Peacemaker: Innocence Lost

Reviewed By: Carla Land

ADV Films DVD

Review based on volume 1 (episodes 1-4)

Rating 15+

What it’s (basically) all about: Tetsunosuke Ichimura saw his parents assassinated when he was younger. Now fifteen, he’s vowed to join the Shinsengumi army to avenge them. The path to vengeance isn’t as easy as Tetsu expected, and even with his older brother around to encourage him, Tetsu isn’t sure if he’s ready to lose his humanity in order to help his parents rest in peace. Will Tetsu ever become strong enough? For that matter, will he ever even be allowed to carry a sword?

Nitty Gritty: The opening sequence in episode one has some impressive blood splatter. Blood actually flows freely throughout the whole show, almost to the point of being ridiculous. There are no punches pulled, and while no lead characters die on this disk there are a lot of nameless swordsman who meet pretty gory ends.

Souji, a young squad leader, has some strong homosexual overtones and is so feminine that at first I thought he was a she. Once he has a sword in his hand, though, he’s one of the most lethal members of the Shinsengumi army. In episode four one character alludes not too subtly to a boy/ man relationship (which isn’t actually taking place- the character is misguided in his assumptions.) There is no nudity or inappropriate sexual situation in any of the episodes.

Language is limited to mostly damn/damn it, bastard, and hell in both the subbed and dubbed versions. Considering the amount of violence, the language is surprisingly mild.

Extras start with the Anime Network and Newtype-USA promotions at the start of the disk. Also included are clean opening and closing animation, production sketches, DVD credits, and original Japanese TV spots. Previews are for Aura Battler Dunbine, Get Backers, Mezzo (fan service here), Samurai X, Sakura Wars and The Princess Blade (a live action film). All of the previews are appropriate for teen and older audiences.

Survey says: Given the amount of gory violence, this is probably better off in adult collections. If the gore were toned down some then it would be fine in teen/ YA collections, but this isn’t the case.

Personal Ad: I’m undecided about this one. The voice acting was well done and the music was good, but there are so many characters that it can get confusing. Die hard fans of samurai anime will probably think there isn’t enough action, but I think it’s a good introduction to the genre and worth taking a look at.