Anime Blog 105: Hakuouki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haku%C5%8Dki

Hakuouki is a 53 episode anime with a recap OVA and 2 movies.

The anime is based on the Hakuouki series of video games. Seasons 1 and 2 follow Chizuru as she searches for her father. She ends up living with the shinsengumi and discovers their secrets. The biggest being that the shogunate has the shinsengumi testing this drug called the ochimizu. It turns whoever drinks into into a "rasetsu" which is basically a demon, but the big flaw is that the rasetsu suffer from bloodlust which causes them to go berserk. **kinda a spoiler: many members of the shinsengumi become rasetsu** which is a whole section of the plot and Chizuru discovers the truth about herself and the secrets that her "father" has been keeping from her.

There's a cute 6 episode OVA season before season 3 that has Chizuru dressing as a geisha and spying for the shinsengumi...and it fails terribly. :D but it's so cute :D all 6 episodes are telling the same story from different character's POV so you get to see everything that happened that night.

Season 3 is a prequel to the anime. Telling the story of how the shinsengumi became the shinsengumi and why they're called the Wolves of Mibu. It introduces another character who stays with shinsengumi for a while but "leaves" in the end which is why he's not in S1 or S2.

The movies are a retelling of S1 and S2 and they change a number of things, mostly in a good way. They are a more direct sequel to S3 since in movie 2 you actually see Ryunosuke (the character from S3) and the ending is much different than that of the anime.

S4 is a little chibi version of the show if the shinsengumi were able to live normal everyday lives. It's super cute and really funny to see the interactions between the characters!

Overall I really enjoyed this show. It was easy to watch and very interesting to see these versions of the shinsengumi :D

ART:

L-R: Okita, Saito, and Hijikata

So, pros and cons

Pros:

• Good storyline
• Great characters
• Hijikata :D
• Interesting plot points
• Good fight scenes
• Nice art
• HijikataXChizuru

Cons:

• Sadface in parts of the show

So that's it folks! Watch this one!

Thanks for reading, until next time!

~Kei