Category: Hyouge Mono

The great thing is that only now have we passed the halfway point of this series! While just about every other series is nearing it’s end, we still have 19 delightful episodes of Hyouge Mono left. If I hadn’t done it yet, Bee-Train, I applaud you on such a consistent job you’ve done on this series.

This episode was as excellent as any other Hyouge Mono episode. It wasn’t a major episode, but still stuffed with some interesting developments. The best part was seeing it all play out though. The first half had Sasuke visit a friend of Soueki, who seems to also be a master of aesthetics, despite being incredibly poor. After that, it was the time for the bald monk assistant of Soueki to go a bit berserk over his own sense of aesthetics after he heard Soueki comment on Hashiba Hideyoshi’s sense of style (which indeed is pretty awful). I’m really interested in what he’s still planning to use him for.

Overall, halfway though, Hyouge Mono turned into a series that I really could not have predicted. The way at which it looks at aesthetics still is amazing, and at this point the characters also have developed or grown quite interestingly.

As for the music: this definitely has the most mundane soundtrack ouf of any Bee-Train series yet, aside from perhaps .Hack//Dusk, but I’ve mentioned before that I consider that show to be by far Bee-Train’s worst production. The thing is though, that with this music, it is able to create one heck of an atmosphere. It’s still amongst the most original and unique soundtracks of the year, although I do feel like they lost out to Dororon Enma-Kun this year.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Finally, after two weeks we’ve got more Hyouge Mono again. While the wait was terribly long, it did make me realize again how special this series is, and how this series just does not care about how many conventions it screws.

The details in the animation once again were sublime. This series may not have a big budget or anything, but the animation when Hideyoshi performed that dance was just amazingly smooth and powerful. On top of that, the amount of detail this series puts in its characters’ facial expressions still is completely un-rivaled. This makes it able to bring its characters alive in such a unique manner.

Even though this was a lot of building up, it’s still a ton of fun to watch Sasuke build up his own… um… “empire”, while at the same time, the focus is really starting to shift towards Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who after Oda Nobunaga rose up to try and unite Japan. I really wonder how this series is planning to use its length. It seems the most logical point to end would be where Tokugawa Ieyasu manages to unite japan successfully. It’s just… how will Hideyoshi and Sasuke play their parts in this? I mean, according to History the hostilities between the Hashiba and Tokugawa clans will end with Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s influence. At this point, I can still so many barriers before that’s gonna happen.
Rating: ** (Excellenty)

The acting in this episode was sublime. Its biggest purpose was to set things up and hint a lot, but the delightful acting made it a wonderful episode to watch. Especially the tension that was generated between the different characters was amazing.

Something is really telling me that Hashiba Hideyoshi’s days are numbered. In the previous episode he already went with that ridiculous get-up, but this episode really hinted that something’s going to happen to him. Especially since he finally refused to simply be Senno Soueki’s assassination tool, right in front of his face. The artists and animators did an amazing job to really draw all kinds of intricate details in their non-verbal communication. Oh, and then there was also that rape scene.

On top of that, there were also these small details like that small intimate moment in which Sasuke gets his wife a small present. I really like how the creators portrayed his relationship with her: finally we have a romance where everything is right: you can see that they both love each other and to their best to support each other. There is no drama whatsoever and they really fit well together considering the time, setting and culture that they’re in. Heck, even Tiger and Bunny had to pull the dead wife twist: Sasuke really has just a happy family that are a large part of his life, yet know that they have no business in the story.

The real story in which grown up men fight over their toys like little babies! I really cracked up at the scene in which they accidentally broke that precious pot over their negotiations. Negotiations that were serious business, by the way, so I can’t wait to see what comes out of it, especially after what happened to Hideyoshi.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Oh god. We’ve reached the point now where Sasuke has become a Daimyou. A Japanese feudal Lord. He got his own area to govern over. An area he chose because its name sounded like “Olive” (the color, not the food). So now, he’s the Lord of Olive. If this guy isn’t eccentric, then I don’t know anymore. I can only imagine what he’s planning to do with it. Mind you: we’re not even at the halfway point of this series. There’s still so much that still has to happen (39 episodes for the win!).

Seriously though: some very interesting things have happened since the death of Oda Nobunaga: Sasuke has gradually been climbing up the ranks under the influence of Hashiba Hideyoshi. Under Oda Nobunaga he was just a messenger on the front lines, but with Hideyoshi things are completely different and he was able to grab much more influence by playing his cards right.

