Hiwou War Chronicles (機巧奇傳ヒヲウ戦記, literally Fantastical Clockwork Tale: Record of Hiwou's War), also known as Clockwork Fighters: Hiwou's War, is a 2000 anime series by Sho Aikawa with direction by Tetsuro Amino and character designs by Hiroshi Osaka. It was the first series produced by Studio Bones and ran for 26 episodes.
Set in a version of the Japanese Meiji period where people create all sorts of "Clockwork Dolls" for everyday purposes and festivals, the story follows a boy named Hiwou as he opposes the evil ambitions of the Wind Gang that destroyed his hometown and captured its citizens. He and his friends acquire the Homura, a clockwork doll that functions as an Humongous Mecha, and use it to both travel the lands and fight the Wind Gang's machines.
The anime is actually the Lighter and Softer adaptation of a little-known seinen manga version that began serialization on the Monthly Magazine Z anthology just over a year before in 1999. The manga was published concurrently with the anime as it went along and ended at four volumes.
This series features examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: The Wind Gang uses winged missiles decorated with cute angry eyes and a beak.
- Adaptation Deviation: The anime adaptation was directed at younger audiences, so its tone and story differ from what happens from the second volume of manga and onwards.
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- In the anime, Nue gets away with the murder of a man and attempted kidnapping of Yuki and Hana when the heroes, including Sakamoto, decide killing a mere henchwoman after disarming her would be senseless. In the manga's equivalent scene, Sakamoto instead goes out of his way to mortally wound Nue when she tries to kidnap Yuki. Nue isn't even dignified with a fight scene as Sakamoto finishes her off with a bullet to the head between pages and leaves her naked corpse sprawled over a pile of rubble. Her death indeed comes off as too brutal and pointless, with Sakamoto knowing that even if it was in self-defense, Hiwou would hate him for this murder if he ever found out about it.
- Arashi and his teenage comrades are hardly evil in spite of the trouble they cause throughout the story, so when their rivalry with Hiwou's team finally gets to the point Ishi is mortally wounded by the destruction of the Mikoto and dies a very slow death through an entire episode, it's just disheartening and it causes Arashi to finally give up to keep from losing anyone else.
- Big Bad: Kurogane, the isolationist leader of the Wind Gang who wants to take over Japan with his machines.
- Bloodless Carnage: In one episode of the anime, a monk is beaten to death by robot monkeys but is left without any visible injuries as he gives his Long-Lasting Last Words and a Tragic Keepsake to Hiwou.
- Child Soldiers: Hiwou and his friends get caught into armed conflict several times as they drive their giant robot to search for Masurao. Then there's Kurogane's son Arashi and a trio of boys his age who help him in the giant robot battles against Hiwou. By the end, one of those boys actually dies from injuries sustained in their final battle.
- Children Are Innocent: Hiwou is a kind boy who sticks to pacifist ideals. On the bad guys' side, the young Arashi is obsessed with defeating Hiwou and the Homura mech honorably, in contrast to the older Aka who is ruthless and willing to follow Kurogane's orders to get rid of the heroes.
- Clock Punk: The series features all sorts of machines powered by springs.
- Combat Tentacles: A ninja technique used by the Wind Clan people is to shoot multiple cords with blades on the ends from out of their clothes, giving the impression of this trope.
- Cycle of Revenge: At the end of the anime, Sakamoto falls victim to a political assassination but in his dying moments he convinces Hiwou to not pursue whoever is responsible and to instead keep using Homura to uphold the peace in Japan.
- Defiant to the End: In the manga, Sakamoto shoots Nue in the chest in cold blood when she's distracted by her hostage Yuki biting her arm. After gasping at the mortal wound in disbelief, Nue grits her teeth and retaliates by leaping at Sakamoto with centipede-like appendages, but on the next page she already is a cold corpse with smoke pouring out of a bullet hole in her forehead.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Masurao dies in Hiwou's arms after a long dramatic speech, with the boy just staring at the dead man in shock for a while even as dozens of explosions go off around him.
