(L) Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho

[Sonhex]

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho (Tokyo Demon Academy Kenpucho)
New action/shounen fantasy anime airing on 2007/01/19. Based loosely on a series of PS2 RPG games. OP & ED are by ACID. No trailer yet.

Here's the synopis (with cast):

The story takes place in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

In spring, a mysterious student transfers to Magami Academy. His name is Hiyu Tatsuma (Hiro Shimono). Then, he meets Horaiji Kyoichi (Masaki Kawanabe) of the kendo club, Daigo Yuya (Katsui Taira) of the wresting club, Sakurai Komaki(Satomi Arai) of the kyudo (Japanese archery) club, and Misato Aoi(Yui Horie) who is the student leader, as if they were attracted by something.

Being influenced by Ryumyaku or Dragon Vein, which became active suddenly, they are awakened as “persons who posses powers”. Since that day, monsters called “Oni” appear and begin to assault Tokyo. Also, those who use evil power to control Oni appear. To protect Tokyo from them, Tatsuma and his friend stand up to fight. Then, they have to face their destiny….

The main character designs are pretty cool and distinctive (designed by Jun Nakai, animator on Eureka 7, Ergo Proxy and Speed Grapher). I like the scratchy style - reminds me of Witchblade's characters for some reason (I think it's the hair). Kyoichi looks particularly moody and Aoi and Komaki (the archer) are cute. I hope they're animated similarly distinctively.

So yeah, more high school kids vs monsters (or Oni in this case), but I like the idea of the various martial arts disciplines being a key part of the student's lives (rather than them just being random skills) and kyudo especially (I don't think I've seen archery featured in an anime since Arjuna). There's not much info about this show but I'm hoping it's not a cliche shounen fightfest and something more intriguing.

[sukreih]

I enjoyed this game a lot. And when I looked at the character designs of the anime I was like what the hell this isn't anything like the game's atmosphere! Well,the character designs in the game weren't that pretty to start with,but it suited the game well.

What the game was good about was all about its 'Emotion Input System'..where the hero expresses his emotion in 8 buttons.(anger,suffering,sadness,callousness,happi ness,agreement,friendship,love) It's hilarious to see the character's reactions...and you know..you can show love to male characters as well. (and proves Kyoichi is gay..) Plus you each have an ending that corrosponds to the characters you showed love to. In Kenpoucho,there were only endings for Misato(god I hate her),Komaki,Kyoichi and Daigo but in the fandisk you can see endings for all..uh....30 characters.(I think it was 30..)
The fact that the main hero talks in the anime just takes away most of the fun..

Also the story was not that special but really well written throughout the 30 chapters of the game..I'm kindda worried about the anime cuz,wellllllll...most anime adaptations are not that good.

We'll see when it comes out but...I still don't like the character designs!

[Sonhex]

Ah ha, because I poked around the game site (with some nice artwork) but it didn't seem to bare much resemblance to the anime at all; apart from the basic roles and the weapons of-course.

EDIT: Scan of Tatsuma, Kyoichi and Aoi from Newtype Jan '07...

[Sonhex]

Minor update - the full Majin website has been unveiled, includes a better look at the characters. Still no trailer though...

[wao]

I was attracted to the character designs when I was flipping through Newtype too. It was like "oh... another moe loli series.... another one..." (okay there weren't that many but few shows caught my attention) and then this sort of made me stop for a short bit. I somehow like the lines a lot and the designs are just attractive to me.

Although those are pretty crazy ahoges.... heh

And... what the heck? Does the game even have anything remotely to do with this? I can't see any resemblence...

EDIT: Ah, I see now. I think the anime is not really an adaptation of a game but like a reinterpretation or something... just using a similar premise and stuff... perhaps..

[Sonhex]

Ahoges! That's the word I was looking for! When I was writing the first post I could not remember for the life of me the word for the sticky-uppy hair things. Sadly I will never be a Grade A otaku...wait, perhaps that's a good thing.