Heck, we see very little main characters like him, who actually end up having so much influence, unless we’re talking about nobles, royalty or other stuff that allows you to inherit everything you need from your parents or stuff like that. And most characters who do meet these criteria often try to keep it a mystery of how they made it to the point they are. Sasuke may be from an influential family, but the past 17 episodes really showed in detail that the biggest reason why he is at the place he is now thanks to his own abilities, connections and effort. His family only plays a relatively minor role, and his genes aren’t even hinted at.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

This was a fairly focused episode: most of it revolved around Furuta Sasuke visiting Tokugawa Ieyasu. This, after the pineapple incident when Oda Nobunaga was still alive. Once again it takes a unique approach to what would have been a political meeting by focusing more on the food that gets served and silly dances.

That silly dance was by far the biggest wtf-part of the episode. Silly dances are of course one thing, but in a series where the character designs are so much more detailed than usual, This episode was really a bit of a political game, and I also liked how Sasuke had huge troubles not following Tokugawa Ieyasu’s example with the pineapple and get into a fit of rage.

And again, this show handles deaths very well. This time, by not spending a lot of time to it, and just focus on the funeral of Sasuke’s brother. And again, to think that Sasuke already has two children. That’s another reason why the past season rocked: normally you never see an old protagonist, and yet here suddenly come two series with main characters who already have significantly old kids. Now the summer season brings in Usagi Drop, and I really wish that this is going to be the start of another trend.

But then again, I really doubt that Hyouge Mono will become a trendsetter. I mean, it’s got the ideas and all, but I doubt that it’s going to have the influence…
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Might as well start catching up with Hyouge Mono’s latest episode, and really: it’s again great to see how elegantly this series creates its drama. This really doesn’t aim to be the most exciting series, but it brilliantly uses its subtle and slow atmosphere and characterization to deliver its drama… only to follow up with its facial expressions. Oh, those facial expressions: they’re still priceless after fifteen episodes.

The interesting thing is that they really feel apart of this show now, as in they’re not used as anti-climaxes or anything: I’m not sure how, but both the really well detailed facial drawings as the distorted faces contribute to this series. They’re often funny, but along with the pacing, music and direction they really bring out the best of these characters. This episode showed that as well, with a ton of talking, but perhaps just as much non-verbal communication.

It’s building up, but this again was the kind of build-up that doesn’t just try to stall for time until the next exciting bit, but also really tries to deliver a really good story. This episode both built up the tension between Sasuke, Hashiba and Senno, and already used this tension between them with great results. And of course we still have that black guy. On one hand he is a bit stereotypical, in the way that he again is this tough no-nonsense guy, but at the same time he is really well used with Nobunaga’s death.

Oh, and in terms of the tiny details: I like how this series actually keeps track of the hair of its characters: it actually grew back for both Hashiba and Sasuke. That’s rare, because usually when a character cuts his/her hair, it always stays the same length, even though significant time passes.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

The first half of this episode was nothing special, so I thought that this episode would take a break after the “action-packed” previous episode. Okay, so that turned out to be wrong. This episode was sublime. The acting in the second half of this episode was once again wonderful. Spoilers down below, for those who haven’t seen this episode yet.

Things obviously got hilarious once Sasuke showed up again. Seriously. This guy as a leader is just awesome, and Mitsuhide’s move on him had me in stitches. Not to mention his new look. Oh god. that came out of nowhere. It;’s going to take a while to get used to that…

But this episode really shined because of Akechi Mitsuhide. I’m really not sure what it is, but this series has an amazing sense when it comes to the death scenes. Yes, Mitsuhide dies in this episode, and I love how much time the creators took out in order to show this. This really allowed them to put in a ton of detail, from between his defeat, to him fleeing his castle, to the point where he eventually gets slain. And finally we get to see one of those scenes where someone takes forever to die, done really well. Akechi’s death is slow, but you can really see him get worse with every second. The visuals again were really good, and the voice acting once again was rock solid.

