First Episode Impression: "Bakumatsu"

Synopsis

In an era known as “Bakumatsu”, the souls of young men burn with anxiety for their country’s future. One of these men is a soldier of from Choshu named Takasugi Shinsaku. In a quest to find and destroy a mysterious “timepiece” which holds the power to manipulate time, he sneaks aboard a government ship with his comrade Katsura Kogorou. Things go awry however as the artifact ends up stolen as soon as it is found and as a result, times have been changed. Now the two have a new mission as Takasugi and Katsura resolve to reset time and save their nation from the nefarious forces trying to hijack it.

The Good

The first notable thing with the series is that it does well in presenting its actions and setting up its story. There was a decent flow in the plot and the way that different points of the story and how the different characters were connected made a solid foundation for the series. The overall design of the characters and the setting is not to bad either. It’s nice that the characters are not too brightly designed in comparison to other similar series. On a smaller note, the effects of the characters ending up in a different time were subtle but fine overall.

The Bad

The thing with this episode is that there is quite a few other series that can be compared with it and the only difference is that the harem of men the series is clearly building up was not introduced in one go. The thing with this kind of series is that it follows a formula of being set in a historical setting, has a group of men battling and it involves either spirit of objects and/or time travel. Basically, this is a series that has plenty of points that has been done before and barely has anything new or different with it. It may be a somewhat harsh assessment but looking at the first episode, the potential for this series to be straying from the stated formula and doing something different is not that high

Conclusion

For a viewer that is familiar with the type of formula that the episode is presenting, there isn’t a lot of expectations to be found with the series. There isn’t much that distinguishes it from other similar series other than its story concept and the way it handles its characters. To put it simply, the uniqueness and impact of the episode were not all that much. It’s the kind of series you watch as a last resort kind of deal. It’s not bad to put it in the don’t watch list, but it doesn’t offer all that much either.

Rating: 6/10