| PRODUCT DETAILS | | Buso Renkin Box Set 1 |  | |
Buso Renkin Box Set 1
High school student Kazuki Muto thinks he's saving a girl from a monster, but it turns out that he's the one who needs saving! Kazuki is killed while fighting a homunculus, a malevolent creature that feeds on humans. The girl, Tokiko Tsumura, revives him by replacing his heart with an alchemical device called a kakugane. With this device Kazuki can create his own Buso Renkin, an alchemical weapon in the form of a huge lance, capable of destroying homunculi. With his new weapon in hand, Kazuki decides to join forces with Tokiko to eliminate the homunculi and destroy their master, the strange and eccentric Papillon Masked Creator!
* 3 DVD box set with 13 episodes. Featuring original and uncut episodes.
* Includes original series soundtrack.
* English dubbed / Japanese (with optional English subtitles).
* Interview with English voice cast and director.
* Exclusive collector's art prints inside!
Manufacturer: BUSO RENKIN #1 (DVD MOVIE)
Price Range: $28.48 - $49.98
 Buso Renkin Box Set 1
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| User Reviews |  | First Class anime from the creator of Rurouni Kenshin
rating: 5
Kazuki Muto is an everyday high school teenager who leads a perfectly normal life...that is until he has a strange dream in which he is killed by a creature known as a homunculus while trying to save a beautiful girls life. After waking up, Kazuki is later shocked to find out that the nightmare was in fact real and the girl he had tried to rescue was an alchemist warrior named Tokiko Tsumura. By replacing his pierced heart with a Kakugane (a supernatural alloy that transforms fighting instinct into a physical weapon called a Buso Renkin) Kazuki was revived from death and given a new life as an alchemist warrior. Alchemist warriors are all equipped with Kakugane which gives each of them a unique weapon that they use to fight against the homunculi. Kazukis' is a huge lance called Sunlight heart, and Tokiko's is a series of spider like blades attached to her thighs.
Kazuki, now aware of the existence of the power within him vows to protect his friends and his sister and join forces with the alchemist warriors in their battle against the homunculi and their creator; the sinister, yet eccentric Papillion.
This DVD set contains 3 discs which contains the first 13 episodes and what we get is a fun anime series that follows Kazuki's quest to destroys all the evil human eating homunculi, and protect the people who are close to him, while trying to harness the immense power of his Buso Renkin.
Your first instinct when watching this could be to notice the similarities between Buso Renkin and fellow shonen (boys) anime Bleach. With the spiky haired teenager recieving a supernatural power from a mysterious female, and therefore joining forces to protect the people he cares about from the bad guys. However, this series, though not incredibly original is still an entertaining and enjoyable series in it's own respect.
The action sequences were pretty impressive in this anime, with real time fight scenes accompanied by smooth animation. The artwork in this series is mainly quite bright and colourful which will definetly appease those looking for aesthetic qualities in anime. It looks particularly impressive in the fight scenes when rays of light are reflected off the weapons, this just displays how much attention to detail is on show here.
I was surprised at how much humour was in this series; pretty much every episode has something to laugh out loud about thanks to some truly excellent characters. Like Kazuki's ditsy younger sister and her hyper-active silliness, or fellow classmate Okakura who is just totally nuts (watch and you'll see why) as well as the hilariously camp Papillion who for some reason seems to spends a lot of the time prancing around in his underwear...
I've only watched the english dub for this anime and I must say that it is quite good. Some good voice actors here are Steve Staley (Heat Guy J, Naruto, Tenjho Tenge), Yuri Lowenthal (Naruto, Afro Samurai) and Kyle Herbert (DBZ, Naruto). The music is also especially good, with some genuinely catchy tunes along with one of the best opening songs I have heard for an anime.
When it comes to shonen anime, Buso Renkin ticks all the boxes. It contains plenty of action, blood, big weapons, interesting villains, great characters and loads of humour. Buso Renkin is an easy going and entertaining anime that can be enjoyed by most anime fans of all ages as well as newcomers to the genre and with a great cliffhanger at the end of this set, the second and final part of this series should be something to look out for.
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An Exciting Anime Well Worth Getting
rating: 5
This series comes in two box sets and I'm happy to finally have gotten both
to this entertaining series. The short storyline is there is a war between Homunculus(Human Beings or animals transformed into a sort of higher evolutionary state) and Alchemist warriors who's purpose is to destroy the Homunculus. The reason for that is Homunculus feel an irresistible urge to eat humans as food. The story begins with Kazuki being thrust into the war when he gets killed while trying to save another person who turns out to be a alchemist warrior by the name of Tokiko. If you have seen Full Metal Alchemist you'll see some similarities between the two shows. There are comedic parts in the series so it's not all drama or action which I truly liked that they did. Also you'll have a little romantic subplot between two of the characters which is entertaining to see as you watch their romantic funny scenes. The ending to the series for me was also good it doesn't leave to much confusion or open endings which is sometimes annoying. So if your a fan of Bleach or Naruto I'd say this is another series worth getting for the collection..
