Busou Renkin

Disguising themselves as humans, homunculi inhabit the world to prey on the unsuspecting population. Created long ago by alchemists from Europe, homunculi are difficult to eliminate without weapons known as Kurogane. Each Kurogane is uniquely shaped according to its wielder's instincts, taking the form of special abilities called Busou Renkin.

While walking home from school one day, Kazuki Mutou spots a defenseless girl under attack by a homunculus. But as he attempts to intervene, the girl ends up saving Kazuki’s life instead, shattering his ignorant worldview. The girl introduces herself as Tokiko Tsumura, and Kazuki soon learns that she has accidentally implanted a Kurogane inside of him. Now unintentionally dragged into the fight against homunculi, Kazuki must forgo his former life of leisure in order to protect the ones he holds dear.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsumura, Tokiko Main

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Muto, Kazuki Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Chouno, Koushaku Main

Madono, Mitsuaki Japanese

Sakimori, Mamoru Main

Ebara, Masashi Japanese

Powered, Victor Main

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Moon Face Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Hayasaka, Shusui Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Victoria Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Muto, Mahiro Supporting

Hirano, Aya Japanese

Sakaguchi, Shosei Supporting

Hayami, Show Japanese

Nakayama, Nobuhiro Producer

Kawase, Kouhei Producer

Chino, Takatoshi Producer

Ooyoshi, Makoto Producer

Reviews

Jun 27, 2025

Joe_Devaney

Recommended

Overview:
Throughout the decades, there have been many shonen anime and manga that have become wildly popular and beloved for their intricate worlds, large and diverse casts of characters and beautifully animated fight scenes. "Buso Renkin" or "Arms Alchemy", first released in the mid-2000s, is NOT one of these. While it's by no means a bad anime, it is a very cliched and derivative one, borrowing heavily from the likes of "Fullmetal Alchemist" and "Bleach" among others, with the main thing that makes it stand out being that it doesn't take itself very seriously.

Story (6.5/10):
One night, 16-year-old Kazuki Muto has a weird dream where he dies ... saving a mysterious girl from a monster. As he learns later, however, said dream wasn't a dream at all- he really was killed by a monster, known as a Homonculus, and the only reason he's still alive is because the girl he protected used a mystical device to revive him. She is Tokiko Tsumura, an Alchemist Warrior whose sworn duty is to slay Homoncli and protect the innocent from them. What's more is that the device used to revive Kazuki also gives him the ability to manifest a weapon much like she can, enabling him to destroy the Homonculus that killed him. Afterwards, Kazuki learns that there are other Homonculi in the city, and asks to team up with Tokiko so he can help her get rid of them and keep anyone else from getting hurt. Tokiko agrees, and becomes Kazuki's mentor so he can learn to harness his new power to its fullest. The story then follows this unlikely duo as they fiight and defeat any Homonculi they come across, and along the way, they uncover a dangerous conspiracy involving Homonculi that threatens to reshape the entire world.

As I already said, this is a very derivative series. The words "alchemy" and "homonculus" immediately bring "Fullmetal Alchemist" to mind, and this is only made more apparent by the existence of an organization that operates very much like State Alchemists do. Not to mention the ability to manifest a weapon from one's soul is a concept in anime too numerous to list. Overall, you won't find any amount of originality in this series, and while that itself is not inherently a bad thing, the problem is that a lot of its ideas are things that are done much better in other shows. This is not helped by the fact that the series is the standard anime length of 26 episodes, when it could easily have been half again as long or even twice as long in order to flesh out its world and premise and truly establish its own identity.

All of that being said, the story is pretty decently paced. Not only does it get straight to the point, with Kazuki being killed, revived, awakening to his power and becoming Tokiko's all over the span of the first episode. In general, the series never stays on the same arc for too long and most episodes do serve to progress the plot in some way, even if said progress is stuff you'll often see coming long before it happens. The last few episodes also have some pretty decent storytelling with surprisingly high stakes, and the series does have a mostly satisfying ending. I say "mostly" because the final fight of the series felt kind of pointless, being a post-climax confrontation that only lasts a couple of minutes between two characters and fails to conclude their relationship in any particularly meaningful way. Overall, the story is enjoyable for what it is, but if you go in expecting anything deep or thought-provoking, you'll be disappointed.

