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REVIEW: Drifters Complete Series BD/DVD

Yoshitsune makes less of an impression and perhaps strays most from historical detail, portrayed as a 19-year old bishonen (he died when he was 30) and a master archer (he was known as a master swordsman). The recurring joke is that his whole family was composed of bishonen.

I think you meant Nasu No Yoichi instead of Minamoto no Yoshitsune everywhere except in the case of Greg Ayres who does indeed play Yoshitsune - Yoichi is the one who hangs out with Toyohisa and Nobunaga (They do look awfully alike in this - I saw some people assume they were brothers with Yoshitsune being some evil bish niisan )

... during the Battle of Sekigahata.

... a number of other historical figures pop up, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Joan of Arc, Rasputin, Hannibal, Abe no Seimei, Hijikata Toshizo, and the Count de St. Germain, with Hitler ...

For me Drifters was a fun, dumb action series chained to an awful comedy. "hahaha the old man done pissed himself" "hahaha the gay man is gay" over & over again, like it was written by a 12 year old who just learned the word twink but doesn't really know what it means, only that it gets a reaction. & they just went on & on.

It was the worse for being so unecessary, since the setting & characters are silly enough that it's funny just watching them be themselves. There's one cut where Toyohisa grabs the head of one guy he just killed & all but says "yoink" which was funnier (& more memorable) to me than any of the actual "comedy" skits. I find anime tends to be pretty bad at mixing in comedy scenes anyway, but this is one of the few occasions where it actually made watching it a worse experience.

Having never watched Hellsing I went into DRIFTERS expecting to not be that fussed as I'm really not a fan of action but I ended up loving the wild takes on various historical figures (especially some of the ENDS) and how much focus went into the various strategies in each battle and the war itself. Nobunaga I was particularly impressed by on account of how he comes off as a tactical genius in this considering every opportunity and seizing upon the discovery both of firearms and the Octobrist's magic.

The humour is indeed not for everyone - I personally enjoyed bits of it but there are definitely moments that can feel too clunky and a detriment to the flow of the story. Other times however DRIFTERS can be so unapologetically ridiculous that for it to try being serious would be a waste; my favourite character ended up being Naoshi Kanno on account of how goofy his scenes were. His meeting with Scipio Africanus was one of the biggest laughs I had that season.

Now to wait patiently for... however many years it takes for a second season