kind of opening, you'd expect that this quest would make up a significant portion of the anime. After all, it is Chizuru's main motivation. Instead, Chizuru meets the Shinsengumi and she becomes merely the observer of their deeds, without having any real impact on their actions.
Of course, she's su…
Read at the sourceLindle
Hakuouki is an anime made by Studio DEEN, who have, in recent years, gained infamy for putting their names to a variety of very poor shows in recent years, as well as making a horribly butchered adaptation of Umineko. So, does Hakuouki enter the ranks of awful DEEN series, or does it redeem the studio? Well, put simply, it is terrible. It is a perfect example of why DEEN are a bad studio. There isn't a single good thing about it.
But before I get into the details about why Hakuouki is horrible, let's just sum up what Hakuouki is about for those not familiar with the series. The series is introduced with a young "boy" trying to escape from a strange vampire-like demon. At the last minute, "he" is saved by a group of samurai, who then take "him" hostage. As it turns out, the "boy" has seen…
Read at the sourcelordsephiroth92
-Before you read this review, take note of this:
I haven't played the Hakuouki games or read the manga. This is from the perspective of someone who only watched the anime.
Story: 10
I really enjoyed the story. The historic content was interesting. The added elements of Rasetsu and the conflicts with the Oni were also captivating. There was nothing with the story that bothered me, and I didn't feel bored, not even once. I usually don't watch Shoujo anime because I hate sappy romance and girly stuff, but this anime was an exception. There were no scenes with girls crying that they love this and that. Chizuru was more like a member of the Shinsengumi. There was even action and sword-fighting, and that was entertaining.
Art: 10
It was amazing. The characters looked perfect. The scenery was g…
Read at the sourceDorothea
Story. 7
It's a good setup, if you like reverse-harem. A young girl in search of her father is taken in by a group of warriors that is also searching for him. However, the plot didn't really advance all that fast. Certainly the political situation was constantly evolving, but in terms of what was going on the heroine, she was basically a bystander who did almost nothing.
Art. 9
Beautiful art, especially character design. And the fight scenes were surprisingly decent, for a reverse-harem. Fangirls who like guys with silver hair will be especially pleased.
Sound. 6
The soundtrack worked fine with the show, but there were no melodies that stood out to me. Not something I'd choose to listen to on its own.
Character. 8
I think character would get a 7 if not for Okita. The heroine was extreme…
Read at the source8thSin
*Spoiler warning* Do not read story section unless you've finished the series.
"Hakuouki" is based on a PS2 romance adventure otome game (games targeted toward girls).
The story starts with Yukimura Chizuru, daughter of a doctor in Edo (Tokyo's old name), arriving Kyoto in search of her father. She is saved by two Shinsengumi members from zombie-like demon, and gets taken into custody. Eventually she gains their trust and helps them out while looking for clues of her father.
Shinsengumi is an organization that actually existed in the late-Edo-period that acted as a 'special police' that served to suppress any anti-government movement in Kyoto. The actual organization only existed for less than a decade, but their legacies have been depicted in various novels, movies, and TV doramas that…
Read at the sourceryuichi_crosszer
One of my anime-waiting-list this year coz I loooove Shinsengumi! And the most happiest thing for me, they finaly draw Hijikata more handsome than Okita ahahah. Well compare to other animes with the Shinsengumi guys in too u know. Even Saitou makes me dream about him. Also some great seiyuus like Miki Shinichirou, Morikubou Shotarou, Yusa Kouji, Toriumi Kousuke... OMG !
Of course, the story itself based on Jidaigeki (- real japan history mixed with fantasies). Use Yukimura Chizuru as the protagonist who's involves with Shinsengumi on her journey looking for her missing-father. In which I believe she's never exist on any history of Shinsengumi. Just enjoy it while take a good look for the Shinsen bishounen-tachi ne. Fun for watch really! The scene-battles also good to look at it. Very cool…
Read at the source