[Anime Review] Nobunagun - The Historical Figure Super Sentai For South Park Fans
I have seen this series many times. It is a guilty pleasure of mine that is very dumb, very flashy, and full of cringe, but also so fun. Welcome to my review.
What is the Premise
Centuries past, an alien race crash lands into Earth’s oceans all around the globe. These aliens travel from planet to planet evolving and shaping themselves into advanced, destructive versions of that world’s native lifeforms with the goal of consuming all resources. Pretty standard science fiction invaders from another world tropes.
Following them are DOGOO, essentially the universe’s police force. These invaders, called Evolutionary Invaders, remain dormant until modern day (mid 2010s). To fight them, DOGOO stores the genetic makeup and memories of history’s greatest figures in objects called E-Genes so that heroes of the modern era can call upon their might to protect humanity. This is the story of the heroes that fight that battle.
Amusing Fact Discovered After Finishing Writing This Review
Who are the Main E-Gene Holders
Sio Ogura - the reincarnation of Nobunaga Oda. She’s a military Otaku (her room is laden with models, magazines, and posters; her sheer joy in talking about it with her female classmate, Kaoru Asao, that definitely doesn’t have a Yuri fanfic of both of them hidden under her bed, makes her one of the most unique female protagonists I’ve seen). Her power gives her up to three different massive firearms with each one coming out of the mouth of a Cerberus. I personally think her design was the best out of all the E-Gene holders. It’s just so vicious and her maddened grin while murdering Evolutionary Invaders is something that will never leave my brain.
Adam Muirhead - the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper. Not much backstory is given about him other than him being of possible Middle-Eastern decent. His weapon is a massive hunting knife that can be split into many smaller, weaker ones like a fan. His design is very Shonen protagonist with white spikey hair, exaggerated arm pieces, and a hidden power that only comes out in the finale.
Mahesh Mirza - the reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi. He’s the pretty boy player type of the squad and spends much of his time messing with Sio because he thinks she’s pretty cute. His weapons are two massive metal hands protruding from an armament on his head and used to block attacks. This is something that troubles him greatly due to having no offensive powers. He’s also shown to be one of the more intelligent and thoughtful members of the cast.
Jess Beckham - the reincarnation of Isaac Newton. Being the only other girl in Sio’s squad, they become fast friends. Her weapon consists of two massive metal boots that change the gravity of a small region or the mass of an enemy. I think this was one of the more unique ones. Her personality is very bubbly but her voice actor in the sub gave her a tomboyish persona while the dub made her more girly and implied to be possibly gay. She’s one of the few characters that the dub (which is what I primarily rewatch in) missed the mark a bit in terms of adaptation.
What Impressed Me
The concept behind the series was dumb. It reveled in that dumbness. After my first watch, I wanted more due to how self-aware the series was with every episode and how well paced it was. I’d rather take that than a series that tries to be something it’s not and is very boring. The character designs, heroes’ weapons and their Sentai costumes all were in service of the core premise.
The opening “Respect for the Dead Man” by Pay Money to My Pain will never stop being on my top Anime intros list. It is such a powerful and oddly fitting song for what the series was about. It’s also one of the few Visual Novel character introduction openings I’ve seen do that concept well. The animations and transitions are snappy, there’s not any major plot spoilers shown, and the track gave way to the insanity that would ensue in most episodes. The main characters all got their spotlight and you got to see who they were reincarnated from; there are a massive amount of characters, so this was nice to keep audiences refreshed on who was who.
I was also impressed by how consistent the animation quality and visuals were. When the Evolutionary Invaders attacked, the screen would take on a dark tint with abstract colors that never made fights hard to follow. In fact, I felt that this design choice actually enhanced the fights quite a bit. The heroes slightly shown through the darkness giving a bit of a metaphoric holy aura to them without being distracting. It’s not something I see often, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was to show the fights from the perspective of the aliens.
One of the last things that impressed me was how fun most of the ecchi was. This was one of those series that liked to take standard ecchi tropes and do creative things with them. A big example involved a cliffhanger with Sio seemingly being molested by tentacles but the next episode started with such a crazy escape method that just worked and made sense with everything that had been shown before. It was memorable and caught me off guard.
What Disappointed Me
Nobunagun was way too short for the kind of series it was. It was 13 episodes and ended on a note that was a bit disappointing for me but didn’t detract from the entire experience. The characters didn’t get enough screentime and some characters introduced early on as important disappeared for most of the runtime. The biggest disappointment in terms of character would be for Kaoru. She’s shown in the opening as having a big part and is talked about as being Sio’s beloved friend that she wants to protect but mostly shows up at the beginning and end of the series with almost no word about how she’s doing. Her storyline ended in a way that didn’t feel fitting or satisfying.
