Reviews for Tougen Anki

In 2011, the novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" was released. What some may not know is that it was originally written as a Twilight fanfic called "Master of the Universe" that was later rewritten with original characters. Tougen Anki feels like something that went through the same process, but was originally a "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny"/"Tails Gets Trolled"/"Kingdom Hearts"-esque fanfiction involving a ton of shounen universes, telling the tale of how Okumura Rin, with his backstory barely changed, gets the powers of Kaneki Ken and goes to a school having Aizawa Shouta as his teacher and Kugizaki Nobara, Iida Tenya, Kanroji Mitsuri and InumakiToge (With the powers of Denji), among others as his classmates.

Either this, or it was the result of an AI being trained on Shounen.

And I fucking love it.

Everything is a mess, the author was clearly more focused on WHAT he wanted to do rather than the how: Our protagonist has a collection of real guns in his house. How did he even get hold of those in Japan? No idea, but those are there to justify why he has a "gun motif" in his powers (Which, honestly, shouldn't need a justification?) and is never brought up again. The first thing we learn about him was that he was kicked out of school, just so we don't have to waste time having to explain his current status quo and the consequences of breaking it.

The fact that episode two adapts 4.5 chapters while only feeling like it does 1.5 makes me question if we're getting turbo-cuts in the adaptation or if the original manga only has one sentence per page and makes every scene a two-page spread.

Most of the seasonals I watch, I do so handpicking them by watching every single teaser/trailer for the season. While watching it's first episode, I kept asking myself "Why did I give that a chance?", though this was answered by the end of the episode showing our main cast: Seeing them interacting seemed like it would be fun... and it was! Absolute chuuni-kino.!

This is my first review, I never cared to write it, but it's the first anime I've dropped, so I'll give it a try. I decided to drop this because Im already watching 13 anime this summer, and this one is my least favorite. It's not terrible, but it's also nothing interesting. The main character is completely unoriginal and boring, the plot is really generic mc simply finds out that he has some abillities, they take him into an organization and he fights with another organization, the power system isn't great either, they simply create weapons from blood, it has potential but after these4 episodes it doesn't impress me.

The biggest plus, though, is probably the animation, but it's not very good either. There's a lot of CGI in the fights, but it doesn't look as bad as it can look in some anime.

Also side cast is really boring. After 4 episodes, I don't have a main squad character I like.

Ovrl I consider this anime to be mediocre, I don't feel any attachment to the characters, nor do I feel any emotions or hype while watching the episodes, so I'm dropping it for now, maybe if it turns out to be good later I'll come back, but I doubt it

Tougen Anki feels very underwhelming to me. The story is extremely basic and predictable, and the characters are too simple to leave any real impact. It’s the kind of plot that has already been told many times before, and nothing here feels fresh or unique. The animation isn’t terrible, but it’s also nothing special. Overall, I’d say this anime falls painfully average for a shonen. After watching four episodes, I honestly have no motivation to continue the show. A very generic series with little to keep me interested. This show disappointed me so much that I decided to write a review for the first time

Tougen Anki – First Impressions Review Okay, let’s get this out of the way: Tougen Anki is the definition of cliché … and I am living for it. 😂 Episode 1 had me rolling my eyes – tragic dad sacrifice, hidden bloodline awakening, loud/edgy boy… I honestly thought I’d drop it right there. But then came Episode 2. Damn. Suddenly the energy picked up. Shiki’s rage-out transformation wasn’t just edgy for the sake of edgy – it hit. Shiki clashing with Mudano, and later Episode 3 with Kougasaki – these are where it clicked for me. The common thread between all of them is this: yes, the show canbe loud and dramatic, but the action feels intentional. Compare that to what I don’t like: some anime (again… not naming names 👀) go full BANG BANG BOOM for ten minutes straight, then fourteen explosions later a surprise power-up just falls out of the sky. No tactics. No setup. Just loud filler action. That’s what gives me Dragon Ball vibes in the bad way.

