Review of Ikki Tousen (Battle Vixens): Vol. 4 Fighting Fate!

Introduction

Come on anime fans - lighten up! It`s undeniable that `Ikki Tousen` goes for maximum fan-service and cheap-thrills (in the form of countless panty-shots and bouncing boobies), but it`s also a fairly diverting programme in its own right. Of course, it`s just another fight series in common with so many before it, but it does have a fun and frothy air comparable to `Love Hina` too. This is no thinking man`s anime (Haibene Renmei, Lain, Ghost in the Shell etc) but it`s not pretending to be either. It is what it is. Puerile, juvenile, voyeuristic and mindless. Brilliant!

According to translation, `Ikki tousen" refers to strength of how one person can fight a thousand people at once. So that kind of makes sense.

On this fourth and final disc the paper-thin connection to the Three Kings mythology is further developed - at the expense of the mindless action, sadly.

Each character in Ikki Tousen mirrors a warrior from the Three Kingdoms saga.
This disc is entitled `Fighting Fate` as it`s all about coming to terms with the ancient warriors within, though not accepting the inevitable and fated conclusions that this would suggest. In truth, we have little sympathy or empathy with Hakafu. She`s a young girl with a big mouth and big, well, assets, though her character never really develops any further than being a dizzy teen who would be perfectly cast as an inmate on `Big Brother`.

So despite the story plot thickening, you`ll find yourself just looking forward to seeing some more mindless school-yard fighting and gratuitous lo-angle shots of girls panties. And if you`re not, then there`s absolutely nothing else to look forward to …

The disc contains the following three episodes:

11: Ryofu -- Love and Death
12: Summer Comes to the Watermelon Patch
13: Farewell to Hafuku and the Days of Fighting


In common with `R.O.D. - The TV Series` the U.S. dub is pretty good (they share many of the same voice cast) which is a bonus of sorts.

Video

Very nice quality transfer - sharp, nicely presented colours with strong blacks.

Audio

There`s a choice of English Dolby 2.0 or Japanese with subs. For the purposes of this review I chose English and it was a satisfying dub. The voice-choices were all first class and the general mix was good. If the theme music sounds familiar to you it might be because it`s yet another track by frothy popsters `Move` who also penned the theme for Initial D.

Features

There are some TV adverts which major on the (ahem!) fan-service elements of the show. Also anart gallery, curiously featuring just fully-clad males . So-called `Out takes` are included, though these are more unfunny pieces with the US dubbing crew taking the pee. (e.g. `What the Narrator said` `What the Narrator would like to have said`). This also includes some `alternate previews` in the same mould and a few `Kokin-isms` which were probably all pretty funny to the voice-artistes and dubbing engineer but which fail miserably in the cold light of day.

Perhaps the most curious extra of all is the blue-scree `live` reference shots of girls high-kicking in mini-skirts, just in case the anime versions weren`t good enough. (These under the moniker of `Photo-shoot`).

There were also some very low quality trailers for `Burst Angel` and `Gantz` - both of which seem like they`re worth a look.

Conclusion

For those unsure of what to expect, this is a mix of `Love Hina` style teen-fun mixed with full-on martial arts (ala `Fist of the North Star`), all wrapped up with some of the most outrageous voyeurism committed to anime. Every wide-legged kick is realised from the POV of a midget, resulting in lo-angle views of tightly stretched panties under micro-skirts. This is no accident either as such views dominate the action here.
The females in `I.T` are also all unfeasibly large-breasted, giving plenty of opportunity for wobble-cam action during each athletic battle sequence. Naturally these breasts are frequently partly exposed with nearly every fight resulting in torn clothing.
If it all sounds a bit grubby, it probably is. It`s certainly indefensibly sexist, and politically incorrect in the extreme. But it never quite descends into the dark territory of out and out Hentai, which often plays out cruelly misogynous fantasies to provide its kicks.
This disc, containing the final four episodes, desperately tries to re-connect to the paper-thin `Three Kings` plot, though swiftly falls back to basics - with lots of voyeurtistic fighting action and frothy teenage tantrums.

If `Ikki Tousen` sounds like your thing, and you`ve not yet joined in the action, then I would hold out for the box-set which will probably represent better value than this slightly short-measured three episode disc.