I know I talked a lot about Senran Kagura Burst just two days ago, but I can't hold to myself what I feel and think about Senran Kagura the Animé. I started watching it that night after I finished the post and then finish the rest of it yesterday. To put it simply: I was disappointed with the Animé. It wasn't bad and I had fun watching it, but it wasn't what I wanted and I didn't like some of the things they changed. I know I shouldn't compare it to the game, but it used the same story line and changed some things around. First, I'd like to go over things I liked about it.
Things I liked about the Animé:
-This song! A lot of the other opening and ending themes aren't bad, but are forgettable. I instantly fell in love with this song the first time I heard it. The allure of its melody, use of traditional Japanese instruments, bouncy beats, and uplifting guitar riffs just stood out to me. It's such a catchy tune!
-All the original voice actors reprise their roles. It's very sad to get different voice actors for the same characters because it doesn't feel the same. So I was very happy to hear all the same voices again.
-Daidouji gets a bigger part in the story when she was only mentioned twice in the game. They also give an explanation as to why she never graduated when she clearly qualifies to.
-People who were faceless in the game is shown in the animé: Murasame (Ikaruga's adoptive older brother), Hanzou (Asuka's Grandfather), Rin (Younger version), and Dougen (Hebijou Investor).
-Attention to certain details such as their catch phrases, special skills (hidden ninpo), and back story.
-Mirai is pretty darn cute in the animé.
-Grandfather Hanzou, Daidouji and Rin get to play a bigger part in the story
-The humor is pretty good and one of the aspects that made it kind of fun to watch.
-I don't care too much for fan-service, nor do I hate it. I can say I like it, but I also can say it wasn't necessary had they focused more on the story and its characters. There is a lot of nudity, but no nipples or private parts. So it didn't go beyond ridiculous...depending on your tolerance.
Things I had problems with in the Animé:
Whew, here we go.
-Music is just as important to an animé sometimes as much as it is to videogames because it emphasizes a moment, an emotion, and event that triggers a memory or reaction from them. Senran Kagura didn't really seem to have those aspects in their BGM and opening/ending themes (other than the one mentioned above) which is severely disappointing when the game had incredible BGM that could, very well, work in the animé.
The opening theme to Skirting Shadows is uplifting and intense while the opening to Crimson Girls is dark and powerful. Both are very memorable.
-Battle/combat choreography: A lot of the battles are short, one motion clips that have a lot of flashy effects and color, but no real impact and intensity in its movements. Look at the openings for the game right above and see how action-packed the fights look. I didn't really get that effect from the animé.
-Animation/certain details: I'm not talking about the graphics, but I thought they did an incredible job with the characters and environment. But certain little things such as facial expressions, battle movement and effects, and certain gestures don't seem to really achieve a greater goal. It's subtle details that can affect an entire moment and character. The prime examples are my three favorite characters from Hebijo side: Yomi, Hikage, and Mirai. Yomi has this facial expression in the game where the pupil of her eyes narrows and she has a very dire attitude. But in the animé, they just give her a half closed evil eye that feels more presumptuous than serious. With Hikage, they changed her story entirely! In the game, she never smiles and it brought about this mysterious yet charming side of not knowing what she's about. And then the player finds out there's a lot to her than what she lets on. But in the animé, she's ALWAYS smiling and is described as being raised as a child soldier and to suppress her emotions. Again, instead of being unpredictable and frightening like in the game, her character is confident and cocky in the animé. For Mirai, I like how they made her very cute because she "is" very adorable. But I'm very sad they made her the joke of the animé because she was a very strong character in the game who faced many difficulties through the story that made her confident. She also has an arrogant attitude in the animé which makes me think they wanted to make Hebijo girls all the same.
-Let's get to characters, because I think that's the subject I'm most bothered with:
*Asuka: I think they nailed it with Asuka's personality, but they didn't portray her growth in understanding the concept behind having "Sword and Shield" as well as it did in the game. It also didn't feel like Asuka really taught Homura anything about friendship. It was brought up, and then just kind of crossed her mind at the end.
*Ikaruga: I am VERY bothered by the portrayal of her character because she is my absolute favorite. In the game, she is a responsible, proud, and understanding older-sister to everyone in the team. In the animé, she's cold and resolute. It made her more of a loner. I was very saddened by this.
*Katsuragi: I feel like they didn't explain her backstory, like many other characters, with any impact. That emotional tie you're supposed to feel for that character just isn't there. Otherwise, they did a really good job on her personality.
*Yagyuu: Yagyuu, unfortunately, didn't have as much personality and character build up in the game either, but she did play some important roles in the story. Well, they just made her even more shallow and boring in the animé. There was a rather serious point in the story for Yagyuu in the game that reflected the strong bond between the girls, but idea wasn't carried across very well in the animé.
*Hibari: You know, she's actually one of the characters I thought they did some improvements with in the animé. It's a good and bad thing. In the game, she becomes more confident and is the one character to really bring together the two side to understand one another. That also happens in the animé to a lesser degree, BUT she also has special abilities and talent in the animé that she didn't really have in the game. Although her character played a stronger part in the story in the game, she seemed a lot more useful in the animé.
*Homura: Much like Katsuragi, Homura's story wasn't explained very well so I felt it was hard to connect with her character in the animé.
