Flame of Recca

Summary: >

Recca was sort of your ordinary guy. Even if he and his friends were all ninja, and constantly engaged in sparring contests. Then one day Recca managed to save a girl, only at the cost of being mortally wounded. The girl then heals all of his injuries, which makes Recca wonder just who this girl is. He decides to call her 'hime' (princess) and swears to defend her. But once a woman shows up and starts tormenting Recca, things take a turn for the worst. It seems as though she's toying with him, but is she really his enemy? Each battle for Recca is a new test. And with each fight Recca learns to use his hidden power, his flame. But will the flame of Recca be strong enough to help him defend those he cares about?

Thoughts: >

There are fighting anime titles, and then there are fighting anime titles. Then there are even MORE fighting anime titles. If I bothered to collect them all on DVD, my apartment would cave in under the weight. As such I will point out that in a genre that is so saturated and has such a wide variety to choose from, that the selection of titles at the top is a bit more fierce. I would also allude to the fact that when you have so many titles in a genre, that the average formula can get really old quick.

It is therefore sort of a disappointment that Flame of Recca never manages to distinguish itself in the wide catalog of fighting titles to choose from. Now I'm not going to say it is all out bad, but merely around average. Simply put there are much better titles to choose for your anime viewing pleasure, but I suppose if you have seen everything else and STILL want more martial arts anime - Flame of Recca may not be a bad choice.

The primary drawback is that the story didn't strike me as very engaging. And for that matter the characters didn't grab me either. To some extent the characters were hit and miss with their likability, but I can't say I much liked Recca himself, and that's not a very good thing as he's the main character. The stories moved along at an alright pace but seemed to drag a bit more than it should have.

The other huge drawback is that the animation was lacking. It sort of varied and there were obvious budget struggles involved. But for an action title to struggle in animating action, usually the results aren't good. Even worse is that Flame of Recca sometimes would take an all out nose dive in the animation department. Oh yeah, and this series doesn't have a conclusion either (ran out of money).

So the good points? Some of the characters are a bit interesting. Likewise there is a sort of theory behind the fighting techniques which may be of interest to some. For fighting anime that's usually par for the course but still.. The story does manage to come up with some good material, it's just not too often.

Overall I wouldn't recommend Flame of Recca. There are so many better titles to watch. But for the avid collector of martial arts anime, perhaps there is material here worth checking out.

Screen Caps: >