Let's Talk Anime : Buso Renkin

This is another Shonen Jump manga series turned anime. Buso Renkin is made by the guy behind Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin Nobuhiro Watsuki, but unlike that series Buso Renkin is not as focused on the extreme action as Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin. This week I talk about an anime that actual is very accurate to the source material, now that's weird huh?

On the back of the mangas the little blurb says, High school student Kazuki Muto had no clue what he was in for when he rescued damsel in distress Tokiko from a monster known as "homunculus." Disguised as humans-who actually eat humans-homunculus are malevolent creatures that affix themselves to people's brains, and once fully grown, the only thing that can annihilate them is a weapon called Buso Renkin!

Yeah this description on the manga doesn't explain it very well but on the back of the first DVD collection says this. High school student Kazuki Muto thinks he's saving a girl from a monster, but it turns out that he's the one who needs saving! Kazuki is killed while fighting a homunculus, a malevolent creature that feeds on humans. The girl, Tokiko Tsumura, revives him by replacing his heart with an alchemical device called a kakugane. With this device Kazuki can create his own Buso Renkin, an alchemical weapon in the form of a huge lance capable of destroying homunculus.
With his new weapon in hand, Kazuki decides to join forces with Tokiko to eliminate the homunculi and destroy their master, the strange eccentric Papillon Masked Creator.

Now that description is a lot better then the mangas. Anyway the series is an action romantic comedy which has a lot of action, but it doesn't dominate the series completely. The action scenes are cool especially the fights against Kazuki and the god like Victor. The comedy is funny but appeals more to teens around 14 to 18 and the romance in it is between the two leads but isn't mushy like you would think. I like how Kazuki's friends refer to it as "Strawberry time" when Kazuki and Tokiko go missing together because it's just not something you'd hear at all in western culture. The series has a multitude of characters you can't help but love especially the flamboyant Papillon and the energetic Captain Bravo who calls himself that because and I quote, "because it's cooler that way". It's a short 26 episode series, but it's a good series that doesn't get boring or drag on til doomsday and as mentioned it's around 90% accurate to the 10 volume manga series.

Buso Renkin is an anime that has enough of everything for almost all audience and being a PG rated series it's suitable for everyone, but younger kids should have parents there to supervise I suppose. Anyway it's good fun to watch and I highly recommend this for DBZ fans who want something different or any anime fan. It's a good series and I like both the manga and anime and having both is recommended for the full story, but the anime is only missing a couple of chapters from the manga that aren't important but still worth reading none the less.