Legend of the Dog Warriors - Hakkenden | 
| Directors: Michael Dobson, Takashi Anno
Actors: Ken Kramer, Ward Perry, Paul Dobson, Matt Hill, Matthew Smith
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
Category: DVD
List Price: $54.98
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $43.99 (80%)
New (1) Used (15) from $6.46
Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 37137
Format: Animated, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 3
Running Time: 420 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 1.1
UPC: 013023148697
EAN: 0013023148697
ASIN: B00005MKOK
Theatrical Release Date: 1990
Release Date: October 9, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New in shrinkwrap, licensed release! I stand behind all of my items, all are new, factory sealed, and guaranteed.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Based on a serial novel by Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848), The Hakkenden is a sprawling samurai epic with supernatural elements. During the civil wars of the 15th century, Lord Satomi offers his daughter's hand to whomever brings him the head of a rival lord. His dog Yatsufusa appears with the head, and Princess Fuse insists on honoring the bargain. Although Fuse and Yatsufusa are killed in the first episode, they set the karma in motion for a group of eight warriors. These disparate ronin are linked to eight crystal beads from Fuse's shattered Buddhist rosary, each of which is inscribed with one of the traditional Confucian virtues: Brotherly Affection, Filial Piety, Faith, Loyalty, Wisdom, Proper Form, Duty, Sympathy. Although the Dog Warriors share a common destiny, they usually act in twos and threes, rather than as a group, when they battle corrupt and drunken lords, ghost-soldiers, a cat-demon, and the spell cast by an enchanted flute. The tangled story line offers the requisite duels, battles, tearful separations, reunions, and defiant stances, plus a number of otherworldly visions, including a mysterious figure with a scarlet parasol, the magic beads, crimson pinwheels, and a blizzard of symbolic cherry blossom petals. Although the look of the film is often rich, the animation is extremely uneven, with the appearance of the characters sometimes changing within individual scenes. The results land somewhere between Samurai X: The Motion Picture and Sword for Truth. Rated 16 Up: Graphic violence, grotesque imagery, sexual situations, minor profanity. --Charles Solomon
Description
During the war-torn feudal wars of Japan, the Awa clan faced certain extinction from a rival clan backed by demonic forces. However, a careless promise by their lord leads to both salvation and disgrace when their family dog brings back the head of the enemy warlord and insists upon marrying the lord's daughter! Their unnatural union bears fruit, but when they are both killed, the eight unborn pups are reincarnated as the eight Dog Warriors - The Hakkenden. As they slowly find each other and come together as a group. These eight warriors, who represent the eight separate aspects of the Bushido, engage in bloody battles with demonic entitles and evil samurai in the final attempt to redeem their clan! Deluxe DVD Box Set contains all 13 OVA (Original Animation Video) episodes. Bilingual (English and Japanese) DVD with optional English subtitles.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
Had a lot going for it.., but falls short March 25, 2008
S. C. Joslyn (Washington D.C, MD)
First off I would like to applaud this series for the good things that it did accomplish. The whole story which is based off of a book, invokes a wonderful setting for the series. The narrative over the characters and events is an essential that the people making this didn't overlook at all. The first episode sets up the story with a prologue of a mini story that unfolds and at the end sets up the scene for the rest of the series. The first couple of episodes are very well done keeping you interested and not moving too fast or slow. No complicated plots, simple yet engaging, with gradual build up to the main plot.
Unfortunately this is where the series begins to slowly deteriorate; the art of some episodes on each disk (about 3-4 in all) goes from relativly good quality to much poorer quality. Whether this be budget related, or an attempt to change the mood or something it heavily dampens the effectivness of the entire viewing. On the first disk it was tolerable, but on the last disk, first episode I didn't know who was who, or who was where, or what was going on until about half way through and by then I really didn't care anymore. I pieced it together forgot abut the blanks that were left and continued on.