Seriously, with the Summer Season, Thursdays are going to be crazy: Noitamina, plus Penguin Drum, Blood-C and Hyouge Mono. It’s a wonderful line-up. It’s difficult to compare everything because the series this season are so incredibly diverse. There probably won’t be a series with acting as good and refined as Hyouge Mono: this show is just too good for that. However, there are plenty of other ways to stand out. Penguin Drum has its characters, Blood-C has its animation and pacing, Usagi Drop has its realism, No.6 has its setting, and in this way I could go on for the entire season. I have no doubt that this is going to be an awesome ride.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Something really interesting happened in this episode. The stage was a large scale battle, probably the largest scale we’ve seen so far. It’s something anime has always been weak at: animating small armies and the battles between them. So I’m really surprised at how much detail this episode managed to put in it. Seriously, this was much more realistic than what you usually see!

Take for example the shot from far above: the creators actually tried to animate it. It was clunky, but heck: you could see how every figure moved. That really is something I have never seen in anime before and this episode actually managed to show the sheer size of the armies it was dealing with. The soldiers weren’t just specks, they actually had movement and weight to them.

Then, the actual battlefield: again you usually see people just swinging swords randomly in the midst of the plot. After this episode I realized that a common tactic is to show one character, then the next, then the next in order to keep the action going. The way in which this episode kept focusing on Sasuke gave it a completely unique dimension. It still was a complete brawl, but it also focused on the moments of silence on the battlefield, when there was nobody coming after Sasuke or when he was lying down, nearly knocked out. Also, instead of just showing a bunch of guys coming after Sakuke all at once, this series actually made all of them have their own purpose.

It’s really much more of this “screw conventions, we’re re-imagining this one completely!”-attitude that I love, and this show rocks especially because of how well it works. It’s all incredibly detailed, authentic and well written. I love it in particular when not just the characters, but also the creators use their brains during a major battle scene, and that’s exactly what happened here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

I was surprised to see Christian references pop up at the end of the episode, until I realized that Japan’s seclusion of course only started with the Tokugawa period. Before we already saw Oda Nobunaga as very interested in other cultures, and now it turns out that one of Sasuke’s brothers has taken up Christianity (or at lest, now is the first time I noticed).

In any case, this episode marks the start of the cooperation between Hashiba and Sasuke. Surprisingly Hashiba is a lot more open now, I have no idea whether him killing Oda Nobunaga had something to do with that. The new alliance seems to go against that of Akechi Mitsuhide (who also pulled an interesting act to paint Oda Nobunaga’s castle white, the opposing colour of Sennou Soueiiki’s preference). And to think that that old guy of episode two is returning, this definitely is turning out to be interesting.

For these past two episodes, I’ve also been surprised at the role of the soundtrack in this series. It’s still Bee-Train like in the way that it’s completely unconventional, but most bee-Train series have always had powerful soundtracks with a lot of presence. This one doesn’t, and only pops up every now and then. Overall, it’s not OUtani Kou’s best work. That award goes to either Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino or Haibane Renmei.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

What the hell? Another new OP?

I could understand the first OP change, after the break up of the band who performed the first OP. The second OP was a pretty logical choice seeing the time constraints. The third OP though… is just pure madness. It’s like the creators went “ah, we’re doing these random songs anyway, so we might as well roll with it”. The new song is just completely bizarre and random. Talking about something completely different. This really sounds like they let a cat walk over a keyboard and constructed a nice melody around it. And yet for some reason I like it a lot. It’s been a while since an OP this pleasantly surprised me.

Anyway, this episode continues with the aftermath of Oda Nobunaga. It’s clearly build-up, but it nevertheless retained that great atmosphere, and did a great job of getting everyone to prepare for the inevitable chaos and run for power that will ensue. Mitsuhide realizes that his position is very frail, and Sasuke meanwhile gets a new position offered by his brother. I couldn’t exactly pick up what he’s going to do because the dialogue is so freaking complex, but I understood enough that this could very well become the glory that he always hoped for.

Also, more wtf-news on this series: it just distanced itself from the manga it’s based on. What the hell? Wasn’t this supposed to be an incredibly accurate adaptation? From out of nowhere, the official site lists the manga author credited as “original scheme”, instead of “original story”. They refuse to say exactly why, so did they get into a fight or something? I mean, I can understand why Clamp got angry at them for Tsubasa Chronicle and all, but with such an accurate adaptation?

The weird question right now is of course: what’s going to happen to this series? Will it just continue adapting the manga like it has always had, or will it in a few episodes go into its own direction? It’s here where those 39 episodes really are going to be interesting, because it’s got plenty of time to resolve all of these issues. With Bee-Train, it’s definitely going to be interesting.
Rating: ** (Excellent)