Category: Hyouge Mono

I will be talking about major spoilers right here, so people who are still following the subs (really, do give it a chance despite their slowness! This show is much, much harder to translate than any other series this season) might want to look away. I warned you. This sentence is meant to prevent spoilers from showing up in aggregator sites.

That was one of the most badass deaths I’ve ever seen. I mean, holy crap. I never expected the creators to kill off Oda Nobunaga this early in this series despite being the second most important character in the series, but the way in which he went was just completely mind-blowing. His final words were just the epitome of manliness. I couldn’t pick up whether that pot he obtained had anything to do with it, but either way: the beginning of this episode was just incredible.

And besides that, this completely changes everything about this series. Sasuke now finds himself without the master he’s been loyal to for sixteen years now (that was the right number, right?), and if I’m not mistaken, he has gotten dangerously close to accessing one of those three so-called legendary ceramics. What the hell is the rest of this series going to be about!?

The pacing also was just amazing. The slow way in which every scene played out was an amazing build-up, plus the graphics also were better than ever. I can’t believe how smooth the animation got at certain points here: that was like, completely fluid. The creators really did a wonderful job in order to bring this story to life, and the direction also was just fantastic, creating an impeccable atmosphere. I’ll stop now before I run out of adjective. Bottom-like: one of the riskiest and most unique shows of the season showed here once again that it’s one of my favourite shows of the season.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

OMG WTF!?

This show is brilliant. Utterly brilliant. But… what?! And don’t get me wrong: this episode was the best one of Hyouge Mono so far, but… what!?

Just to be sure, I watched the preview for the next episode… but that was even crazier. Okay. That took me completely by surprise. This show just proved that it’s even better than I first thought. In this post I will be really vague on what exactly happened for the sake of spoilers. In any case though, next week’s episode promises to be even better, so I’ll probably have to end up talking about what the hell happened here there.

In the meantime though: the build-up throughout this episode was exquisite. It just so subtly brought the different characters alive, only to switch to the completely un-subtle quirks of the different characters. I just love how Oda Nobunaga just keeps bringing in these exotic products. The elephant in this episode again was hysterical. Rarely do I get to see an evil overlord who is this enjoyable to watch.

The way in which he uses his powers to always get what he wants and makes everyone scared of him: it’s just brilliantly done. The way in which he announces his plans to conquer the entire world: you’d almost believe that he’s actually capable of doing it. On top of that, Furuta Sasuke was also amazing to watch as usual. Usually the quirkiest characters of the cast don’t end up as the main characters, but he is one example who wonderfully defies that trend.

And really: everyone had the most wonderful facial expressions in this episode. Heck, this series has by far the most details in the drawings of its faces than any other series I’ve seen this year. Heck, it feels like ages since a show came along that had facial expressions that are this detailed. Sure, the animation of this series is obviously limited, but this is one heck of a way to make up for it!
Rating: *** (Awesome)

This show really knows when it needs to be funny and when it needs to be serious here, often combining the two really well. That falcon scene for example was hysterical, but also the start of this episode was just awesome in the way in which it turned into a political bluff-match where Sasuke had to take care of the food for important guests. The pineapple already was nicely used in the previous episode, but this episode really took advantage of these cultural differences.

Beyond that, this also had a lot of build-up, but it was much better done than in the previous episode. The acting brought the characters alive here, even when they were just talking to each other: it wasn’t as emotionless as it was an episode ago. And yet at the same time, while this series is completely different from anything that Bee-Train has ever made before, there is one thing that makes this series perfect for them, and they took advantage of this really well: the conversations, and the use of pauses there. I’m not sure whether the manga had this too, but the timing of this series is impeccable. It’s a hate or love technique of course, but I love how these silences also speak huge parts about what these characters are trying to say to each other, non-verbally.

The animation for this series has been… interesting. I mean, it’s not like this series is consistent, but the key scenes are drawn really well, and actually are very well animated. The characters may not move around the screen much, but when they do move it’s slow, yet surprisingly smooth, and these scenes really manage to stand out.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

As opposed to the previous episodes, this episode was much less “out there”, and instead was quiet build up. It again had surprisingly little of Sasuke, even though he’s the main character, and again a lot of time here was spent on the side characters and the setting. For this series a build-up episode like this isn’t nearly as bad as with most other series because a) it has already caught my attention and b) it has more than enough time to get it to pay off.

