It’s been a while since I’ve posted an anime review, so I figured I’d pad my site with a fairly recent series!  Sengoku Youko is an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish, and I’d love to spoil it for you.

In case you didn’t get it, spoilers ahead.

So, as I said, Season 1 is an emotional rollercoaster, from beginning to middle to end… and then Season 2 starts it all over again.  This is a show I think does a really good job of setting up Second Season, not to mention its grip on the time travel elements, which it presents as not too confusing for not-so-smart people like myself.

A brief summary of the series (from MAL Rewrite):

Aspiring samurai Shinsuke Hyoudou’s world is turned upside down when he witnesses hermit Jinka Yamato and fox girl Tama Youko slay a brigands’ lair in the blink of an eye. Tama happens to be katawara, a magically gifted species, who can share her powers with Jinka through a special ritual. Together, they travel the world as vigilantes to stop evil beings, be they katawara or human.

As Shinsuke learns more about this new world, he discovers that monks perform inhumane research on spiritually gifted civilians, in the hope of creating human-katawara hybrids that can fight against monsters. Soon joined by Shakuyaku—a girl they manage to save from the monks’ experiments—and other allies, the group embarks on a quest to achieve their respective dreams.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

To be clear, this show is divided into two arcs, and this synopsis covers the first one.  The second arc is connected in story, but introduces (and re-introduces) new protagonists, new and continued threats, and even does TWO time skips.

Well, let’s get into my review!

Plot / Story: 10.0/10

The first season, as stated in the synopsis, follows Shinsuke, Jinka and Tama as they try to unite the world and help Jinka become a katawara, fighting the Dangaishuu – an order of monks who fight the katawara, led by katawara-enhanced monks who deal with the greater threats.  The premise seems very Saturday-Morning-Cartoon-Villain-esque, until around halfway through Season 1, where we lose what seemed like a major player in the show, Shakuyaku / Kagan (one of the Dangaishuu’s experiments that “failed”, but she’s still best girl), temporarily in any case.  Shinsuke takes Shakugan’s sacrifice pretty hard, and it bleeds into the fight against the Dangaishuu, becoming an obsession until he finally kills Shakugan’s killer.  The first season ends with Jinka fulfilling his wish in a way that he was not expecting, and sets up various points for revisitation in the sequel.

Season 2 takes off a bit of time after the first, following a previously-side-character named Senya, who has now lost his memory of being an antagonistic member of the Dangaishuu, and is raised and trained by Shinsuke, who has now founded a village where Katawara and humans can live together.  The second season really expands the plot with returning and new enemies, the looming threat of time limits and time travel, and of course, the finality of human life.

Both seasons are incredibly engaging, and the flow from “I’m gonna be the hero” in Season 1 into time shenanigans in Season 2 doesn’t seem overdone or rushed.  Each plot point is eventually addressed by the end, and the final episode does a good job of bringing a final point to the story (no need for a Season 3).

Character Development: 10.0/10

I can’t stress enough how well characters develop in this series.  From minor characters like the katawara that Shinsuke traps and tames in Season 2 to major characters like Shakugan and Jinka (and Shinsuke), this show takes careful looks at all of the players and succeeds at improving them throughout the presented two seasons.  Shakugan goes through an entire arc in the four to six episodes she appears in in Season 1, and Shinsuke has such an interesting development from random weak swordsman to murderous avenger to incredible teacher.

There’s not much I can say here, but I am in love with each character for the amount of work done for each (and apparently the manga fleshes them out even more).

Art / Acting / Music: 8.5/10

The artistic representation in the show isn’t the greatest I’ve seen, but the studio definitely didn’t skimp on the art budget.  The majority of the show is general 2010s-2020s art style, and like most recent shows, does its part on the intense battle scenes.  The character designs are all well-done, and no two characters seem too alike (even the twins Jinka and Takeru have distinct personalities).

Tying into that last part, I am IN LOVE with the acting in this show.  Emotional moments are incredibly powerful, funny moments are well-timed, and the informative moments do their due diligence.  Jinka’s transformation into the 1000-Tailed Youko was heart-wrenching, as was Shakugan’s previously-mentioned sacrifice against Barry, and the actor for Shinsuke plays all the emotional arcs for his character extremely well.

Music-wise, the OPs and EDs were the only real things I remembered.  Don’t get me wrong, all of the music was incredibly well-done and fitting for the tone of the series and scenes, but on a rewatch, the only things I remembered were the theme songs (especially OP1 by MindaRyn, HIBANA, go listen to it on YouTube).  I think in my case, the progression of the story overrode my love of music, which is okay for a series as intense as this one.

Rewatch Value: 9.0/10

I could do with a rewatch of this every couple months or so.  The show is engaging and fun enough to keep my interest for hours at a time, and there’s enough episodes to fill a good 3-day weekend.  There are parts that may make you pause the series for a bit, but the intrigue and the little hints about the world will make you want to come back.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

I really wasn’t sure how I’d like this series, and put it off for the year that it’s been out.  I was sufficiently impressed by the intricate skills the author and director (Satoshi Mizukami and Kagetsu Aizawa, respectively) brought to the anime, and the level of detail they provided.  I can say I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the series, and I would gladly call myself a fan of this series.

The manga form of Sengoku Youko is available through Tokyopop, and the anime is streamable (subs only) on Crunchyroll in the US.  If you can, support the series by buying the manga, since it also has more content to pick through.

Total Score: 47.0/50

Grade: A