Drifters is a seinen title based on the manga by Kouta Hirano. The story is set in a medieval fantasy world where both humans and demi humans such as elves and dwarves live. This world is soon greeted by two sets of foreigners from the real world Drifters and Ends. Both groups are comprised of historical figures tied to war or a fight of their time. They are taken before their death by one of two mysterious people. A man named Murasaki chooses fighters for his Drifters while a girl named Easy picks candidates for her Ends. What sets them apart are their given roles in this story. The Ends seek out the destruction of humankind and the Drifters are assigned to stop the Ends from their slaughter. As the name implies the shows perspective is from the eyes of the Drifters. Though there is a fair amount of fighters with this title the anime focuses on three in particular. Toyohisa Shimazu is the appointed leader of the group and is a classic warrior type whose battleminded ways make him great in the fights but a bit barbaric outside of them. Nobunaga Oda is a crafty middleaged man dubbed the Devil King of the Sixth Heaven who doesnt fight as much as come up with strategy to make the Drifters team a fighting threat. Finally theres Yoichi Nasu a bishonen archer whose aim is as good as his looks. The anime follows these three as they work their way up to be a formidable foe from freeing demi humans from their serfdom and slavery to coming up with cunning plans in the midst of a fight. The concept of Drifters isnt too far removed from one of Hiranos previous works Hellsing. Hellsing mainly attracted an audience by blending its dark supernatural characters with hyper violence occasionally sprinkling in historical references. Drifters changes this mixture it still has the violence and supernatural elements but it grounds itself more so in the history. Despite being a fantasy world it feels more downtoearth than other shows with this title. The Octobrists are a magician organization that wishes for the Drifters support to defeat the Ends. Though they are magicians they are only seen using basic spells called charms. Their communication though much more advanced than the setting relies on a magic sphere on two users ends acting more like a phone than anything magical. Though what we see is limited it shines due to how its used. Toyohisa and the gang use the Octobrists magic in interesting ways to serve their needs showing how easily they adapt to foreign concepts. Spells the Octobrists thought of only for defense are used offensively to surprise and crush the enemy. Even the communication orb was used primarily as a recording diary before the Drifters came along I prefer this creative use of magic over the typical mage/wizard roles seen in fantasy shows. Thats not to say this show is free from absurd magic. The Ends are characters that have given up their humanity for strong magical power. This is seen in Jeanne D Arc who has incredible fire magic and Toshizou who uses ghost warriors to assist him in battle. Most interesting is the dreaded Black King who has power over cellular replication that can heal/hurt single targets almost instantly. What makes these powers exciting is how theyve been given to the villains not the heroes. Wits dominate fights against the Ends and seeing how the Drifters turn the tide in battle is a lot of fun to watch. Fans of JoJo Part 2: Battle Tendency will adore these fights as Toyohisa parallels Joseph Joestar. Theres nothing in Drifters that will make you rethink battles but there are a few surprises that kept me wanting to watch the next episode. Drifters has an interesting lot of characters which is its strength and one of its problems. I find there are too many of them for this short first season and they didnt need to be here this early on. Characters like Butch Cassidy and Naoshi Kanno really had no reason being here. They may have turned the tide in the battle they were present in minor as it was but theyre never really seen beyond this. Im sure all the Drifters will meet up eventually to take down the Black Kings army but they didnt need to be present at this time. This time couldve been use for more focus on the main trio in particular Yoichi. Despite being labeled as a main character Yoichi doesnt get a whole lot of time or emphasis compared to Oda or Toyohisa. I saw Toyohisas warrior life in action in and outside of fights and I saw the humor mixed with dark cunning of Oda. Save for a brief moment talking to his old leader Yoshitsune Yoichi felt more like a strong supporting character. I hope that more insight will be given to him. Humor is another thing Hirano and I generally disagree on. In Hellsing ugly chibilooking characters would break the ice at the wrong time and would be a lot cruder than what I like. This returns in Drifters but I find its been toned down a bit. The toilet humor seems less prevalent in these scenes. Though one of Hannibals first jokes is that he cant control his bladder its a bit more understandable as hes very old though I still couldve done without it. The humor mainly focuses on references to Japanese war history. This isnt my strong suit so moments like the Drifters first meetup in Episode 1 went over my head. That said they normally are quick offhand jokes so they dont fill up the show as much as they give a wink to a history loving audience. Drifters art is what youd expect from Hirano. Characters have large ringed irises for eyes thick jagged lines make their outlines and shadows that cover their face save for a single eye are all present. Its a style thats distinctly his and works great for his action series. Of course the series also includes Hiranos ugly faces he uses for comedy but its not as bad here. Maybe because theres less poop drawings or perhaps Ive grown accustomed to it. The animation team at Hoods Drifters Studio did a fair job. They use CG models at times such as the soldiers and its not the most fluid but its not bad by any means. Sometimes its even in their favor I like the rough sketch animatic look in the opening more so than the cheap animation tweens that accompany it. The music of the series is upbeat rock and fits the action well. One track I like in particular starts as a flute track played through an old radio before becoming a strange Middle Eastern sounding piece. I didnt care for the lazy cool vocals with the aw yeahs in the verses and sound of the opening and I do not like Kurosakis vocals for the ED the acoustic guitar in the final episode was a welcome change. The seiyuus all did a fine job though none here stood out in particular for me. Overall I give Drifters a 6.5/10. I didnt care too much for Hellsing so I was surprised as to how much I liked Drifters. If you liked Hellsing or perhaps Hiranos style in general this is a mustwatch. Those looking for a fun action series akin to JoJos Bizarre Adventure will also appreciate this show. Drifters is a bit fantastic in concept and occasionally campy but it was a fun watch and I certainly wouldnt mind viewing a second season. Do you like or dislike this anime? If you havent watched it are you encouraged to watch it or not? Leave a comment on my profile telling me what you think of the anime and/or my review. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day