Buso Renkin

Template:Nihongo is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. It was serialized in publisher Shueisha's [[Shōnen manga|Template:Transliteration manga]] magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from June 2003 to April 2005. The individual chapters were republished by Shueisha in ten Template:Transliteration (bound volumes). It follows Kazuki Muto, who becomes an alchemical warrior in the battle against alchemical monsters known as homunculi. Watsuki envisioned the manga as his last Template:Transliteration manga, and then he tried to do as much as he could with that genre. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for North American release.

The manga has been adapted into an anime television series, which was produced by studio Xebec and was broadcast on Japanese television network TV Tokyo from 2006 to 2007. In December 2007, the anime was announced for North American DVD release by Viz Media. In 2009, the series made its American television debut on the Funimation Channel, with American broadcast rights acquired by Funimation from Viz Media. The series has also spawned two drama CDs, two light novels, a PlayStation 2 video game, and many types of Buso Renkin-themed merchandise.

In Japan, the Buso Renkin manga has sold over 3 million volumes and was nominated for the science fiction works focused Seiun Award. It received a mixed reception from manga and anime publications. Watsuki's art received the most positive comments from reviewers, while other aspects of the manga, such as its action and characters, have divided critics' opinions. The anime, which critics described as a generic Template:Transliteration fighting series, received mostly negative reception.

Plot

Template:See also The series follows Kazuki Muto, who saves Tokiko Tsumura and is killed by an alchemical monster known as a homunculus. Tokiko, an alchemist warrior, feels responsible and revives him by replacing his destroyed heart with a Template:Nihongo4. The kakugane is an alchemical device which, when activated, takes a weapon form based on its user's personality, forming a buso renkinTemplate:Mdashthe only thing that can destroy a homunculus. Kazuki creates his own buso renkin and joins Tokiko in the fight against the homunculi and their master, Koushaku Chouno. Chouno, who has renamed himself "Papillon", is killed by Kazuki, but is later resurrected by the L.X.E., a humanoid homunculi group led by Chouno's great-great-grandfather Bakushaku Chouno, now calling himself Dr. Butterfly. In various battles, Kazuki, Tokiko and Captain Bravo (their team leader) destroy most of the L.X.E.'s members. After learning that Dr. Butterfly believes him to be weak and useless, Papillon rebels against the L.X.E. and kills Dr. Butterfly.

Before his death, Dr. Butterfly drains the energy of the students at Kazuki's school to heal and revive Victor, a being superior to humans and homunculi. Victor is confronted by Kazuki, but Victor is not interested in fighting and leaves. During the battle, however, Kazuki's kakugane is revealed to be the same type as the Victor's—a black kakugane created by the Alchemist Army as a prototype to the philosopher's stone. The black kakugane absorbs human life forces; to prevent this from happening, Kazuki's death is ordered by the Alchemist Army. Captain Bravo tries to kill Kazuki, but Tokiko finds him alive. A team is commissioned to confirm Kazuki's death, but Kazuki, Tokiko and Gouta Nakamura (an Alchemist Warrior and former protégé of Tokiko's) fight their way past the members of the Re-Extermination Squad. Later, Kazuki's death is postponed because, as the Alchemists' leader explains, their top priority is to defeat Victor.

Kazuki and Tokiko find the white kakugane, which can negate the effects of the black kakugane and is guarded by Victor's daughter Victoria, who is herself a humanoid homunculus. During the Alchemist Army's final battle against Victor, Kazuki applies the white kakugane to Victor, but it only weakens him. To protect humankind from both of them, Kazuki propels himself and Victor to the moon. Later, Papillion creates a white kakugane to heal Kazuki. The Alchemist Army rescues Kazuki, creates another white kakugane and restores Victor's humanity. Reunited with his daughter, Victor asks the Alchemist Army to turn him into a homunculus and tells them that he and his daughter will lead all the homunculi to the moon. The Alchemist Army dedicates itself to research a way to revert homunculi back into humans, ending their war activities. All Warriors abdicate their kakugane. Kazuki and Tokiko return to their daily lives together while Papillon becomes an urban legend throughout Japan.

Production

Template:See also Nobuhiro Watsuki started writing Buso Renkin thinking it would be his last Template:Transliteration manga; he tried to do "everything [he] ever wanted" with that genre. He unexpectedly experienced problems drawing the manga's fight scenes and said he "struggled with the comedic elements".<ref name=after>Template:Cite book</ref> Watsuki drew references from several sources in Buso Renkin; from his past works Rurouni Kenshin<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Gun Blaze West<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> to American comics,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and from films to other anime and manga.<ref name=4649notes>Template:Cite book</ref> Despite dealing with alchemy, Watsuki initially avoided mentioning the philosopher's stone because he thought he could be accused of plagiarizing another series. He could not omit mentioning it, but he said that it is "general knowledge".<ref name=4649notes/> During the series' publication, Watsuki had four severe colds; the fourth cold made him so weak that he could not finish the chapter he was due to send to Weekly Shōnen Jump.<ref name=after/>

Manga

Template:Main article The chapters of Buso Renkin were written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki and were serialized in Shueisha's Template:Transliteration magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from June 23, 2003,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to April 25, 2005.Template:Efn The first 79 chapters were serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump; the final chapter was published in another magazine from Shueisha in two installments.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Shueisha published the individual chapters in a series of ten Template:Transliteration (collected volumes), which were released between January 5, 2004, and April 4, 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In North America, Viz Media released the manga's ten tankōbon volumes between August 1, 2006, and February 5, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2012, Viz also made the manga available digitally through its Viz Manga App for the iPad and other iOS devices.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The manga has been licensed in Brazil by Editora JBC,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> France by Glénat,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Germany by Tokyopop Germany,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Italy by Panini Comics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in Spain by Planeta DeLibros.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Anime adaptation

