"Real Bout High School": how bad?

[chloes_fork]

So there's a boxed set of this (with soundtrack) available dirt cheap. I've liked most Gonzo shows I've seen, I'm a fan of Keiji Gotoh's character designs, and asskicking cuties are never a bad thing. And yet, what little I can find in the way of reviews and discussion of this series seems to be pretty negative. So just how bad is it? Or does anybody think it's actually good?

[Rhodes]

there are better fighting shows out there. art quality drops as the series goes on... cast is way to big for the number of eps. and they seem to use some of the manga's storyline but takes things to a fantasy setting with the necklace.

however i am a rbhs fan, enjoy the manga and the anime. its not the best but i like the designs and the dub. mindless entertainment with ryoko swinging her sword around.

[TalonG4]

I haven't seen the whole thing myself as I stopped after the second volume. The first volume was full of potential with the coolest DVD menus I have ever seen. Unfortunately, the plot they had going seemed to be completely dropped in the 2nd volume and from what people said, it didn't get any better. It's too bad because I loved the character designs and premise.

[touma]

I do not like fighting shows. Martial arts are just not of interest to me. I decided to try RBHS because of the character designs, a great price in the first DVD, and the complaints about the show, which made it seem like something other than a typical fighting anime. I liked it.
I actually enjoyed RBHS and had a lot of fun watching it.
It it mostly fanservice and comedy. The fighting did not seem very serious or realistic, which was good for me. There is also a fantasy story about monsters from another world, or demension. It did not really make a lot of sense to me, but I did not really care. I was not watching RBHS for the plot.
So, it has a lot of cute girls and a lot of fanservice, but no real nudity that I remember.
It has a lot of fighting, both between the students and with the monsters, but no extremely graphic violence.
It was a lot of fun for me, but not for everybody.

[Super Saiyajin Joshua]

The biggest problem my girlfriend and I had with it was it seemed to hint at so much but never really explained anything. There was a line during a fight near the end where the character says "I have no idea what's going on here!" My girlfriend and I both yelled at the TV afterwards "Neither do we!!"

[Kevinroc]

I found the first disc to be very enjoyable. But after that, the series just got worse and worse. It ended up being a major disappointment.

[AbeChinchilla]

VERY BAD.

Check out the manga though.
No horrible "must-fight-monsters-in-next-dimension" bullshit subplot in the manga.

[Miss Amii]

Really bad. After the fifth episode, the DVD menus are more entertaining than the actual series. I didn't think much of the first volume of the manga either.

[yumy]

Hmm, everyone is so harsh, i thought it was OK. Like if i hadn't seen it, i would watch it over again, but i wouldn't pay a lot for it.

[balthier2012]

Forget this show ever existed and check out...

Tenjho Tenge

[TuxedoFred]

Let me put it this way: if you buy the show, take it home, and open up the DVDs, you've pretty much experienced all it has to offer.

[Fencedude]

[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
Forget this show ever existed and check out...

Tenjho Tenge

[/ QUOTE ]

God no.

RBHS: Complete and total crap

Tenjou Tenge: Crap

Ikkitousen: Sexy, but Crap

Airmaster: Fucking AWESOME!

[Mary]

[ QUOTE ]
Fencedude said:
[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
Forget this show ever existed and check out...

Tenjho Tenge

[/ QUOTE ]

God no.

RBHS: Complete and total crap

Tenjou Tenge: Crap

Ikkitousen: Sexy, but Crap

Airmaster: Fucking AWESOME!

[/ QUOTE ]

I beg to disagree a smidge- grin

RBHS: Complete and total crap - oh yeah - it is so so bad

Tenjou Tenge: Crap - held my interest but not enough to buy or keep

Ikkitousen: Sexy, but Crap - perverted kinky crap

Airmaster: Fucking AWESOME!

[/ QUOTE ] -worse than crap - bad design, stupid story and worse than stupid fights

Better fighting shows are YYH and Flame of Recca - though they are very similar in style and story

Mary

[chloes_fork]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Though to those who are recommending alternative fighting shows, I have to say that much like Touma, I'm not really interested in the genre per se. This particular series just caught my eye because of the designs and the studio and the cheapness. So I'm not really deciding between RBHS and, say, Tenjho Tenge. It's more like RBHS or nothing at all.

[touma]

[ QUOTE ]
chloes_fork said:It's more like RBHS or nothing at all.

[/ QUOTE ]
In my opinion RBHS is much, much better than nothing at all.
But I am sure that some will disagree with that. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[AbeChinchilla]

[ QUOTE ]
chloes_fork said:
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Though to those who are recommending alternative fighting shows, I have to say that much like Touma, I'm not really interested in the genre per se. This particular series just caught my eye because of the designs and the studio and the cheapness. So I'm not really deciding between RBHS and, say, Tenjho Tenge. It's more like RBHS or nothing at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

The RBHS anime character designs do NOT hold a candle to the beautiful manga designs. I think the artwork in the manga is SO... detailed.

Check it out, or die trying!!

The first disc is quite good. It sets up what could be a fun premise and has good animation quality throughout. Unfortunately most of the episodes on discs 2-4 seem to be animated by Gonzo's "F" team and are very low quality; although there are a few episodes that look good. Story-wise it really goes nowhere and doesn't live up to what it could have been based on the first discs; they really should have stayed with the battling students concept. If you are a dub fan, I thought the dub was pretty good. There's also a good selection of extras involving the two main Japanese actresses across all the discs; Keiji Gotoh even shows up in a couple. Overall I would give the series a C-, and even though I sold off my discs, if I can find disc 1 cheaply (or even the set), I would probably pick it up again as several of the episodes are quite fun.

