シキザクラ

SHIKIZAKURA

Sci-Fi

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
December 26, 2021
LENGTH
23 min

DESCRIPTION

Kakeru Miwa is an otherwise ordinary high school student, but a strange twist puts him on the front line in a supernatural battle against the menacing Oni. With the help of a fantastically powerful battle suit known as “Yoroi”, Kakeru joins an elite team that fights the monstrous Oni and defends humanity from otherworldly threats. The team is assigned to protect Oka Myojin, a shrine maiden who is prophesized to save the world, but she must perform a sacred ritual within Shikizakura, the horizon that connects the spiritual and physical world that lies somewhere amid the blooming cherry blossoms and the colorful autumn leaves. But in this world, the journey to destiny is hard-fought, winding and sometimes deadly.

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

CAST

Ouka Myoujin
Miho Mashiro
Kaede Naruse
Eri Sakazaki
Haruko Yamada
Natsuki Ochiai
Ibara
Shingo Yoneyama
Kakeru Miwa
Yuudai Noda
Kippei Nagatsu
Daisuke Nakamoto
Ryou Hattori
Shouto Mizukami
Announcer
Eru Ootsuta
Issa Inuzuka
Iwori
Gachi-zei no Ossan
Jirou Satou
Ukon Kijima
Yuuto Arai
Benio Myoujin
Miki Yakata
Monaka Yatogame
Yanna Sasatsu
Mai Tadakusa
Kaito Jin

EPISODES

Dubbed

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Not available on crunchyroll

RELATED TO SHIKIZAKURA

MANGA ActionShikizakura

REVIEWS

HMashiro
40/100
A typical colour coded Power Ranger style anime with some surface-level Shinto folklore in it.
Minor Spoiler Ahead (￣￣|||)

Note: TLDR at the very bottom.

Story - 35

Shikizakura is an anime with a unique mix of the sci-fi power suit and Shinto folklore but the story is so boring I have to drag my feet to watch at least 6 episodes so that I can give it a fair shot.

Our MC, Kakeru happen to get caught in a certain disastrous event when he was a child and is the sole survivor of said event. Fast forward into the future, he got caught up in a fight between the team in power suit fighting the Oni.

Between all the chaos, Kakeru stumbles upon a power suit that is possessed by an Oni but manages to control it and join the fight against the Oni.

Maybe because I am old and doesn’t really dig this kind of show anymore. Maybe kids would love it better and I am the wrong demographic for this anime.

The story overall is fairy standard Power Ranger or Super Sentai stuffs. The Shinto folklore stuff is not used in any deep way. The best you get is cleansing Oni. Even the Oni design doesn't seem to resemble any of the folklore Oni.

The story is predictable, and the writing is bland. I can see the plot from miles away. E.g I predict one day someone or some other team is going to find an issue with Kakeru’s power suit being an Oni and challenge them and voila it happen in later episodes.

The separation of the realm when fighting is a refreshing addition such as the Oni realm where most of the fighting happens and the real world but this concept is nothing new too. Seen those a lot in other animes and games.

Character - 30

The characters are super stereotypical and made up of extremely common tropes which will make typical common tropes looks miles better.

Kakeru is basically a kid who wants to become a hero/obsess with being a hero and have a heart of gold with some idealism that won’t work in real life. Kakeru is super bland as an MC and seems to only have a one-track mind which is to be a hero and save people.

Ooka is your stereotypical strong-willed princess-like character who can’t actually take part in combat because her skill can only be used for cleansing.

Ryou is your super serious guy who acts like a douchebag but actually got a good heart.
Kaede and Haruko is a tomboyish and girly duo who are actually good friends with each other but are very forgettable as a character.

Some characters do have decent backstories even if those backstories are generic, overused, predictable situations. Sadly the decent back story wasn’t able to salvage the bland characters.

Honestly, I have more interest in Kakeru’s close friend Kippei who have zero special power whatsoever. He actually just seems like a great buddy who will support Kakeru. The way he talks and tries to dig info out of Kakeru because he seems to be hiding things from him is also somewhat funny.

Ibara is the Oni inside Kakeru’s power suit who happens to be a pretty funny guy. His personality also outshines Kakeru in both personality and wit departments.

Art & Animation - 60

It is obvious that the characters are in 3D CG but it is quite decently done. Not a dumpster fire like Tesla Note. The CG is much more obvious when the characters are moving.

Character designs without power suits are uninspiring. The characters have little detail while the power suits have more details. The power suit designs are also better, very Megaman-like with more details.

The background detail is hit or miss. There are scenes where it is well detailed with good textures, background characters walking around and some even look quite realistic. On the other hand, we got bland and empty-looking rooms too.
The usage of red and pink colours for Oni realm can be overwhelming.

The CG animation can be stiff or unnatural at times but due to the use of CG, battles are well choreographed and allow for more freedom in the camera department where the camera can rotate around or follow the character.

Sound - 55

The opening song is a typical J-Pop song without much impact for me, the ending song is a tiny bit better with its chill vibe.

Sound effects in combat got a nice impact. You can feel every punch, clashing of sword and sound the machine gun fires are pretty solid too.

The background musics got a decent mix of traditional Japanese style and modern rock. The traditional Japanese style musics stand out pretty well. However, modern rock musics are quite generic.

Voice acting is hit or miss, Kakeru, Ooka, Ryou, Kaede and Haruko who are the core team got uninteresting and flat voice acting. Meanwhile, Ibara (the Oni inside Kakeru's power suit) and Kippei (Kakeru's close friend, a supporting character) got better voice acting.

TLDR:
A typical colour coded Power Ranger style anime with some surface-level Shinto folklore in it. The story is uninspiring and the characters are bland but battles are pretty well-choreographed.
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