is a Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series made by Group TAC

Group TAC

Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968. They have worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and have contributed to all stages of the process, including planning, production, sound effects, and so on...

. The anime is based on The Hakkenden

The Hakkenden

is an OVA series by AIC in two sequences, the second subtitled Shinshō . A TV series sequel, Shin Hakkenden, aired in 1999. The anime is based on the epic novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden written by Kyokutei Bakin during the latter half of the Edo Period...

except it is set in the future. It is licensed by Hirameki International in the US. Directed by Gisaburô Sugii

Gisaburo Sugii

is an anime director and Nihonga artist. He is currently a member of the anime studio Group TAC, and is most well known for his work as director of the Touch series and the movie Night on the Galactic Railroad...

, the anime's 50 episodes were broadcast on NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 between April 8, 1995 and March 30, 1996.

Plot

Isami Hanaoka is just a fifth grader who happens to be a descendant of the Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi

The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...

. Together with fellow descendants and classmates Soshi Yukimi and Toshi Tsukikage, she discovers in the basement of her home, strange artifacts left behind by their ancestors as well as a message urging them to "Fight the evil Kurotengu organization".

Theme music