[balthier2012]

Then get it. Although watching a show just because of the artstyle and designs... very not common. Most like to watch a show becuase of story and character developement. But it's average and fights weren't too bad, I found it got more bland each episode.

[pianocello]

[ QUOTE ]
Fencedude said:
[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
Forget this show ever existed and check out...

Tenjho Tenge

[/ QUOTE ]

God no.

RBHS: Complete and total crap

Tenjou Tenge: Crap

Ikkitousen: Sexy, but Crap

Airmaster: Fucking AWESOME!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I think:
RBHS: Starts promising and becomes total crap.

Tenjou Tenge: Horrible crap with horrible annoying characters.

Ikkitousen: Starts so-so and becomes awesome around ep. 7. Did I mention that this has lesbians? /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

Airmaster: AWESOME!!Best fighting anime EVER!

[balthier2012]

I can't comment on Airmaster as I haven't seen it. Although didn't it have a bad release or they suddenly stopped releasing it at like v3? Have they started continuing it yet?

[Magic_Knight]

For the $25 it's definately worth it. There are two episodes that are outsourced, and the ending is rushed (and not everything explained), but the characters, fanservice and fight scene in the first episode are worth the $25 price point.

[chloes_fork]

[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
Although watching a show just because of the artstyle and designs... very not common.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I wouldn't watch it just because of that, which is why I was asking about its quality otherwise. Appealing design work is always a plus, though.

[Nuriko]

[ QUOTE ]
chloes_fork said:
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Though to those who are recommending alternative fighting shows, I have to say that much like Touma, I'm not really interested in the genre per se. This particular series just caught my eye because of the designs and the studio and the cheapness. So I'm not really deciding between RBHS and, say, Tenjho Tenge. It's more like RBHS or nothing at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

I enjoy everything about it except for the story. If you think you can stomach a series knowing that the story goes nowhere, then get it. Volume 1 was awesome and I like the character designs, music, extras, etc. Overall I'll give it a B- because I thought it was fun and I liked the fanservice.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't buy it at normal or preorder prices, but if I could get the whole series at a cheap price, I'll do it!

[Otakufan]

[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
I can't comment on Airmaster as I haven't seen it. Although didn't it have a bad release or they suddenly stopped releasing it at like v3? Have they started continuing it yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

I only saw the first episode which was on a Toei english only demo dvd sent to me from the folks at Right Stuff with one of their orders. And of course, Toei has withdrawn after completely flubbing the subbed version so I understand.

Which is a pity as Airmaster looked like it was gonna be a very interesting series. Sigh......

Hopefully, some other region one company will eventually pick this property up (with proper subtitles of course) and complete the series.

J.A.

[chloes_fork]

Thanks for the replies, everybody. I've decided to temporarily forgo the show in favor of some stuff in the current TRSI sale (I think most would agree Berserk should be a higher priority /images/graemlins/happy.gif ), but I'm keeping RBHS on my list for future purchase.

[AbeChinchilla]

[ QUOTE ]
chloes_fork said:
but I'm keeping RBHS on my list for future purchase.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, no, no! The manga, the manga!

[chloes_fork]

[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
No, no, no! The manga, the manga!

[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry, but my dirty little secret is I'm not much interested in manga, though I occasionally check them out after enjoying their respective anime. Guess I just need my entertainment spoon-fed to me in my advancing years. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif But again, if I watch the RBHS anime and like it, I might give the manga a try.

[balthier2012]

[ QUOTE ]
chloes_fork said:
Thanks for the replies, everybody. I've decided to temporarily forgo the show in favor of some stuff in the current TRSI sale (I think most would agree Berserk should be a higher priority /images/graemlins/happy.gif ), but I'm keeping RBHS on my list for future purchase.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hell yes, Berserk is higher priority. Could have noted that was on your buy list earlier /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Trey-Trey]

I bought mine for about $20 brand new on Ebay a little earlier this year. After the first volume, I found myself doing other things and looking up occassionaly at the TV. Didn't hold my interest too much, but for completionist whores like myself (Gonzo!), it's not a bad buy for the entire series.

I even saw it at Waldenbooks for $25.99. And they're always overpriced on things like DVD's. So it just depends on how you'd like to spend about $20.

[Njr Scrawl]

If you want to try a single disc release with fighting females, try Variable Geo (ADV).

Instead of schoolgirls, it has waitresses.

Class A seiyuus like Kotono Mitsuishi, Iwao Junko, Yuko Miyamura & Ai Orikasa for the characters' voices.

[Captain Impulse]

I. Hate. This. Show.
I think I enjoyed maybe one episode out of them all (<span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>the Iron Chef spoof episode</span>), but that's it.

For me, it ranks down there with Shadow Star Narutaru and a couple of the other bottom-dwelling shows I really dislike that for some reason I can't remember right now.

[chloes_fork]

[ QUOTE ]
Captain Impulse said:
For me, it ranks down there with Shadow Star Narutaru and a couple of the other bottom-dwelling shows I really dislike that for some reason I can't remember right now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, but I liked Narutaru a good bit. So should I consider this a recommendation? /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[GanChan]

I suffered through the first two episodes, fell asleep during the third, and returned the DVD unfinished. Either I was too dumb to follow what was going on, or I couldn't bring myself to care.

[Fencedude]

[ QUOTE ]
chloes_fork said:
[ QUOTE ]
Captain Impulse said:
For me, it ranks down there with Shadow Star Narutaru and a couple of the other bottom-dwelling shows I really dislike that for some reason I can't remember right now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, but I liked Narutaru a good bit. So should I consider this a recommendation? /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

No.

Just consider that Impulse has bizarre taste.