Ikki Tousen

Old timer here, long time watcher of anime from the 70s to now. Ikkitousen in its original form is better than the dub here on hulu, but I am still thankful for their effort nonetheless.
First off, for those stating about the 'graphic' nature of the anime... leave your bibles at the door. This is a story from a different culture, something you need to consider before passing judgement. Actually I would strongly consider that while watching it, maybe you will learn a bit about our (US) 'hang-ups'.
Now if you can possibly get past that, the story is quite entertaining.
The story of the Three Kingdoms, and the legendary fighters from it who have been reincarnated generation after generation. In the US we have been around for a little over 200 years, compared to a tale 1000s of years old. Once again, perspective...watch the story and be entertained and possibly enlightened.
The action is great, the story is strong, It's a very entertaining series.
If anything, Ikkitousen sparks a desire for education on what exactly the Three Kingdoms really were.
And in that, it's a win-win.
Enjoy the series, there's at least 2 more seasons I am aware of, possibly more, and the story gets better.
Honestly it's one of my favorite animes/mangas, and brings smiles anytime I mention it to friends from across the globe, (even if it's laughter).oh right, if you have no wanton desire for anything I have said above...well...there are plenty of short skirts and panties!

Being a girl and a straight girl, there are only so many pantie shots/boob comments I can take before I become ill and stop watching. I didn't make it through the first scene. So I couldn't comment on the rest of dynamics of the show. But yeah, if you aren't into girls, avoid the 'fan service' is pretty gratuitous. Otherwise, I guess you might like it.

All in all the anime version of Ikki Tousen isn't terrible, but definitely not the caliber you would expect when compared to other popular anime. The story (which is continued in two further seasons) differs from the manga quite a bit, but the base foundation is the same. When comparing to the manga, the anime is a bit easier to follow and understand, but in doing this, looses much of its shine. I love the manga version because it has sooo much more detail as far as the original story goes (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). The characters have less depth and background than in the manga overall, which in a sense kills the anime. The course of the 13 episodes available takes place through roughly 6-7 of the manga volumes, making the story just a bit too drawn out.The fan service is still there, but I honestly still like the manga's better as well. The artistic style is somewhat (again) over simplified and changed to make for a more fast paced anime. Overall I give season one a 3/5 due to its lack of character development and lack of attention to the original. Unfortunately this anime tend to suffer the same conditions as most books-to-film releases; too much detail and not enough space. One other thing I should make clear for new viewers: there is NO actual, full nudity in this series. There ARE plenty of "fan service" however, not to be confused. Not sure what that means, go look it up.

I give this very high marks for nudity yes there is lots and I do mean lots of panty shots and lovly large naked breast full on shot do not make any mistake about this not for the kidding's this is like soft core grown up play late night tv enjoyment the stuff they sale in the back of the anime store on the rack next to things like Girls bravo which seems kinda funny because Gb can be rented on that big Net dvd rental site which if you know them they say they don't want to rent the Grown up play time enjoyment but the lightly naughty stuff is just making them to darn much money to say no
I give it high marks for lots of T/A just a little weak on the story this would almost hold on to me better if I was watching it on video but trust me on the large boobys you can't go wrong

To be fair, I watched the whole season, unfortunately... 1st- Just like almost every anime on the planet, the dialogue sounds like it was written by a politician. By that, I mean that they use obscure words to give the impression of wit while monotonously babbling the same things over and over again. I guess, though, that's to be expected.
2nd- Again, just as the Japanese Anime stereotype dictates, the characters are all mentally handicapped. They shouldn't be allowed out without a leash, much less without supervision of any kind!
3rd- The story is never what you think!(Because you have to be inherently irrational, I assume, to understand it, and if your irrational, you won't understand the relationship between the story you understand and the show your watching! :D) Also, there is nothing really static about the story.(No variables posses anything even resembling constant values.) It's almost like the writers didn't even know what was going on. Okay, that top part sounded pretty negative(And it didn't scratch the surface of my anger at this show for wasting my life :D), but I'm about to get to the positive stuff!
1st- Hooray for schoolgirl outfits!!!! This show is jammed packed with girls in tiny skirts!(Probably to make up for the storyline's obvious deficiency.)
2nd- Everyone(and I mean everyone) is a pervert!
3rd- Adult Content, and Partial nudity! For all you cartoon lovers out there, this show will probably get the gold medal at your Special Olympics!All in all, this is an ignorant show with no redeeming qualities, but, I suppose, if you are an anime fanboy(or fangirl) you will probably love this show.