Category: Hyouge Mono

Is it me, or did Sasuke’s voice just change? It feels much deeper than before. It made this episode a bit weird: he’s still this smug anti-hero who will go through any lengths for the sake of great art, but it didn’t feel like we were listening to the same guy rambling. Overall, this episode was the first one in a while that felt a bit lukewarm, mostly because it was again dedicated to building up. I was also a bit disappointed that after last episode, Sennou Soueki suddenly got hospitalized. At this point, this show still needs a few trumps to end with. Bee-Train usually knows how to do this, but then again they don’t often do straight manga adaptations, and when they do they pick manga that are impossible to end. Perhaps the part that I liked the most was the focus on Edo. The modern images made no sense in Blade of the Immortal, but with everyone’s eyes raised at the possibilities of the future (heck, the founder of Japan is a major character in this series), they fitted perfectly, and it’s a nice touch to show the beginnings of Roppongi here. Rating: * (Good)]]>

Is Sasuke seriously walking around the battlefield with a bunch of wooden bars tied behind his back, out of fear of being shot in the back? Seriously, I know that Warfare isn’t the main focus in this series, but the tactical ideas that spring forth from the minds of these characters are just brilliant. It’s been a while since dropping giant logs on your enemies was such an effective weapon. The best one though still stems from a number of episodes ago, with Hideyoshi’s brilliant plan to build the front of a house on top of a hill to scare away his enemies. Also, there are a lot of things that this show does really well. The one that really stood out though, was the way it handles its death scenes. They’re all incredibly well acted and delivered, although we hadn’t seen one recently. This episode however… holy crap, they did it again. First of all at this point I did not expect the person in question to die, but also the way in which Bee-Train delivered it was incredibly well done. It is unfortunately getting clear that the budget is running out. Or at least, this episode had quite a few rushed shots. I guess that it’s inevitable due to this series’ length and the way that this is a series that under any other producer never would have been green-lighted, but I do hope that the creators can keep at least their standards going. At the very least there are some really talented artists working on this show that can really draw its character models with a ton of details and shadows. Rating: *** (Awesome)]]>

What is it with this show and suddenly changing characters’ haircuts for one episode?! I mean, seriously: first we had Hashiba Hideyoshi and Sasuke who both went bald for just one episode, and now that bald monk suddenly grew hair… only to shave it off again. I have been watching anime for too long. Hair isn’t supposed to change! *har har* In any case, the sudden debut of new soundtracks, along with the introduction of armors again after god knows how many episodes are really telling me that the creators have interesting things planned for the final parts of this series. Heck, it was quite interesting to just ignore the warfare aspect of this series, just to focus on character development and esthetics, only to switch back again to the warfare that made the first 15 episodes so addictive. And unlike shounen series who try this, it had plenty of interesting stuff to replace it with. Oh, and it seems that the characters haven’t stopped changing at all. Sasuke completely freaked out in this episode (being a daimyou probably made him a bit more wary about warfare than what hhe used to be). Oh, and Sennou Soueki’s new mansion. love how much creativity was put in the structures. Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>

The soundtrack of this series so far has been unique. It’s still very clearly of a Bee-Train series, but Kou Otani really restrained himself this time. It had a wonderful effect, but it may have been a bit too restrained, to the point where it could really show off as much as it would have, for a Bee-Train series, whose trademark has always been absolutely fantastic soundtracks. This episode though, introduced a track that went into the right direction, though. It’s very interesting how the creators waited 27 episodes to reveal it, and especially considering the moment when it was played, it is a very interesting hint to the future of this series. All in all this was a wonderful episode dedicated to character development. Hashiba Hideyoshi was incredibly happy after the heir news, but again Sennou Soueki sole the show, when it turned out that his views actually changed after the previous episodes. During the past episodes, he really showed more emotions than ever (and again, the music really helped with it). What’s also surprising is that even Sasuke learned from his mistakes. He was really getting too silly during the past episodes, and he actually realized that. And we still have 12 episodes to go. Rating: *** (Awesome)]]>

And so ends the second third of this series. Yes, we still have 13 episodes to wrap everything up in what still is the must unique show of the year. The past ten or so episodes in particular, as they have completely forsaken warfare, in favor of diplomacy and esthetics. In this episode, Sennou Soueki stood out. I’m still watching this thing raw, and this show still has unforgivingly difficult dialogue, so I didn’t get this perfectly, but my impression of this episode was that Sennou Soueki went a bit too far in promoting his ideals. Because he’s so revered, there are countless of cheap attempts in showing beauty through poverty and simplicity that completely miss the point. People like Sasuke who completely miss the point of art, just for the sake of being ironic. Again, this seems ver much like a satire on postmodernism. Also, I didn’t expect the creators to show his younger version with actual hair. Beauty in the eye of the beholder was a theme that went throughout this episode as well, when it showed that weird frog painting and the weird expression statue, which elicited very different reactions from everyone. And then the second half of this episode came with that very vivid nightmare of Hashiba Hideyoshi, in which he was the one cut in half. I swear, something is going to happen to him, but this show just keeps stalling that fact. It’s not necessarily dragging on, because it has enough to do in the meantime, but seriously, seeing this smug guy actually cut up would lead to some really interesting situations. It’s also great to see that after 26 episodes, this show still is as detailed as it ever was. In particular that fire scene: the props were drawn with a ton of details within them, and you could really see how they were made. In fact, there have been many historical series before, but I can’t recall any that has this part nailed as well as this series. Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>

