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Kizuna

Kizuna

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great love story
Review: Don't listen to people who say that the Kizuna OAV is difficult to follow. All the information that you need is presented plainly, and the backstory is told through flashbacks. The story of Enjoji and Ranmaru's love enduring despite obstacles is very touching, and a nice change from the "doomed love" theme of some other yaoi anime. The characters are all well-developed for such a short OAV (two half-hour episodes), and the relationships between them are well-described.

The only problem I had with this DVD was in the structure of the DVD itself. The subtitling timing is WAY off, often appearing well before the character speaks, or in the middle of a different character's lines. Unless you listen closely it is sometimes impossible to know who is saying what. Also, there are no extras, no alternate soundtracks, and no scene access on this particular version of the DVD. All you get is two OAV episodes with Japanese voices and rather large white subtitling.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Queer Animae. :)
Review: Great animae, and interesting subject matter. Just be warned that each video is only one episode, only 30minutes. Still exceptionally cool, but the price/time ratio is just something to keep in mind.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brings back sweet memories of reding manga translations.
Review: I lucked out last year & bought the fansub. I've never even heard the English version, but as so few dubbs are good, I don't care to either.

If you think these are funny, wait till Kizuna 3 comes out. I've heard that it might already be on this DVD thing, but as it was fansubbed for a convention late last year, I doubt it.

BUY THE MANGA SERIES. IT'S OVER 11 BOOKS LONG & IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER! (so does the art^_~)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great yaoi
Review: I'm a straight guy and don't speak Japanese and yet I managed to love this movie. I think what I like best are the characters and the relationships between them. The rest of the storyline kind of takes a backseat. At the end I was left wanting more.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I'd hold out for Gravitation
Review: Kizuna seems to have an old school anime look, and the feel of the movie is just akward... I'm willing to venture it has little to do with the actual series being a one shot movie. I would hold out for Gravitation if I needed to be selective with my DVD library. Fake is also a little better than Kizuna, but not by leaps and bounds. Just an opinion!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Lovely Animation and a Nice Adaptation
Review: Kizuna, parts I & II, are a visually satisfying and entertaining pair of 1/2 hour videos based on the Japanese manga (graphic novel) of the same name, created by Kazuma Kodaka. The story involves the romance between a male couple, Kei Enjouji and Ranmaru Samejima, once a junior champion in the world of kendo (an oriental form of fencing). Ranmaru's future is crushed when he is struck by a hit and run driver, rather than the intended target - his lover. Other problems arise with the arrival of another mysterious young man who is obssessed with Ranmaru, Kai Sagano.

Romantic, sexy, and quite poignant. The silliness and violence factor are kept to a minimum, unlike alot of other anime out there. Splendid shounen-ai (boy's love).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Lovely Animation and a Nice Adaptation
Review: Kizuna, parts I & II, are a visually satisfying and entertaining pair of 1/2 hour videos based on the Japanese manga (graphic novel) of the same name, created by Kazuma Kodaka. The story involves the romance between a male couple, Kei Enjouji and Ranmaru Samejima, once a junior champion in the world of kendo (an oriental form of fencing). Ranmaru's future is crushed when he is struck by a hit and run driver, rather than the intended target - his lover. Other problems arise with the arrival of another mysterious young man who is obssessed with Ranmaru, Kai Sagano.

Romantic, sexy, and quite poignant. The silliness and violence factor are kept to a minimum, unlike alot of other anime out there. Splendid shounen-ai (boy's love).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FANTASTIC!!!!!!! IF YOU LIKE YAOI ROMANCE GET THIS!!!!!!
Review: Now i love yaoi but this i adore! it's so romantic and sweet and sexy and it's even got action and it leaves you wanting more. It's the best yaoi anime I have seen!
I love the manga more but this is just as great! it's a beautiful love story and proves that love comes in all forms and love knows no boundries, forget straight romance this is swetter!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The sort of anime that made me avoid anime for so long
Review: OK, it's got some (poorly done, btw) guy-on-guy action. I can't imagine any other reason anyone would watch this movie, and even that doesn't save it from being too silly for words. Perhaps if you've read the manga it's based on you can fill in some detail from that, but watched on its own, as I did, it's the worst sort of shallow "Plot? What plot?" anime dreck.

It also showcases the strange anime phenomenon of the "aggressive" lover; ie near-rapist. Guy 1: "No, honey, I don't wanna". Guy 2 turns into wolf and forces the issue: "C'mon, you know no means yes!" Guy 1 caves, winces, bites his lip, and ultimately enjoys himself, but what a message! Makes me wonder about relationships in Japan, as this seems to be a consistent theme in this genre.

Bottom line: the script, such as it is, appears to have been written by brainless 13-year-old school girls. Animation quality: fair to poor.

If you want decent yaoi, try "Angel Sanctuary" or "Fake." If you like the "agressive lover" bit, scare up a copy of the harder-edged "Ai no Kusabi".

If you want really good anime, watch "Cowboy Bebop" or 'Trigun" and use your imagination for the naughty elements. If it hadn't been for those two shows, I wouldn't watch any anime at all.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Classic
Review: Ranmaru Samejima and Kei Enjoji are Tokyo college students who have been friends since junior high school. Enjoji is the illegitimate son of an Osaka yakuza obaybun (don), and Samejima (or Ran-chan, as Enjoji calls him) is the "white devil of kendo," a brilliant fencer who has devoted his entire life to the dream of becoming kendo champion of all Japan.

In their senior year of high school a rival yakuza clan puts a hit out on Enjoji. Ranmaru is critically injured in the attempt on Enjoji's life. Though doctor's believe he will never walk again, Ran's indomitable bushido spirit (and Enjoji's love and support) enable him to make a miraculous recovery--although due to nerve damage he can no longer do kendo.

That's the back story. The video picks up with Ranmaru and Enjoji enrolled in their 2nd year of college, and living together. Enjoji works part time as a host (male escort) in a host club, which causes some strain on their relationship because Ranmaru is extremely conservative, and in fact, for many years struggled against the erotic nature of his friendship with Enjoji. Ranmaru works after class helping out a professor.

One evening the professor insists that Ran accompany him to a bar. At the bar he slips a drug in Ran's ice tea and begins to take advantage. Ranmaru's 'chastity' (which is quite an issue for a number of characters in KIZUNA) is preserved by the intervention of Kai Sagano, who happens to be Kei Enjoji's half-brother. Kai, another kendo fencer, has had a secret passion for Ran-sempai since high school. He inserts himself into the lives of Ran and Enjoji, much to the chagrin of Enjoji. Kai makes no pretense of the fact that he intends to win Ranmaru for his own: painful news for Mansori Araki (Masa) the so-honbucho of Shouyuukai (#1 yakuza lieutenant of Sagano elder) who with stoic devotion has practically raised Kai since infancy.

That's the story, although you may have trouble following it in this EXTREMELY CONFUSING video, which is based loosely (very loosely) on the first two volumes of the KIZUNA manga by Kazuma Kodaka. The video is very short (less than 30 minutes), lacks the subtle nuances of the original, and takes many inexplicable liberties with the plot. Still, it is something of a classic, and remains many western fans' first introduction to yaoi (the manga genre of boy love stories). Some of the art work is rather nice, and the video can be regarded as amusing supplemental material. However, if your only exposure to KIZUNA is the anime, you are missing out on an original and vastly entertaining love story.


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