aloe, dream

Yea, this is a series from last Autumn, but I just finished the final two episodes which have been sitting on a disc for many moons.

I’ve not much to say about it, but BKI was a good experience; it didn’t surpass expectations or disappoint. The story telling was fair, but I thought it was overly complex at times, especially with some of the side scenes where rituals were happening. One weakness I found was that I didn’t have a strong connection or liking to any of the main characters, which brings up another point. There were tons of characters in BKI, and a few were historical figures. The way BKI blended (or alternately told) history was cool, so I think my two favorite characters were Katsu and Tayu. I’m not sure if Tayu was historical but she was darling and had a great atmosphere about her. Katsu is of course historical, but anime, in general, has brought a legendary mist about him (Kenshin OVA, BKI).

The main characters didn’t really appeal to me, but if I had to choose, I think Kakunojou would be my pic, though she was naive at times. Kakunojou’s story was appealing, as it had a fair amount of turbulence and was somewhat heartbreaking (even though all was well in the end). Characterization wasn’t poor, and there didn’t seem to be irrelevant characters; everyone played their part. Speaking of plays, I didn’t like that aspect, that Sousetsu was scripting the last half of the story, supposedly. It would have worked otherwise, but it leaves a lot of questions, like why did Sousetsu choose that troupe? Fate? May be it was explained and I just missed it.

Sunrise did well animating, a few oddities, but there was a nice amount of swordplay. Tthe BGM was kick-ass, but I didn’t particularly like the OP/ED music.

As for the ending, it was cornflower blue (a bit generic). It just wasn’t as vibrant as I would have hoped, but it did well. Shit, I have no idea what I would rate this on a 1 to 10 scale (my anidb ratings are off). Rating doesn’t matter, I have zero qualms with spending my time on the series, but I don’t think BKI is marathon material. Perhaps that is why I held off the last two episodes, for I was watching 3-4 at a time and the experience was too static (as opposed to some of the last things I marathoned, Mai Hime, Zegapain). Yup.

Ryan A