Busou Renkin

After reading the manga I was curious about it was adapted into an anime, and to my surprise it was. The manga gave me such nostalgic feel I had to add this 26 episode show to my watchlist. It may be alittle silly especially with anime nowadays, but as someone who enjoys classic anime (back when anime was in parts, dvds, or cable tv), this brought me back to a time where I where I genuinely enjoyed Shonen work. When they first mentioned alchemy, I couldn't get FMA out of my head, but a great story otherwise. I really enjoyed the unique style of weapons that came into play and how they were used to defeat each opponent. They did change some scenes from the manga, but you wouldn't be able to tell unless you read it first. Regardless I still feel like they wrapped up the show quite nicely and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a classic Shonen feel and to those who want a nice wrapped up anime to watch on their free time.

Remember your first anime? Me too. This was not my first anime, but it /is/ the first series I ever watched from beginning to end, and as such it holds a special place in my heart. That was my disclaimer to let you know that I'm reviewing one of my favorite series, and while I tried to mitigate it, there may still be some inherent bias found within. Busou Renkin is a fairly unimpressive production, but was the first anime that fully captivated me with its entertaining characters, exciting battles, and easygoing attitude. Busou Renkin's animation is about par for the course for 2005. That is to say: the visuals are probably its weakest element. Some of Watsuki's character designs are fun and original, but a good few are just uninspired or bland. The animation can range from bad to pretty good, but it's never really great. Characters are semi regularly off model, and there are budget shots abound, but also infrequent creative direction that really takes advantage of the digital medium. Conspicuous CG is present in most episodes, and while it doesn't look great, it isn't overly obtrusive. Much like Dragon Ball, this is one of those series I can only watch in English, just because the voices are so ingrained into my memory and experience of it. That said, it's a pretty middle of the road dub. The lead roles are cheesy yet fun, but many side characters are dismally devoid of emotion in their delivery. I've only tried to watch a few episodes in Japanese, but I'm sure it's just as good if not better! I simply adore the soundtrack, but that may be reinforced by my love for the series. I don't think it does anything bold or surprising, but it serves its purpose nonetheless. The tracks range from light and whimsical, to atmospheric and mysterious, to grand, powerful orchestral pieces. The opening, Makka na Chikai, is a classic to me, with its squealing guitars and overwhelmingly hot blooded shounen attitude. The first ending theme is sweet, sappy, and stuck in my head, while the second is dark and fabulously groovy. The characters are where Busou Renkin really shines, and are the reason why I love it so much. While none of them are terribly deep or complex, their strength lies in their simplicity and relationships. Many fit typical shounen archetypes, and most of them don't have much depth, but the easily understandable dynamics between them are delightful to watch. Kazuki's friends that are entirely separated from the battles are always a hoot, and give me the warm fuzzy feelings in their moments of sincerity. Papillon is a wonderfully developed rival for Kazuki, against whom the romantic rival Gota pales. A few important opponents have actual back stories, but for the most part enemy characters simply are their special powers. There are more characters still that I would like to detail (Bravo!), but let's keep this review rolling. If you're looking for a compelling, nuanced narrative, you probably won't find it here. Many twists, turns, and character actions are cliche and predictable, but I still have fun going along for the ride every time. Of course all the enemies become allies, and nobody really dies when they're defeated, so as long as you can forgive standardized shounen tropes like these you'll be fine. It risks an atypical narrative style in the final episodes, which makes it feel a bit slow, but this may just be the anime adaptation. For as much as I love this series, I still haven't read the whole manga, which I'm pretty ashamed of. So who should watch Busou Renkin? Watch this if you like battle anime with special powers, strong but simplistic characters, or just want a feel good show that you don't have to think about too much.

well i just finished this anime, havn't read the manga at all. but i thought the anime was pretty good, i originally started watching it because i've been told it's similar to bleach and naruto. the story is actually pretty good, the fights arn't the greatest but they're not horrible. at first i didn't like it too much, but after a few episodes i couldn't help but continue. this anime's definintly worth watching if your looking for new stuff, there's some parts where i honestly felt emotional which is kind of awkward to me, but i think it's a good thing. the only thing i wish is that there were more episodes and possibly a few episodes showing what they do after all of it. all in all i give this anime an 8/10, it's worth giving it a shot. i have no doubt i'll watch this anime again sometime in the future.