- Disappeared Dad: Hiwou's father Masurao left home in the backstory of the series and is later found to be working with the Wind Gang because they're the only group that lets he do as he pleases to further his research on clockworks.
- Distracted by the Sexy: In the manga, Sakamoto is flustered to see Nue naked before him and is put to sleep by her hypnosis power. However, Sakamoto doesn't hesitate to shoot a half-naked Nue to death later when she takes Yuki hostage.
- Doomed Hometown: The first episode involves Hiwou's hometown being burned to the ground by the Wind Gang, with most of the villagers being taken as hostages.
- The Dragon: Arashi is the son of the Wind Gang's leader and Aka is his second-in-command. The two regularly appear to attack the protagonists with various machines.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: In the manga, Nue bares her chest one final time when she rips off her costume by releasing centipede-like Combat Tentacles on Sakamoto. She's shot dead between pages and her half-naked corpse is shown sprawled over a pile of broken crates.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the next-to-last episode, Kurogane attempts to drive the Westerners away with his machines but Hiwou stomps around his forces with Homura to get the fighting to stop. Kurogane is cut off by an explosion and is presumed to die uncerimoniously like that, finally ending the series-long conflict with the Wind Gang.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Kurogane sends Aka to dispose of his son Arashi for disobeying orders, but that is ultimately shown to have just been meant to scare Arashi and keep him in line. In the same accident that causes Masurao to sacrifice himself for Hiwou, Kurogane is seen holding onto Arashi to keep him away from it.
- Arashi acts aloof towards his allies that help operate the Mikoto, but he is heartbroken when Ishi dies from their last confrontation with the Homura and gives up on fighting Hiwou any more.
- Foil: Kurogane is a violent Well-Intentioned Extremist who grooms his son Arashi to be an Overlord Jr.. In contrast, Masurao is a genuinely good man who's kept unaware of the evil deeds of the Wind Gang and he does not force his obsessions on his son Hiwou.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Masurao sacrifices his life for his son Hiwou by shielding him from being crushed between a wall and a large mech that rolled out of control on the unstable ship they were on.
- Historical In-Joke: Hiwou encounters several historical figures throughout the series, before they made it big during the Meiji Restoration.
- Humongous Mecha:
- The Homura can shift between carriage and humanoid forms, with charged mainsprings having to be set around its body to turn it on. It is piloted by Hiwou's movements via a suit within its cockpit.
- Arashi eventually counters Homura with a steam-powered combining mecha named Mikoto that was designed with help from Hiwou's father.
- Impossibly Graceful Giant: Averted with Homura, which is a stiff and heavy medieval robot powered by mainsprings. The team must also keep it in carriage mode and pull it everywhere to save on those resources, leading to complications when they need to transverse difficult terrain.
- Kid Hero: The protagonist and his group of siblings and friends are all children. Jyoubu, the baby in the group, even has a role in activating Homura — he's left swinging around as a counterweight in a bowl.
- Killer Rabbit: Kurozaru fights by unleashing an army of robot monkeys on his enemies. They're small, cute and very hard to take seriously, but they do beat at least one man to death in the story.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Arashi spends the series clashing against Hiwou until it costs the life of his friend Ishi. With the defeat of the whole Wind Gang happening at the same time, the boy just calls it quits in grief instead of pursuing any more revenge against the heroes.
- Long-Lasting Last Words: Several mortally wounded characters only die after giving long dying speeches to Hiwou. Most notably Masurao, who dies in Hiwou's arms while explaining the meaning of his name, and Sakamoto, who dies with his face comically pressed on the floor while begging Hiwou to never enter a path of revenge.
- Meaningful Name: In his dying speech, Masurao tells Hiwou that the kanji in the boy's name means "to drive away" and that he hopes the boy can drive war away and bring about a new era of peace.
- Mini-Mecha: The Wind Gang's henchmen often ride animal-like mechs controlled by strings into combat.
- Ms. Fanservice: In the manga version, the minor antagonist Nue is the typical femme fatale ninja who tempts enemies with her nude body only to get uncerimoniously killed in an also eroticized way not too long after being introduced. This isn't the case in the anime adaptation, where neither she nor any other female character are seen naked.
