Otogizoushi

The year is 972 A.D. in Kyoto, the capital of ancient Japan. Kyoto is becoming a corrupt and run-down city; selfish samurai and onmyoji, who care only about gaining political power are everywhere. To make matters worse the city is suffering from famine and widespread disease. Unable to ignore the condition of the city any longer, the Imperial Court decides to send Minamoto no Raiko, a famous samurai well-known for his archery skills, to recover a legendary gem said to hold mysterious power to save the world. However Raiko also falls ill to disease. Instead his youngest sister, Hikaru, decides secretely to make the journey in his place. Hikaru meets many people, and has many adventures while on her trip for the legendary gem.

(Source: ANN)

Mansairaku Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Minamoto, Hikaru Main

Mizusawa, Fumie Japanese

Watanabe, Tsuna Main

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Usui, Sadamitsu Main

Sugiyama, Ooki Japanese

Kintaro Main

Mizuta, Wasabi Japanese

Suetake, Urabe Main

Sakuma, Kumi Japanese

Matsumushi Main

Minamoto, Raikou Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Kuzume Supporting

Asano, Mayumi Japanese

Nakatani, Toshio Producer

Nakatake, Tetsuya Producer

Morishita, Katsuji Producer

Kobayashi, Mikiko Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jul 10, 2010

Lemegeton

Recommended

Ok this is going to be a long review as this anime contains 2 very different volumes so I feel they need to be addressed separately.


Volume 1:

Volume 1 is the Heian Chapter and it is set in the Heian period of and it is by far the strongest of the volumes. Focusing on the story of Hikaru and her quest to retrieve the stolen Magatama beads to save the capital of this volume focuses heavily on action and suspense and contains a huge plot twist that I did not see coming and was one of the best plot twists that I have ... seen in a long time. These days plot-twists can be seen coming a mile away but this one totally hit me for six and I love when a show/movie succeeds in doing that. Anyway the focus of the plot is the five Magatama beads which represent the 5 elements of earth, fire, wind, water, and metal (not Heart, lol) and it is believed that when the Magatamas are together and arranged in the order of Affinity that the capital will prosper. Currently 3 of the beads are missing and the capital is suffering with famine and death and the task to retrieve them falls on the Minamoto clan. The head of the clan Minamoto no Raiko is gravely ill and so his sister Hikaru impersonates him and takes his place on the quest. What I loved about this volume is that straight away it is apparent that there is more to the Magatamas and that Hikarus quest is about more than saving the capital. While Hikaru and her party believe in the quest to save the capital, we see the scheming politicians the Ministers of the left and right clearly have an agenda, as does the onmyoji Abe no Seimei. And the mysterious warrior Mansairaku clearly has a big role to play somewhere. Everyone seems to have an agenda so it was great to see the story unfold. As the Magatamas are retrieved we see them regarded as cursed objects that bring suffering to those around them so their destiny to save the capital comes into question. As for the characters I love how a new character came into Hikarus group every few episodes as it keeps things interesting. All the characters are fun to watch even if they do seem to fit the same classic staples. Watanabe no Tsuna is the proud warrior who would give his life to protect Hikaru. Usui Sadamitsu is the cocky warrior with an eye for the ladies. Kintaro is the energetic kid with a huge appetite. You get the picture but the characters do have some depth to them. Tsuna hides feelings for Hikaru and Sasamitsu is looking for redemption.

The Animation and character designs are top-notch but my one complaint was how they drew the characters eyes. For the most part it looks fine but up close they just looked weird. The battles look great and being set in feudal you get what you expect but they are directed and animated well. As for sound the music is great and I really liked the opening for volume 1. Voice work is all around great and as usual I watched the dub. My one complaint on the voices is that Kintaro is voiced by Mona Marshall who has done a crapload of voiceovers in anime and video games and I felt Kintaro sounded too similar to other characters she has voiced.

But overall the first volume of this anime is excellent. Great story with a quick pace so you are never bored. Great animation and sound and a killer plot twist at the end. I was all pumped up for a great second volume but alas I was let down.