This episode was well spent in any case as it showed that Sasuke was still young (oh, the irony; in any other anime he’d be of retirement age), but I’m still curious whether or not this series will delve into the “takes forever to go somewhere” syndrome. It avoided this pretty well so far, though: every episode so far has been slow, but incredibly fun. What makes this series fun is its combination of its dialogue and its acting. This episode just had a tad too much dialogue and it’s up to the next episodes to balance this out, because this kind of build-up deserves to be used well.

In either case, this episode especially solidified Akechi Mitsuhide as a character (it’s interesting by the way how this character has shown up in three different series during the past year: Sengoku Basara and Otome are set in the same time, although I still cringe at how poorly Sengoku Otome treated these characters).

Oh, abut I did love that scene at the end where Sasuke gazes upon the wondrous pineapple. It’s a nice reference to the cultural differences at the time, and I can only imagine how a pineapple looks to an aesthete like him.
Rating: * (Good)

I can’t believe that this series has been going on for six episodes now and it’s still completely rock-solid. Where most series are struggling to remain interesting while they build up their story and characters, this series does that like it’s nothing. It uses its dialogue and direction brilliantly in order to flesh out its huge cast, while at the same time Sasuke more than makes sure that this show remains enjoyable from start to finish.

I just love this series’ wit. It’s either really subtle, or hilariously overblown. This episode was especially good at getting Sasuke to comine his love for beautiful things with his duty as a messenger. His facial expressions in the second half were priceless again. The first half meanwhile, mostly build-up was interesting because of how detailed and authentic everything felt.

Having said that though… women have a very strange role in this show (sex). I mean, it’s bizarre: we have tons and tons of fanservice series airing, and they almost never touch upon sex. And here this season comes with two shows that hardly have any fanservice whatsoever, and yet these don’t pretend that sex doesn’t exist (the other is Azazel-san, by the way; even the Hen Zemi series is surprisingly shy around the matter). I mean, I’m not against fanservice; I’m against cheaply used fanservice. When it’s functional nude like in this series I’ve got no problems with it. I do want to say that I want some more variety in this, though.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

A new OP? Already? For a 39-episode series? The ED also got a make-over. That certainly was… random, and yet it gave a totally different feeling, even though the visuals stayed the same. Ah well, it probably has to do with some licensing issues surrounding the break-up of the band who sung the original opening theme. And I must say, for something that had to be done on such a short notice, it works surprisingly well.

This episode wasn’t mostly about Sasuke, but he still cracks me up whenever he appears. As someone obsessive over aesthetics, he first marvels over the beauty of a horse, only to later outright steal. I must say, it’s very subtle how he did it, but especially his face as he swapped the wooden stir thingies was priceless. Bee-Train have always been really focused on non-verbal communication, but this show is on a completely different level on that. It’s both really subtle, and straight at your face.

What this show is also excellent at is keeping up its atmosphere throughout these long conversations between two people. The music obviously really helps there, but it’s also the above-mentioned characterization that’s just excellent: characters aren’t just talking with words, but also with their expressions and gestures. That makes the talking in this series much more than just exposition for the sake of exposition.

Oh yeah, and I know that I just keep repeating this and all, but I just can’t get over it that someone actually had the balls to make this series. Beyond being really good, Hyouge Mono is also the most unique series that Bee-Train made since .Hack//Sign. It probably won’t turn this way, but I really hope that this series’ mindset catches on. And with that I don’t necessarily mean make more shows that are about old dudes talking, but rather the mentality to take risks: the mentality to just immediately plan out the full length of your series, or the mentality to try something completely different for a change.

My only criticism with this episode: recaps. What were they doing there, and more importantly: will they get annoying in the future?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Oh god. I really admire the balls that this series have. Heck, this episode was even less mainstream than the previous episodes were! At least those had some action. This episode was nothing but some guys standing and sitting around, talking. And it just went on and on, for twenty minutes! I still can’t believe that the creators actually had the guts to make such a commercially risky series here.

So yeah, I obviously loved this episode. The way in which it built up its atmosphere was just awesome. It never let go of this atmosphere and actually gave quite an amount of airtime to a character I previously thought to be just a minor side character. It’s bee-Train, so the music obviously helped a lot here, but even that was different from their usual series. This series is actually mostly quiet, and the soundtrack only appears when it needs to, with some wonderful results, and yet this episode was partly meant to establish that the cast consist out of a bunch of complete weirdos.