Art & Animation (8/10):
"Buso Renkin" is a pretty good-looking series. While the art style is pretty rough around the edges, the character models are well-drawn with a number of notable character designs and the environments are very detailed as well. The animations are pretty good too, particularly when an Alchemist Warrior is manifesting their weapon and the animations of Tokiko's spider-like Busou Renkin, though some other animations can also be quite. All in all, the visuals won't blow you away, but they're still quite good considering the time period, and I have definitely seen worse.

Sound & Dialogue (8/10):
"Buso Renkin"'s soundtrack is mostly pretty generic, consisting mainly of standard tracks that you could find in a dozen other shonen and no notable battle music. The only exceptions are the opening, "Crimson Oath", and the two ending themes, "Starlight" and "Beloved World", which are all good in their own ways. The voice acting is also something of a mixed bag; while the voices of the side characters tend to be average at best, the voice performances of the major characters are very good, particularly Steve Staley as Kazuki, Tara Platt as Tokiko and Patrick Seitz as Captain Bravo. The dub also features Yuri Lowenthal in a rare villainous role, which he pulls off a lot better than you'd think.

Characters (7.5/10):
From the very first episode, Kazuki is established as a kind person with a strong sense of justice. While initially a bit shocked by the existence of Homonculi, Kazuki jumps at the call to protect people from them and will go out of his way to save everyone he can, even those who have just tried to kill him. While he starts off fairly weak, overtime he becomes a formidable powerhouse with his sword manifested from the kakugane inside his heart. Unfortunately, in terms of actual character development, Kazuki is pretty static, as while he does become more confident and determined, he doesn't really undergo any major growth. This is largely due to the fact that he doesn't have any major flaws to grow out of, with any negative traits he does have being quite minor and played entirely for comedy. The series does try to give him some depth with a certain villain calling him a hypocrite for telling him to accept his fate when Kazuki himself has been given a second chance at life, but it falls flat since said villain has killed many people in order to extend his lifespan, something Kazuki doesn't have to do. Ultimately, he's a likeable protagonist, but far from the most memorable one.

Ultimately, my favourite character in the series would have to be Tokiko. While Kazuki is generally a goofball who can be serious when the situation calls for it, Tokiko is serious all the time, perhaps too much so for her own good. As such, she acts as the show's resident 'straight man', and often gets driven up the wall by the wackiness of everyone and everything around her, which is both hilarious and helps endear us to her as a character. She's also a huge badass, with her Buso Renkin consisting of four spider leg-like blades that she uses to tear apart enemies however she sees fit. One of her defining traits early on is that she despises homonculi, to the point that she considers even associating with them to be an unforgivable sin. Naturally, this causes her to clash with Kazuki, who goes out of his way to save anyone he views as redeemable. But while Tokiko and Kazuki may disagree from time to time, the two hit it off very quickly, to the point that they're often in sync as early as the second episode, and Tokiko does gradually become warmer as a result of Kazuki's influence. If I were to name a flaw with her character, it's that her backstory is kind of lacking, with it only mentioned towards the end of the series as an afterthought and having no actual bearing on her character. Even so, she is easily the most developed character in the series (not that there's much competition) and her relationship with Kazuki is easily one of the show's highlights.

Of course, Tokiko and Kazuki are far from the only two Alchemist Warriors in the series. Another notable example is Captain Bravo, a high-ranking member of the Alchemist Army and Tokiko's superior. You'd think this would make him ultra-serious, and while he does seem that way at first, he's soon revealed to be almost as much of a goof as Kazuki, much to Kazuki's delight and Tokiko's embarrassment. Make no mistake, however; silly as he is, he's also a huge badass, with his Busou Renkin being the silver outfit he generally wears and functions as a suit of armour, which he can use in offensive ways as well. In a sense, he's an over-the-top parody of the season badass veteran frequently seen in shonen. Sadly, his role is greatly reduced in the final third or so of the series, though not without reason. As for the rest of the cast, it's hard to say anything about the most prominent ones without giving away some kind of huge spoiler. I can say however that while there is a large number of Alchemist Warriors shown, at least half of them are only given a smidgen amount of focus or development if they're lucky, which is just further proof that the series could have afforded to be a lot longer than it really is.

