English Dub Review: Tougen Anki “Oni’s Blood”

Overview:

Shiki learns he’s an Oni when attacked by Momotaro.

Our Take:

I’ve seen this show hyped up for a while, and I remember being excited that the manga was coming here. Then, before I knew it, there was an anime! It’s always exciting when that happens. So, since I haven’t started reading the manga, I was more than happy to review this one.

As far as first episodes go, Tougen Anki is a paint-by-the-numbers shonen anime. If you’ve ever watched any shonen anime, then you’ve seen this episode. Shiki’s father isn’t actually his father, but he already knew that. What he didn’t know was that he had Oni blood in him, and his father used to work for a group called Momotaro. Momotaro is named after the man who fought Oni in the past, and this organization does the same thing, so since Shiki has Oni blood, he is a target.

The confusing part is that the man who attacked Shiki was the same man who tried to talk his father out of adopting Shiki. It seems like if he left Shiki alone, he might never have awakened to his Oni powers, but we wouldn’t have a show then, would we?

The animation, once Shiki awakened to his power, was amazing. Oni use their blood as a weapon, and seeing him turn his blood into a bunch of guns was badass. Shiki was rescued by a weird guy, and it seems that he’s going to a school for other Oni. Again… nothing new here, but I hope I’m wrong, and it gets a lot better because the animation is fantastic.