The anime that made Chinese warlords into heartthrobs. Dynasty Warriors wishes it looked this good.
Sangokushi is set in the waning days of the Han dynasty. Central rule has disintegrated, and the land is controlled by multiple warlords. Liu Bei Xuande is a warrior who aspires to build a just state and to serve the people.
Direction
Imazawa compresses 120 chapters into 93 minutes somehow
Score
Synth orchestra that screams 1985 in the best way
Production
Toei's hand-drawn battles before CGI ruined everything
Director
Tetsuo Imazawa
Kazuhiko Inoue
Liu Bei Xuande (voice)
Kei Tomiyama
Zhuge Liang Kongming (voice)
Fumi Hirano
Princess Lihua (voice)
Masaru Ikeda
Sun Quan Zhongmou (voice)
Eiko Yamada
Yu Jin (voice)
Tetsurō Sagawa
Guan Yu (voice)
Atsushi Watanabe
Zhang Fei (voice)
Banjo Ginga
Xu Chu (voice)
Jin Nakayama
Cao Cao (voice)
Kazuo Kumakura
Sima Hui (voice)
Masaru Ikeda
Sun Quan (voice)
Tamio Ohki
Jiang Gan (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Japan's first major animated adaptation of Luo Guanzhong's 14th-century novel, released during a 1980s Three Kingdoms craze that included video games, manga, and even a NHK drama.
Kazuhiko Inoue (Liu Bei) would later voice Kakashi in Naruto—imagine him teaching jutsu with this same earnest energy.
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