Buso Renkin is an anime that, on paper, might seem like a complete train wreck, but somehow manages to come out the other side with a certain charm. It features alchemy, monster fights, strange weapons, a passionate hero, and plenty of shonen tropes, yet instead of overwhelming the viewer, it maintains a steady pace that suggests it has a purpose. Kazuki Muto is not a perfect hero. He’s impulsive and emotionally flawed, which makes him feel more human. This is part of why the series works. He makes mistakes, becomes angry, but keeps moving forward, fighting with his Buso Renkin as if his life depends on it, because, in this case, it does. Tokiko is the series’ backbone, cool, sharp, deadly, and she’s portrayed in a way that feels authentic rather than ornamental. She handles herself with confidence, grounding the story. Is it flawless? No. The pacing can be uneven, some characters are a bit underdeveloped, and the anime sometimes feels off its rhythm. It can rush through moments or linger on others, and occasionally introduces melodramatic scenes that feel out of place. Still, even when it stumbles, it retains a certain gritty appeal. It embraces its silly side, maintains a sincere tone, and knows when to be serious or ridiculous, or when to blow something up to suit the scene. The action is particularly impressive. The designs are inventive, the weapons are bizarre in the best way, and the fights capture the chaotic energy that makes anime exciting. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s genuinely fun, and sometimes that’s more valuable than overcomplicated pretensions. TLDR: Buso Renkin isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s an energetic, somewhat messy, and surprisingly likable shonen series that knows how to deliver exciting fights and memorable moments. It has style, heart, and enough momentum to keep viewers engaged, even when it’s not perfect. Overall, it provides an enjoyable experience.

If you’re looking for something that feels like a mix of Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, then Busso Renkin is definitely worth checking out. Not ONLY does it have the same kind of quirky, ability-driven characters you see in FMAB, but it also brings in some really solid, high-energy fights that feel closer to Bleach in not only depth of story but badass-ery of the fights. I also LOVE the way it plays into the alchemy and human experimentation, which for me is pretty similar to FMAB with the homunculus. On top of that, the fights are just straight-up fun as they have really cool weapons, unique powers, and some genuinely GREAT character dynamics! If you are looking for something with BADASS fight scenes and is reminiscent of Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood then I recommend Busso Renkin! Oh did I MENTION he has a giant ass sword that can transform? YEAH GO WATCH IT!!

Busou Renkin An older Shounen title, which shows most of the usual shortcomings, but has also put something individuality at the table. This Title comes straight to the point in the first episode and explains to the audience what this story is about and what system this world follows there. It is in fact nothing too earth-shattering, but a more pleasant introduction than in some other Shounen. I quote the description "Together they have to stop the humunculi now" - unfortunately this takes up almost the first 12 episodes of the work, in which there are almost continuous battles that devour almost the entire episodes and really do is very sluggish. The basic idea of ​​Busou Renkin is not bad, but it failed due to a captivating implementation. This work could have been completed in 14-16 episodes just as well, but it was lengthened immensely. The end in particular was very daunting. The whole final fight looked very clapped and rested. Story: The plot is very simple at the beginning. The protagonist receives these powers and first tries to expand them in various battles and at the same time defeat his enemies. Of course, more and more enemies appear until a master plan emerges. Half of the work is very transparent and quite sluggish. From the second half, the anime takes a slightly different path and the end is also not so certain. In other words, the story is mainly about struggles with one or the other little enlightenment. The actual ending and final battle was really flat. Animation / pictures: The animations were anything but the yellow of the egg. It was mainly still image animations, which caused the dynamics to shrink to almost 0%. In some scenes, however, they tried to animation more smoothly, but these were completely rare. I have to give a plus point to the environment, they made it quite pleasant and did not neglect it. Characters: The characters also presented themselves quite sympathetically. The protagonist looked like the usual 0815 number, which he was in the end. He was a thick skull who just kept going through the day with his "I want to protect everyone" talk. His personality, on the other hand, left enough room for development and humor, because apart from his monotonous approaches, he also had other likeable qualities. For example, the protagonist was not particularly stupid and could land a pretty good gag sometimes. The female protagonist was less likeable , but she wasn't annoying, she was rather dominant. Fortunately, she had no characteristics of the usual female protagonists. There were almost all different roles among the supporting characters, luckily they were also given a suitable character design and none of them in the foreground, let alone annoyingly implemented. And of course there was also the butterfly Darling, which was definitely the most personable character of the entire series. His personality, ambitions, design and his way of articulating himself, everything has made him special. Unfortunately, much of the characters in this work, something like a depth of character. They responded very quickly and gave them hardly any real screen time, which was sacrificed for the long struggles. Music: The intro by Busou Renkin had a very special style of singing, which means that I can by no means call this style depleted. The text and the picture were also not bad and the intro had even better animations than the anime itself. The first outro left a lot to be desired and was now nothing special. The second outro, which was dedicated to a certain character, also had a very interesting style. The Ost's were also very positively impressive. Nothing was empty and had proven musical taste. In particular, they accompanied the situations well. This work has done well in the field of music. My conclusion This plant had great potential. There was not much to complain about about the music and the characters. However, everything failed in the area of ​​implementation. In particular, the blunt animations for an action shounen and the fights, which were drawn to immense lengths, destroyed a lot of tension. If you had focused more on the characters or plot, the title would certainly have been more.