(And yes, sometimes it is just hot men doing it. Sue me. I have layers 🫣 …But with Tougen Anki? Forget layers – I gave up pretending by Episode 3. I went from, “ugh, dead-dad setup cliché” to “WHY IS HE POSING LIKE A RUNWAY MODEL WHILE PUNCHING PEOPLE, I’M OBSESSED??” The stylishness is elite. The OP/ED? Never skipped. Because yes – the hot men know they’re hot. And they fight like they’re hot. And they’re right.)

So yeah – cliché, generic, comfort-food shounen? Absolutely. But it’s also intentional, stylish, and way more addictive than I expected. I went in ready to drop it – now I’m in too deep. These three boys? OMG. 🔥

9/10 – I’ll die on the hill that generic is timeless, cliché is comfort food.

From all the reviews out there, you could probably guess that Tougen Anki is unremarkable and painfully boring. After watching over 15 episodes, I can confirm: it’s not just bad—it’s a war crime against storytelling, a brain-rotting insult to anyone with functioning neurons. It shamelessly rips off every predictable shounen trope you’ve already seen in Naruto, Bleach, MHA and dozens of others—just in the blandest, most brain-dead, unoriginal way imaginable. It honestly feels like the author told an AI, “Make a Naruto clone slightly different but remove all the good parts,” and this sad, lifeless mess was born. The Plot The story follows the same tired revenge formulawith predictable outcomes seen in dozens of other anime—but executed sloppily. There’s even a villain who feels like a bootleg Orochimaru, just without any of the charm or menace. The pacing mimics older shounen structures, but it just feels sluggish and irritating.

And for a shounen where fights are supposed to be the highlight, there’s been almost nothing impressive. The only halfway-decent battle was when the MC went into rage mode—beyond that, every fight has been forgettable. It’s a shame, because the power system based on blood manipulation has real potential, especially since the MC is a gun nerd. Combining those ideas could’ve created some epic weapon-based fights, but so far, the anime completely wastes that potential.

Fan Service

Normally I’d overlook fan service since most anime include it to some degree—if you're a veteran anime watcher you just get used to it—but here, it screams author's fetish. Every female character has watermelon-sized (or larger) boobs that defy physics and common sense, shoved aggressively in your face. I love boobs as much as the next guy, but this is totally unnecessary. It’s not even funny or clever, just distracting.

Animation & Soundtrack

The animation is decent at best — nothing groundbreaking, and the CGI could definitely look better. The soundtrack is fine, though; I’ll admit the opening theme is actually great.

Characters

The MC gets a pass for now — he’s not completely intolerable. I expected another loud, brain-dead, revenge-obsessed idiot, but he’s surprisingly level-headed and shows tiny glimpses of growth.

Everyone else? Lifeless, cringe-inducing husks scraped from the bottom of the shounen trope barrel:

The emotionless Pancake-faced, ultra-cool sensei (hello, Levi+Kakashi Knockoff)

The weak pink-haired girl (Sakura 2.0 now with 100% more self-doubt and zero personality, plus huge boobs)

The shy pushover guy with his Super-horny fan-service girlfriend (who apparently loves him, why is she with him? Who cares, she’s just here to jiggle those boobs)

Glasses guy (smart because... you know glasses make you smart, also perpetually horny)

Edgy, scarred emo rival (Sasuke called—he wants his personality back)

And of course, the loud, hotheaded idiot who screams his way through every scene (Bakugo is that you)

Dialogue

The dialogue is borderline unbearable. Everyone talks like they’re angry 24/7 — every interaction feels like a death threat. Someone could ask for directions and get, “HOW DARE YOU ASK THAT, I’LL KILL YOU! FOR ASKING THAT UGHH YOU BAKA!!!”.

Initially, I thought it was just for comedy and gags, or some cultural joke lost in translation, but nope—that's genuinely how they communicate, it just comes off as cringe-inducing, wannabe edgy nonsense that sounds like it was written by a 13-year-old trying to sound cool. Every line hurts to listen to.

Final Thoughts

Tougen Anki isn’t just mid — it’s aggressively mid. It’s a generic, soulless mashup of better anime, stitched together with bad writing and fake edge. It copies everything that made classic shounen great and somehow turns it into a hollow parody of itself.

