Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well, keeping with the Ikkitousen arc I give you the third season of Ikkitousen Great Guardians. Good God, how did this anime get three seasons? The first season I can understand but two sequels? There’s barely a story to go on for one season let alone two more seasons. Japan must have more perverts than I thought. Coming out in 2008 after Dragon Destiny, Great Guardians introduces a whole new storyline to the series rather than continuing with the story from the first two seasons. Is it better? Well, let’s find out, this is Great Guardians. And I’m going back to subs.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening this time is “No x limit!” by Ami. This one took me awhile to get into but eventually I learned to like it. Once again, the only problem I have is that it’s a rock song but the singer isn’t really singing all that loud, she’s singing well but she’s still holding herself back. The drums and guitar are especially good in this song. The ending is “Kage – Shape of Shadow” by Rio Asaba which I found myself not enjoying. The melody isn’t all that good and the singer doesn’t sound like she’s really trying, it feels as if she’s just singing it to sing it.
Episodes 1-4
We kick the anime off with a fight going on between Kanu the hottest the girl in this anime and Ryofu (wait, Ryofu’s dead she died in the first season, you can’t do that. I know this is a new storyline but still you can’t bring someone who’s already dead back into the show like that). Ryofu is about to deliver the final blow but lightning strikes near them and she vanishes. After that the episode becomes a snooze fest as the rest of the episode only just serves to establish characters. We see that Hakufu has gotten herself, Koukin, and Ryomou jobs at a Chinese restaurant to raise money for her overseas trip to go and fight other fighters. Kanu returns to Seito from her training where we see that she keeps having fantasies about Ryuubi all because of her lesbian crush on her (Kanu I know your a lesbian and all but trust me there are so many other girls that deserve your affection then Ryuubi like Ryofu. *Thinks about it* damn that be hot). They meet up with Chouhi and Koumi and go to the Chinese restaurant Hakufu and the others are working at where Kanu gets into a fight with Hakufu for spoiling her chances to have a moment with Ryuubi. As the two are getting ready to fight another fighter comes and reveals herself to be Chubou the younger sister of Hakufu (oh god there’s two of them. And they look nothing alike). Actually no, unlike Hakufu who is dumb as rocks Chubou is quite smart, polite, and gentle the complete opposite of Hakufu (now just make her a very good fighter and we’ll have a new lead for the show. Panty count: 589).
Episode 2 turns out to be another boring episode. It centers on a guy name Enin who wants to be the leader of Nanyo. He gets his followers to talk bad about Hakufu because she’s feeding a lost kitten behind the school that she found which she overhears and gets discouraged by it but feels better after talking to Ryomou. He then kidnaps Chubou from Koukin (I’m not surprise, I think it’s been established that he’s more terrible then Willie from The Simpsons when it comes to protecting and helping others). They track them down to a warehouse where his followers are taking pictures of her chained up with her clothes on (clearly these guys don’t know a thing about smut). With the help of Gakushu and Ryomou they rescue Chubou and beat the crap out of Enin and his followers. As they’re leaving Ryomou spots Saji in the distance and goes after him since he’s been missing for a while (Saji’s gone missing? Well big fucking news. The backstabbing bastard who keeps disappearing on us each season has gone missing, someone call the press). She loses track of him in the park but she comes across a student lying on the ground who she’s shocked to see is Ryofu (Panty count: 606).
We cut to the next morning in episode 3 where we see that Ryomou has bought Ryofu back to her place (Ryomou: time for some much needed revenge. Let’s see how you like surprise butt-sex). Ryofu wakes and shows that she has amnesia not remembering anything from her past such as her name and what a fighter is. She sneaks out of the house while Ryomou has her back turned and she runs into Hakufu in the park who is trying to catch a crow that stole her lunch (man I didn’t know crows were that strong. That bird took the box and everything). Ryofu helps get it back and they eat the lunch together (and Hakufu being the dumbass that she is doesn’t recognize Ryofu at all. That is not only stupid but cold. This big-breasted bisexual hottie saved your life in the first season and gave her life to defeat the antagonist and you honor her sacrifice by just completely forgetting her? Fuck you). Koukin and Chobou eventually show up and they go a karaoke bar (Hakufu actually learned how to pronounce it this time) since it’s half off day. As their singing Ryomou finds them and hugs Ryofu to confirm that she has a friend in the world (oh this is just boring, I’m going to Seito and see what they’re doing). Throughout the episode we also see Ryomou’s past and see how Saji was always looking out for her and how she had a crush on him even then (again, why do you like this asshole). We see that even though he would flirt with Ryomou he was dating Ryofu at the time and would occasionally make-out with her behind his house with Ryomou secretly watching (seriously Ryomou, this is the guy you want to give your virginity to? I’m sure Koukin wouldn’t mind, Gakushu even, or a dildo that’s probably better than these useless guys). The last thing we see in the flashbacks is that Ryofu recognized Ryomou’s potential and asked her to look after Saji saying that Saji doesn’t really love her and that she doesn’t have much time to live in this world (Panty count: 624)
