Hatenko Yugi or The Threesome That Never Was

Every now and then, you need to watch a bad anime just to heighten your appreciation for the FullMetal Alchemists, the Cowboy Bebops and the Ghost in the Shells that raise your expectations. This show, this Hatenko Yugi, was short enough (ten episodes) to not grind on my nerves too badly.

I give every new series 5-7 episodes to see if I am intrigued enough to continue viewing. More often than not, if a series isn’t groundbreaking, I’m watching it to find out where it’s going.

Hatenko Yugi is about a three-man party: the magician protégé Rahzel, the silent gun-slinging albino Alzeid, and…the other guy name Baroqueheat. Basically, they traverse the land, looking for odd jobs, adventuring, and helping small children cope with their time-consuming flashbacks.

The first episode had very cynical humor coupled with the pacing of base jumping: I thought it’d be good. Two of our characters are given a simple task of eliminating a maiden’s ghost from a forest path. As the ghost goes into her life story, our two characters ignore her and play in the dirt. It episode ran fast and ended in fireworks. There was no set-up: none. And by the time our main character Rahzel had “solved the mystery” we asked ourselves “what mystery?”

The world is inconsistent in the ways of a quickly plotted, poorly thought out RPG. There’s “magic,” but no system. There’s a “military,” but no nation supporting it. The only rule I can glean is that our main characters DO NOT LOSE FIGHTS. The closest thing to an antagonist is the friendly love/hate relationship between Al, Heat, and Rahzel.

Hatenko Yugi is a character-based story, meaning you are watching to see how these characters will develop. Essentially, they form a triad with subtle sexual tension of “which man will she choose” or “what the Hell is that thing on Heat’s arm.” Probably what drew me to keep watching was the polarization between Alzeid and Heat, the calm and the energetic, the gun and the “arm/sword/wackadoo” the pale and the tan. While not nearly as dichotomized as Mugen and Jin from Samurai Champloo, both men do have something of a friendly competition going, but more for K.O.’s of NPC’s than over Rahzel.

Though there are three instances of two-part episodes, the show does not require (nor merit) you to watch every episode in any particular order. When it concludes, and Rahzel is set up to make her difficult decision, the series cops out to maintain the status quo in hopes of a second season.

I feel like I’ve taken a bullet by watching the entire series. Do not be distracted by the blind-folded teddy bear or Rahzel’s illogical costume changes: if you see Hatenko Yugi being sold at a convention, ignore it and move on.