This series is starting to turn into a parody on post-modernism. Furuta Sasuke once again delivers a crazy set-up to hold a tea ceremony, dressing like a cavemen with people playing drums in the background. Indeed, here he took the beauty of poverty and simplicity way overboard, and it looked like a bad play or something (just as like how we nowadays like to dress up like historical figures and professions). Then there was the old man, Sennou Soueki’s brother. Seriously, who was that old hag who he brought with him? It was a hilarious scene, especially with how she had an implied crush on the tea master. The strange thing is that usually in anime, the oldies are meant to be the veterans, whose part is to step back and let the young ones stand in the spotlights. Here though, they’re completely dancing around and manipulating the main cast. Also, Sasuke’s son is actually growing up! Seriously, having a kid is already one thing, but this kid takes it much further than usual by being so normal. He has no importance to the plot, and seems to be quite a generic character who is too lazy to do something of his own at the moment. He really feels like this young brat who won’t listen to his father, without being a complete tsundere for it. Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>

This again was a pretty bizarre episodes, meant to extend the influence and fame of the main cast when Hashiba Hideyoshi opens what could be called an exhibit of all sorts of tea ceremony props. A museum was made with all kinds of ceramics that he collected over the series, and what seems like an entire village of tea ceremony houses. Buy far the strangest was of course Sasuke’s tree-house, which inevitably crumbled (though in quite an hilarious way), but also the strange old man made an interesting reappearance. What really sold me on this episode was how wonderfully Sasuke is enjoying all of the attention cast on him. At this point, he really is a famous character, even though he too still is in Sennou Soueki’s shadow. The acting was once again just wonderful: 24 episodes and it still hasn’t dulled in. The characters still are as sharp as they ever were. Also, who was that kabuki-player? Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>

This episode was about Sasuke’s new mansion as the lord of Olive. The mansion was… weird. Instead of being all flamboyant like with what Hashiba Hideyoshi did to his castle, this mansion was made to look old and run down…

The best part however was Sennou Soueki’s part in this. It’s been a while since we’ve seen any emotion from him, and in fact the only times we’ve really seen it is when he was touched by in his eyes beautiful works of art. That only happened once before. Furthermore, to actually force Sasuke to use a main room that he actually doesn’t like also was awesome. And heck, Sasuke’s name is already starting to spread because of the new mansion.

Next season… Thursdays will be completely crazy. Seriously, this season had the benefit that Usagi Drop was laid back, and No.6 was also fairly straight-forward. Next season, Hyouge Mono, Penguin Drum, Persona 4, Un-Go and Guilty Crown will all air on the same days. How much balls can you stuff into one day anyway?!

In fact, after I looked a bit more into the actual programming, the next season seems bizarrely strictly laid out: Monday will be the day of slice of life, with both Tamayura, Kimi to Boku and Squid Girl, Sunday will be the day for shounen with Hunter X Hunter, Gundam, Phi Brain and Mirai Nikki, Thursday will be for the older crowd with the series mentioned above. Only Saturday is a hodgepodge of random series. Incidentally the harem shows don’t seem to care about this pattern at all and just air whenever the hell they like.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Oh god, Sasuke, you’re killing me! This was the best Hyouge Mono episode of the past few weeks, and finally we get to see again what a complete crazy bastard Sasuke can be. The stuff he pulled (and actually got away with) in this episode was just absolutely hilarious.

It already started at the start of this episode when he and his henchmen climbed the castle of the Akizuki clan. The way in which he used his subordinate as a chair was definitely not something I expected him to do now that he’s got actual power over people. After that he rams the castle and instead of his original goal of taking the third of the legendary jars, he then runs into the daughter of the Akizuki clan and proceeds to seduce, deceive and kidnap the daughter of the Akizuki clan.

I also love how this guy takes advantage of every single chance he can get. At the end of the day when he found out that the Akizuki clan used a fake for the lid of the jar, the look on his face was just priceless. In fact, I just love that smug arrogance of his and this episode was full of opportunities to show this.

The second half of this episode then proceeded to go in an entirely different direction: Europe. Suddenly Sasuke’s younger brother came into the picture and we actually got to see quite an interesting turn of events on his part, when the relationship between the Hashiba clan and emissaries from the west take a hit due to an unfortunate incident with Hideyoshi. It’s completely different from the first half, but it fitted in really well. Hideyoshi also screwed up by completely getting upset, and I can feel that this is going to mark the start of his fall. I can’t wait!
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Next in line of brilliant tactics: Hashiba Hideyoshi’s plans of this episode. Build the front face of a huge house in order to intimidate the enemy. It’s hiariuos, but very cleverly found and it fits this series to a T. Always thinking outside of the box.

Now, I do wonder when this series is planning to shake things up again. We’ve now had quite a few amount of episodes of relative stability, where Hashiba Hideyoshi was pretty much allowed to do as he pleased (aside from that one episode where Sennou Soueki pushed him perhaps a little too much, which indeed was one heck of a highlight). Something is about to happen. If my limited Japanese understood correctly, he is about to bet his hands on the third of those legendary pots, in the current hands of the Akizuki clan. My gut says that something major will happen to it. Either Sasuke will get his hands on it, or it will spell the start of his decline.

The characterization was again as rock-solid as ever, far beyond all of the other stuff this season. I still love those scenes where the creators try to make their frames as smooth as possible; this episode did that especially to people changing facial expressions. The highlight though… was without a doubt Tokugawa. What a quirky way to portray a man falling in love.

Oh, and I also love those little details that nobody seems to even mention. I mean, why did Hashiba Hideyoshi forget his left mustache at the beginning of this episode? (That line is probably going to sound really weird for anyone who hasn’t seen this series)
Rating: ** (Excellent)