Also, who the hell was in charge of the camera here? Seriously, that had me in stitches during this episode. I mean, I am a fan of Bee-Train, but I am aware of their biggest criticisms. One of them is the way in which they always really focus on long close-ups.

It really felt like this episode was poking fun at that. Seriously, it took that practice to the absurd. The close-ups got just absurdly close at times. To the point where you could look right up in the characters noses. Apart from that, some of the camera angles were at times just bizarre, like when they keep focusing on Oda Nobunaga’s smirking face. The unique facial expressions only make this even more bizarre.

What I love about this series is that it takes itself fully seriously, and yet it also makes fun of both itself and its characters. I mean, these characters are eccentric beyond belief. Even the lead character of Steins;Gate looks relatively normal compared to them.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

This episode had even more talking than the previous two episodes. It had a lot of politics and other conversations, and it actually managed to make them exciting. A lot was about Oda Nobunaga’s ambitions, discussed by his followers. It’s an excellent build-up, it touched a bit upon his backstory and really made him out to be this megalomaniac leader.

Also, this series has some strange fascination with facial hair. I mean, the vast majority of the characters here have moustaches (in fact, it has the first moustached lead character I’ve seen in a long, long while), but this episode also put some strange amount of detail in the sideburns of each character, up to the point where they were blowing really smoothly in the wind. That’s part of the charm of this series, though: the really strange facial art. Especially the facial expressions make for some awesome non-verbal communication.

Like most other series about politics, the cast is also looking out to be huge here. These past three episodes have focused on a ton of different characters. Now, these are obviously not as well fleshed out as the lead characters, but they fit in well with the other characters, in particular Sasuke. I’m not sure what it is about him, but they all play wonderfully off of him.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hyouge Mono is by far the most unorthodox show of the season. It does just about everything that you shouldn’t do to get some commercial insurance: it’s full of old guys, there is hardly any moe, and you can’t really call the characters bishies either. There is no action as well, despite this being a series about feudal warfare, and the dialogue is the hardest to understand of the entire season as well.

It’s still a huge shame that receives so little attention, though. No subs whatsoever. Heck, I haven’t even able to find any decent raws of this second episode.And that even though this show has some of the best characterizations of the season, the best soundtrack of the season, and the best lead character of the season. Seriously, if there’s any show that deserves to be watched, it’s this one, for taking so many risks.

What’s also funny is that in a medium as anime that has heaps of moe and fanservice, the actual concept of sex hardly ever gets used, and when it does you often get outright porn like with Yosuga no Sora. Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi looked to be the first example in years to actually do this even remotely well. And here this series suddenly comes, with no fanservice whatsoever, and from out of nowhere we see the main character have sex with his wife. This show really continues to surprise me.

Also, that lead character is just amazing. This guy is completely out there: on one hand he is supposed to be this level-headed army commander, but on the other he is obsessed over tea and tea bowls. His inner monologues are all just wonderful, and especially his voice actor is amazing. Plus, this show has some unique facial expressions. I mean, anime is already known for its over exaggeration of faces, but this… I don’t think have ever seen facial expressions like this in series here.

If you’d see screenshots of these expressions, you’d probably think that they look incredibly silly, and yet for some strange reason, they do an amazing job of giving the lead character his unique personality. The acting here does not aim to be as outrageous as possible; in fact, all of the expressions here are weird, but all have some restraint to them, like the main character biting his lip, or looking really surprised while trying hold himself in at the same time.

Oh, and obviously, the music is just amazing here, leading to a wonderful atmosphere. Especially at that scene where the main character actually nearly cut off the head of his wife in order to get what he wanted was wonderfully done.

I mean, this season has a LOT of good stuff here. And still, Hyouge Mono stands out by being so damn unique. It has this completely unique feeling thanks to combining feudal warfare with such an obsessive and unique lead character, along with Bee-Train’s usual style. Heck, they actually moved away from all of their usual formulas here. This doesn’t even feel similar to Blade of the Immortal: that really was dedicated to very stylish action and a cool level headed protagonist. This… is completely different aside from being set around the same time.
Rating: *** (Awesome)