Battle Vixens a.k.a. Ikki Tousen
Publisher
Geneon / MVM
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
13 episodes / 25 minutes
Year
2003
Battle Vixens a.k.a. Ikki Tousen Volume 2: Historic Battles
By otaku_kei
24th Feb 06  After my review of the opening volume of this show I have been rather dreading any further volumes of Ikki Tousen. But from the constant needling of one of my mates who for some inexplicable reason really enjoyed the mindless battles and freakishly well endowed schoolgirls, I decided to give this volume a chance and approached the show with an open mind. So once again upon placing this disc in the DVD tray I found myself watching a show about obscenely large breasted teenage girls, and recreated historic battles between the spiritual reincarnations of ancient warriors! Sounds good lovers of fan-service, or those who are into fighting anime shows! Hmmm, I'm still not wholly convinced but I'm willing to give it another chance. The High School Battle Tournament is called in this volume. After the failure of Taishigi to eliminate Hakafu, the tournament is stet up to lure out and destroy any threat to the ruling high school. This means that Hakafu and her allies are going to face off in battle after battle with many other fighters all imbued with the spirits of ancient warriors. These battles are brutal, all out exchanges between some of the deadliest high school students that have ever walked the earth. Taking place in underground carparks, on subway carriages, high school rooftops - these fights have all the hallmarks of bitter gang rivalries. So with honour and dominance on the line these kids are willing to shed blood and break bones to win! But of course the true victim in many of these fights would be the ladies clothing! Well I gave this show another chance, and I still do not find it particularly worthwhile. The plot, or what there is of it, is paper thin and is used for little more than bringing the combatants together for the next fight, and when those combatants are busty young girls - to get them naked as quickly as possible! I find it increasingly impossible to care about the sudden narrative voiceovers filling the audience in on how all of these ancient warriors were connected to each other. Who really cares that Hakafu and Nyamo and all the others are the reincarnated spirits of ancient, mythical warriors? Does anybody know whether these mythical warriors are based on actual historical/mythical accounts or whether this is entirely fictitious simply for the use in this show? If this is based on an early oriental myth then this show suffers even more due to lack of any cultural points for the Western audience. I also find the overwhelming amount of fanservice distracting. If its not jiggling breasts, panty shots, or Hakafu bent over showing her camel toe and slapping her ass then it is not worth including in this show. Unfortunately this means that when the show does try to be serious (albeit very rarely), these attempts fail. I find it very hard to recommend this show at the moment. I am sure this show has its fans, and some of you reading this review right now may vehemently disagree with my feelings on his show For those of you who enjoyed the first volume then this is more of the same, but honestly I am not looking forward to more of this derivative title. I did not care about Hakafu and the spirit warriors at the start of the show, and I remain as ambivalent to this series by the halfway mark!
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English Language 2.0; Japanese Language 2.0; English Language Subtitles; Textless Closing; Art Gallery; Outtakes; Directors Interview; MVM Trailers
Release information: COMING SOON: 13th March 2006
Notes: Well the clarity of the fan service in this show is certainly helped by the A/V quality that MVM and Madman lavish on their titles. The extras are a mixed bag once again, from the standard Textless Closing and Art Gallery options to the more entertaining Outtakes. The outtakes once again suffer from the sound that they are scripted jokes rather than off the cuff humour from the voice talents.
-- otaku_kei 24th Feb 06
Battle Vixens a.k.a. Ikki Tousen Images          
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