To be honest I am truly sad to see this anime end. They could have extended it another season or two easily. It is not like they resolved everything. They still have one major bad guy who needs to be dealt with before Edo is free from the curse of the insects. I have to say that the pacing of this anime is probably the main reason why I enjoyed it so much. The anime itself jumped up little by little it followed a consistent pace, it never felt to rushed or too slow at any point. That has to be the main strength of this anime.

Too often do I find animes that just sort of dick around for 10 episodes and then cram the conclusion all into the very last two or three episodes. This anime is a terrific anime because while it is 26 episodes long for the first season. The first season could have easily all been fit into 13 episodes and then the second arc with the insect men could have come out at a later season. So there was plenty to watch and enjoy. I guess since this was on so early the producers figured they could not pull that one off and keep interest.

I also like the fact that this anime is not all about being manly. I find that a lot of shounen animes out there like to make the main character a mans man and make him only preach about that one thing, being as manly as possible. Which is nice and good in some aspects, but the problem with it is the fact that it gets really old really fast.

That is not to say that Junpei does not have a couple of catch phrases and single lines he loves to spew out. However, unlike most shounen animes the lines he spews out have actual merit beyond whether you penetrate or are penetrated. Which is really a rare aspect in anime in general. All of his sayings have a solid argument for why he says them and believes them. You do not get that very often in a lot of animes out there. Most of the time the male lead just sort of wags his dick around in the air. Not the case with this anime. You can really take what Junpei says to heart. Really when I think about this anime it is not like a lot of animes where the main character is some kind of prodigal talent who can save the world. No Junpei is actually really weak compared to the rest of the crew.

When you watch this anime you actually see character development. It is not like a lot of series where the main lead sucks, but goes away for a week and returns the most bad ass guy in the land. Junpei is pretty much the weakest character in the series and over time he becomes much more powerful. Even at the end of the series he is not the strongest character. What makes him the hero is kept a secret from you guys so you will actually sit down and watch this anime. However, at the end of the Anime Junpei is no more a super bad-ass character than he was at the beginning. OF course he is catching up to some of the other more powerful characters, but he is still pretty far behind.

So all in all this is a good well paced, well written anime that only comes along once every couple of years. You have two clear arcs which rise and fall respectively. Well written arcs that could have been broken out into two separate seasons and no one would have been the wiser. You have a main character who is not obsessed with being manly. While he is obsessed with his samurai values. They are not overly indulgent in assumptions that come based upon what is between his legs. This is one of those rare animes where the main character actually has some kind of class and can actually be truly inspirational. Plus the main character falls into that happy medium. He is not completely worthless, but he is also not the greatest thing since sliced bread. So I guess what I am saying in so many words is that you need to get yourself out there and watch and support this anime. This anime is on my radar for an English release, lets hope that I am not being too optimistic.