Episode 4 is probably the funniest episode in the season. We go to Seito where Kanu and Chouhi find these necklaces that reveals a person’s true nature. We see Chouhi act like a shy girl and Kochu (the monk from last season) turns into a pervert and starts to hit on Kanu and Chouhi while grabbing their breast (might as well add him to the list or pervy monks right next to Miroku from Inuyasha). Kanu takes the necklaces and presents one to Ryuubi to get her to reveal her true nature but it has no effect on her (my guess, the dragon within her is suppressing the power of the necklace). Ryuubi than puts it on Kanu who reveals that her true nature is to rape Ryuubi and keep her for herself (she’s very direct isn’t she). As she tries to have her way with Ryuubi who has no idea what is going on Shiryuu comes in wearing one of the necklaces (why she is wearing one I have no idea) and begins to fight against Kanu for Ryuubi. Their fight gets interrupted by the head monk who uses a chi blast to knock the necklaces off and return them back to normal. Hakufu along with Koukin and Chobou show up, see all of the events, and play if off that the necklaces give people a desire to fight and their story ends well. While that’s going on Ryomou and Ryofu bump into Saji to end the episode (Panty count: 674). Wow, this episode was quite funny. . .I actually li-*falls to the ground passed out*.
*Cut to me waking up with Isis looking over me*
(Nitsuj): Ohh~ my head, what happened to me?
(Isis): Master thank goodness you’re awake, *tears in eye* I was so worried about you.
(Chibi Isis): Nii-chan *hugs me while crying*!
(Nitsuj): What happened to me?
(Isis): It’s quite amazing, your body rejected the idea of you actually liking something about the anime to such an extent that it shut down on you entirely. I sensed you were in danger and I gave you some shock therapy to bring you back.
(Nitsuj): Well that explains why my clothes are burnt a little. Any suggestions.
(Isis): I suggest opening a window to get rid of the smell and perhaps changing clo-
(Nitsuj): Not that! My condition!
(Isis): Oh. I suggest no more watching of Great Guardians.
(Nitsuj): Well. . . I do need to finish the review.
(Isis): Oh. Well than no more watching of that episode for your body is sure to give out on you again.
(Nitsuj): Alright, fair enough. Thanks.
Episodes 5-9
Episode 5 starts off with Saji talking to Ryomou and not being the least bit shocked that his ex-girlfriend who’s supposed to be dead is standing right in front of him (now that should be sign that he’s up to something). After groping Ryofu in front of Ryomou (again Ryomou, this guy, seriously) he gets a call and just vanishes. We cut to the next day where everyone has gone to the beach and guess what happens? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! The only purpose this episode serves is to see the cast in swimsuits but who needs to see that when you can just see them naked since they wear clothes made out of wet tissue paper and rip apart with one hit. The only thing important in this episode is at the end where we see Saji telling Myosai that Sousou is still alive and if she wants to see him again she has to help him and some little girl who is said to be the real Saji (Panty count: 677).
In episode 6 Ryofu leaves to find out about her past. She decides to go back to her old school where we see the place has been abandoned and has become a shithole (something this school shares with the entire series). Along the way she meets up with Genjou who we see is still suffering from amnesia and is looking for Sousou. He tags along with Ryofu to her old school where they get confronted by Saji who tells her that he knows everything about and uses his powers to knock her unconscious. Genjou tries to stop him but he has his hands full dealing with Myosai who for some reason is determined to bring him back to Kyoshu by beating the hell out of him (have you ever heard of manners? Try them, you’d be surprised at what they can do). Hakufu shows up and she takes on Myosai along with Genjou who after meeting Hakufu regains some of his lost memories and is able to hold his own against Myosai forcing her to retreat. Ryomou follows Saji and Ryofu into the school where she finds Ryofu unconscious on the floor and Saji nowhere to be seen. After a quick snack from the group Genjou decides to head back to Kyoshu where he hopes he’ll find the answers to his past there and we see that Ryofu has become a lot more cheerful and upbeat (Panty count: 694).