My honest opinion is this: If you are over 12 years old you might be better off watching something else. I'm not here to attack the anime I'm just trying to help you get your time's worth. First of all I chose to watch Busou Renkin because I read somewhere the romance in it was great. It wasn't. The romance is extremely minimal, and wasn't even brought up till the last couple of episodes. I was 19 when I watched this and I'm sorry to say it was a disappointment. I think it may be because it could have been aimed towards a younger audience. There was nothing very special about the main characters Kazuki and Tokiko and the villains are pretty dumb. As I saw someone else say it is an "impossible is possible" anime and in that sense is good for if you're looking for inspiration, although Gurren Lagann is an IPP that exceeds Busou Renkin greatly in my opinion. If you have other shows in your "plan to watch " list I'd say go watch them first. With all that said the opening song is really good C:

Overview: Throughout the decades, there have been many shonen anime and manga that have become wildly popular and beloved for their intricate worlds, large and diverse casts of characters and beautifully animated fight scenes. "Buso Renkin" or "Arms Alchemy", first released in the mid-2000s, is NOT one of these. While it's by no means a bad anime, it is a very cliched and derivative one, borrowing heavily from the likes of "Fullmetal Alchemist" and "Bleach" among others, with the main thing that makes it stand out being that it doesn't take itself very seriously. Story (6.5/10): One night, 16-year-old Kazuki Muto has a weird dream where he dies saving a mysterious girl from a monster. As he learns later, however, said dream wasn't a dream at all- he really was killed by a monster, known as a Homonculus, and the only reason he's still alive is because the girl he protected used a mystical device to revive him. She is Tokiko Tsumura, an Alchemist Warrior whose sworn duty is to slay Homoncli and protect the innocent from them. What's more is that the device used to revive Kazuki also gives him the ability to manifest a weapon much like she can, enabling him to destroy the Homonculus that killed him. Afterwards, Kazuki learns that there are other Homonculi in the city, and asks to team up with Tokiko so he can help her get rid of them and keep anyone else from getting hurt. Tokiko agrees, and becomes Kazuki's mentor so he can learn to harness his new power to its fullest. The story then follows this unlikely duo as they fiight and defeat any Homonculi they come across, and along the way, they uncover a dangerous conspiracy involving Homonculi that threatens to reshape the entire world. As I already said, this is a very derivative series. The words "alchemy" and "homonculus" immediately bring "Fullmetal Alchemist" to mind, and this is only made more apparent by the existence of an organization that operates very much like State Alchemists do. Not to mention the ability to manifest a weapon from one's soul is a concept in anime too numerous to list. Overall, you won't find any amount of originality in this series, and while that itself is not inherently a bad thing, the problem is that a lot of its ideas are things that are done much better in other shows. This is not helped by the fact that the series is the standard anime length of 26 episodes, when it could easily have been half again as long or even twice as long in order to flesh out its world and premise and truly establish its own identity. All of that being said, the story is pretty decently paced. Not only does it get straight to the point, with Kazuki being killed, revived, awakening to his power and becoming Tokiko's disciple all over the span of the first episode. In general, the series never stays on the same arc for too long and most episodes do serve to progress the plot in some way, even if said progress is stuff you'll often see coming long before it happens. The last few episodes also have some pretty decent storytelling with surprisingly high stakes, and the series does have a mostly satisfying ending. I say "mostly" because the final fight of the series felt kind of pointless, being a post-climax confrontation that only lasts a couple of minutes between two characters and fails to conclude their relationship in any particularly meaningful way. Overall, the story is enjoyable for what it is, but if you go in expecting anything deep or thought-provoking, you'll be disappointed. Art & Animation (8/10): "Buso Renkin" is a pretty good-looking series. While the art style is pretty rough around the edges, the character models are well-drawn with a number of notable character designs and the environments are very detailed as well. The animations are pretty good too, particularly when an Alchemist Warrior is manifesting their weapon and the animations of Tokiko's spider-like Busou Renkin, though some other animations can also be quite. All in all, the visuals won't blow you