# Drifters (2016)

> Samurai Shimazu Toyohisa wakes in a magical world where history's great warriors are forced to fight each other endlessly.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/59817

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, fantasy, action, comedy
- Network: TOKYO MX
- Cast: Yutaka Aoyama, Mitsuki Saiga, Yuichi Nakamura, Naoya Uchida, Junko Minagawa, Shiho Kokido, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Mitsuru Miyamoto
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5225764/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: irreverent, brutal, comedic, adventurous

## What critics say

Audiences rate Drifters positively, valuing its irreverent mashup of historical warlords thrown into a fantasy battlefield.

## Synopsis

Drifters (2016) is a Japanese seinen isekai anime series created for TOKYO MX and produced by Hoods Entertainment, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan and Shonen Gahosha. Its protagonist is Shimazu Toyohisa, a real samurai who fought at the Battle of Sekigahara, and he is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura. In his final moments he is pulled into a magical world alongside other famous warriors from across history, including Nobunaga Oda (Naoya Uchida), Jeanne d'Arc (Junko Minagawa) and Hannibal Barca (Yutaka Aoyama). The engine of the show is simple and brutal: these figures are forced into an endless battle against one another, and each episode stages clashes between legendary fighters while Shimazu tries to make sense of a world that keeps dragging him back into combat. The series runs as a single twelve-episode season, with a serialized story in which the fighters' rivalries and political maneuvering drive the action. It is set in a fantasy realm that mixes Sengoku-era Japan with figures from European and Carthaginian history. The tone is irreverent and violent, pairing comic characterization of historical icons with bloody, grim battle sequences. Fans of Log Horizon, Sengoku Basara and Fate/Zero will find resonance in its blend of historical warriors and brutal fantasy combat.

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