Souten
Kourou
Number of episodes: 26
Production Studio: Madhouse Studios
Fansub Release Viewed: KSN
Likelihood of US Release: Low
Here we have yet another anime adaptation of the famous Chinese epic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, only this time the story focuses on the character of Sou Sou (Cao Cao in Chinese), traditionally more of an antagonist in the story.
Episode Summary
Aman (a young Sou Sou), is tasked by his eunuch grandfather with delivering a set of documents to his father, Sou Suu. While he and a companion are walking through the city, they spot a man in an alley who appears to be wounded or sick. However, when Aman goes to help the man, he attacks, beating Aman to within an inch of his life and stealing the documents. In front of a group of similar thugs, the thief opens the documents, but Aman, bloodied and determined, shows up with a broken sword and uses it to cut the man’s head off, pledging to execute similar criminals, as if having received an edict from heaven.
As a young man, Aman, now Sou Sou, continues to fight against bandits with the help of his brothers (who are’t blood relatives but act as siblings), and a man named Kyo Cho, a large man who aids orphans at a mountain temple and who also has the strength to move boulders. When word gets to Sou Sou about Ri Retsu, a wannabe Emperor who is merely a General who has the skill to manipulate many people, he decides that he cannot allow this impostor to continue his bandit-like ways. Utilizing Kyo Cho’s knowledge of the weather to his advantage, Sou Sou uses apparent sorcery to decimate Ri Retsu’s army, while Kyo Cho takes on the leader himself and leaves nothing but a bloodied corpse behind. Sou Sou and his brothers are poised to become important players in the new society to come.
Thoughts
I have to say right off the bat that this show is leaps and bounds better than the last Three Kingdoms adaptation I saw, the regrettable fanservice trash-fest Koihime Musou (you know, where all the characters were recast as cute busty girls). Of course, that may not be saying much. What this show does appear to be is a slightly over-the-top action series with good character animation but sometimes odd pacing and content.
I’m not going to lie, I didn’t really feel a connection with any of the characters. Aman/Sou Sou (who had kind of a so-so personality, AMIRITE?) simply wasn’t much of an engaging protagonist. By all means, his revenge as a youngster against the thug who brutally attacked him in the alley should have seemed pretty epic and elicited cries of “hell yeah!” when he chopped his head off. However, the somewhat reserved nature of the series so far, dripping with the kind of cultural traditionalism that writers seem to think was common for the time, kind of takes a bit of the fire out of situations that might normally be more badass. The older Aman just came across as smug to me (which makes some sense considering his privileged upbringing an all) and his wielding of poetry in the battle with Ri Retsu seemed a lot more silly than it should have been. With the introduction of Kyo Cho, who seems to be just another lovable meat head character, I’m not particularly optimistic about the potential engaging uniqueness of the characters. I’m guessing a familiarity with the source material might help alleviate some of this feeling and replace it with a more anticipatory feeling towards the introduction of new characters, but I’m not about to go off and read it.
The animation is competent if not awe-inspiring. I’m not completely in love with the character designs because I feel that they take away from the feeling of realism which I think could help this series be more appealing. Many characters have facial features or hairstyles that are ever-so-slightly exaggerated, which looks silly. There are also a couple of characters from the opening who seem to be portrayed with very slanty eyes. Not that Japan is known for its racial sensitivities, but I found that to be a bit much.
As for being an action series, I think that the show might just be a bit too loaded down with cultural elements to be accessible to your average Western anime viewer — for those who like shounen action series along the lines of Dragon Ball Z, some of the dialog might be off-putting, and for viewers looking for something more serious, some of the more cliché elements of the series might serve to bring them out of the story too severely. There’s just something about the various elements of the series that feels disharmonious to me.
For viewers who are more familiar with the Three Kingdoms literature, this might be more interesting to watch. It left me feeling unsatisfied.
Pros
- Way better than Koihime Musou!
Cons
- The characters are not very compelling
- The combination of action and culture does’t seem to jive well together