Episode 7 is spilt into two parts. In the first part Ryofu invites Ryuubi (accompaniment by Kanu) to the amusement park (also what amusement park allows their visitors to bring in lethal weapons? We see Kanu show up with her spear she’s always carrying. How does that get past security). At the park Ryofu and Ryuubi become close with each other so close that Kanu can’t stand and feels that something is up (Kanu: I sense a disturbance in the lesbian force). She snaps at Ryofu which angers Ryuubi that she says some harsh words and runs off with Ryofu to a haunted house. Inside the haunted house we see Ryofu asserts herself onto Ryuubi (lesbianism in a haunted house. Kinky). We see in a flashback that when Saji (who I’m going to start calling Ouin after this sentence) took the unconscious Ryofu into the school from the last episode where he takes her to the black hair fortune teller girl (that’s a mouth full) calling herself Saji where she gives Ryofu a kiss so passionate that she actually jizzes herself (please, teach me your ways). This kiss brainwashes Ryofu and puts her under the control of Saji who uses Ryofu to get close to Ryuubi and brainwash her (I guess Saji is trying to start her own big-breasted harem). After that Ryuubi goes back to Kanu, apologizes and the two leave together. In the second part we pick up where the first part left off where we see Ouin leaving the park with Ryofu arms locked and Ryomou watching them from the shadows who is shocked and sad to see them together (for the 1,000,000th time he’s not worth your time. Fuck him! No, not literally, figuratively). After that not much happens (Panty count: 700)
Things start to get interesting in episode 8. We see that through Saji’s genjitsu Ryuubi begins to act differently not caring about her friends and just wanting to have fun (sounds like a bitch to me). Saji has Ryuubi take over the minds of Chouhi, Shiryuu and Kochu and attack Kanu who becomes suspicious of Ryuubi’s actions. They also attack Koumei and her bodyguard but she tells her bodyguard to go to Nanyo and ask for help. Hakufu and Gakushu show up to help Kanu fight off her friends and she gets stabbed by Ryuubi in one of her vital parts (bitch! Don’t you kill my Kanu! She is the only redeeming quality to this series. If she goes I go). Kanu expresses her true feelings to Ryuubi which snaps her out of the genjitsu along with everybody else. While that’s going on we see that Ryomou has gone up into the mountains to train at a temple and at night we end with her bathing in the hotsprings with Ryofu showing up to talk to her (Panty count: 711).
Episode 9 pretty much just confuses the shit out of me. We get all kinds of backstories into how Ouin met Saji and what they want. We see that in the past Saji was picked on by her classmates because of her mysterious powers and started walking down the dark path. Years later she meets Ouin and tells him she wants to control the dragon inside Ryomou. At first Ouin is hesitant to join her but when he sees her bring Ryofu back to life he decides to join her. When he finds out Ryofu has lost her memories he sets it up so that Ryomou finds her which results in all the events we’ve seen up till now. We end with Ryomou finding out that Ryofu has regained her memories about Ouin and is making out with him again. In a fit of rage she charges at them attempting to punch Ryofu but Ouin blocks her punch saying that he won’t allow Ryofu to be dirtied by her hands. This causes her to be so overwhelmed with anger and sadness that she unleashes her dragon for a short second and cries only to be embraced by Saji who has been leading her throughout the anime. Yeah, this episode is kinda of hard to explain. But you know what’s even harder to explain? The motivation. Yeah, I have no idea why Ouin and Saji are doing the things they’re doing. I can understand Saji a little because of her past but she’s taking this way too far and who is she hoping to get revenge against? She has no enemies that we’ve seen or any diabolical plans so what’s the point of causing all of this pain and torture in the first place? Her motives are so confused and unclear, that the only person who has less of a motive is Ouin. What’s he getting out of this, is he hoping to have necrophilia sex with his ex-girlfriend or something? If he’s doing it out of pity for her than that’s just stupid and inconsiderate. And what’s even more inconsiderate is that he’s doing all of this behind Ryomou’s back who (if you read the manga) he likes in a sense. Why would you put the person you like through something like that? Wouldn’t it have been better to talk to the others, tell them about the situation, and then try helping the girl? The first season lacked story, the second season lacked focus, and now the third season lacks character motivation. Trade in one problem for another more annoying problem (Panty count: 713).
Episodes 10-12
In episode 10 Hakufu worries about Ryomou since she hasn’t come back yet. When she spots Ryofu she follows her all the way back to her old school where it’s revealed that it was actually Saji the whole time (https://youtu.be/qileP4bAzek. Yes! Why would you follow her? You were just told last episode that she’s being controlled by Saji. How could you forget something so important? ). She takes control of Hakufu and sends her to take care of Koukin and Chubou because she wants to destroy the bonds of friendship they share in fact she wants to destroy all the bonds everyone shares with each other because no one shared any bonds with her (Really? That’s her big motivation for doing everything up till now? This has got to be one of the weakest most thrown together motive I’ve ever seen). Koukin fights her but it’s clear that she’s too strong for him so Chubou takes a stand against Hakufu (about damn time, you’ve done nothing throughout this whole season. Time to earn your keep). Instead of fighting Hakufu, she instead talks down to Saji inside of her calling her a coward and Saji keeps pushing her away from Hakufu by using her chi blast. Chubou finally reaches Hakufu and is able to bring Hakufu back to her senses to end the episode (Panty count: 722).