away, but they're still quite good considering the time period, and I have definitely seen worse. Sound & Dialogue (8/10): "Buso Renkin"'s soundtrack is mostly pretty generic, consisting mainly of standard tracks that you could find in a dozen other shonen and no notable battle music. The only exceptions are the opening, "Crimson Oath", and the two ending themes, "Starlight" and "Beloved World", which are all good in their own ways. The voice acting is also something of a mixed bag; while the voices of the side characters tend to be average at best, the voice performances of the major characters are very good, particularly Steve Staley as Kazuki, Tara Platt as Tokiko and Patrick Seitz as Captain Bravo. The dub also features Yuri Lowenthal in a rare villainous role, which he pulls off a lot better than you'd think. Characters (7.5/10): From the very first episode, Kazuki is established as a kind person with a strong sense of justice. While initially a bit shocked by the existence of Homonculi, Kazuki jumps at the call to protect people from them and will go out of his way to save everyone he can, even those who have just tried to kill him. While he starts off fairly weak, overtime he becomes a formidable powerhouse with his sword manifested from the kakugane inside his heart. Unfortunately, in terms of actual character development, Kazuki is pretty static, as while he does become more confident and determined, he doesn't really undergo any major growth. This is largely due to the fact that he doesn't have any major flaws to grow out of, with any negative traits he does have being quite minor and played entirely for comedy. The series does try to give him some depth with a certain villain calling him a hypocrite for telling him to accept his fate when Kazuki himself has been given a second chance at life, but it falls flat since said villain has killed many people in order to extend his lifespan, something Kazuki doesn't have to do. Ultimately, he's a likeable protagonist, but far from the most memorable one. Ultimately, my favourite character in the series would have to be Tokiko. While Kazuki is generally a goofball who can be serious when the situation calls for it, Tokiko is serious all the time, perhaps too much so for her own good. As such, she acts as the show's resident 'straight man', and often gets driven up the wall by the wackiness of everyone and everything around her, which is both hilarious and helps endear us to her as a character. She's also a huge badass, with her Buso Renkin consisting of four spider leg-like blades that she uses to tear apart enemies however she sees fit. One of her defining traits early on is that she despises homonculi, to the point that she considers even associating with them to be an unforgivable sin. Naturally, this causes her to clash with Kazuki, who goes out of his way to save anyone he views as redeemable. But while Tokiko and Kazuki may disagree from time to time, the two hit it off very quickly, to the point that they're often in sync as early as the second episode, and Tokiko does gradually become warmer as a result of Kazuki's influence. If I were to name a flaw with her character, it's that her backstory is kind of lacking, with it only mentioned towards the end of the series as an afterthought and having no actual bearing on her character. Even so, she is easily the most developed character in the series (not that there's much competition) and her relationship with Kazuki is easily one of the show's highlights. Of course, Tokiko and Kazuki are far from the only two Alchemist Warriors in the series. Another notable example is Captain Bravo, a high-ranking member of the Alchemist Army and Tokiko's superior. You'd think this would make him ultra-serious, and while he does seem that way at first, he's soon revealed to be almost as much of a goof as Kazuki, much to Kazuki's delight and Tokiko's embarrassment. Make no mistake, however; silly as he is, he's also a huge bad…

Buso Renkin is as much of a 7/10 shounen you get. Very standard by the book shounen that never excells in any area. Not its music. Characters. Story. Fights etc. But in the end despite my doubts halfway in what to think its still decent enough and i do think the second half was its stronger point. Theres more story and plot going on and you get some more background stuff and worthy antagonist. Its a big late though and dont get fleshed out enough, could definetly have more work and more time for it rather than wasting to much of it on the worse first part. Nog that its bad but at times watching it the enjoyment i had was more along the Gantz line ”so bad its good” with its stupid dialogue and characters. Especially papillion. But also the butterfly guy. Some of the fights and dialogue were, sorry for using the word, but cringe. The Op wasnt great but pretty catchy so decent enough. Always a fan of early 2000 animations. So yeah Buso isnt anything special. But if you like shounen genre its worth a watch.