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Old 2015-09-26, 09:19   Link #1
Kairin
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Recommendations: Historical

Provide your recommendations for anime, manga, light novels, web novels, visual novels, games, and other media within the genre: Historical!

These should be works that you've experienced personally and would like to recommend to others. No "troll" recommendations, or non-recommendations in this thread. For longer series, you don't necessarily need to wait until the whole work is finished before recommending it, but please at least wait until you've at least experienced enough of it to make a good judgement.

Please don't just post a list! You don't need to do a full review, but for each title you suggest, please also consider providing:
  • The full title
  • The author, studio, or other information that will help identify the work
  • A brief explanation of the setting and premise (no spoilers!)
  • A brief summary of why you like it and/or why you think others might like it
  • How much of it you've experienced (particularly for longer series)
  • Other works that it reminds you of, if applicable
  • A link to a review you wrote on our site, if applicable
  • Any other information that might help someone know if they should give it a shot
You may optionally post a few images if it helps, but please use thumbnails, and/or place it inside an [images] tag. Most third-party image hosting sites will provide a feature to copy/paste BBCode that uses thumbnails.

Please DO NOT post links on where to illegally download/stream/view the work you're recommending.


Again, for the purposes of this thread, please avoid all spoilers or hints that may ruin surprises in the plot, and absolutely no flaming another person's recommendations. If you see any problematic post, please report it so the moderators can review and take any needed action.
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Old 2015-09-26, 12:21   Link #2
SeijiSensei
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
I'll start off by recommending Hyouge Mono, which recounts the events of the tumultuous Sengoku Period through the eyes of one of Oda Nobunaga's vassals, Furuta Sasuke. Sasuke works as a negotiator, but his real passion is formal tea ceremonies. He aspires to become the official court tea master, following in the footsteps of his patron and teacher, Sen no Sōeki. Both these men are stand-ins for actual historical figures, Furuta Oribe and Sen no Rikyuu respectively, and all the major figures of the period like Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Mitsuhide Akechi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu appear in the story.

Hyouge Mono presents a revisionist view of the assassination of Nobunaga, so I suggest reading a bit of history in advance like this and this. I found the whole emphasis on the "warrior-esthete" especially fascinating as someone who only thought of samurai as warriors.

This isn't a show for someone looking for dashing swordplay, though there is some of that and military battles as well. Most of the story is rather slow-moving as it focuses on political maneuvering and traditional culture, but if you like that sort of thing, Hyouge Mono is an excellent choice.

The manga on which the anime is based won the Grand Prize at the 2010 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The adaptation is by Bee Train, whose work I find pretty variable, but in this case the production values were top-notch probably because it was financed by the NHK. There are three OPs, the first a jazzy number called "Bowl Man" by Cro-Magnon which was pulled after just a few episodes because one of the band's members was arrested for marijuana possession. The two instrumental OPs that followed were pretty unremarkable. On the other hand, the ED, "Kizuna" by Saito Yuki, is an enchanting samba-flavored love song and very memorable. I also enjoyed the soundtrack by Ôtani Kô, but for some reason it has never been released on CD.

The show, like the manga, is famous for its use of distorted facial features, often for comedic purposes. There is much attention to detail including Nobunaga's remarkable, Portuguese-styled wardrobe. Foreign influences play an important role in the story; in particular, Sasuke's brother has converted to Christianity and often importunes his brother to do likewise.

Hyouge Mono is only available in fansubs. One group (actually pretty much a one-man band) began subbing the show when it began, but he was unable to finish it. Luckily another group came along and completed it. There is also a Chinese release that includes the live-action short subjects that focus on the actual works of art that appear in the show. Unfortunately none of these have English translations.

AS discussion thread for Hyouge Mono

Last edited by SeijiSensei; 2015-09-26 at 12:59.
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Old 2015-09-26, 23:12   Link #3
Syndiciate
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Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Menifee, California
Age: 26
As a big fan of history and comedy alike I absolutely adore the Hetalia franchise. The first series in the franchise is titled Hetalia: Axis Powers ( AP ), an adaption by Studio Deen of the beloved webcomic made by Hidekazu Himaruya. The franchise personifies the nations of the world and puts them into various situations where the nations interact with each other. Sometimes these situations are actual historical events and other times they're seemingly random meetups by various nations.

