English Dub Review: HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI “Aged Symbols and Diverging Winds”

An ending that polarizes both newbies and fans of the manga…

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

After Bunchu emotionally reels himself in from causing the death of Koh-Hiko, (Which was spoiled in earlier episodes due to some poorly-structured flash-forward scenes) Bunchu Escapes from Ohtenkun’s Trap and straight up takes out Ohtenkun while leaving. But in the process, gets into an intense brawl with Taiko to decide the future of humanity…

Our Take

For a final episode, It doesn’t hold back in terms of intensity, as the fight between Taiko and an angry, ragged-out Bunchu while almost one-sided is easily a hard-hitting brawl. It’s not DragonballZ levels of painful, but I did wince in places. The deaths that later happen do at least try to have some emotional weight to the proceedings.

Compared to the Manga this show is supposed to be based on, the books themselves were much longer in terms of plot. Yet the entire battle ended with Bunchu being the antagonist, as opposed to Dakki which you’d think would be more powerful in comparison. In other words, all Taiko ended up doing was beating the shit out of an already weakened opponent into submission, while Dakki who should’ve been the “Final Boss” simply got whatever she wanted. Which means Taiko apart from liberating the Yin kingdom, arguably accomplished nothing.

I really wanted to like this show, but after what just happened, it feels insulting to fans of the Manga and somewhat pointless since the Yin Kingdom is now destroyed, And while there are scenes near the end that served mainly as an epilogue of sorts with Taiko’s apprentice and Supu search for him across the various parts of their homeland, It doesn’t go anywhere further outside of some visuals and some weird reveal involving what Taiko is supposed to be and we lost the ability to care about this show by then.

Overall, This was an insultingly rushed way to end the series. And compared to the source material it’s based on, it doesn’t even follow that properly. The colorful visuals and Taiko’s brawl seem to be the only thing it has going for it, but I think they were attempting to cater more to those who have watched the original 1999 anime when it was called “Soul Hunter” in the U.S., as opposed to newcomers who went in this travesty blind like I did. But the worst part is, we are never told what the true intentions Master Genshi (Taiko’s boss) had for the “Hoshin Project” or why he wanted to collect specific souls in the first place since long after the battle, it’s never mentioned again.

Stay tuned on Bubbleblabber for the Season Review and other updates on anime that’s hopefully better than this one…