Hakyu Hoshin Engi: The Complete Series

The Hakyu Hoshin Engi fantasy franchise of manga and cartoons has a long, tangled mythology that precedes this 2018 reboot, featuring a plethora of creatures and avengers, many drawn from ancient Sino-Japanese cosmology, with others projected into futuristic environments. In the opening here, young warrior-mystic Taikobo is assigned by a master to eliminate scores of evildoers bedeviling Earth. The task involves hierarchies of heroes, villains, and gods, including many "yokai" (all-purpose Japanese folk-demons), with some switching sides, working out loyalty/identity conflicts, or even trying to negotiate peace. The bulk of the narrative centers on a floating mountain of the good guys that is locked in collision with the Death Star-like Kingo Island, a supposedly impregnable fortress of fiends. Among many novelties: a sadistic "fox spirit" boss villainess who looks like an upbeat pink-haired singing-idol archetype. The tonal flip-flops between whimsy and bloody violence (not to mention philosophy and tragedy) can be dizzying but are also typical in anime. Compiling all 23 episodes from 2018 in a dual-language Blu-ray edition, rated TV-14, extras include a bonus OVA episode. Recommended. (C. Cassady)