In episode 11 Chubou confesses that she’s not Hakufu’s younger sister (No~, you mean to tell me the girl who looks nothing like Hakufu and shares no similarities to her isn’t Hakufu’s sister? I’m in shock). She reveals herself to be Shoukyou and hid her name because she wanted to get close to Koukin. Why, well because Shoukyou is Koukin’s future wife. In the Three Kingdoms, Shoukyou becomes Koukin’s wife. However, after seeing how close Koukin and Hakufu are she decides to stop in her romance and just be friends with Koukin (you do know they’re cousins right). With that all settle they decide to go stop Saji once and for all. They go to Ryofu’s old school where she’s waiting for them but their path gets blocked by Myosai who is now under the control of Saji. But luckily Genjou is there to hold her off and Koukin stays as well to back him up. They reach the school building where they see that Saji has brainwashed Ryofu into believing that she’s a blood thirsty beast who desires only to kill fighters. She attacks Hakufu and the two have a fight throughout the courtyard where Ouin comes in to take her on and tells Hakufu to go and save Saji. Yeah, it turns out that Ouin being on Saji’s side was all an act to keep Ryomou safe since Saji wanted her dragon (bullshit). He fights Ryofu, oh wait I’m sorry, bear hugs her and falls to the ground where he’s able to calm her down and bring her back to her senses. Oh, and Sousou shows back up to save Genjou and Koukin and bring Myosai back to her senses (well he just came right the fuck out of nowhere. Seriously, no build up for it, no shadow silhouette watching from behind the scenes, he just shows up totally fine and everything). We end with Ryomou’s dragon taking control of Saji since the eyepatch talisman has been taken off (Panty count: 739).
In the final episode we see that Saji has taken control of the dragon and sends Ryomou (who is in maid outfit through unexplained reasons once again. I’m sorry, I know I’m dwelling on this but it just comes out of nowhere each time) to attack Hakufu. Ryofu shows up to take on Ryomou leaving Hakufu to go to the school roof and have her climatic showdown with Saji. Not! Saji’s body can’t control the dragon anymore and it decides to leave her entirely (Dragon: screw this, I’m going back to the big-breasted eye-patch wearing girl who wears a maid outfit in her battles for some unknown reason). The dragon tries to attack Hakufu but she just falcon punches the thing and it gets destroyed or goes back to Ryomou I don’t know it’s never explained. Instead of beating Saji to a pulp Hakufu and the others extend their hands and say they want to be her friend. So, while that scene was a letdown we see that Ryofu begins to disappear and Ryomou regains her senses. With Saji’s powers gone Ryofu disappears but not before telling Ryomou to live her life for herself and not others (well that line came out of nowhere. Was that the big moral of the season? Because let me tell you, you guys did a poor job at inserting it into the anime). With that all we resolve we end with Saji apologizing to everyone and leaving with Chubou (so long one-time characters, I won’t remember you. Panty count: 766).
Final Thoughts
This anime is awful. . . but not as awful as it could have been *coughs* sorry, I coughed up a little blood. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s bad, ridiculously bad but it could have been a lot worst. There’s some effort actually put into this, it’s not all that good but they at least tried to put an effort in. I at least know what the story for the season is this time and while the character motives are weak or nonexistent I understand them. The animation is very nice this season, probably the best this series has ever had.
The problems with this is that it’s still kind of boring, not a whole lot really happens. Some characters show up and disappear only to reappear at the end for no apparent reason even though they served no purpose in the show whatsoever. The motives as I said before are weak but I have to give Saji some credit, she’s a child so her weak motives are kinda understandable but Ouin’s motive has no excuse, his is just stupid. The music isn’t really all that good to listen to, they pretty much just use music from the last season and just reuse the instrumental version of the opening for dramatic and big speech themes. Finally, Chubou was a useless character, her purpose in this season was pointless. She doesn’t fight, all she does is get captured and quote sayings from Sun Tzu which is usually the title of the episode. The fight scenes are still bad but at least this time they show a few of them so I guess this could be considered an improvement.
Is it better than the last season
Hard to say. It’s definitely better than the first season but the second season is up for debate. While the second season was bad and lacked focus I will say it wasn’t as boring as this season. However, season 3 did have a story that I could follow and while motivation was almost nonexistent there was a focus on the characters and what was going on. So for me, I say this season was better than the second season as well.
Final Score
The final score for Great Guardians is a 1.5/10. The story may be weak and has a few pointless characters but at least I can follow the story, the animation was very nice to look at, and there was some effort put into this season. My only hope is that they put a little more effort into the next season. Thanks for reading and tune in next week when we wrap up the Ikkitousen arc with the last season Xtreme Xecutor. Till then, how see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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