One of my favorite series from a number of years ago is streaming and it rekindles the love once more.
What They Say:
A ninja must serve a lord, and Recca Hanabishi has sworn to serve the person who can defeat him in battle. But despite his martial prowess, a penchant for traps, and his family’s fireworks, his battles amount to little more than schoolyard brawls. Ninjas died out long ago, and though he’s always felt a connection, it’s all just pretend. Or is it?
When a mysterious woman confronts him and tells him he’s the last survivor of an ancient clan of ninja – the chosen one born with the power to control fire – his whole world is turned around. A battle ensues, and he finds out just how true her claims might be when he summons flames from his hands. How much does she know, and what does she want with Recca? Is he really the last surviving member of the Hokage? And what about Yanagi, the girl with the power to heal any wound? Might she be the princess Recca longs to serve?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Flame of Recca is one of those rarities for us in that through a friend we managed to see the entirety of this series several years ago. It was one of the few that we actually watched a few times and it was also the kind that proved that for every rule there’s an exception. At the time we were very much against most of the fighting shows we’d seen but when we got to Flame of Recca, the characters won us over and the series was like a drug in that we needed more episodes as quickly as possible. But at the same time, we know that it’s not exactly a standout series and it’s a flawed one at that. But sometimes those rough gems can be the best gems.
Flame of Recca is a very simple show at its heart but its heart is what’s attracted us to it. Things focus on high school student Recca Hanabishi, a wiry young man who has lived his life with the mindset of always wanting to be a ninja. It’s been such a strong desire in him that he’s read plenty about it and acts it out and has basically trained as one over the years. During that time he’s made the pledge that anyone who can defeat him he will serve them as their faithful ninja. This has resulted in a few opponents who have stood the test of time and keep challenging him but never quite winning. Domon is the tall bulky guy with the Mohawk and nose ring that just can’t seem to take him down while Fuko is the attractive tomboy who wants to have Recca bow down before her. Their years of back and forth have actually made them rather good fighters and quite adept at different situations.
Recca’s life has been pretty consistent for years, living with just his father who is a fireworks maker, which means that Recca’s become fairly adept at gunpowder and tricks associated with it. He keeps a handful of the small smoke explosive balls in his pocket and uses them to help escape situations that go wrong or just to throw off an enemy in a fight. His life takes a fairly drastic change one afternoon when he sees an attractive girl in the park and ends up following her and the kids in her charge outside of the park. Before anyone realizes it, a crane drops a ton of girders down and Recca saves them but at the cost of his own life, or just about.
When everyone panics, the young woman named Yanagi leans over Recca and suddenly she’s giving off a power that begins to heal him, causing him to wake quickly and run off almost embarrassed by the entire situation. When she catches up with him, we learn that she’s in his school but usually not the type to be noticed, much like the power she’s kept hidden all these years. The two quickly take well to each other and Recca wants to show off for her (as if saving her life wasn’t enough) and takes her to an abandoned warehouse where inside he shows off with some of the fireworks he’s kept with him. This is a really nice brief scene that shows a budding romance of sorts but it’s quickly turned sour by the arrival of a mysterious woman named Kagehoshi.
Literally moving in from the shadows, she challenges Recca to produce a flame from his hands and threatens to kill Yanagi if he doesn’t do it. Though she remains a mystery, Kagehoshi’s arrival and her claims of Recca’s ability end up causing him to actually do just that and in the heat of battle against her as she tries to kill him he lets loose with a flame from his right arm. This achieved, Kagehoshi tells him to expect more challenges and for him to be prepared to really get into fighting. Over the course of the next three episodes, Recca finds himself fighting both his friend Fuko who Kagehoshi gifts with a device that allows her to manipulate the wind as well as a stranger named Mikigami who has a sword made of water that he can control. All of this is orchestrated by Kagehoshi so that she can force Recca to use his flame, to expand his control of it and what he can do with it.
Smaller hints of the larger story are given with a mysterious group who catch a glimpse of the powers that Yanagi has and the small group that starts to form around her of people with powers. This isn’t given much time but it’s central to the progress of the show coming up. What the struggle becomes as you watch these initial episodes is the one between Kagehoshi trying to get Recca to a place where he can defend himself as she talks about the arrival of another flame wielder and the coming together of a group of fighters. While we initially see the conflicts between the main trio of Recca, Domon, and Fuko, it all takes on a different edge once Recca pledges himself to Yanagi even though she hasn’t defeated him. Domon is stunned by it but Fuko takes it personally and finds herself manipulated easily by Kagehoshi to deal with it. But what they all end up experiencing together brings them closer together.
One of the aspects of this show that I like a lot is the music and the use of it. While there’s a good opening song and a lot of good instrumental pieces for when the fights start picking up in intensity and often when they go into the final moments, it’s the lack of music at times that’s really key. During Recca’s fight with Mikigami, there are some brutal moments between the two and there’s no music at all to help move the sequence along; instead, you get the smack of their sneakers hitting the floor and the thud of fists against the mirrors or the wall. Without the music, it takes on a heavier and more foreboding feel as they just start smacking against each other. This kind of move isn’t done too often but I found it particularly noteworthy and added much to the scenes.
As for the shows look, it’s one that I’ve mentioned earlier that it simply isn’t a bright and shiny show. It’s definitely done on the cheap and you can see a number of scenes where they cut some corners. But it mixes in some great scenes as well during the key fight moments where the payoff is. The look and feel of the show is definitely in the traditional animation realm and it’s showing its age. The other part that I think really affects things here is that the masters that are used are probably the same as the ones that were used for the Japanese home video release and it’s worth noting that there is no Japanese DVD release. So there wasn’t any clean-up or remastering done on these for a Japanese release prior to the US one. While the show doesn’t look fantastic it doesn’t look horrible either. It’s just not going to look as slick as some of today’s shows but I think it has its own charm, but I go into this show as a fan of it already.
In Summary:
I’ll say it up front that I am most definitely what you would consider a big fan of this show. But we’re also both the first to admit that this is a flawed show in a number of ways, from the on the cheap animation style to the way that it only covers something like half of the manga series and therefore doesn’t have a full real ending. It is a series however whose characters captured us early and quickly, watching each of them master their abilities and watching them grow, Recca in particular as revelations are made about his power. There’s a good sense of comedy and action mixed into this show that works well and is reminiscent at times of Yu Yu Hakusho, which is one of the few other fighting tournament shows that have won us over in recent years. I think Recca will gain a small but faithful following here. Viz’s release is pretty solid overall with just a few flaws but with a good number of episodes for the price. I’m anxiously awaiting more episodes already.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Viewster
