Basilisk reeks of blood

I luuurve anime like this.
It makes my blood boil and gives me an adrenaline rush. 'Though this is not common, you can still google it' HAHA =X

Spoilers ahead

Even though i've not heard much nor paid any special attention to this particular series in the past, i was attracted and intrigued the moment i saw the advertisement on okto. It was like a revelation-- haha sorry for using such a strong word. I just felt instinctively that i will love Basilisk 8D
Basilisk was published as a manga in 2003 which wasnt too long ago. I have actually checked it out on wiki before but the manga cover made me lose interest.. It looked so old school, not that i have anything against old fashioned drawings like dragonball.. just not my type.
But just one glance at the anime graphics and the action scenes on okto got me so interested. Haha i admit, i quite like brainless fighting but that wasn't the reason why i had my heart set on basilisk. It was the graphics and the overall atmosphere portrayed by the anime-- i sensed death, plots and the unravelling of a tragic tale. /T ^T/

An anime like this is certainly a nice change from what we have nowadays eg harem/reverse harem/ love comedy/ friendly action blablabla. Kurozuka and blades of immortal which came out awhile ago should belong in the same category as Basilisk but those 2 failed to get my attention even though i watched both anime. Sigh i'm picky, am i not? XD

So... Basilisk is about two powerful ninja clans with a long history of hatred sending 10 elite ninjas each to battle each other after the peace treaty which prevented them from fighting was broken. From the previous sentence, you might think it's sth like a tournament where you have 1vs1 battles but no. They're not that civilised. The battlefield is unlimited aka when ninjas from the enemy clans meet, it's either fight or die. There's abit of romance element between the leaders of both clans. Gennosuke (guy), with the reversal eye technique which turns any murderous intent of an attacker onto the attacker himself. Oboro (girl) has a pair of 'mystic eyes' which can neutralise any ninja techniques. In love with each other but are torn apart by the renewed fighting between both clans. Both characters are tourmented by the responsibilities of leading their own clans to victory and the love they feel for each other.

What i love about Basilisk is the raw feeling it gives me. No censorship, no toning down. It's the essence of ninja techniques and skillful fighting. Nothing like naruto which is full of fillers and anti-climaxes. Haha however, one disappointment of the manga was the lack of character development. In a mere 34 chapters, we see the deaths of 20 powerful ninjas. For those that i was especially interested in, i was very sorry to see them go T__T

Also, i have something to say about with the way Oboro was drawn in the manga, especially her eyes. In the anime, both Gennosuke and Oboro had very thick and long eyelashes and i could not decide who had more haha. But in the manga, it was obvious that Gennosuke was the winner since Oboro was given only average amount of eyelash XD I know it's a silly thing to mention but really when i saw oboro in the manga i noticed her lack of eyelashes as compared to the anime immediately.

Abundant eyelashes

Oh no i forgot my mascara! Gennosuke sama kyaaaaa~

Haha nevertheless i like the drawing style. Gives every guy the bad boy look which i love XDXD ( Koshirou and Yashamaru XD) Overall the series was slightly too rushed with little character development for the ninjas. But i still like it!! =D Just like X CLAMP where the seals of heaven and dragons of earth battle it out, but Basilisk has less bishies and angst. Plots like this totally mesmerise me..... Oh, and even though we see the romeo-and-juliet kind of love between Gennosuke and Oboro, it was not the focus of the plot and only minimal attention was given. Not bad, not bad, give Basilisk a try!