I was not a huge fan of the ending track “Chisana Hoshi” sung by three different members of the female voice cast in the Japanese dub. On its own, the song was great but for this series, it didn’t quite fit the tone. I felt that it was chosen to act as a respite from the action, but on rewatch, it’s something that I found myself zoning out to sometimes. It’s also not as visually impressive or memorable in terms of animation.
I also felt that both the DOGOO and invaders alien designs were a bit lacking. The leader of the heroes was a goat man and most of the invaders were either mutated insects or sea creatures. Some were done in 3D CG but were pretty inoffensive. They also recycled some of the invaders’ designs a bit too much.
My Closing Thoughts
Would I recommend this series? Definitely if you want to see something pretty unique done with an over saturated genre. If you’re interested in smart storytelling and heavy character development, this will not be for you. If you’re opposed to fan service and ecchi, it’s definitely not the worst here but your mileage will vary.
Important Info
- Adapted from a 6 volume manga of the same name written and illustrated by Masato Hisa (May 2011 - August 2015)
- Studio: Bridge
- Genres: Shonen, Historical Fiction, Action, Super Sentai
- Seasons/Episodes: Winter 2014 (13 episodes)
- Recommended Similar Series: Gachaman Crowds + Insight (for how it changes up the Super Sentai formula); Tokyo ESP (for being as crazy a concept and mostly unheard of)
- Legally stream it on Crunchyroll
I never heard about this show and guessed the historical fiction + super sentai tag was the reason why. Cool write up on the show, made me look for it.
You’re quite welcome. Welcome back. I guess the series kind of developed a cult status. I only found it on accident years back and just discovered the gem that is its MAL page. I would think this score is way too low but its average score being 6.66 is pretty hilarious and fitting for what the series is and how almost demonic the main character is at times.
I met Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy) back in 2014. We got to talking a bit about the state of anime at the time. I pointed out Nobunagun as a series I had recently watched which looked like it was made in 2002. And I emphasized how much I loved that. He talked about how he had done the same while directing Space Dandy, and that there was a hand drawn animation renaissance going on in the industry at the time.
Thanks for sharing that story. I didn’t know that but that makes so much sense. Hand drawn animation still has a place in the industry. Another example of where I think it looked amazing (and the series came out only a few years before Nobunagun) was several fight scenes in Birdy the Mighty: Decode. I wish I could find the source of where I read it but supposedly they took the original hand drawn storyboards and animated with them to give this visceral feel to fights where Birdy just stops being a person and becomes a monstrosity that looks human.
I've never heard about this anime before but I must say that it caught my attention. Although I actually really heavy characters development and elaborated stories, sometimes I like to watch something more simple and judging from what you said this is a nice option that I'll keep in mind.
Nice review, it is really well done!
Welcome back. 👏
I agree with the character development part. A lack of it doesn’t necessarily turn me away but having it does often elevate a work of fiction. What series recently scratched that itch for you?
Well for example Mashle doesn't have the biggest character development but that doesn't really matter to much because the characters are actually amazing although quite simple. On the other hand, I've been watching Bleach and that's a pretty long character development that I'm really enjoying to watch.
It's all about watching something entertaining and well made, and that can be accomplished in many ways :)
I had not heard of this anime I like the idea that they reserve the heroes who were in the course of the story, and use these as weapons really is an interesting plot. Also that they made each character has protagonism something that in many anime does not happen and only focus on the main character, that makes us get a little more attached to each of them, the animation if it does not call much attention to me looks a little sloppy but I like the plot. Good post bro <3
See this comment thread about some insight on the “sloppy” animation: https://ecency.com/hive-158489/@x5ksub30/anime-review-nobunagun-the-historical#@ddrfr33k/re-x5ksub30-s99lji . I also wouldn’t say that all of the main cast get protagonistm per se (Sio is the only major one that gets direct noticeable development for most of the run) but a common element of any good Sentai is a team dynamic with each member having a different color tied to their personality and/or traits.
These are my interpretations for examples
Sio is almost pure black due to how much of a black sheep she is in the group in terms of firepower, personality and overall presence.
Jess is a light blue due to her being typically a calm, very friendly character. When fighting and activating her power, that color takes on a different meaning; it’s almost like a trap, she takes on the persona of someone who would literally “step on” you in a more kinky way.
Thanks for your reply. I hope you get to check it out and enjoy it
The animation style of this one is bold, but I am not sold to it, I guess this was not my type.
That’s a valid point. It’s not a modern style (for the time of the adaptation) but more a throwback to older science fiction action series such as Cyborg 009 with a bit of mid 2000s Cartoon Network mixed in. The screenshots are mostly how a large chunk of the series looks and much of the series looks very hand drawn and animated instead of being digital.