Volume 2

Volume 2 is the chapter and it is set in modern day Tokyo and it features the descendants of the characters from the Heian chapter or to be more exact their reincarnations. So while all the characters are here they are very different people yet maintain some traits of their ancestors so they are believable reincarnations. Hikaru is now a landlady of an apartment building and all of her party from the previous volume are residents there. While everyone is different from their ancestors some of their traits are still present. Tsuna is still a very proud man and still wants to protect Hikaru, Sadamitsu still likes the ladies and Kintaro still eats anything in sight etc… The story here revolves around the disappearance of Hikarus brother Raiko a year ago and it does eventually tie into the events from the capital from the end of volume 1. My problem with this volume is that the story moves at a much slower pace and there is not really much action to speak of. The story evolves very slowly and how it all ties into volume 1 does not become clear until the very end. All of the episodes follow the same pattern. Hikaru and Tsuna investigate reports of paranormal activity mostly because Tsuna is a reporter/photographer and these are his assignments and other times it’s related to some photos that Raiko took before he vanished and Hikaru believes these are clues to finding him. Each time Hikaru witnesses some paranormal event like seeing a ghost train with her brother on board, or in another episode Hikaru and Sadamitsu witness Sadamitsus fathers’ last fight as a boxer on the night his mother died. Along the way Hikaru meets a strange man who turns out the Mansairaku and while it his clear he knows what is going on he just talks in riddles and warnings. My problem with this volume stems from the fact that all these paranormal events and the stories around them were just not interesting and while you always sensed it had something to do with the events at the end of volume 1 none of this becomes apparent until the last 2 episodes. Now it does all tie up nicely and at the end and we understand the significance of the paranormal activity and the plot from volumes 1 and 2 come together nicely. But the problem was that you knew this was inevitable and they just took too long to get there and what happened in between was just not interesting enough and was plain boring in parts. There are about 4-5 episodes in the middle that do nothing to move on the main story and while the story ends nicely I felt they could have stretched the finale over more episodes or at least developed the main story better along the way. The most interesting thing for me in this volume was trying to figure out how Mansairaku was connected to the paranormal activity and was he the cause or was he trying to stop them. My other main complaint was the Hikarus ing cast had very little to do in the second volume and compared to their ancestors in Volume 1 they came across as downright dull.

Animation and voice acting is at the same high level as volume 1 and the opening and closing themes are different and they fit the less serious tone of Volume 2 quite well.

Ok so overall this is an enjoyable show but I would be on the fence about recommending it on the basis that Volume 2 is nowhere near as strong as the first. But I think Volume 1 was just that good that I would suggest you check it out.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 22, 2009

Takai

Recommended

-INTRODUCTION-

Someone told me that Otogizoushi has a very realistic portrayal of onmyoudo which was the main reason for my interest, along with the ancient Japan setting. Certain character designs caught my attention too, especially Mansairaku.

-STORY- 8/10

"Some day, I wish to dance only for Hikaru-dono..."

Otogizoushi consists of two story arcs. They are very different, I would even say that in a way they contrast each other. Looking at the two arcs together, I developed some very mixed feelings about the overall anime.

The Heian Arc was amazing. The first few minutes were enough to call it a masterpiece. War, epidemic, people are dying, the world is ... filled with despair. And among all that chaos, a seemingly strong yet vulnerable Hikaru and a mysterious dancer Mansairaku fall in love with each other. The creators did a wonderful job in showing the two contrasting sides: cruel battlefield and people's misery versus the short peaceful moments that Hikaru and Mansairaku share with each other whenever they chance to meet. The way she plays flute for him while he dances for her, the way they comfort each other and complete each other's existence... that sad but gentle romance touch was truly beautiful and left me speechless. I would have given it a 10 without a second thought.

But the story did not end on episode thirteen and instead moved on to the present time, the Kyoto Arc. The second part by itself was also quite interesting, and I found myself easily engaged in the mysteries surrounding the city. It felt somewhat slow paced at times, but overall it was good. There is one big problem though -- it's a completely different story. If it was an independent anime with unrelated characters, then I would not look at it so critically. But it was still Otogizoushi, yet it strayed too far away from the story that I initially fell in love with. True that eventually it started connecting to the Heian Arc, and by the end it even started looking like a sequel instead of a side story, and I won't deny that I still enjoyed it. But after finishing it, and after looking back at the Heian Arc, I realized how beautiful the original story was all by itself, and that the second story might as well not be there at all. It felt like at the end of episode thirteen the creators suddenly decided to make a sequel for the story that already ended and could not continue.

