Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji: First Impressions

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From the author of the manly Fist of the North Star, comes a manly Sengoku Era anime from the unlikely Studio DEEN.  Yes Gifuu Doudo!! is here to try to steal the spotlight from a certain other series.

That won't be happening any time soon or ever in my opinion, but we can at least appreciate the effort.  Nowadays getting a Sengoku era anime without any cute girls is a rarity, so seeing one with hulking beasts is a nice departure from the recent norm.  Whatever Gifuu Doudou!! doesn't have going for it, is at least cancelled out by it being a GAR anime with big dudes fighting it out.

At least that's the hope.  The first episode was on the slow side, primarily due to the prolonged introduction of the main duo of Kanesugu and Keiji.  The meeting between the two was the main aim of the episode, and as such was probably placed at the end in an attempt for a bigger impact and set the tone for the rest of the season.  It certainly could afford to do that since it has 25 episodes to play with.

I find the idea of an ongoing rivalry to be a decent enough hook for the series.  Without pulling out something original - an impossible concept for Sengoku era anime - it's a style of approach I can get behind with an anime like Gifuu Doudou!!  At the very least it sets up future battles and a long-term goal of sorts, which will hopefully become clearer as time goes by.

I reiterate: not much happened in the first episode.  It's excusable for a first episode, although if it sets the pace for  the rest of the series that could be problematic.  There's definitely potential for some fun with this series, so let's hope it can at least a second tier JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji OP

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Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji ED

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