Template:Main article In Japan, the Buso Renkin manga was adapted into an anime series which ran on TV Tokyo; it was directed by Takao Kato, written by Akatsuki Yamatoya, and produced by Xebec.<ref name=official>Template:Cite web</ref> Buso Renkin aired for 26 episodes between October 5, 2006, and March 29, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn The episodes were later released by Geneon Universal Entertainment in nine DVD compilations between January 25, 2007, and September 21, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> DVD box sets containing all twenty-six episodes were released on November 26, 2009,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and on February 27, 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Geneon Universal Entertainment released an animation soundtrack CD for Buso Renkin on January 25, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On December 8, 2007, Viz Media announced the release of the English dub, which would be released in two DVD sets of thirteen episodes each.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first set containing episodes one to thirteen was released on April 29, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The second set containing episodes fourteen to twenty-six was released on October 7, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Funimation launched Buso Renkin on their Funimation Channel on April 27, 2009, marking the series' American television debut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> On December 20, 2009, the first three episodes from the series were officially uploaded to Hulu and Viz Media's portal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Two episodes were uploaded weekly thereafter; the final episode was uploaded on March 8, 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning on October 2, 2012, Buso Renkin was streamed on Neon Alley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Manga Entertainment released the series in the United Kingdom on two DVD box sets between August 11, 2008, and October 6, 2008, and later rereleased on a "complete series" edition on June 8, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Madman Entertainment released two DVD box sets of the series in the PAL region between May 20, 2009, and August 19, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2017, Tubi TV added Buso Renkin to its catalogue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Related media

Shueisha released two drama CDs for Buso Renkin. The first CD was released on May 26, 2005,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the second CD was released on October 6, 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also released two "Expert CDs", which features the radio drama, opening and ending themes and unreleased soundtrack songs. The first CD, Expert CD 1, was released on March 28, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The second CD, Expert CD 2, was released on June 8, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Two light novels were written by Kaoru Kurosaki, illustrated by Watsuki, and published under the Jump J-Books imprint by Shueisha. The first one, Template:Nihongo4, was published on October 31, 2006, and Template:Nihongo4 was released on May 25, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A guidebook titled Buso Renkin Infinity was published by Shueisha on May 2, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Two Nintendo DS fighting games, Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, have featured characters from the series with only Kazuki being its sole playable character.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A PlayStation 2 hack and slash video game developed and published by Marvelous Entertainment was released on June 28, 2007, under the title Template:Nihongo4.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In Japan, action figures, T-shirts, a trading card game series, key chains, straps, and a variety of other products were sold as merchandise for the series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Reception

Public response and awards

In Japan, Buso Renkin has sold over three million volumes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In North America, the first volume has featured in the best-selling graphic novel ranking of Nielsen BookScan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the fourth volume of the series was the seventh best-selling comic book of March 2007, according to Publishers Weekly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year, it was nominated for the Seiun Award for best science fiction comic title of the year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Critical response

The manga's critical reaction has been mixed. Most critics reached a consensus regarding the high quality of its art, describing it as "crisp", "solid", and "clean and well done".<ref name=aav1>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=mlv1>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=cbb>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=stv1>Template:Cite web</ref> Other aspects of the series have divided critics' opinions. Manga Life's Michael Aronson praised the enemy designs,<ref name=mlv1/> while Carlo Santos of Anime News Network (ANN) criticized them, adding the series "is not much fun to read, and certainly no fun to look at".<ref name=santos>Template:Cite web</ref> Writing for Active Anime, Sandra Scholes found points of interest in the series' story, and praised its action.<ref name=aav1/> Santos said the action "got all the drive and excitement of Template:Transliteration action",<ref name=santos/> and Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux called the series "a mixture of Dragon Ball Z and Naruto, but filled with even more weirdness".<ref name=cbb/>

Aronson said the storytelling and action needed "clarity".<ref name=mlv1/> Leigh Dragoon from Sequential Tart described Buso Renkin as "derivative" and "hackneyed", and called the characters "completely forgettable".<ref name=stv1/> Conversely, Patti Martinson writing for the same site said that they "are distinctive and interesting". Martinson noted "the complexity of the plot", though she said it is not difficult to follow. She added there was "a lot of strong material" that can be developed throughout the series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Holly Ellingwood praised the final volume, stating that Watsuki did "a fabulous job of covering all fronts and the various characters, juggling them effectively" and that it ends "in an amazing way".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The anime was met with mostly negative critical reception. ANN critic Zac Bertschy said Buso Renkin "isn't anything special", criticizing the "threadbare plot exposition" and its clichés, but praised the way it "get[s] right to the action".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Writing for ANN, Luke Carroll stated the series is generic and that it became "[a] bit more tolerable ... during its light-hearted moments".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although ANN's Carl Kimlinger said the anime follows the "Template:Transliteration fighting formula", he praised Tokiko's characterization, saying it is one characteristic that distinguish the series.<ref name=kimlinger>Template:Cite web</ref> Kimlinger also praised the way it "improves considerably" because of its twists in the plot.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> UK Anime Network's Andy Hanley also called it "generic" at the start, but said it "has a fairly decent stab" in the second half.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Chris Beveridge of Mania praised the balance between the humor and the "lighter side", and stated that Buso Renkin "took the clichés and obviousness of ideas and ran with it in an engaging and fun manner".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:Webarchive Template:In lang
• Template:Official website Template:In lang
• Template:Anime News Network