Nobunagun


Nobunagun is a manga series written and illustrated by Masato Hisa. Serialized in Earth Star Entertainment's magazine Comic Earth Star since May 2011, it has been compiled into six tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation by studio Bridge was broadcast from January 5, 2014 to March 30, 2014 in Japan. Crunchyroll and Funimation streamed the episodes with English subtitles, which attracted commentaries by anime and manga reviewers who gave it mixed reception.

Plot

To protect the world from the impending invasion of the alien species known only as "Evolutionary Invasion Objects", the supranational organization DOGOO created special warriors through DNA manipulation called E-Gene holders. These E-Gene holders are the reincarnations of various historical figures. Using special weapons called AU balls, E-gene holders can call forth AU weapons with an affinity to their assigned historical figure and use it against the invaders. Sio Ogura is one of them, being the reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga. However, her memories of her past life are limited only by dreams about the military past. Going on a school trip in Taiwan, Sio gets caught in the middle of a battle between Evolutionary Invasion Objects and Dogoo's E-gene holders, alongside her classmate Kaoru Asao. When one of the E-Gene holders, the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper, gets incapacitated and Kaoru ends up in danger when confronting an Evolutionary Invasion Object, Sio uses Jack's AU ball to fully activate her E-Gene holder status. She gains her AU weapon, a massive machine gun, and assists the other E-Gene holders to put an end to the Taiwan invasion. After some reluctance, she joins DOGOO at Kaoru's behest.

Defense Organization aGainst Outer Objects (DOGOO)

There are two holder platoons stationed on each of DOGOO’s three floating fortresses: Alex Rogan, Joji Atsumi, and Steven Hiller. The auxiliary battleship Clayton Forrester holds the three together. The fortresses circle around the Pacific Ocean so when reports of an EIO reach them, the nearest fortress will send their platoon to engage the enemies.

Characters

Main characters

The main characters in the series are part of the DOGOO's Second Platoon. They include:

Defense Organization aGainst Outer Objects (DOGOO)

Some of the characters' real names are unknown, and are thus referred to by their weapons which carry the spirits of various historical figures.

First Platoon

Special Squad

Each Special Squad member's AU object is a tool rather than a weapon.
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Upper Echelon

Other platoons

Some characters are not affiliated with a DOGOO platoon, but are E-Gene Holders:
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Media

Manga

The forty-one manga chapters of Nobunagun are written and illustrated by Masato Hisa. They were serialized for the manga anthology book Comic Earth Star from Earth Star Entertainment, running from May 12, 2011 to August 28, 2015 on the online edition of the magazine. Earth Star Entertainment has been collecting the chapters in tankōbon volumes with the first being published on February 10, 2012. A total of six volumes have been released in Japan as of October 9, 2015.

Anime

The production of an anime adaptation was first announced through the June 2013 issue of Comic Earth Star. It was produced by the animation studio Bridge, directed by Nobuhiro Kondo and scripted by Hiroshi Yamaguchi. On December 25, 2013, a preview of the series was exhibited in the Shinbashi Yakult Hall. Tokyo MX, on January 5, 2014, broadcast the first episode, which was subsequently aired by YTV, CTV, BS11, and AT-X. The thirteenth and last episode was aired on March 30, 2014. VAP released episodes 1–6 in a DVD and Blu-ray box set on April 23, 2014, and episodes 7–13 on July 23, 2014. An English-subtitled version started to be streamed by Crunchyroll on January 5, and by Funimation on their video website on the following day. In March, Madman Entertainment announced at the Wai-Con it have acquired the series' rights. Funimation released the complete series into a DVD and Blu-ray box set on June 2, 2015 in a regular and a limited edition, while Madman Entertainment will release it on July 1, 2015.
The series music is composed by Yutaka Shinya. The opening theme is "Respect for the Dead Man" by Pay Money to My Pain, which is also used as the ending theme for the first episode. The "ver．α" of "Chīsa na Hoshi" by Shiori Mutō, Yū Asakawa and Sumire Uesaka is used as the ending theme from episode two to five, and from episode 11 to 13. Episodes 6 to 10 feature a "ver.β" of "Chīsa na Hoshi" by Shiori Mutō, Chiwa Saitō, Mutsumi Tamura and Ayumu Murase. An official soundtrack was released on February 19, 2014; it consists of the full and the television version of "ver．α" and "ver.β" "Chīsa na Hoshi", and 30 other tracks.
No.TitleOriginal air date

Reception

's reviewers have had different opinions on it. About the premise Carl Kimlinger commented "Sound ridiculous? It is. Ridiculously so. But it's also ridiculously fun." Hope Chapman, on the other hand, criticized its story and animation, asserting it "isn't a terrible show," it is "a cheap imitation of other styles and ideas, and without the looks to compensate, its lack of brains isn't very entertaining." Although criticized it for its generic premise, Theron Martin praised its animation and capacity of entertaining. Martin and Rebecca Silverman commended its "striking visuals" and "visual tricks" respectively. Martin, Silverman, Andy Hanley of UK Anime Network and Nicoletta Browne from THEM Anime Reviews praised Sio's characterization, with the latter calling it one of "the show's biggest strengths". Hanley commented that "its opening episode has been one of the most directly exciting and thrilling of the winter season—a rip-roaring action packed affair that continued into an equally enjoyable second episode." He added, "Nobunagun has managed to exceed our expectations, even if those expectations were 'this will probably be terrible'."
Browne praised the action of "these early episodes" as "well-animated and entertaining". However, Browne stated that it "evolves into a missed opportunity almost immediately" due to "the combination of shallowness and technobabble-ridden battle scenes" and "the sexual harassment jokes". Martin The Fandom Post's Thomas Zoth called it "a delight to watch" and stressed, "Fans of shounen anime, yuri undertones, or action series like Hellsing will probably want to check this out." Another critic from The Fandom Post, Kory Cerjak, wrote that the plot is generic "ut Nobunagun is incredibly fun and the visuals of fighting against the EIOs are incredible." Cerjak pointed the anime feels natural, saying "Execution is key in Nobunagun, and it is above average here." Commenting on the last episode, however, Cerjak questioned "Everything returns to the status quo and, while it was fun, I wonder what the point of the entire show was at this point." He declared, "I think its good parts outweigh the bad…that is if you just straight up skip over the bad parts", though. Despite of its "flaws, a great cast of characters, striking visuals, strong musical score and voice acting, and a high-spirited sense of fun help establish the title as a worthy entry in the action genre", according to Martin.