Anime: Kishin Douji Zenki

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[br]Zenki is one of those animes that I previewed way back when it first came out on fansub. I thought that it'd be a good show but it was only recently that I had the opportunity to watch it in its entirety. I'm glad I did as I very much enjoyed the show. My original plan was a marathon run over just a few days but the first few episodes convinced me that that would be a bad idea. I watched it spread out over a month instead and even then I was pushing it.
[br]Zenki is more or less a monster-of-the-week show but there is more going on than just random confrontations with monsters. There are forces of evil setting them loose on the human world for reasons of their own. But being a monster-of-the-week show there is a great deal of repetition in the show - animation sequences, theme music, even the general structure of each episode. While that may sound like reason enough to avoid it, it more than makes up for its shortcomings with the characters. Not that they are anything special or that they undergo major changes. No mostly it is because Zenki is a demon bound to serve a human far weaker than himself. Unlike many other shows, he is dangerous and I never lost the sense that he'd rip Chiaki's throat out if he could live with the consequences. Ya gotta love that - a demon that is actually dangerous and not just a big softy with a mock tough guy exterior.
[br]Interestingly, Zenki is listed as one 51 episode long series but it would be more accurate to describe it as two shows. Season 1 is the battle against the tree of evil, a motherly sort of evil. Season 2 is a sequel to the first that starts some time later when the forces of good are getting bored with all the peace and quiet. The battle in the second season is against several factions of evil each with their own agenda though most do use the same type of monsters to further their various goals. Both seasons are complete stories with a begining, middle and ending that leave no loose threads or feelings that the story isn't over. Which is another big plus in my book.
[br]Another thing that doesn't seem quite right in the listing is the ecchi label. There was a single hot spring episode and no fan-service to speak of. There was actually more sexual tension in the show than ecchi and there was no sexual tension in the show besides one monk having a crush on another monk and those two were secondard support characters at best.
[br]I may or may not have watched enough monster-of-the-week shows to be a good judge but I believe that this anime is worth sitting through at least once if you like the demon-bound-to-a-human-and-forced-to-fight-evil type stories.
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Ha! That part is just like in Inu Yasha… And this one is so Bleach-like… Wow, I just saw a scene from Kekkaichi!

ART & SOUND SECTION: 6/10
- We have a typical modern Japanese setting, filled with typical looking characters and monsters, talking in a typical way. I have seen so many titles taking place in an average looking Japanese city, with teenagers fighting demons that this sort of thing has become less interesting than the word “unoriginal” can cover. If you are a seasoned otaku, you will simply not find anything different or attractive to look at or listen to for long.
- On the bright side, the visual and sound effects are a step above the usual mambo-jumbo pointless battles. Although the choreography of fighting is still the same old “turn-based, voice-actvated energy beams”, the vivid colors and the detailed explotions make the battles not completely boring.

STORY & CHARACTER SECTION: 3/10
- Teenage schoolgirl / priestess teams up with demon-eating demon (that’s right!) and fights demons. About 48 filler episodes later, a big bad guy appears, one big battle occurs, the good guys win and we have a happy ending.
- There is nothing surprising or interesting about the story. Expected power-ups, predictable sexual tension between the main characters, one-dimensional villains. The repetitive macho one-liners of the leading demon and the low-toned fan service scenes of the leading girl don’t help much either.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10
It was so damn generic, un-evolving and reminiscent of the main plot formula all shonen series follow, that it was simply impossible to enjoy it without making silly comparisons with almost all other series of its kind. Boring to the point of skipping episodes without missing anything. Unoriginal to the point of having nothing else to write about. I don’t recommend this not even as a time killer. Most others in the same genre are far better.