Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji: First Impression

Streaming Allegiance: Crunchyroll
Reconnaissance Report by: Hitmage
Progress: Episode 1


poster gifuuGifuu Doudou is an anime based off of a manga created by Tetsuo Hara, famous for Fist of the North Star, and I could tell when I first saw the character designs. It’s a pretty interesting little show, and I’ll have to see how it develops. It’s about two Sengoku Era heroes, Maeda Keiji and Naoe Kanetsugu, who were best friends, and it probably is going to cover their history and exploits. I was interested in the idea of this, so here’s my first impression!

Brief Synopsis: The series begins at the end of the Sengoku period, and most of the first episode is dialogue and scene setting. The two friends are introduced, and their history is further explained. Without giving too much away, the two warriors met during a battle, and then once again sometime later on. The first episode is heavy on exposition, which seems pretty standard for a historical anime, especially going over a period like the Sengoku Era where there were multiple factions fighting to control Japan. Fair warning for those of you who have a short attention span- this one is a bit wordy. I was fine with it myself, but I’m kind of a history nut so I like this kind of thing.

Art: The art is highly stylized, and if you’ve ever seen Fist of the North Star you’ll know what I mean. The two main characters in this are straight out of that series and carry all of Tetsuo Hara’s trademark features: huge muscles, big hair, and big ol’ rock jaws that could take a hit from a sledgehammer. The colors are pretty bright and dramatic, and so far the animation quality seems okay. The stills are really nice and overall it’s exactly what I expected.

Music: The music in this is pretty great, with the opening being a ridiculous samurai rock track that screams 80s camp. I thought it was pretty catchy. Also in the first episode there’s some pretty nice traditional music played on the biwa, or Japanese lute. It’s kind of like a large shamisen. There’s probably more where that came from showing up later.

Overall: I’d say that despite a slow start, this should be a pretty fun series. I expect more heavy exposition, possibly some pretty epic battles, and a lot of manly buff stuff going on. I really like the idea of two samurai super bros running around Japan kicking ass and taking names, so I think I’ll be sticking with it.

Score: 7.00/10.00