Musou Kakyou the Animation – Wow! and Eh.

This is dounjin? It most certainly is! The simple, almost flat (not in chest size – don’t go there) character drawings not to mention personalities and not so impressive plot (but that’s all right) smell like doujin, which is all right if it gives me what I want…uh, don’t ask, you don’t wanna know (read: BOOBS)… But here’s something I would like to get cleared before asking the in depth questions of how they got the funding to get big names in seiyuu-dom to voice act –

WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THAT BOOMERANG STUCK IN HER HEAD??? Did some Maoi tried to hunt her down and struck her with a boomerang and left her as she was??? I mean, OK, I guess she’s a fairy or something…Like I don’t know, a boomerang fairy??? Do they have that in Japan?

OK, now I got that out of my chest, let’s consider some serious questions. First, I would like to know how they got Kikuko-sama, Rierie, Sawashiro Miyuki, Nakahara Mai and a couple others on board? Is this production so interesting and so great?

Aside from a bunch of lolis that I read are few hundred years old? Nothing. Again, the background is pretty good, but with CG that’s not incredibly difficult for people who do it a lot, but the characters are flat. I don’t wanna say it but even the seiyuu’s actings were a little flat, except Rierie, who always manage to do maid characters well, and Kikuko-sama, who makes a great story-telling oneesan. But most of all…

Damn, the drawing is bad. But hey, this is doujinshi group so that’s to be expected. I’m just shocked that professional, big name seiyuus would bother with this. How much did this doujin group pay them, or, how did they get the money for it?

But you know, if I were in a doujin group, this would be a dream come true. Can you imagine if the Genshiken manga/anime continued with the plot that somehow they made enough money to hire professional seiyuu? I guess that didn’t happen because nobody though that was possible in real world, which Genshiken was a fictional reflection of…

Well, Touhou did it. I just wish the animation was better. At least their dream came true, but their animation and character design really must improve. It really looked like they put everything into the background creation but skimped out on character designs. One word, FLAT. And this time I mean that kind of flat as well as the 2D like aspect of the drawings.

I’ll watch more of it for the seiyuus, maybe.

Author: Ray

I'm a hardcore Anime Fan and I'm proud of it. I know so many things and I've acquired so much knowledge you wouldn't believe. But my love is anime. I've been drifting in this world for so long that I don't even know what an anchor means. I've seen so many shows that I've lost count. The only thing I'm sure of myself is that I care for the lowly and disenfranchised. I hate the rich and powerful and I love what I do, or what I can do. I like anime and I don't mind watching different types of shows. I have experience in different types of Japanese animation. I would be called an "expert" in a bizzaro world. One day, I'd like to start a revolution. I love the US, pizza, beer, sashimi, Chinese food, and steak. But I love freshly baked bread more than a well-aged steak. In reality, if I were born Japanese I'd be a real, hardcore Otaku. I love to love and I can hate strongly. I'm passionate in nature and I don't mind shedding tears. I can be reached at rayyhum777 at animediet. My Twitter is rayyhum777 at twitter.

6 thoughts on “Musou Kakyou the Animation – Wow! and Eh.

  1. my only experience with the touho “franchise” is the games (difficult as hell on normal) i have absoloutly no clue nor interest in the story and its gazillion characters

  2. It is rather not all that interesting. I’ve never played their games so I don’t know much about that.

  3. From what I understand, accomplished veteran seiyuu make decent money, but they’re not rolling in dough by any means. Maikaze’s website says the DVDs were 2500 yen each at Comiket, and if they sold well enough the proceeds might very well cover the cost of hiring pro seiyuu (of course, there’s also the cost of DVD authoring and maufacturing).

    Another possible explanation I’ve read is that they received funding from some company or other which is interested in producing a full-fledged Touhou anime, and this doujin OVA is a way of testing the waters. ZUN, the creator and rights-holder of Touhou, has been staunchly opposed to commercial exploitation of the franchise. If Maikaze’s OVA series were to become a huge success, their silent partner might be able to make ZUN an offer he can’t refuse.

    This is all speculation, though, and I’m not very familiar with Touhou to begin with–the original works are all but inaccessible to a shooter n00b like me.

    1. @ Andrew F. – Well, I’m a n00b on Touhou stuff. Saw them plenty of times and was astonished at their selection of works (music, doujin drawings, loads and loads of games) but never tried any. Oh yeah, I thought their music was simply so-so. I suspect that your second speculation is true.

  4. So far I’ve only played through Perfect Cherry Blossom. It took me 2 months to 1cc Easy Modo. orz.

    If the official games are the flesh and bones of Touhou, the fan works are the blood that give it life. Being shmups, the story in the actual games is pretty threadbare. The sparseness of the games’ stories and dialogues has allowed hundreds of volumes of doujinshi to fill in the gaps. This has created a kind of parallel continuity based on additional character traits determined by a “concensus of popularity”. If someone makes a change and enough readers and creators like it, it tends to stick. Changes such as turning the Alice character from an aloof hermit into a lonely doll otaku with a crush on Marisa. The official world is tends to have a much darker tone in the stories supporting the games. The fan universe on the other hand has a decided tilt towards comedy, slice of life, and moe, but there are also serious explorations of the setting.

    Likewise, the game music ranges from forgettable to catchy, but it has inspired some amazing rearrangements and remixes from groups like Iosys and COOL & CREATE.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMPB8iVK20Q
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAbhJk4YJns

    The sheer volume of output is evidenced by the near exponential increase in Touhou circles at Comiket. addb.jp/index.php?Diary%2F2008-12-17
    There are enough resources available that they’ve even had contests of Touhou characters doing manzai comedy routines, with good voice acting.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jip6DJC7qZA
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZY8_rJlypk

  5. To asdf – I kind of got the feeling that there isn’t much story. as for the rest, I never knew they’re so popular.

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