Before I go on to talk about the bad, a good thing to point out is that there are more than eight major characters in this anime. There are only three disks in the series. That is like squeezing Ruroni Kenshin onto three disks, it just doesn't work. I guess low budget and not enough time was the issue here, for example not enough money for higher quality animation. Not enough time, money, and backing from producer and company so they could only spare three disks for the series. Still I could be wrong. A similiar thing happened to the anime for "His and Her Circumstances". The money was short so they went from regular animation to cardboard cut outs I think... Yeah the budget is important, again I'm not entirely sure about that either.
A good point I want to make is the similarity it has to Basilisk, both have many main characters, both are based off of novels, both have a story dedicated to the first episode alone that begins and ends in it, both take place in similiaresque (yea i jst mde tht wrd up) settings in time of war involving large military like powers. Both set of protagonists are aligned with said military powers for reasons that they are both sure and unsure of. A major difference though is Basilisk is six disks, The Hakkeden, though, is done in three disks. Basilisk felt short and it was six. The Hakkenden had about twice if not thrice more characters in THREE disks. It really upset me because this series could of been SOOOO much better had it been given the proper circumstances to "shine".
Otogi Zoshi which again same kind of setting, less characters, but again a 3 disk arc, but followed by another 3 disk arc. The series starts off well, but again slowly gets worse and worse until it hurts to see how good ideas and some good episodes were put together to make a bad series.
One thing though that I just can't stand what so ever is -SPOILER WARNING, SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH- the how it ends. I get the whole circly thingy that it tries to pull off seeing of how it mirrors the ending of the very first episode almost entirely. Just as Otogi Zoshi, but instead it's the end of the 2 arcs that mirror each other, but in totally different time settings, but the same main characters. Anyway the full circle thing is intruiging when done well, but they totally destroyed the last disk of this series.
The reason that I'm giving this series four stars is because even though there are major problems with The Hakkenden, I'm giving the series the benefit of the doubt and assuming that most of those problems are budget related and not the people who actually directed, drew, and essentially created the serie's fault. The parts that are good are really good and as I said before if this was put in the right light I'm sure it would shine MUCH brighter.
 Really good story, captivating January 2, 2008
Stephen V. Driscoll (Albuquerque, NM USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a very good anime, its a strange story, and in some small sections I do believe it leaves a little to be desired, but it is good. The first episode sets up the story and plot well, and the animation is OK in the Begining episodes. beautiful landscapes, and the stories have thier own merit. IT has elements of wierd, but doesnt ruin it with over eccentricies. The story follows several seperate peoples lifes as they come together, and these are the dog warriors. Shortly after they all unite (usually after battling eachother) the animator changes who is creating the visuals.... whoever picked the new animator picked a champ, the final episodes animation is flawless and beautiful. The story gets a little weak here. Its got one of those meaningful endings that you can ponder, and you can wonder did they just give up and leave an open ending of funding so on.... I wanted a more closed ending to the story, but it is a good anime in any sence... I'd recomend this one.
 This was painful to watch November 4, 2007
R. Landis (texas)
I had to get really drunk to finish watching this series. Animation is bad, and following this story was a pain. This is something else I bought from the suggestions of the rabid fans I decided to listen to.
Buying an animated series based off the customer reviews is a waste of time and money. I'm sure if I look at Hello Kitty or Sailer Moon reviews on Amazon, there will be someone there that will give it 5 stars claiming that the artwork and the story line are absolutely beathtaking!
Exploring anime is extremely difficult when almost every review is seriously skewed by some rabid fan!
Avoid at all costs! January 22, 2006
Bell
6 out of 16 found this review helpful
Worst anime I have ever seen. Don't be fooled by the neat looking cover. I'm going to say I'm writing a harsh review on this title to try to save people from buying it.
I find the other reviews here to be pretty ridiculous. Avoid this anime like the plague. I've been an anime fan for fourteen years and this is one the most poorly and cheaply animated things I have ever seen. So what if it's based on Japanese folklore? You would honestly be better off buying a book then buying this anime. If its Japanese culture and so on you're interested in there are much better anime to watch then this one. Spend your money on something else- it's garbage. My Oriental History major friend finds it garbage, so don't buy it for that reason.