Anyway, yeah I'm smitten with the character designs and their rather natural colour scheme i.e. no orange haired protagonists here. I'm eager to see a trailer though; hoping the art style transfers to the screen. I was wondering if they changed into their Edo era costumes to do battle or something to tie in with the game.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Sonhex

Ahoges! That's the word I was looking for! When I was writing the first post I could not remember for the life of me the word for the sticky-uppy hair things. Sadly I will never be a Grade A otaku...wait, perhaps that's a good thing.

haha.. Perhaps! I'm a bit cautious about this series because how the character design for the hero and the girl on the left seems similar to the male and female lead from Tenjou Tenge. That series went downhill very quickly animation wise after the first two episodes.

[Jesus Christnekoff]

(and proves Kyoichi is gay..)

Lies. The thing that proves Kyoichi is gay is the fact that you can date him for Christmas.

EDIT: Ah, I see now. I think the anime is not really an adaptation of a game but like a reinterpretation or something... just using a similar premise and stuff... perhaps..

No, this is based on the game. The first game. That came out on the Playstation in 1998. The website that's been linked in this thread is the third game in the series, which brings in the Norse Gods for some reason. I haven't played it, nor do I want to.

Here's the original crew:

I was wondering if they changed into their Edo era costumes to do battle or something to tie in with the game.

Those are different characters.

Spoiler:

Specifically, the ancestors of the original cast.

Kyoichi looks particularly moody

The sad thing? Kyoichi isn't moody in the game. At all. He's the goofy, perverted, wacky best friend. The fact that all the promotional material shows him as the moody, sad sack... it makes me worry.

We'll see when it comes out but...I still don't like the character designs!

I'm afraid of what's going to happen to Arisa D:

If you guys want a preview of some of the other characters, here ya go. Of course, this is fanart based on the game, and there's a dramatic disconnect between the designs of the anime and game...

[wao]

Originally Posted by Jesus Christnekoff

No, this is based on the game. The first game. That came out on the Playstation in 1998. The website that's been linked in this thread is the third game in the series, which brings in the Norse Gods for some reason. I haven't played it, nor do I want to.

Here's the original crew:
(image)

Ahhh, that makes a lot more sense. Thank you very much, they do look more similar here. Though there still is quite a difference in art style... Yet I somehow find myself liking the animation ones more, probably because I tend to appreciate anime character designs more easily and I can't help but like its confident, strong lines (we'll put the ridiculous ahoge to one side for now).

Perhaps the decision to adapt the designs in that way is a mark that the story too will not be very faithful to the game? I dunno. (I don't really care, either.. since I haven't played it.)

[Jesus Christnekoff]

Possibly. Like, one thing I noticed was that in the scan from earlier, Aoi is holding a naginata. In the game, her only weapons are rings, and she doesn't get any offensive capabilities until like, Level 40.

And, like, Hisui is already listed on the character page, which is weird because he's a pretty minor character, especially when compared to the other 6.

[Sonhex]

Thanks for the info Jesus Christnekoff. The website has been updated, includes a handful of other wonderfully designed characters, including the freakish looking Kodunu (love the hair) and token loli Mary. Also on the outline page there's two tantalising shots from the anime, though not really enough to draw any conclusions on how it'll be animated.

T minus 4 days.

[Jesus Christnekoff]

Wow. Kodzuno, what happened to you?

And I never thought I'd see the day when Maria is wearing baggy khakis. She's supposed to be like, all glamorous and stuff.

Anyway, Maria Alucard and Morihito Inugami are teachers at Magami High. Maria is Hiyu's homeroom teacher. Kodzuno is, well, a villain, as if you couldn't figure that out by looking at him. Marie Crea is a firestarter (Y'know, psychic and can create fire and whatnot) who is supposed to have a little cat named Mephisto but I do not see him and that makes me sad.

I apologize for being all like "OMG WTF???" but its just like... wow.

(For the recrod: Kyoko Tohno works on the Magami High newspaper. Hisui Kisaragi runs the antique shop, and is also a ninja. And doesn't attend Magami.)

[eggplant]

Saw episode 1.

