Mon8Chan

The other two reviews of Reimeiroku have been written by people who were watching it as their first Hakuoki anime, so here's the opinion of someone who's more acquainted with the series.

Reimeiroku introduces many aspects that are relevant to later installments of the series, but I feel that it does it in such a way that you don't need to have previous knowledge to understand them. The characters are seeing these things for the first time too, and you discover them as they do. Nothing is "taken for granted" like it could happen in later installments. The pace is really good too, the story doesn't feel rushed, and I feel that they take enough time to explain things. Yes, of course there are some things left "unexplained" (like certain blonde guy who meets Serizawa), but that's because the person watching and the characters are not supposed to meet this person yet.

The script is well-written and so are the characters, they really feel the way they should and I can't think of anything they did or said that felt out of place. At least in my case, it made me empathise with the characters, their feelings conveyed by what they say, their expressions, and the overall mood.

Something that many people dabbing into otome adaptations for the first time may appreciate is that the protagonist is not a girl that finds herself surrounded by guys, but a guy name Ryunosuke Ibuki that ends up mixed in the problems of the Roshigumi by chance. In my opinion, Chizuru has a really strong personality and stands out from other otome protagonists, but I know not everyone thinks the same, so here you have Ibuki who is definitely not a substitute for the person reading/watching.

The animation is really good compared to the first Hakuoki anime, and so much effort has been put into it that even the stances the guys take before attacking are the ones you see in the games.

To sum up, I do recommend this anime to every fan of the Hakuoki series, not only because the game hasn't been localised, but because it's a really good adaptation. I knew what was going to happen at the end before watching it and I even watched the Reimeiroku musical before watching the anime, but the ending still left me in shock and speechless.