First things first: This series is based on a novel written by Bakin, in the 19th century. The story is impressive: The Satomi clan is almost faded to die of starvation, so they ask for help to the Anzai clan. Instead of helping, the possessed clan leader attacks the Satomi. So the Satomi flee for their survival. One night, Yoshizane, the Satomi leader, says to Yatsufusa, their dog, that if he brings back the head of their enemy he will give the dog his daughter´s hand in marriage. So as promised, Yatsufusa brings the head of Kagetsura to the Satomi Clan. After forced to assume his obligationtowards the dog, Yoshizane tells princess Fuse the truth. But Fuse was already engaged to Daisuke, one of the most loyal men to Satomi.
Then Fuse accepts keeping her father´s promisses, marrying Yatsufusa.
Daisuke finds out about the secret marriage and rushes to get his revenge of the dog.
By the hands of Destiny, Fuse gets pregnant of Yatsufusa, even though they never had any close encounter.
Daisuke finds the dog and the princess and shoots Yatsufusa, but the shot hits Fuse as well.
So, Fuse holding her buddhist rosary decides to open her belly out. By doing so she spreads eight beads and the souls of the cursed offspring.
Those eight souls reincarnate as humans, and each single one of them has a bead with a virtue written in it. They are the Hakkenshi, the eight dog-warriors.
The soundtrack is excelent: it got a bit old, because of the year that the series was created...but it is very japanese...the opening "Aka-Fusha" or "Red Pinwheel" is fantastic!
The characters are very well explored, and each drama reveals itself a part of the cursed destiny of those eight souls.
The art is very good at most of episodes, except for epis 4 and 10, that are hideous. The final episodes are amazingly beautiful, returning to the quality of the first ones. That happened because it wasn´t made by one director only...several directors tried to do their sequel to the series...so some are perfect and others aren´t so good.
Overall, this is an excelent example of the way japanese classics are. Breathtaking, well told, this tale of the dog warriors is a must see!