Spoiler for Episode 1:

I never played the game, so I didn't have high expectations out of this title, but after watching it, it sure is intriguing. The battle scenes are handled nicely, the ghoulish scenes are meant to be squeamish, and there's some fanservice thrown in.

The abilities of the protagonists are interesting, especially Komaki, with her Witchblade make and all.

Most of all, I was overwhelmed by the voice acting. The guy seiyuus were good, but the girls win. True, having Horie Yui play the role of a student council president overlaps with Manabi (although they are totally two different characters), but at least she appeared in the original game and retained her for the anime. The surprise was Arai Satomi, who played the role of Komaki, the Archer. Who would have expected such a soft spoken seiyuu, whose previous roles such as Kozue in Mahoraba fitted her perfectly, to be able to deliver the aggresive, tomboy character of Komaki the way she did? (Then again, she did have to play five roles on Mahoraba)

Without prior knowledge, the storyline can get confusing, so reading the synopsis in advance was certainly helpful in my case.

This is an Animax only broadcast, so you have to deal with the poor video quality and the obtrusive logo, but all in all Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuuchou Tou (龖 this letter has to have the most amount of strokes I've ever seen) a good show worth looking forward to.

[monir]

I was going to watch the first 3 episodes anyway, but Eggplant's vote of confidence makes me look forward to the episode even more. There can never be enough shounen series after all. My only concern would be that the series will not take a chapter for inconsistency from Tenjou Tenje in regards to animation.

[aroduc]

Oh man, that first ep was wonderful. A little heavy on the violin at the start, but the mop thing got a laugh from me, as did the photographer under the pavement. Choreography is impressive and the animation matches it. It could stand to be a little more colorful and less grey, but I'll live. A primer on the world would definitely have done me a great deal of good since about 50% of the episode or so is various fight scenes.

And yes, I also find it funny that Horie Yui is playing another seitokaicho role. Busy busy girl these days.

[monir]

Screenshot for Episode 1:



Music: Brilliant!

Animation: Very good

Background Image: Very very detailed!

Story: One could write a short novel from what transpired in episode 1 alone. Way too many things happened to make me struggle to keep up with what's going on. I'm certain the following episodes won't be able to maintain this much detail consistently.

Entertainment Value: From my perspective, this is the best first episode from all the series I've seen so far in this Winter 2007 season. I should also note that I'm an avid shounen-fan, but that doesn't mean I would go gaga over anything. This episode indeed was very good!

Hence, my request to the Anime Gods: If you are reading this thread...... please, please don't let this series end up in the land of mediocrity after the 3rd episode.

[cyth]

Watched episode 01...

Spoiler:

I haven't really paid attention to the seiyuu cast this time, but the animation just astounded me. I've really been missing a nice shounen fighting series, and I think this one is the winner after 4 years of draught. Last one I remember was GetBackers.

I can easily forget that we're sort of slingshot in an already developed story, where our heroes already have their powers. The animation is just that great. The music was also very nice, especially the two classical violin (or viola?) pieces at the beginning and closing scene. Too bad we haven't seen any real opening and ending, but I guess they would've ruined the marvelous composition. Still it left me completely clueless, just to be on the clear. I hope we get to see some explanations in episode 02. I'd really hate it if the authors would leave us completely dry of the preexisting story.

Anyway, this is kick-ass and hopefully some group can sub this baby fast.

I've taken a few screencaps myself. Further impressions and a more moderate summary of the episode (due to the WTFness) I've written here, on my blog.

[Sonhex]

Ohmygosh... ohmygosh...Oh...where to begin...

Spoiler for ohmygosh:

...wow, this exceeds all my expectations. From the apocalyptic opening with the Vivaldi-esque violins to the adrenalin-fueled climax, it's just incredible stuff. Amazingly the first episode dispenses with introductions and useless backstory and throws us straight into the action. Oh, and what action! From the comical school yard scrap with the double-act of laid back Kyoichi and nonchalant Tatsuma (and a gang of wannabe villains), to the absolutely jaw dropping zombie onslaught featuring a kick-ass kung-fu oji-san and some stunning camera work. Brilliant stuff all the way.