Enjoyment (7.5/10):
In spite of all its many flaws, "Buso Renkin"'s entertainment value is never lacking. If there isn't some kind of action scene in a given episode, chances are there will be something that'll make you laugh out loud, with the show's sense of humour being easily one of its strong points. The series is also very lighthearted throughout, even if it isn't above going into some pretty dark places, particularly in the second half of the series where the stakes get very high, and while the characters have to go to hell and back, overall the series manages to end on a definitively high note.

Overall:
"Buso Renkin" is a very entertaining and exciting series that unfortunately falls short in a number of departments, particularly in regards to storytelling. If you're looking for a one-of-a-kind anime that makes you think about the big questions of life, you're better off looking elsewhere. On the other hand, if you just want a lighthearted, undemanding series that doesn't require you to think too hard about anything, then "Buso Renkin" could very well be right up your alley.

Overall:
6.5+8+8+7.5+7.5=37/50=7.5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Feb 18, 2021

Resting_Bonfire

Mixed Feelings

Busou Renkin

An older Shounen title, which shows most of the usual shortcomings, but has also put something individuality at the table.

This Title comes straight to the point in the first episode and explains to the audience what this story is about and what system this world follows there. It is in fact nothing too earth-shattering, but a more pleasant introduction than in some other Shounen.

I quote the description "Together they have to stop the humunculi now" - unfortunately this takes up almost the first 12 episodes of the work, in which there are almost continuous battles that devour almost the entire episodes and really ... do is very sluggish.

The basic idea of ​​Busou Renkin is not bad, but it failed due to a captivating implementation. This work could have been completed in 14-16 episodes just as well, but it was lengthened immensely.

The end in particular was very daunting. The whole final fight looked very clapped and rested.



Story:


The plot is very simple at the beginning. The protagonist receives these powers and first tries to expand them in various battles and at the same time defeat his enemies. Of course, more and more enemies appear until a master plan emerges. Half of the work is very transparent and quite sluggish. From the second half, the anime takes a slightly different path and the end is also not so certain.

In other words, the story is mainly about struggles with one or the other little enlightenment.

The actual ending and final battle was really flat.

Animation / pictures:


The animations were anything but the yellow of the egg. It was mainly still image animations, which caused the dynamics to shrink to almost 0%. In some scenes, however, they tried to animation more smoothly, but these were completely rare.

I have to give a plus point to the environment, they made it quite pleasant and did not neglect it.

Characters:

The characters also presented themselves quite sympathetically.

The protagonist looked like the usual 0815 number, which he was in the end. He was a thick skull who just kept going through the day with his "I want to protect everyone" talk. His personality, on the other hand, left enough room for development and humor, because apart from his monotonous approaches, he also had other likeable qualities. For example, the protagonist was not particularly stupid and could land a pretty good gag sometimes.

The female protagonist was less likeable , but she wasn't annoying, she was rather dominant. Fortunately, she had no characteristics of the usual female protagonists.

There were almost all different roles among the supporting characters, luckily they were also given a suitable character design and none of them in the foreground, let alone annoyingly implemented.

And of course there was also the butterfly Darling, which was definitely the most personable character of the entire series. His personality, ambitions, design and his way of articulating himself, everything has made him special.


Unfortunately, much of the characters in this work, something like a depth of character. They responded very quickly and gave them hardly any real screen time, which was sacrificed for the long struggles.

Music:


The intro by Busou Renkin had a very special style of singing, which means that I can by no means call this style depleted. The text and the picture were also not bad and the intro had even better animations than the anime itself.

The first outro left a lot to be desired and was now nothing special. The second outro, which was dedicated to a certain character, also had a very interesting style.

The Ost's were also very positively impressive. Nothing was empty and had proven musical taste. In particular, they accompanied the situations well.

This work has done well in the field of music.


My conclusion


This plant had great potential. There was not much to complain about about the music and the characters. However, everything failed in the area of ​​implementation. In particular, the blunt animations for an action shounen and the fights, which were drawn to immense lengths, destroyed a lot of tension.

If you had focused more on the characters or plot, the title would certainly have been more.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 11, 2024

MistyBlue

Not Recommended

Intro to the Review: (skip 2 paragraphs to get into the review)
After reading some of the reviews for this anime, I am somewhat surprised that many express the same thoughts: "this anime was generic as heck, but I still love the darn anime and give it an 8 or higher!"

