Alternative title(s): Gorgeous Butterfly: Young Nobunaga, Kochoki: Wakaki Nobunaga
Anime original by Studio Deen
Streaming on Funimation

Premise

Before Oda Nobunaga grew to become one of the most famous warlords in Japan’s history, he was Kipposhi – an apparently lovable scamp (and extreme pretty-boy) who spent most of his time mixing with street urchins and being hated on by his parents.

Artemis’ verdict: Too Boring To Be Bad

This was very much the kind of episode you forget several minutes after watching – I honestly had trouble remembering most of what went on when it came to writing this post. Partly that’s probably because I’ve watched so many anime about Oda Nobunaga that they’ve all started blending together by this point; that Kochoki differentiates itself by telling a story about Nobunaga before he was known by that name doesn’t add a whole lot to the originality of the proceedings. The episode wasn’t outright bad so much as it was utterly dull, from the dialogue down to the bare bones artwork. I will say this is certainly the girliest-looking incarnation of Nobunaga I’ve seen to date, which is saying quite a lot, but otherwise, I can’t think of a single aspect of Kochoki that makes it stand out. Even the die-hard fans of Sengoku Period-anime might have trouble getting excited about this one.

Jel’s verdict: Misfire

We’ve seen so many interpretations of Oda Nobunaga in anime that simply doing a teenage-years version barely registers on the interest scale. I’ll give the show credit for attempting to tell a story and not just act as an excuse to cart out a harem of cute boys, it just doesn’t do a great job of it. Exposition swings from slow and lazy to ham-fisted melodrama, and it was just a chore to watch the episode. I think the core story could actually be interesting, but not like this.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve carted this one but if you do want an anime with a girly Oda Nobunaga and a ton of movie references (or you just like weird anime), check out Sengoku Collection. Or maybe even better, Nobunagun. Yeah, try that.