Customer Reviews

Soul Hunter - Complete Collection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Soul Hunter is based, abate loosely, upon one of the more interesting (and rarely translated) Chinese classic called Investiture of the Gods (or Creation of the Gods). This work is centered around one of the most tyrannical king in Chinese legends, king Zhou (roughly 1100 BC) and his offending the goddess, Nu Wa (Dakki, in this translation) that ultimately led to the downfall of the Shang dynasty (Yin, here... i think). interestingly (for me anyway), Investiture of the Gods was written in a very pro-Taoist manner, in contrast to Pilgrimage to the West (with the Monkey King) where the most powerful deities were Buddhists... just my $0.02.

BUT ENOUGH of that boring background stuff... on to the anime.

Soul Hunter is a series spanning 6 dvds and follows Taikoubou's (a taoist seer) journey to bind 365 demons (including Dakki herself) to prevent unbalancing the order of things in the mortal world.

animated in the style of Slayers and El Hazard (a funny anime in its own right) in both its model art and tongue in cheek humor, Soul Hunter is light hearted and very well translated (the English voice acting is very good) -- in fact, on the dvd, there are 'Translator's Notes' that explains little tidbits that might be missed during the first viewing of the series.

the first few episodes are a little slow until the different characters had some time to develop and then it picks up pretty quickly with all of the usual manic skirmishes between different mystical powers.

cleanly drawn and well acted, get past the slightly slow start and you'll be hooked.

Senkaiden Houshin Engi (title changed to Soul Hunter, um ok) is one of the best, if not the best anime I have ever seen. Not to mention this DVD has -5- episodes! So buy it! Now!
Taikoubou leads a cast of quirky characters brought together by strange circumstances. The problem is Taikoubou is not a normal hero by any means and has no intention of completing his quest to seal 365 demon sennins. He figures he'll just go after Dakki, the evil temptress that has taken over the empire and who he believes to be the head honcho. Armed with his weapon, the paopei of wind called Daishinben, his bumbling adventures begin.
While at first this show may come across as a light-hearted, comic adventure, it turns out to be much more as the plot deepens and allies become enemies. Pasts are brought out and secrets are revealed. Taikoubou may even turn out to be a strategic genius who truely believes the words of the heart are stronger than steel. Then again, he may just be as stupid as you think! ~_*

While Soul Hunter (SH) may not have been the best anime i have ever seen, it certainly wasnt the worst. The basic plot line is that our hero Taikoubou, is charged with to carry out a myterious mission Soul Hunt, which in short, he is suppose to houshine all the evil immortals coausing trouble in the human world.

That is the basic plot, but as in all anime nothing is quite so simple and SH is no different. In fact, many times thru-out the anime it gets confusing because there are more than one plot line happening at once, flash backs to other time to confuse you, and you lose track of valuable information and story plot during such events.

One thing this anime has going for it tho is the fight scenes and the humor...it is non stop, and with great fight scenes comes huge suspenes, which definatly builds when you are lead to believ obne of your favorite characters at the end is dead. (i wont say who because i dont want to spoil it). But it is very exciting and there is much at the end about Taikoubou that explains why he does what he does and so on.

This is certainly an anime series yuo dont want to miss....its right up there with neon genesis evangelion and all the best...this is a treasure sure ti be loved for its own uniqueness and style.

DVD Features
-Historical Background Information
-Voice Actor Profiles
-Character Discription
-Relationship Tree
-Glossary of Terms (very useful)
-Translator Notes
-US Trailor/US Teaser
-Clean Open/Close

I just loved soul hunter, you just haf to see it for your self.... There is som big jumps in the story but if you see it from the begining to the end you`ll understand it better.

I have seen the entire series and this is a rather interesting anime but it's flaw is it trying to mix comedy, action, and drama equivalently. The drama sometimes seemed to drag on too long, and the action didn't last long enough, but some of the comedy is really great and the philosophical views and lessons that the anime teaches you are very powerful. I enjoyed it for a very strong fact that it had a good story. Other positives things that could be commented on would be the extras in the dvds, and the american voices. I liked the translation notes especially because they told me some of the verbal jokes that couldn't be translated into english (like japanese puns) and what some of the words they used mean ("gung-fu"?). The american wasn't that bad, in fact I prefered listening to it rather than the japanese one (I still left the japanese subtitles on) because of some of the voices, namely Nataku's voice, which was much better in english. Even though most of the voices were good, I personally hated Raishin-shi's voice because he sounded like some ghetto, black-washed, kid trying to sound cool, especially when he refers to his dad as "pops". The thing that annoyed me the most was the animation, which seems to change every episode. One episode it was sophisticated and clear, next episode, it was gaudy and didn't have the same quality and the previous one. I gave this one a 4 mainly because it kept me interested throughout most of the episodes. It was good but I would recommend it be rented not bought.

This is in the absolute depth of sillyness. The plot develops slowly but the animation is great. If you like silly animes that good action, silly evil villans, and happy midi music see this. The story lines is based on imortals that kick total bottay. Well, sorta. Each character is different. None the same at all. Have fun!

I has heard about Houshin Engi from my friend and had watched it in another language. When i heard it was coming out in america i flipped, literally. it's great anime, altough the characters u like die all too quickly, but it's moving and funny, you'll really enjoy this

Terrible, wicked spirits trod the ground searching for ways to annihilate mankind! The wise guardians in the sky know they need a brave, clever soldier to single-handedly send the evil souls to their doom! Unfortunitly, they close Taikoubou! (It's nice to know the forces of good still have a good sense of humor during these dark times). 650 minutes Format - Bi-Lingual.

Rating 12 and up: Cartoon violence

(Don't ask about the title- I'm a little obsesed...) but anyway this DVD and infact this whole series is something you do not want to miss! It combines a really good sense of humor with a very serious plot line...almost depressing at times...but then in the next scene you have Taikoubou, the main character, eating grass with Sibuxiang or something...Wait was this reveiw soposed to be on this DVD! Okay, this particular one is basically one big battle- a really cool, long, serious, and at times a really extremely funny one! It is a must have for those of you fallowing the series and my personal favorite. It has some really great scenes and Taikoubou defeats this bad guy, Ohma, is the coolest way! I only have two complaints: 1. grr...it leaves off right at the good part!! 2. I am sorry, I mean I really like the character Kisho, Lord of the West, but why did they have to put him on the cover with Youzen? It's no fair! Kou Tenka gets his own cover why shouldn't Youzen! I guess they did that because he is a very important character int the plot of the DVD(okay, I am over it)...but this simple thing was not enough to give this product 4 stars...Buy this DVD!

I fell in love with Soul Hunter from the first DVD. Everything after that was absolute heaven... True, it has some faults, like sometimes breaking the fourth wall and/or moving too rapidly to comprehend. I recommend watching the Japanese version w/ subtitles. More info, and the voice actors sound much more suited to the characters. Anyway, Slayers fans should like this. If you like drama without frivolity, I suggest you try something else. SD fans should also watch... Taikoubou goes SD a lot.