*Yomi: To be fair, I really despised her for a good half of the game. A lot of the Hebijo characters during the Hanzo story was actually pretty shallow and reminded me of Pokémon. Homura's all about "power, power, !@#$ friends", Hikage says "Wakannai yo" (I don't get it) a lot because she doesn't have "emotions", Mirai is "DON'T IGNORE ME!" girl, Haruka is "Puppets, puppets, Imma make you my doll!", while Yomi was one of the most unbearable ones who goes "Bean sprouts, BEAN SPROUTS, I love bean sprouts, Rich people? RICH PEOPLE! ALL RICH PEOPLE SHOULD DIE!" But since they were going to use the same story and implemented stories from the Hebijo side as well, why not make her character the same? Yomi's attitude and demeanor was almost that of insanity in the game. But in the animé, her expressions and dialogue was more of casual anger and contempt.
*Hikage: This was probably the most heart-breaking changes they made to a character as Hikage's story was probably my favorite on the Hebijo side. I know I said there'd be spoilers, but I don't think I can explain the story with as much impact as the game. Hikage's lack of emotion and never smiling gave her a unique personality. Because she never shows emotion and conveys interest in understanding it, she was mysterious, unpredictable, funny and somewhat charming when she tries to laugh or show anger. In the animé "she's a child soldier told to suppress her emotions". With that, they made her always smiling in contempt and is described as "the perfect assassin". So she was the typical "bad guy". THEY TURNED HER INTO RAIDEN FROM MGS! But it doesn't even have the same impact. She was a stupid character in the animé with no real personality.
*Mirai: Like Yomi, I thought Mirai was a dumb character during the Hanzou story always going about "DON'T IGNORE ME!" But Mirai plays a big role in the Hebijo story with the player following the growth of her character. She does get very strong and has an adorable charm about her. Sadly, she's treated as a joke in the Animé. Though, they did draw and animate her to be very cute though.
*Haruka: In the game, she was incredibly creepy during Hanzou story. But they also show an interesting, sensitive side to her in the Hebijo story. She's also shown as being a lot more mature and experienced as a shinobi as she grew up. In the animé, just her creepy side is mostly shown. "Puppets, puppets, Imma make you my doll!"
*Kiriya: Kiriya sensei is great. In some aspects, they improved him even more in the animé with having a larger role in the story; however, they destroy the image of a wise and strong minded instructor by having him goof up multiple times throughout the show. What kind of shinobi of his experience falls for so many tricks in a row? He also had one of my favorite story arch in the game during the Hanzou story. But they butchered it and changed it in the animé which lost its meaning and purpose for his character.
*Rin/Suzune: The change to her character also really bugged me. In the game, she's not revealed to be Rin until the very end of the game. But as Suzune-sensei, she was strict yet unbelievably caring. She loved her students and looked out for them to the very end. Yet in the animé, she is introduced pretty early in the story and seeks to sell out her students to gain power on her own. That totally ruined the image of her character. She had this air about her in the game where she really was like a mother AND a strong loving sensei to the Hebijo girls. But in the animé, she was weak in spirit and mind. She only sought power and understood what it was at the end and does a random sacrifice that felt more wasted and dumb than noble.
*Dougen/Orochi: They made Dougen better and worse at the same time. In the game, he secretly disguises himself as a wealthy investor and is never shown. He seemed like an ordinary man, but not showing how he looked like made him a mysterious character. His haughty attitude and power he had behind his influence on Hebijo created an intimidating entity that the player never really sees. What's dumb in the game is that he reveals to be a shinobi and reveals how they were using the Hebijo this entire time to resurrect Orochi and immediately gets killed by Homura right after that. He must've been a terrible shinobi to get sliced up so quickly like that. In the animé, he is shown a lot, has skillful powers as well as influential power in the story. His hidden ninpo happens to be summoning Orochi. All these aspects made him seem stronger in the animé, but the problem is that he wasn't as intimidating and mysterious which made him feel less threatening, ironically enough. In the game, Orochi is an entity on its own that has been slumbering under the Hebijo school for centuries. So Orochi seemed more threatening in the game. He was also harder to beat, that's for sure. In the animé, Orochi grabs Homura and Asuka, then gets cut by both of them and dies off. Even though Dougen was killed so easily in the story of the game, he was a frightening man who had his plans set with no sense of fear or hesitation. Despite all the power and ability Dougen seemed to have in the animé, he ends up being weak and cornered like a typical bad guy.
-The Ending: No crazy rooftop battle between Asuka and Homura where they use the Yin and Yang scrolls? No flying around and doing crazy hidden ninpo? No epic music playing in the background while they fight?! Instead, they slice up Orochi in one attack and then have Rin jump off a rooftop with Dougen in hand as a "noble" sacrifice? No true understanding between the Hanzou and Hebijo girls?! No stronger sense of purpose beyond the ideas of death, between good and evil, and friendship? Everything that led up to the ending of the game felt so right and satisfying. I was so happy getting to the end of the story and experiencing the whole thing and how they connected to the ending. But the ending to the animé felt so empty and dumb! I was very disappointed.
Wrap-up:
To be very fair, it's really hard to fit the stories and characters and details within 12 episodes of an animé. And I think that's the problem: they couldn't convey the same story within that duration with the same impact and meaning. It was a fun watch, but it sadly feels shallow and empty compared to its original context. Keep in mind that the majority of the game's story is told entirely of text and character conversations. Even with that, it delivered a much more deeper and meaningful story with its characters and purpose than the animé did. If anything, the animé was meant to exploit even more fan-service than the game, and it did indeed do that. Those that haven't played the game might be able to enjoy the animé more than those who have.
It makes me worried about the other game-to-animé adaptations. I've started watching Hyperdimension Neptunia The Animation, and the first two episodes is a lot of fun so far. I think the story is different from the games, which is what Senran Kagura should've probably done. I also have BlazBlue to watch after, and I've heard bad things about that one. Well, I think that's enough ranting for one day.
