Otogizōshi (Anime)

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Television series
Original title お 伽 草 子Otogizōshi
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
year 2004
length 23 minutes
Episodes 26th
genre Adventure , fantasy , drama , history
music Hideki Taniuchi , Kenji Kawai
First broadcast July 6, 2004 on Nippon TV
synchronization

Otogizōshi ( Jap. お伽草子 ) is an anime - TV series of the Japanese studios Production IG . The series was also implemented as a manga .

action

Heian episodes

In Japan in the Heian period in 972, the Kyoto court was isolated from the rest of the people. The population is starving and the warriors of the empire are gaining power. According to the prophet Abe no Seimei ( 安 倍 晴明 ), the power of the capital is to be restored through a magical ceremony. To do this, five Magatama must be collected, each symbolizing the elements fire, water, wood, metal and earth. The warrior Minamoto no Raikō ( 源 頼 光 ) should now collect these pieces of jewelry. The magatama for wood and metal have already been found, but Raikō is seriously ill.

Now his sister Minamoto no Hikaru ( 源 光 ) is supposed to seek the Magatama in his place in order to save the family's honor. She is disguised as Raikō and sent on a search together with Watanabe no Tsuna ( 渡 辺 綱 ). In their search for the magatama of the earth they meet the womanizer Usui Sadamitsu ( 碓 井 貞 光 ). This helps them to achieve the Magatama and from then on remains on their side. But when they return with the talisman, Raikō has already died. Now Hikaru must continue to take his role and collect the other two Magatama. In the further search they are joined by the chemists Urabe no Suetake ( 卜 部 季 武 ) and the strong and voracious boy Kintarō ( 金太郎 ). During her travels she falls in love with the Sarugakushi Mansairaku ( 万 歳 楽 ). So they soon manage to find the water magatama.

But she can not wrest the fire magatama from the general Shutendōji ( 酒 呑 童子 ) and so she returns to Kyoto without this. She reports at court that Shutendōji wants to attack the city, but she is not believed. So she confronts the general together with her friends, except Urabe . Meanwhile, Urabe finds out that Seimei and the Magatame do not want to save the city, but rather destroy it. So she steals the magatama of the fire from Hikaru , who was able to wrest it from Shutendōji so that it does not get into Seimei's hands . Thereupon she escapes from the yard to bring the jewel to safety and to warn Hikaru . But she is murdered by Seimei's servant Matsumushi .

When Hikaru finally opposes Seimei , it turns out that this is her love, Mansairaku . So she can't bring herself to kill him and Mansairaku can begin the ceremony to destroy the city. But by chance she can break the magatama of the fire, so that the spell is ended. But both die and only Sadamitsu and Kintarō survive the destruction of the city .

Tokyo episodes

In modern Tokyo, the reincarnations of Hikaru and Tsuna live under one roof. Hikaru is on the search for her missing brother Raikō and owns part of the broken fire magatama. Soon more and more strange events are happening around her, triggered by the Magatama fragment. Because the magic from the Heian period is still active and now threatens Tokyo. With the support of her friends and Mansairaku, who sees himself as the protector of the city and wants to end the magic, Hikaru tries to put the Magatama of Fire back together. So she can end the spell and Tokyo will avoid the destruction.

Concept and style

The two parts of the series each make up one half, 13 episodes.

Several historical figures also appear in the anime, including Abe no Seimei and Minamoto no Raikō . The Friends of Hikarus are also borrowed from people who fought under Minamoto no Raikō. The title of the work, Otogizōshi , denotes a collection of 23 stories from the Japanese Middle Ages that were published under this name from 1891.

The drawings are in the style of Japanese ink paintings, the colors are translucent. Many dark tones are used in the background; the characters are dominated by the contrast between the weakly tinted skin and dark hair and eyes. Still images were also often used in battle scenes.

Anime

The anime television series was produced in 2004 by Studio Production IG under the direction of Mizuho Nishikubo . The character design comes from Shō Tajima and Kazuchika Kise, the artistic director was Shichiro Kobayashi. The series was first broadcast in Japan on July 6, 2004 on Nippon TV .

Animax asia aired the anime in English. It has also been released on DVD in the US , UK and Australia . The series has also been translated into Russian, Korean and Tagalog.

synchronization

role Japanese voice actor ( seiyū )
Minamoto no Hikaru Fumie Mizusawa
Abe no Seimei Kan Tokumaru
Watanabe no Tsuna Kenta Miyake
Urabe no Suetake Kumi Sakuma
Mansairaku Shin'ichirō Miki
Kintaro Wasabi Mizuta

music

The music for the television series was composed by Hideki Taniuchi and Kenji Kawai . The opening credits Zen and Ashita wa Kyou to Onaji Mirai are from Attack Haus and Gomes the Hitman. The end credits were Hoshi ni Negai o and Cry Baby by Chieko Kawabe .

Manga

The manga for the series was drawn by Narumi Seto and was published in August 2004 in the Manga magazine Comic Blade published by Mag Garden . The series was also summarized in two tankōbon .

The series was published in English by Madman Entertainment in Australia and Tokyopop in the USA.

reception

The trade journal MangasZene writes that the series is very similar to Juuni Kokki because of the historical setting and allusions to legends and personalities of the story. Humor is rare and intrigues and portrayals of the people's problems cast a gloomy light on the time.

The look of the series surpasses the good plot and character development. The style underlines the desolation of people's fate. The character design is suitable with delicately tinted skin, strong contrasts and soulful eyes. The colors are harmonious and blood red is the brightest tone. The animation is fluid, only the still images in battle scenes make them seem too static. The final scenes of the episodes were particularly atmospheric.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b MangasZene No. 24, p. 13 f.

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