Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki

Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion is a severely underrated anime.

It is a historical fictional drama that should be placed alongside the likes of Golden Kamuy, Dororo, Blade of the Immortal, Sword of the Stranger, Vagabond and others. However, it doesn’t have as much recognition nor remembrance as it deserves.

Starting with the opening: it’s great, simple as that. A rare type of opening you never skip even before any episode. It shows particular scenes of the episodes, but only glances of the characters, no spoilers at all. The music and direction of the opening are superb.

The same goes for the storytelling and plot. Situated around, well, ... as the name implies, the Mongol Invasion of Japan, the anime naturally portrays military and strategic themes with mastery. The battles are all thrilling and absolutely well-written while at the same time portraying real consequences with real emotions for the characters.

The protagonist, the Ronin Kuchii Jinzaburou, is one of the best protagonists I can remember. He may be pretty plain and doesn’t have much development within the plot of the story itself, but he’s good because of what he represents rather than how he came to be so. He embodies the Japanese Warrior Ethos that refused to submit to the largest empire at the time in a somewhat savage (hence why some Mongols called him “Wolf”) way, which enables him the necessary versatility that is needed to defeat equally savage invaders.

Unfortunately, the story does not end with the anime and it will likely not get a second season; however, Angolmois is a must-watch for anyone who likes or is interested in historical dramas about the history of Japan.

Angolmois is a pretty typical historical action series, and while it does some things well, it really struggles to stand out from the crowd. Beginning with the story, it is this show's strongest aspect, though that's not necessarily high praise. The viewer is presented with a fictionalized account of the Mongol invasion of Japan in 1271, focusing specifically on the isle of Tsushima, and the struggle that a group of former prisoners go through in order to resist them and grow not only as warriors, but people. Beginning with the good, the battle strategy is interesting, the setting is cool, ... the dialogue is fairly well-written, and the foundational event is an example of humanity at both its best and worst, with an underlying message that is inspiring and life-affirming. However, the pacing is rushed, it gets carried away with fictional elements while attempting to cling to a veneer of historicity to the point of inventing a whole class of secret mountain warriors called the Toi Barai, and it uses cheap shock value as a crutch for mediocre storytelling, especially towards the second half of the show. In light of these factors, the story amounts to nothing special, only just managing to provide enough material off of which the rest of the show can subsist. Having said all that about the story, I do want to reiterate that it isn't strictly bad, it's just not anything special. In fact, for most of the show it remains somewhat entertaining, weighed down as a whole by some worse episodes later on.

The art is fair, meeting most basic standards of quality, with exciting and well-choreographed fight scenes that grab the viewer's attention. However, it occasionally suffers from the 'dreaded mask', a phenomenon in anime where facial animation is seriously lacking. Though, its worst artistic sin is the static overlay of crumpled paper throughout, intended to provide an air of antiquity to the work and improve its aesthetic character. Here, all it manages to do is diminish the visual impact and overall clarity of most scenes. Indeed, it's sometimes even distracting, especially when the eyes latch on to one feature of the paper overlay in one way or another and fixate on it, as though your screen is dirty or has a dead pixel.

The sound, like everything else, meets all the basic standards of quality, with good music and sounds of life, which excel in battle scenes to accentuate the clanging of metal and the cracking of bone.

The characters are broadly okay, if a little one-dimensional, and I don't really have any complaints. Among them, the best characters are Kuchii and Amushi. Kuchii, as the main character, is the major driving force of this show, fulfilling his predictable yet regardless entertaining role as the resident snarky badass with a tragic past. Amushi, however, is a supporting character that doesn't get a lot of development until the middle of the show. While he is significant through his duties as a scout, he is compelling for his motivations and personality, which are more interesting and realistic than most other characters in the anime. Overall, Angolmois is just okay, with good and bad throughout. If you take anything away from this review, remember that this anime is not bad, it's just not anything more than what it is- unremarkable.

maybe i will like it if i am kid

the begging of the story is something like "next Esp will be better " but it will not

all strategic and tactic used for that anime can be written by only one kid .

if we will talk about art , i don't want to explain the meaning of "war" for the Producers , it didn't make any sense ,they are fighting like "we are going to play killing" not "we are going to kill each one of the another side" .

i don't want to mention any another anime which I can called it "historical " and ... "Military" but one of the most thing I like them is "reality" ,"Action" and "psychological" but none of them are mention here