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A Memorable Shonen Jump...
rating: 5
Okay, so we've got another anime based on a(popular)manga, and we look at the cover and see 3 main characters with expression. What do we think: Hmm, sounds like something I've seen before... EHHH WRONG!
I saw this manga last Dec. and chaecked out all 9 volumes after reading the 1st one. Not bad, violence, a non-cliche element(kakugane), and a stereotypical protagonist. My impression: what's gonna happen?? I quickly finished the manga and came to the conclusion, that it was a trip!
I saw a trailer to the anime during the Bleach movie in theatres, and was in awe. I earned enough money and bought it.
Now what makes Buso Renkin, Buso Renkin? First off is Tokiko, the first "real" female protagonist. A hot-blooded, reserved, and lethal warrior that could make men cry. Then we have the third main character who, in my opinion, is one of the most unique characters! Papillon is a puzzle. You never know which side he's on, he's contrary, yet has honor that is so... heroic. He has the most isses, but expresses them with sex appeal and wit.
The plot is not it's cornerstone, rather it is a mirror: guy saves girl;cliche, girl fakes and is "very" tough;non-cliche, first fights hard;non cliche, first villain respects hero;both. To put it simply this anime merges a traditional shonen plot with it's alluring jewels.
Now what are we looking at here; a combo of Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist. A little supernatural and alchemy, interesting. A very good point I didn't mention earlier is that the nature of the show is quite unstable. Some points are very mature: ep 9 and 10, other moments are comedic and suit the show well.
The bad points of the show(yes there are), are a few. The first and obvious is Kazuki, an easy-going guy who is purpetually obliged to assist in the extermination of homunculi. Now what is so wrong about Kazuki is his morale. Where does a 16-year old get enough balls to use his new life to fight evil?! But we seem to forget the first 14 seconds of the show: he died once. Psychologically that might make him more courageous.
To sum it all up, Buso Renkin is a jumble of genres and uniqueness/cliches. What drew me to the series was to look at it for what it was: A great exerpt of a Shonen Jump! Created by the mangaka of Rurouni Kenshin, this show was intended for the left over energy left behind. A perfect show? No. But it's the start of a ride that saves you time and money on the other long-running Shonen Jump series.(Naruto, Bleach, One Piece). Buso Renkin is worth watching in both audios, and has the spirit of a classic, with the body of a fused cliches.
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Fun and memorable.
rating: 4
Buso Renkin starts with a good ol' good-guy-vs-bad-guy yarn, and a lot of the characters (such as the heroic Kazuki, his kind and cheerful sister and his bumbling friends) and plot points (Kazuki is introduced and inducted into a whole league of heroes, which he inevitably betters with his rule-breaking) follow storylines we've seen before. I should point out that it does that well, in an entertaining, exciting, and funny way.
However, Buso Renkin also has some very original ideas inserted in the more traditional action story that bring it to life. It never hesitates to break realism and go way, way over the top either to make a dramatic point or form a unique character.
Many of the characters, for example, are obviously charicatures. Our primary anti-hero, Pappillion, is very tragic in that he's terminally ill and unloved by his family (in fact, the series' creator said that he'd formed the character from his own feelings of isolation in high school), but his outrageous clothing choices (anything thong-like with butterflies) and "I-can't-believe-he-said-that!" rude comments are often hilarious. And he's not the only one that makes you do a double take: we have a hero who covers his face because he thinks it looks cool; a villain with a butterfly mustache in yellow spandex; a Hawaiian-shirted romantic with an aversion to shaking hands; and a deeply scarred woman with all the social skills of a garden slug. Realistic or not, I loved them and recognized bits and pieces of them in people I know. Just watching them bounce off of each other in dialogue scenes made the box set worth the buy.
However, I do agree with some criticisms already written in other reviews. You will recognize some fight scenes and situations from a lot of other shounen manga, certain episodes are rushed, and sadly, a lot of very funny scenes from the manga didn't translate well to screen. Still, I think the anime is easily worth four stars for an engaging story, smooth animation, great acting, and a plot with something for everyone (action, romance, slice-of-life, humor: it's all there). Above all things, Buso Renkin is unapologetically fun.
Manga fans take note: There are some significant story differences in the last half-dozen episodes of the anime, so it's worth watching even if you know the manga story.
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Not Classic But Good
rating: 4
Despite a small effort on its own part to change my mind, this is an enjoyable release. While this is not the series that you would ever show to someone as a great example of the shonen genre, those who enjoy their anime filled with action and monsters and new powers are going to find little to be disappointed with here. As long as you take it at face value and don't think about it too much, this is a nice set for an anime fan to kill a weekend with
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Buso Renkin Box Set 1
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