For me, this anime should not receive anything higher than a 6 because it does not bring anything new to the table of overused concepts and cliches. Most, if not all anime, share some of the same concepts, but exceptionally good ones bring a twist to them that make it enjoyable. For this anime, not ... so much. However, I think those who like the anime might be due to the guy in the butterfly mask (in the anime cover picture), known as Papillon or Chouno in the anime. For more info on that, gloss over to my Character and Art portion. In the review below, I'll explain why this anime is "mediocre" and not "very good".

Story:
It's pretty much like Bleach. Mysterious girl meets boy who saves her...girl gives guy immense power and later you get to meet the organization that she works for. What's different in this anime is that the organization is not as established as the one in Bleach. Instead of meeting a few of them little by little, you meet chunks of them in an episode, giving you time to barely care about them. You barely know about it and the rest of its members until more than halfway through the anime. And then there's the Kakugane (what every alchemist warrior in this show has) that has the ability to transform into a powerful weapon. What is so annoying about this is how the kakugane makes so much BS in the show and yet it is given the least explanation and care about it. But of course, how is our main protagonist going to power up if we can't add some random superpowers along the way? The comedy was stale, the fight scenes were somewhat boring, and there was less and less suspense as the show progressed.

Sound:
The first ED was the main reason why I wanted to watch this series. The song had a beautiful and sad melody to it and it felt poignant to me. This music didn't fit in with 95% of the anime, which was mainly filled with corny jokes, generic fight scenes, and nakama moments. The second ED and OP were cheesy, so it went with the anime. The OST in the anime is pretty much your typical shounen fight scene music.

Art:
The animation was consistent throughout the show; not noteworthy, but not poorly done a majority of the time. The setting in the beginning of the anime is in a generic school scene. What does make this anime memorable to most who have seen this anime would be the character design, most notably Papillon. Shown in the poster of this page, he is not your typical antagonist (at least in the fashion sense). His flamboyant attire is the only thing he's got going in terms of "uniqueness" and it overshadows the rest of the characters.

Character:
Speaking of characters, let's start off with Papillion since that's what the show ever cares about (he even has the entire second ED to himself). At first, I thought he'd have a major impact in the story, but he's just there ...to be there in all of his bizarre glory. I swear that whoever made this story up made a character as flamboyant as he was just to hide the fact that the story is lackluster and offers nothing new in the shounen category. If you have seen HxH, he might remind you of Hisoka, an antagonist of a story whom several anime watchers might like because of his eccentric attitude, attire, personality, and strength. To me, Papillon gave me the feeling of, "Oh, it's you again" (kinda like Team Rocket) every time he appeared on the screen. I just feel like he is more like a moth than a butterfly...always flying over your head, making sure you don't forget about him. His personality and reason for going against the MC is so lame that sometimes you think the author just threw on a butterfly suit on him just to make him more appealing as a villain. If you pay attention enough, he'll say hypocrite whenever he appears.

All you need to know about the MC, Muto, is that he is the perfect mold of a shounen character: he's got the hair, the "I gotta save the world without getting anyone killed" catchphrase, the power to overpower anyone that overpowered him before in less than a month, and the ability to easily overcome life and death situations every time. You can't hate this guy as the MC, right? Right? One thing I do like about him is that he doesn't have a sad past like the common shounen character.

Then there's Tokiko, the blue-haired girl with a scar across her face. She's a stern and serious girl, but she's also very caring inside. I do give her credit though for being able to hold up in most of the fights she's been in, despite the fact that Muto has been doing the heavy lifting a majority of the anime. That's pretty much it about her. The rest of the characters felt so generic, forgettable, and disposable, that you get expected responses from Tokiko and Muto and you probably won't remember their names while watching the show. Like I said before, a chunk of characters get shoved in one episode and over a span of some episodes, making you go "meh" every time they show up on the screen. There's really nothing exciting about the characters.

Enjoyment:
What was there to enjoy in this anime? The characters were boring and annoying, the comedy was cheesy and short-lived, and the battle animation was sub par. Just because it adhered to the typical shounen genre with the flashy battle scenes and added in some weird characters that didn't really belong in this show, I didn't enjoy it at all. It didn't excite me enough to want to continue to the next episode.

Overall, the story, it's characters, and the art didn't captivate me. Things that annoyed me the most were the lack of good storytelling, disposable side characters who waste precious screentime and an ordinary MC who preaches the same thing, and convenient power ups that feel like a cheat to a game.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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