[Review] Touken Ranbu 2019

[honou_no_izumi]

Yanno, I was kinda glad that I decided to watch this movie after I finished the Grand Invasion event in the Touran game. Because knowing the little bits of background info on some of the main events as well as some of the sortie expeditions from the game just adds to the experience in enjoying the movie. And I like the fact that this movie add the involvement of the Saniwa to the reason the Grand Invasion happen since that event was still some of my most favourite part of the game. Not to mention the fact that this movie feature two of the most well-known story set in the Sengoku era. I lost count of how many different animes and games made their own interpretations of what happened to Oda Nobunaga during the battle of Honnouji as well as Azuchi Castle.

The cast were perfect as well. And I really have to appreciate the fact that most of the Touken Danshi casts (aside from Iwanaga Hiroaki) turned out to consist of the Tousute and Toumyu casts who may have reprised their own characters or took new roles in this movie. I also love the fact that most of the main formation swords consisted of the swords I already have in game (except Nihongou). Because of that I'm mostly familiar of many of the Toudan's characters and personalities. And it's pretty nice that the movie feature Mikazuki as the main Toudan who leads the expedition and whose POV we're following. Since in Hanamaru it had been Yamatonokami Yasusada (and Kashuu Kiyomitsu) being the main, while in Katsugeki, Izuminokami Kanesada and Tsurumaru had been the main Toudan (as the stories were mostly focused on Okita and his swords in Hanamaru and Hijikata in Katsugeki). In both anime, Mikazuki was mostly a support character.

That said, I appreciate the fact that the Toudan involved in this movie consisted mostly of swords that belonged to the Nobunaga, Akechi and Hideyoshi's factions. Because then we could see as well how the respective Toudan react to the things they witnessed as they fought to protect history from the History Retrograde Army. It certainly adds to the emotional impact as we see the Toudan struggled with completing their missions while also witnessing the deaths of their previous wielders/owners.

I knew Suzuki Hiroki and Shiina Taizou mostly from the Saiyuki Kagekiden. And I'm really glad to see their performance, this time as Touken Danshi. The two, as well as the rest of the cast had performed really well in this movie. I look forward to seeing the second movie next year.

Comments

[sonofgodzilla]

I'm fascinated by Toudan but I've only seen one the plays so far and I liked it but I felt like I was missing out on a lot of context by being ill-educated. I'm glad to read such a warm review of further material though, and one day, I really do hope to dip more than a toe into this.