The only reason I’ve stuck with it this long is because the blood-based power system could lead to something great — especially with the MC’s love for guns. If the show ever decides to actually use that idea, maybe it’ll redeem itself.

If the author ever decides to stop plagiarizing every shounen trope in existence and actually writes something original with real character growth, maybe Tougen Anki could be worth watching. But right now? It’s a bland, noisy, hot garbage show.

Skip it — unless you enjoy watching generic mediocre trash with jiggle physics.

I like how all woman characters are boobs with a psuedo-personality. Really demonstrates the level of character design that took place in the smoke room of Studio Hibari. Also the fact that everyone is cliche makes it so I don't actually have to watch the show to know the characters, which is great, because i dont wanna watch the show. One of my least favorite parts of the show is how mr cool teacher guy has the worst haircut in anime history. Why is only one side of the taper showing, and the otherside is covered by 2010's blond emo guy with long hair buthair black anime style??? One of my most favorite parts of the show is that I can put it in 1.5x speed so it's actually paced well and I don't have to look at the screen cuz nothing of interest ever happens. The End.

I did not like the opening episode of this anime. At fucking all. It completely thru me off. The studio didn’t do tougen anki any favors having such a damp squib for an entrance into the anime. I felt it was generic at best, and overhyped. So idk I was pretty let down. The awful pacing, stereotype and trope duping, let alone the animation - had me scratching my head and feeling like this thing had all been executed in some otaku crackheads basement. [I’m now positive many viewers dropped this bcuz of that] Personally I like this series now though it took about 8episodes to see anything awesome about it. Was definitely underwhelmed by the cliche tropes to start, and, I guess I don’t need to point out what’s obvious but much of the story feels like almost carbon copied facsimile of other popular shounen. The vibe is just wonky too. So it’s got a bad rep for understandable reasons but I can fw basically fanfic trash anime. So I got over it but I don’t know the same for others.

At first I may have given tougen anki …5 stars? Based on how I review, which to me - that means it fucking sucks. I just review with leniency so for me to rate low like that says a thing or two.

But if you’re the same type of viewer as me - you might enjoy the intriguing turn this anime takes once all the fighting started to happen and villains are introduced. To me there was something engaging about it after that and the pacing becomes tolerable too. If you aren’t too picky or looking for something artsy or elite, I believe this anime is pretty fun. It’s just not for viewers who are energized by depth/good plot/just enough filler in their anime. It’s quick and feels like parody.

Lastly, as a female, from my perspective I wish to clarity that:

Yeaaah tits completely blind the senses around every corner in this series. All the larger than life jugs in my face felt like someone was trying to help me achieve sexual enlightenment and a gay awakening, driving my tastes into the mammary gland abyss of no return. Just, there is so much boob. The author simply just loves boobs. Yes I said… FUCKING JUGS!!! CHICHIS!!!!! …. BAZOOKAS ™ !!!!!!!! Plain and simple lol.

Tougen Anki is a very straight forward, pretty generic shounen and I kind of respect it honestly. I get it, demon protagonists, human antagonists, very basic stuff...but I kind of like it. Now I'm not going to say this is a great anime, especially in a season like this, but this show is just some dumb, edgy fun. The story follows a delinquent boy named Shiki who was unknowingly raised by a Momotaro, the humans who hunt demons. Shiki has no idea of his heritage, he's grown up like any other kid...well, except maybe for the weird fascination for guns. The Americans would be honored tohave you.

Well, he learns of his demon heritage from another Momotaro who used to work with his father, and after he critically wounds his father, Shiki's demon powers explode forth and turns him into a badass gun demon thing, problem is, like most shounen protagonists, he can't control his powers so he fails to kill the Momotaro and his father does end up bleeding out. womp womp.

That's when he's found by another demon guy, Naito, who takes him to a remote island to test his strength. Even though Shiki fails to impress on multiple occasions, he barely passes at the last moment and is taken to a demon academy to be trained alongside other demon students. Shiki swears to get revenge on the man who's killed his father, no matter how long it takes.

