First some background. I’m not what you would call hardcore Shui Gu Zhuan I’m a fan, but I haven’t forgotten the long-running JRPG series either. I played (and loved) both back in the 2000s Water Margin V and three,. Sometime in the 2010s I picked up the original Shui Gu Zhuan Play on international flights. But when it comes to Water Margin II (the game this anime is based on), I must admit that after finishing the first game, I only spent a dozen hours playing it – which happens to be the first three episodes of the upcoming anime based on it.
Although I say “first three episodes,” there’s actually a hidden asterisk – the first episode is double length. Over the course of 94 minutes, we see Riliu and Jowy go on multiple adventures as they try to reunite, return home, and spread the truth about what happened to their unit.
The story is dramatic and exciting – and while its tone is often lighthearted and comedic, it can also be surprisingly brutal. I’ll admit that I’m shocked at how willing anime is to descend into extreme violence. Countless beheadings and fatal stabbings are displayed in unsettling glory—even named characters are not spared gruesome deaths. That said, it’s worth noting that the extreme violence described above has a clear and necessary purpose: character development.
The main villain of the story, Luca, is the worst kind of scumbag. He opened with the massacre of children, then went on to commit full-scale genocide during his invasion of Johnston. Of course, he’s also a sadist who toyed with his victims – reveling in the pleasure of letting them degrade themselves when they realized he was going to kill them anyway. The anime wants us to hate this man – and to achieve that, all it has to do is show all of his senseless cruelty.
if Water Margin: Animation There is one problem, it has too many characters. From peasants and mercenaries to traveling performers and the upper echelons of the Highland nobility, named characters are constantly introduced and often quickly disappear from the story.
Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the beast. Shui Gu Zhuan. One of the series’ selling points is each game’s large cast – there are at least 108 characters available to recruit into your army. Some are protagonists, some just have the skeleton of a story, but if you want the best ending, you have to collect them all.
This makes animation a win-win situation. Including these characters would objectively be less focused storytelling, but excluding them would only anger long-time fans of the game who are excited to see their favorite characters represented in new animated glory. It’s no surprise that the anime’s creators try to please their established fanbase by including as many fans as possible, but I suspect the constant name-throwing will confuse any newcomers.
As for the look of the animation, there’s a noticeable difference in quality between the first double-length episode and the two subsequent ones. The characters in the first episode stay on model even between frames, and the action doesn’t shy away from difficult animation. Even though most of the story takes place at night, the plot is still easy to follow. However, over the next two episodes, things take a dramatic turn. While I wouldn’t say the show suddenly looks ugly, the typical budget-saving tricks are in full effect. Combat contains abstract backgrounds of moving lines to suggest speed, attacks are cut off on impact, and shadows and other details become less detailed. Not bad, but worse by comparison.
As for the music, all I can say is that it didn’t stand out in any way – it was neither good enough nor bad enough to hold my attention. Additionally, this screening does not include the TV series’ opening or closing credits (which often contain the best songs from any given episode).
All in all, as a Shui Gu Zhuan Players, I was very satisfied with the first three episodes. see Water Margin I Characters like Viktor, Flik, and Apple are a real treat to have in action, but I have a feeling newcomers will wonder why they feel they should know these people. That said, the main story is understandable – it’s just that the way it jumps around is a little schizophrenic. Luka is a great villain and it’s easy to turn against him – especially when he continues to defeat our heroes in the early fights. The show will eventually bring Shui Gu Zhuan To the masses? Probably not. However, anyone who’s already a fan will find a lot to like here.