Disclaimer: This review covers Season 1 (2009) and Season 2 (2010) of the anime series "Sengoku Basara."Well, this is an unusual situation. Brand new video game franchises rarely achieve the same attention or success they used to, and cross-platform multimedia marketing strategies are too expensive to be utilized as often. In the 1990's, it was a given that a new game might have a feature film or Saturday-morning cartoon, or even a comic book, in time for its release, to better grab the attention of children everywhere. "Sengoku Basara" is a fantasy-action game from Capcom, a franchise primarily released on the PS2, PS3 and Wii, portraying stylized versions of classic Japanese warriors as they fight each other for the country's future (a general premise that has multiple game franchises in itself). Capcom worked hard to make sure THIS game series got the marketing push it deserved: among other things, an anime series was produced in 2009, spawning three seasons and a movie, with enough success on its own to possibly have outdone the game it was based on.As for my personal experience: I was disappointed when I bought a new Bluray-DVD combo pack of the series, only to discover one Bluray disc completely missing. Having only opened the box months later (I have a backlog to get through), I was unable to get a replacement. One of many reasons why I find combo packs essential for backup purposes, when modern quality control leaves me with damaged Bluray discs far too frequently. I was able to sit down and watch the series, but this experience wasn't a good foot to start on. And despite being available for cheap (my copy was less than $20 at the time), I don't intend to get a replacement copy, however fun the show might have turned out. And "Sengoku Basara - Samurai Kings" is fun, if nothing else. It depicts several factions striving to "win" Japan, each headed by a charismatic leader (color-coded too, to make it easier to track each one). Masamune (the blue one) and Yukimura (the red one) are among the strongest leaders, and quickly build a rivalry against each other, unable to control themselves from fighting on the battlefield when in the other's sight. But the other armies shouldn't be ignored, for they have their own strategies to defeat their foes. And Oda Nubunaga, the "demon king," is a shared threat to them all, forcing them to consider a temporary truce to take down the common foe. The series is fun and mostly exciting, even if only in a stupid, shallow sort of way. Strategies about who to fight and when are planned, to give a greater sense of suspense and build-up to the battles that occur. Otherwise, the "story" is drawn out a bit too long to be worth paying attention to. In between fights, there's plenty of fun character-driven banter, with Yukimura and his elder leader Shingen having one of the best recurring bits: Shingen punching Yukimura through a wall for his naive assumptions, Yukimura looking at awe at his mentor, and each of them exclaiming each other's name repeatedly for several minutes in respect and adoration. 
Comedy and intrigue aside, you came here for the fight scenes, are while there aren't too many of them, they don't disappoint. Most of the subordinate warriors are simple men, dressed in traditional attire with a spear in hand. But the leaders are decked out with ridiculous weapons (the blue one fights with six swords in hand), with physics-defying moves and flashy shows of strength that would make the Earth shake. As far as junvenille action anime goes, this delivers in the ways that counts.The production values impressed me. Production I.G. always makes solid work, but that's especially true here. Animation is a bit more uniform and detailed during most scenes than the typical anime, and in a few action scenes, they go all out (the first episode is enough to convince an animation fan to pick up the show). Visual design is a bit of a problem. Yes, the characters are colorful, but their outfits look plain silly, sometimes enough so for me not to take them seriously. The thoughtful "Uesugi" clan is the worst example: the leader, dressed in white/blue, looks like he's wearing a suit of cloud-like pillows, and his loyal ninja servant Kasuga (one of the only women in the show) is dressed in a black skin-tight suit that reveals half her body, including a large open stripe down her chest, for no other reason than the personal taste of the character designer (despite her skill, her design and hopeless fawning over her leader, a not-so-secret crush, makes gender equality a serious issue... if you were to take "Sengoku Basara" seriously to begin with). When a large cast is involved, anime tends to go out of its way to make each character visually distinct, with dimishing returns beyond the main two or three protagonists. It's a shame a better in-between couldn't be found here."Sengoku Basara" uses a mix of period-songs and modern rock-and-roll for the soundtrack. It's simply cool, and hightens the fight scenes. It might feel appopriate to watch with the Japanese dub, given the setting and characters, but I highly recommend at least trying the English dub. It's over-the-top and cheesy in all the right ways, with each actor giving their all, and it makes the action all the more satisfying. "Sengoku Basara - Samurai Kings" is basically a stylized historical-fiction tale, featuring classic Japanese warriors as super heroes, with colorful extreme action. The story won't impress you, and the action choreography might be too unrealistic for everyone's tastes. But look at the promotional art: would you be surprised? The show delivers exactly what it promises, with such confidence and conviction that you can't help but be a little impressed. Despite occasional blood and extreme violence, it's the type of show a ten-year-old boy would love to watch. For the kid in all of us, the series might be just the action series you need.