Like I said, pretty basic plot, so why do I like it so much? I don't got an answer for you, bud. Sometimes I just like putting on some bare bones shounen anime to rot my brain more than it already is. It reminds me of Solo Leveling of all things, not that impressive of a story, but it's fun to watch regardless. The reason I suspect this show is getting shit on more than Solo Leveling is 1. The animation isn't nearly as good, and 2. it's not even a quarter as popular as Solo Leveling. Not that this is on par with Solo Leveling, this is still worse...but not by that much honestly. Even though I used the word edgy before...it's not really that edgy. Sure there's blood powers and stuff, but it's about as edgy as Black Clover.

Just like you'd expect, the characters are a bunch of archetypes. Not every character has been fleshed out yet, but just based of appearances I can tell exactly what they all act like. Half of them are delinquents, and the other ones consist of the low self esteem girl, the shy timid boy, and the smart guy with glasses. the low self esteem girl is easily my least favorite right now, just because you give a girl big tits doesn't mean I'll ignore her shitty personality. Her power is cool though, what is it? Hehe, I'll never tell, watch the show yourself.

All in all, it's definitely a shounen anime alright, and I personally don't think that's a bad thing. Sometimes it's nice to go back to basics once in a while. Is this show one of greatest? absolutely not, but I think it's a nice, turn your brain off anime. This would make a great entry level anime in my opinion.

Right from the start I didn't vibe with the anime. This anime is about battle between the Oni and Momotarou, which had been going for a thousand years. The story is mainly about Shiki (an Oni) and his battles. But we also get to see the side characters fight. I just didn't like either of the parties, not the Oni , nor the Momotarou. While the action is competent, a lot better animation then One Punch Man S3, I just wasn't into the power system. Oni used their own blood to manifest their powers and Momotarou used black stuff, I think it was bacteria tomanifest their powers. They are both gross.

While it did get interesting sometimes, I am not impressed by the overall action or dialogues or the story. I don't recommend this show. But I guess it will appeal to some action fans.

This anime is so bad it motivated me to write a review. I have no idea how this anime got so popular but maybe because of the rise of AI generated content it made people feel like this was the best show at the time. Honest to god? It’s hot buns. If this was made during ww2 it probably would’ve been used as propaganda for the Germans. People watch a carbon copy of blue exorcist and fire force then get a hard boner and start defending it with their life. Tldr: DO NOT WATCH THIS SHOW. WALLAHI YOU WILL WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!

Hotheaded, stubborn mfs witnesses a devastating loss after being a jerk to a relative, discovers he is the son or vessel of an overwhelmingly powerful entity and now seeks to revenge his relative by gaining strength he currently lacks. He escapes his predicament (by sometimes the help of an overly powerful ally) and enrolls in a specialized school alongside others like him, and the journey begins. Sound familiar right? Well it is my friend. This is the shōnen landscape's beloved, well-worn formula. Jujutsu Kaisen, Fire Force, Blue Exorcist and such all leverage this exact premise because it f***ing works. Tougen Anki sticks rigidly to this formula withoutmuch innovation, like following a cookie-cutter recipe. The plot is serviceable, executing the familiar beats adequately. If this specific narrative structure appeals to you—the brooding but determined young man thrust into a supernatural battle school—this anime will likely satisfy that craving. It delivers exactly what it promises. If, however, you seek a fresh spin or you just tired of the same bs, you may just bounce atp. The anime itself is good because the formula is inherently engaging, but it fails to make you wanna relate to the story and falling for the character. Well unless, of course that is my fellow, you like overly exaggerated suspiciously buffed anime titties, it's a well reason enough to stay.

The show is pretty but it's entirely teen/young adult male fantasy. It's not bad, it knows exactly what it is, but there is little substance outside of "this is a cool idea, how do we get there?" There are weird choices like breasts big enough to make Tite Kubo tell you to tone it down, or characters drawn with large feet and calves as if they are shot from a low angle but being seen from head on. The story runs quick to get to the next fight, often sloppily (The school training to in the field is so fast even in universe it's waytoo short). The characters that are supposed to be rational and level headed are easily swayed by a single guy saying "Yeah but he's a bad guy." The main character and his group are almost unequivocally painted as the good guys doing things like saving children from runaway trucks.