The animation in Legend of Dog Warriors goes from "could stand it" to "so horrible I'd rather be wounding myself". It's so horrible you can't even keep track of what is going on and who the characters are, since in every other episode the character's appearance completely changes. The storyline is had hope but there are simply too many terrible and horrible things in this anime to even make you want to try to understand it for the sake of the story.
The animation of this anime is not amazing, nor is it true art. I would take a strong guess and say most of this anime was send over for cheap animation in Korea. To the people that understand what that means, you know what this looks like.
As for buying this anime because it's a good samurai-based anime. Yeah right. My favorite anime is historical and samurai anime, this anime puts those to shame. This is not even on the top 200. You can, again, find so many other anime to watch with samurai that is a billion times better than this even at its worst. Do not waste your money and more importantly your time on this piece of trash anime show. It's not a classic and it's never been one. It's terrible. If you still feel like you need to see this anime, RENT IT. Do not buy it.
Its the animation. That's why you should take a look. July 15, 2005
Noah Berkley (Cranston, RI USA)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
I know story matters." Hakkenden" does have an interesting premise. But Please! Only use the storyline as a springboard to watch some truly magnificent animation in this set though.
I'll be blunt in saying that most of the time the animation is mediocre. Often varying from scene to scene. But just utilize the storyline to breeze through this muck. OK ...
What your really here to view are episodes 1,9,4 and 10 (10 being the most important). These episodes are beatuiful and truly briliant pieces on their own. They should have their own DVD cases. These episodes are truly bizarre in the fact that the animation in these episodes have no connection design wise, but for the clothes on the character's backs and the Japanese backdrop. The greatest estimation is that the purpose of this OVA series was to test each indivudal animation director's limits and style. In the end this choice doesn't lead to a complete and whole series, but it does create some of the most beautiful, masterful and ultimately individual animation in any series during the 90's. Be honest good animation in a series isn't even an option in America unless you send it over to Korea, Japan, or the Philippines anyway.
I won't go into detail on every episode mentioned, but I will have to section out episode 10. It is without a doubt the single most brilliant animation in any series I have ever viewed. Its like a short film in an ANIMATED SERIES. Most animated series are known for cost cutting and quick animation techniques, but episode 10 has no hints of this. The animation has purpose and flows with a realism unheard of in studio driven animation, on any side of the world. The entire episode is animated by one man, Ohira Shinya. The closest link I could make with Shinya's style is Bill Plympton, but it's not even close. Shinya's style has a hyper realistic kinectic charge, making it all its own. To see this episode alone gives you reason to buy or rent this series. Shinya's technique can also be viewed in the enitre skateboard sequence in "Kid Story" Animatrix, the "Kill Bill" animated sequence (Nishii's father fighting the mob), "Samurai Champloo" episodes 14 and 21 (most notably the cool gun sword duel w/ Jin in 14) and the amazing whale escape sequence in the already amazing "Mindgame" (I believe he is due credit for the rocket butt scene in the final escape shot. I'm crying).
I also mention "Mindgame" towards the end of this lengthy review to recognize Masaaki Yuasa ("Mindgame" Director) as Layout artist and animation Director on the "Hakkenden" series. You can see Shinya's influence on Masaaki's work. It's full of motion and life.
...
Whew
I'm obviously a fan of the series and animation. Guess I'm a little biased. Let me pepper the argument with some negative facts. The stories are intriguing to a point, but I wouldn't call them splediferous by any means. The whole ... fate ... thing has been done to death. Maybe. After episodes 1 and 2 the plots revolves around all the character meating (ha meat) up for one last battle. The episodes I didn't mention are fun but only to pass the time till a good episode pops up. It took me a couple viewings to keep up with the narration for some reason also. And don't listen to the English dub! See. I just saved your life. There ... Oh! And its definitely not a kid safe program. Some blood and stuff. Guess that covers all he bases.
Well there's nothing more to say about this series then to give it a try. There is some gold in this set and some dirt but just dig ... stupid metaphors. Some of the animation is mediocre, but the good outweighs the bad by a grand margin. Fellow animators rejoice at episode 10.
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