Togainu no Chi

I went on an anime marathon last weekend and I managed to finish a few series which ended recently. The first one I finished was Togainu no Chi and frankly, I was disappointed with it. It started off with a lot of potential but then it became draggy and the ending was really disappointing too.

Story: (6/10) – Fair
After being devastated in the third World War , Japan was divided in two. Several years after the end of the war, a crime organization called Vischio has taken control of the destroyed city of Toshima (formerly Tokyo, Japan's capital city), where they are holding a battle game known as "Igura". The main character, a young man named Akira, is falsely accused of a crime. Once arrested, a mysterious woman appears before him, offering him freedom if he agrees to participate in Igura and defeat Igura's strongest man: "Il-re". The story follows Akira's life in the harsh, lawless Toshima as he fights both to survive and to unravel the mysteries developing around him.

I heard that there are a lot of differences between the anime and the game/manga. Well, I haven't read the manga nor play the game so I can make any comparison. However, as far as I'm concern, since the anime is adapted from a BL game, I would expect some BL moments. There are indeed a couple of seemingly BL moments but they are so mild and subtle that they can hardly qualify. I can hardly feel any shounen-ai in Togainu no Chi anime. However, frankly speaking, the lack of BL moments is actually only a small issue with me, the main problems I have with Togainu no Chi are the poor story development and the lackluster ending.

Character: (7/10) – Fairly Good
The characters are mainly just appearance. They are nice to look at but quite a pain to watch. There is also a lack in character development. In fact, I feel that certain characters like Shiki regressed. Shiki looks really cool and it s*cks to see him acting like a mad guy in the end. The only character who enjoyed a little development is Akira and that development only happened in the end when something happened to Keisuke.

Akira


Shiki

Art/Animation: (6/10) – Fair
The character designs are pretty good. Most of the characters look really cool. However, I can't say the same for the animation quality. The quality is inconsistent and differs from episode to episode. It's also obvious that the animators are trying to emphasis on the blood (since the "Chi" in Togainu no Chi means blood) by making its color bright red. Since the background of the anime is usually dark, the contrast between the dark background the bright red blood is quite unpleasant to the eye.

Music: (8/10) – Good
The very interesting thing about Togainu no Chi is that it has a different Ending theme every episode. There's only one Opening theme and I think it's ok. I quite like some of the Ending themes.

Enjoyment: (6/10) – Fair
The characters are nice to look at but the poor story and character developments bring down the enjoyment factor.

Overall: (6/10) – Fair
I started watching it with high hopes and anticipation and I think that's the main reason why this series disappointed me and many other fans. If it had been any longer than 12 episodes, I probably wouldn't be able to finish it. Given the premise of the story, it definitely had the potential to be a good anime but somehow, something went wrong midway through.