It's fun if you go in knowing what to expect, but it's very turn off your brain and look at the cool shit.

Tougen Anki is The best anime out right now. I’ve always been a believer of copying other stories doesn’t automatically equal bad, the problem is many things copy the bad stuff in a story rather than copying the good and tougen anki is a rare contender for the latter. i found myself actually liking characters and plot on this rather than similar shows like black clover jujutsu kaisen. these types of shows dont need to try anything new they stick to what works and with that being said the second arc of this is becoming what i can describe as a iconic original shonen animeexperience. as a shonen lover and a massive anime consumer i’ll give it props for it being able to succeed to make me feel the impossible. I don’t understand how this is not getting the recognition it deserves.

One of the most generic anime of recent times. Let’s be real — this anime has nothing original. The story is simple: that basic war between two races, where the one labeled as evil is actually the kinder one, and the one considered good is the more malicious one. All of this with some characters that are kind of okay. And why the hell do all the women in this anime have to be busty? Maybe I’ll watch the rest if I have nothing else to do. I hope they develop the characters better — the only one I actually liked was Mudano.

- TL;DR - 1/10 - whatch the openings on youtube - the endings are nice too - make up a story in your head and maybe save the music on your playlist. There's nothing more worth your time here. This was just terrible. Somehow I went through 13 episodes of this thing, guess I just lost the timing to drop it at the start of the season. The problem is, this feels like it's going to be cool, it feels like it's going to deliver great fighting sequences and good animation... I mean... they're right there on the opening! Maybe that's what made me finally decide todrop this shit... the second opening is amazing! Hold it, I'm not crazy, I'll explain.

-The Characters-

Let me make a little detour, we'll be back on track on the next paragraph, I just need to whine about this. There's nothing wrong with using stereotypes when you first introduce a character. A stereotype makes the first encounter with a character feel more familiar, it's like I know enough about him to start to understand him. But after the beginning I want to know more about the character, show me some depth! Don't care if it's slowly, just give me something to care about your character! After 13 episodes I still don't know and don't care about any of the main characters, the protagonist in special is just a mess of shounen tropes and stupidity... And let's not talk about the female cast, It' feels like the only female thing the author ever interacted with where NPCs on hentai games because that's what all of them sound like, It's just horrible.

But this is a action shounen, we're here for the fights aren't we? That's where the second opening comes in. It's beautiful! It promises a lot of increadibly fluid action scenes and good fights! The first opening did this too, they can't go so wrong after showing all that gunfire made out of blood combined with fluid movements and nice music... They can't spoil it... right?

-The Combat-

Oh they can, the combat is just a series of "look how big and bad is my power" followed by a fairly decent animation of that power by shounen standards (not gonna lie here, I have seen much worse animation than this) then the enemy goes "há, look how bigger and badder is my power" followed by the animation of that power.... repeat this process four times, kill the villain and change to the next fight with the same formula. It's just this. The pacing is bad, there's no tension most of the time and when there actually is some the protagonist just give birth to a deus ex machina and win the fight and we're rewarded with the flashback story of the villain.

Seriously... you can't make me care about any of your main cast for almost 10 episodes, but you want me to be sad by the death of a villain that literally kills children in cold blod after the most stupid fight ever? No thanks.

And that's it, somehow I went through all of that wondering why the hell I didn't drop this shit on episode 3. Then we reach episode 13 with a brand new opening that promises a lot of good moments and I finally understand: somehow I still believed that this anime was going to deliver a rewarding fight scene to make up for all the bullshit that I went through. In the same episode 13 we're introduced to a new fetish npc of a female character and a the emotional bonding of the protagonist with the next villain he's going to kill. It's enogh to make me open my eyes and see that I'm just torturing myself with this one.