-CHARACTERS- 10/10

I found all main characters very lovable; I liked each one of them as soon as (s)he appeared. They had their flaws, and there were times I got rather angry at their decisions, but I developed a great deal of respect for each one of them. They all had their reasons for stepping (or not stepping) into the battlefield and for helping and loving each other. Portrayal of human bonds was probably the strongest point of Otogizoushi, between the main characters as well as between the antagonists. And as much as I wish the Kyoto Arc did not exist, I liked that the bond between the main characters did not change, even thought they were reborn as completely different people.

Also, Otogizoushi showed the most interesting portrayal of Abe no Seimei I have ever seen in fiction; out of all, this character shocked me the most.

-ART/ANIMATION- 8/10

I loved the art in Heian Arc. The character designs were beautiful, especially the detail in eyes, and the animation was top quality. I was simply speechless at Mansairaku's dance scenes; the battles were great too. Some of the backgrounds looked like paintings, they were that stunning. There were also times when a certain moment would 'morph' into a still image of a slightly different style, and it was such a nice touch.

I honestly don't know anymore whether I am just biased against the Kyoto Arc, but I felt like after episode thirteen the artwork started lacking, along with animation. Maybe the fact that the characters wore different clothes and had different hairstyles threw me off, but in a way it felt like they became different people. I just wasn't as impressed at the art anymore, and there were a lot less moments that I wanted to screenshot. And lastly, I have to say my little personal rant, what on earth did they do to Mansairaku? =/ I do realize that the idea was to 'modernize' the characters, but they didn't have to completely change his hair color and give him that cliche hairstyle that you see everywhere.

-SOUND- 9/10

The music in both arcs was great and fitting. Personally, I enjoyed the soundtrack of the Heian Arc a lot more; it was a lot more soothing and atmospheric. But it was something that would feel right only during that arc, and I do realize that the second arc's music had to be stylized completely differently. Also, I absolutely loved the Kyoto Arc's ending song, which is, interestingly enough, the same song (by the same performer) that Haruhi 'sings' in one of Ouran High School Host Club episodes, but with different lyrics.

I will spare you the seiyuu talk because I would end up writing a paragraph about each one, but I will mention one. Miki Shinichirou did an outstanding job in this anime, by playing both Mansairaku and Hikaru's bed-ridden older brother. I was especially impressed by the second role; his acting was so believable, and his slightly shaking voice sounded so natural, that you could really feel that Raikou was ill and that speaking was difficult for him.

---

As you can see, I have very mixed feelings about this anime and it was difficult putting them in words.
My recommendation would be to watch the Heian Arc and the Kyoto Arc within a few years of each other and judge the second one as a 'what-if' scenario instead of a sequel. But some people might enjoy both arcs equally, so I can't recommend that method to everyone.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 7, 2021

kirazerorequiem

Mixed Feelings

Otogizoushi was divided into two different arcs that felt like separate series with almost no explanation. The first arc i ended up not liking very much and stopped watching two episodes before the end. All i remember now from it is that it was in the medieval war setting and they are on a quest to obtain a stone. when i came back and continued the series it didn't seem nearly as bad as i thought as lost as i was.

The second arc felt less serious more of a slice of life, comedy, mystery. It was about Hikarus search for her missing brother while ... helping her (tenant?) Tsuna with his work of odd jobs related to the occult that later on tied in, how i felt was loosely, with the overall plot-line. The characters were portrayed well enough to attract your interests and were developed fine.

The character designs seemed rough and could have been better. What stuck out most were the faces. Their was a lot of features to their faces however most of the time they were motionless or when they weren't it wouldn't show it correctly like the kid Kintaros face while he was happy, it looked very creepy. The fight scenes on the other hand were fluid and not bad at all.

Being i hardly remember the first arc i plan to re-watch it at some point. I feel like the show had a good story to it but didn't capture the potential with the abrupt arc switch leaving it on a cliffhanger, while the slow and almost unrelated second half resolved very little. Otogizoushi is a decent title.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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