Story? No much in this first episode. But there seems to be two threads here - one with the Ryumyaku team battling the undead and demons and another with onmyouji attempting to destroy the freaky Kodzuno and his demented loli sidekick Mary. I hope we see much more of Mary, she looks totally insane with a screw in her forehead and her cat Mephisto.

And I love the humour, the funniest scene being Tatsuma pwned with a mop by his outrageous teacher Maria. Kyoko Tohno, the camera happy high school newspaper reporter has a hilarious scene ~ when faced with a gaint spider controlling the undead, her first instinct is to take a photograph. Click.

It had to be said though this is dark stuff. In anime I've never seen a more brutal portrayal of a city in utter chaos and moral decline - random murder, rape, drugs, gang warfare - it's all there in stark flickering detail; like channel hopping through the darkest corners of urban hell. It's no holds barred violence and in later scenes there's dismemberment in gruesome detail. Not for the faint hearted.

Animation wise, well this is astonishing stuff for TV. Needless to say I was impressed with the fluid character animation, detailed backgrounds, monsters and effects that all added up to the kind of quality you only see in OAVs. It's that good. I'm looking forward to wao's comments on this in particular. Thankfully the quirky character design translates to screen perfectly as hoped. Of-course, my first reaction is ~ they'll never keep this up. There'll be a dive in quality next episode or thereafter, or they'll farm it out to Korean students etc... but here's hoping not because by this first episode it is clearly ambitious and not to be dismissed.

As monir said, hands down the most visually exciting and visceral first episode of the season.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Sonhex

Ohmygosh... ohmygosh...Oh...where to begin...

Spoiler for ohmygosh:

.
It had to be said though this is dark stuff. In anime I've never seen a more brutal portrayal of a city in utter chaos and moral decline - random murder, rape, drugs, gang warfare - it's all there in stark flickering detail; like channel hopping through the darkest corners of urban hell. It's no holds barred violence and in later scenes there's dismemberment in gruesome detail. Not for the faint hearted.

Spoiler for episode 1:

I whole heartedly agree about the rarity of this portrayal. The demonstration of the viciousness of the world resonated so much because it was done so casually and not without subtlety. Things happened here and there. In one scene, this woman is just sitting there dejected. Once one notices around her ankle, one gets it what has happened here. I was disturbed because I was asked to understand the scope of brutality that is going on.

Considering this kind of portrayal in a shounen series, I was also impressed by the fact how the episode was devoid of any angst from any of these characters. How long this trait will be maintained as the series progresses is another matter. Nontheless, fantastic start!

[wao]

Oh damn you, Sonhex! Damn you and damn you to heck and back! I was going to silently ignore this series hoping it'll just end up being a disappointment but now that I"ve read your raving review of it I just have to watch it now, don't I? Especially when you mention the animation! God, I remember this happening with a particular show beginning with B... but that level of crazy addiction is not happening for this show, I will make sure of it! (I doubt it'll hook me as much anyway)


And it doesn't help that when I finally decide to go visit the sakuga thread at 2ch they're all currently raving about the first episode of this show. Now I have to take a look at it... I had a look at the animators names though, surprisingly nothing really stood out apart from Hisashi Saitou whom I remember seeing here and there in other good eps of Stuff.

I think perhaps episode 1 was given a lot of time in production and what may have been normally mediocre animators could do a better job (like how some so-so animators at I.G. turn into great people when it comes to movies). Either that or Jun Nakai is a genius.

It's not just the animators though, the episode director must have gotten it all down precisely. Well, I'll go yap on about it when the episode downloads... The scary thing is... It's not like I hate superpowers-in-school stuff. Actually, I think that's another one of my 1001 guilty pleasures. It's one of the genres that got me so hooked onto anime to begin with so if it's really flashy and done well and is consistently cool... then why not? Just watching it is fine...

I have a sinking feeling they won't keep up the quality though. After all I'm really relying on the Spring season for my eyecandy quota. *drools at the general direction of Seirei no Moribito, Gurenn-Lagann and Dennou Coil*