Warning: Minor Spoilers Tougen Anki is a Disappointment Tougen Anki is a profoundly disappointing anime that fails to bring anything new to the genre. The story is extremely cliché, built around a generic revenge plot triggered by the death of the main character's adoptive father in the first episode. This foundational premise is simple, overused, and offers no surprises. The characters are equally unoriginal. From the shy, pink-haired girl to the cool, masked upperclassman, the entire cast consists of shallow, one-dimensional stereotypes we've seen countless times before. The main character himself lacks any defining originality. In short, Tougen Anki feels like a hollow assembly of overused tropes. It relieson a formula of "cool-looking high schoolers turning into demons to fight," but executes it without a compelling story or meaningful character development. It ultimately brings nothing new or valuable to the table and is a waste of time for anyone familiar with the genre.

The very first episode reminds me of Ao no exorcist/blue exorcist. Almost the very same plot surrounding the foster dad that took in something similar as a demon (the protagonist). Shiki Ichinose from Tougen anki also reminds me of Rin Okumura, the protagonist of Ao no exorcist. So for me, the story felt not very innovative or creative. However, the art is beautiful and it seems that perhaps in the academy arc it might get more interesting. This anime is a good watch when you don’t really have a lot of other things to watch. It’s not great but not bad either. I would givethis a solid 6,5.

I decided to try to give this a watch after reading the manga some time ago. For a shounen, it's nothing revolutionary. A lot of the classic tropes are present and the first episode is so grimdark it's painful (but not in the way they intended.) I was almost ready to drop it after a few episodes. However, after they left the forest, things really picked up and I can see why people enjoy this anime. Yes, there are crude jokes present in the anime and sexualization of women, so if that's not your thing it just isn't. In the author's defense, as sexualized as thewomen are they are complete powerhouses on par with their male equivalents. And, I don't know if you've seen the merch drops in Japan, but the men are also extremely sexualized. Everyone is fair game (which you know I can appreciate merch that tries to keep all of its fans well fed.)

Overall, I'm excited for cour 2 and will be finishing this anime this week.

Ugh Well... After giving it more then a fair chance by watching 8 episodes I still can't name one positive thing about this anime. The characters are so forgettable that the only person whose name I remember is Shiki and that's only bc it's repeated so much in the later episodes. The art is rather unremarkable and the animation almost doesn't exist except in a few action scenes.It's yet another soft-core "I gotta get revenge for my father/family member. Now Im going to join this team to help me do it" anime.

Frankly I think that needs to be a genre due to how common it is. Wasn't there another anime about that which came out this season as well? Oh yeah, "Gatchiakuta". Well, gatchiakuta is trash too, no pun intended, and a product of marketing, but at least the art and animation is much better then this dumpster fire of an anime.

This anime even has the typical "mad scientist" with his knock-off Nomu from My Hero Academia.

And whats with the blonde-haired villian in the show with a child's hairstyle and shoulders so stiff that she walks and moves so.....odd? Nevermind, I didnt have any answers about her since the beginning of the show and I dont care now.

premise kinda cliché, messy story telling, poor directing, terrible fighting/battle animation (it supposed to be a battle but somehow they managed to make it slow paced lmao), and to top it off a very sexualized female character. What a pity, from the poster i thought it'll gonna be a cool shounen action anime. With plotline similar to "Blue Exorcist" (as people said), and interesting superpower centering around blood, and with revenge to spice up the story more. But sadly, didn't meet my expectations and i don't want to waste my time more. The story telling for me is kinda weird and messy, bcsI thought we're in the middle of entrance test for the oni academy or something but suddenly jump off to battle (that actually weird as well bcs the pace of the battle are oddly slow). I wish they can took more time on exploring that oni school first before jump to the battle that are badly adapted (poor directing, slow paced battle, and mid animation).

I can't say much about the character bcs the backstories of all character hasn't been told yet, but the mc writing still feel shallow to me but cant blame that bcs of course his character hasn't developed yet.

ALL female characters are all very sexualized with their huge chest and tight clothes...

The only good point is their opening and ending:'D

Welp just another poorly made action shounen anime...