I enjoyed this franchise and continue to enjoy it for multiple reasons, the first being how absolutely hilarious it is. No knowledge of history is needed to watch and enjoy the show but if you are moderately well versed in historical events the humor in the show is multiplied astronomically. Different character connections can be made based on your knowledge of history that you might not have been able to identify or connect without said knowledge. Aside from its seamless blending of comedic and historical elements it also has plenty of characters you can ship together if that's something you're into as there is a large preexisting fanbase for that sort of thing.

I've watched and read all of Hetalia up to it's current point and I don't regret a single moment of it. This series is extremely unique and I have nothing to currently compare it to at this current time though it's occasional political commentary might be reminiscent of political satire shows though with a much lighter bent. Something to note when watching the series is that the two shows after H: AP and Hetalia: World Series ( WS ), Hetalia: The Beautiful World ( TBW ) and Hetalia: The World Twinkle ( TWT ) underwent a massive change in their animation style which I and a few others were not a fan of. The new animation is much shinier and more polished but lacks the distinctive and original style Hetalia: AP and WS possessed.

It should also be noted that the dub for the latter 2 seasons is currently being made and is not yet available for either Hetalia: TBW or TWT. This is particularly relevant as most fans consider Hetalia's dub to be superior to its sub something rarely found in anime. This is most likely due to the nation's personification having the distinct stereotypical accents that many American's and other English speaking viewers believe citizens of these nations to possess. As such most English speaking viewers enjoy getting to hear these accents in their own language. I also believe that the episodes in the latter 2 seasons and the overarching story line is not as entertaining as the ones shown in the first 2 seasons. They are still enjoyable however and deserve a recommendation along with AP and WS. Hetalia as a whole is one of the best comedy/historical franchises I've seen to date and should be watched by fans of history and comedy alike.

Last edited by Syndiciate; 2015-09-27 at 11:48.
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Old 2016-01-06, 05:25   Link #4
AntonKutovoi
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Vladimir, Russia
Age: 30
I recommend only anime, because there's way too many good examples for manga.
For Sengoku Period: Hyoge Mono (although it can be little hard to watch for some people, because it focuses a lot on tea ceremonies), Kanetsugu to Keiji (art style probably can scare away a lot of people, but if you can go past it, it's a really great series), Nobunaga Concerto (one of my favorite shows that I recommend here). Less historical, but more or less close to the actual events: Sengoku Musou. It have a pretty mediocre art, though. Everything else is pretty good. Shounen with historical characters, but don't really follows history, except throwing some references: Sengoku Basara. First two seasons are fun, movie is OK, but Judge End is pretty bad. There's also Brave Ten, which take place in Sengoku era. It's alright, but nothing special. And there's also an old series, called "Sanada Jyuushi", also about Sanada Ten Braves, but I'm not sure if it was translated.

Three Kingdoms period: Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi (just an adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms till Red Cliff. But it's done really well and my only problem with it is that I wanted it to go further), Souten Kouro (RoTK events from the face of Cao Cao).

Warring States period of China: Kingdom. It's hardly can be called true to the history, but it's still a fun show to watch. Also: a pretty unusual portrayal of Qin Shihuangdi.

Bakumatsu: Rurouni Kenshin (OK, that's post-Bakumatsu, actually. Trust & Betrayal OVA takes place during the Bakumatsu itself, though). There's also Hakuoki, but I'm yet to watch it, so I don't know if I can recommend it.
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Old 2016-02-01, 21:02   Link #5
Dop
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Join Date: Sep 2006
I would also recommend Hyouge Mono, I've sometimes described it as the nearest thing I've ever seen to a Japanese version of Blackadder - the somewhat comedic take on Japanese history.
It's a great shame that show wasn't better spread out. Had it been licensed I think it'd have had more coverage.
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