- Mundane Utility: Towards the end of the series, Hiwou breaks the fighting between the Wind Gang and the Americans by being a Threatening Mediator and making Homura stomp and dance around them. It is understood the actual point of the machine is to be used as a giant performer, and not as a weapon of war.
- Naked People Are Funny: In episode 2, Shishi is being pulled to Homura by a fishing line when an attack dog keeps jumping at him with a torch in its mouth. He air jumps aboard in pain, with Hiwou laughing at how the fire burned his pants and exposed his butt.
- Nipple and Dimed: The seinen manga version features nudity scenes for the kunoichi Nue, but her nipples are only fully detailed on one page. On all the others, the illustrator only draws her areolae or frames her hypnotic body with obscuring dream-like imagery.
- Offing the Offspring: Kurogane orders Aka to dispose of Arashi for disobeying his orders and protecting Yuki and Hana. Arashi attempts to strike his father down for this, but Hiwou interrupts him, insisting Arashi must forgive Kurogane simply because he is his father.
- Outfit-Rip Sex Check: Yuki is a prince under threat of kidnapping and political assassination who has an identical twin sister named Hana. When Nue is sent to capture him in the anime, she attempts to take both twins away. In the manga version she's instead just seen carrying a naked Yuki.
- Pastel-Chalked Freeze Frame: The anime features several pastel-colored freeze frames.
- Put on a Bus: Nue is the antagonist in episode 12 of the anime but disappears until the final episode, where she's just beaten again in a very quick scene. Still a better outcome for her than how she's brutally killed in the manga...
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The heroes are frequently followed by oddball henchmen from the Wind Gang who use a variety of inventive machines.
- Schizo Tech: The story takes place in the 1860s and features exaggerated clockwork machines powered by mainsprings and steam power that wouldn't be doable in that time period.
- The Smurfette Principle: Nue is the only henchwoman in the Wind Gang, and a very minor one at that. In the anime she's prominently featured in a single episode and then only returns in a brief scene in the final episode. In the manga she loses a mech fight to Hiwou and is easily slaughtered by Sakamoto when she's cornered by him.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the manga, Nue is brutally shot to death by Sakamoto during a hostage situation. In the anime, she is defeated non-lethally both times she appears as an antagonist, complete with Sakamoto instead declaring that killing her wouldn't solve anything.
- Spider Tank: In episode 2, Arashi pilots a car-sized locomotive on spider-like legs.
- Spikes of Villainy: Several of the villainous Wind Gang ninjas wear helmets decorated with spikes.
- Tamer and Chaster: The manga version features Nue hypnotizing Sakamoto and then Sai with tattoos on her nude body only to end up being killed with her tits out. The anime version features no nudity scenes at all.
- Team Dad: Sai is the actual leader of Hiwou's squad who makes all the important decisions regarding their next destination.
- Team Mom: Among the main cast, Mayu is the one who keeps Hiwou and Shishi in line whenever they start getting into trouble.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Hiwou hates murderers and dissuades people from killing their enemies throughout the story whenever possible.
- Two Men, One Dress: Hiwou pilots Homura by manipulating an adult-sized suit while riding on Shishi's shoulders.
- Undignified Death:
- In the manga version, Nue is mortally wounded by Sakamoto mercilessly shooting her in the chest after Yuki distracts her by biting her arm. In a panic, she tries fighting back by bursting Combat Tentacles out of her clothes but is then shot in the head and is blown off the rooftop right onto a pile of crates on the floor. This happens uncerimoniously between pages, while her breasts are exposed due to Clothing Damage, and her being killed by a firearm only adds to the humiliation because the Wind Gang people reject foreign technology and weaponry in favor of clockwork gimmickry.
- In the final episode, Sakamoto is assassinated and is found mortally wounded on the floor by Hiwou. Problem is, he's face-planted on the floor with a small blood puddle under his face the whole time he's giving a final speech about peace to Hiwou, which makes his fate seem oddly pathetic for the tone of the scene.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The Wind Gang attempts to take over Japan through violence and to drive away foreign influence over the country so they can establish a new industrial revolution.
