V Reviews: Onihei - The first dream project of an aging producer

One of the few Winter 2017 titles that picked my interest was one that wasn't available through regular means. The anime named Onihei is one of the first anime to be only available through Amazon Prime, where anime only goes to die.

All bad jokes aside, seasonal anime that end up being "reserved" through premium streaming services are a good thing for legally watching anime (see my previous rant on the closing down of Nyaa). But the downside is that all the different services together can cost you quite a bit. Especially with Amazon's model, where you both need an Amazon prime account + an Anime Strike subscription. Both together costing you 16$/month.

At first I would've said that Onihei by itself isn't really worth that much money, since it's only an "above average" anime.

But when I started researching this anime's backstory segment, I ran into so many things that I had to change my opinion completely. Let's get over this one step at a time to show you why I changed my opinion.

V Reviews - Onihei (the Anime)

Backstory - About Onihei Hankacho

Onihei Hankacho (lit: "The Crime reports of Onihei") is a series of light novels written by the late Shōtarō Ikenami (1923-1990). These stories are based around the historical figure of Hasegawa Nobutame, whose name later changed to Hasegawa Heizo - also nicknamed the Onihei (Heizo the oni). The first volume of these novels has been released back in 1967 and ran until the author's death, with the 139th novel released in 1989 (wow, really productive there!).

And the series of novels have received quite a bit of adaptations over the past decades. From 1989 to 2001, there was a TV series on TV Asahi, which also received a movie and several TV specials. Next to that, several of the light novels have been adapted into Kabuki theater plays, the first of them already aired back in 1970.

Promotional image for the regular tv-series

And since 1990 there is a manga adaptation of the light novels as well, which is running to this day and has already amassed 100 different manga volumes.

So to say that Onihei Hankacho is a cultural phenomenon in Japan is kind of an understatement. The show and its main character (Hasegawa Heizo) have been part of the Japanese cultural heritage for decades now. This so much that his character either appears or gets parodied in other manga/anime. Most notable being Hasegawa Taizou from Gintama (who couldn't be further away from the character he's based upon, like most Gintama historical characters).

If you want to know more of the historical figure of Hasegawa Heizo, read the following blog post on My Little Dejima. He goes deep into the history of the person behind Onihei.

So if you think about that, it's actually more surprising that this series NEVER got an anime adaptation before this year. To think it would take a terminally ill producer to make that possible...

Backstory - About Studio M2 & Masao Maruyama's dream projects

If you follow the anime industry as a whole, you may have heard the name Masao Maruyama before. He's a legendary figure who has been present in the industry for over 50 years now. If you want any indication of how long exactly, he stated in an interview that the first anime he ever worked on was the 60s adaptation of Astro Boy (which aired between 1963 and 1967).

Over the course of his career, he worked on dozens of classics and raised talent from the ground up (including legendary directors like Satoshi Kon).

He co-founded Studio Madhouse in 1972 (The Ma from Madhouse comes from his name) and he is one of the main reasons Madhouse became so famous over the years. If you look at the works Madhouse made ever since its existence, most of them were possible due to Mariyama's "producer" powers and influence. You can look up the entire list on Wikipedia, but let's just list a few to make your jaw drop: Trigun, Beck, Chobits, The Girl who leapt through time, Gunslinger Girl, Hajime no Ippo, High School of the Dead, Monster, Nana, Paprika, Summer Wars, etc, etc.

But 2010-2011 were the year of change for Madhouse. Both co-founder Osamu Dezaki and legendary director Satoshi Kon passed away. The studio had financial issues due to (among other things) the anime bubble bursting and the financial crater the movie Redline left behind. To make sure the studio survived, Nippon Television pumped money into the studio and became its major stock holder (and thus becoming the new rulers in that process).

The movie looks amazing, but it was a financial disaster for Madhouse.

But with a new financial ruler at the studio's helm, changes at the top were inbound - whether voluntary or forced, we'll probably never know. First up was obviously the firing of Redline's director Takeshi Koike. Co-founder Dezaki passed away as previously mentioned. Co-founder Shigeyuki Hayashi (Rintaro) left the studio and basically retired. And Masao Maruyama left as well. And with 3 of the 4 co-founders gone, most of the Madhouse directors, animators and other employees started to leave the studio as well.

One of the reasons of Maruyama's departure was the legacy of Satoshi Kon: The unfinished movie "Dreaming Machine" (Yume Miru Kikai). It's not really a secret he felt regret for the financial side-effects of Redline and did not want to repeat that disaster for finishing Dream Machine (he knew it would cost a lot to finish properly).

In order to find the financial means and continue making anime he liked, he founded studio MAPPA in the same year (Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association).

And with Maruyama's name, amazing anime followed as well. Since its founding, MAPPA created hits like Kids on the Slope, Hajime no Ippo the Rising, In this Corner of the World, Rage of Bahamut and also the 2016 "best anime" (according to Crunchyroll) Yuri on Ice.

But in 2016, he first hinted in an interview and further elaborated in a Q&A at Animazement that his health is deteriorating and he probably only has 3-5 years left to live.
(Edit: I took this way too literal when I first wrote this. In reality he just commented on how he's in his 70s and people shouldn't expect for him to live/work in anime forever).

Due to this, he really wants to use his last living years to finish his personal dream projects. But since he doesn't want to put financial burdens on MAPPA (once again reflecting on what happened at Madhouse), he founded a mirror studio to MAPPA, aptly named Studio M2.

This Studio will only focus on the dream projects of Mariyama and thus will push to complete anime like Satoshi Kon's Dream Machine (if Mariyama ever finds a good replacement director), Naoki Urasawa's Pluto and the novel/tv-series Onihei Hankacho. There probably are more, but these are (at the moment) the only ones that have been hinted or confirmed.

Mariyama will be 76 this coming June (born June 19th 1941). Let's hope he is able to live long enough to see most of his dreams see fruition (Pluto, please make Pluto happen! Come on, Pluto).

And in case you were wondering: Yes, Shirobako's Masato Marukawa
is based upon Masao Maruyama (and he IS aware of it).

The Story

Hasegawa Heizo is the long-time head of the Edo era equivalent of the police force: The arson and theft control. His crew and he go around trying to capture (and/or kill) crews of thieves, murderers and other scum. This via an intelligence network he slowly builds up from reformed thieves.

All the while, Heizo himself can be an "oni" on the battlefield, while being an aloof husband to his wife, a caring father to his children and mischievous supervisor to his underlings.

The 13 episodes of this season (+1 OVA) tell stand-alone adventures about Heizo, his crew, his family and former convicts he somehow ends up recruiting along the way. While you can watch the episodes out of order if you want to, each episode has the focus on introducing one or more of the recurring supporting characters. So if you don't want to feel alienated from these people, it's still advised to watch them in order.

The episodes can vary from story and from tone, depending on what story needs to be told. Some of the stories are filled with remorse and making things up for mistakes made in the past. Former criminals trying to reform and seeing how their former friends turn into scum, or how people they thought were their allies will suddenly drop them or even kill them to save their own hides. A recurring theme here is the "three rules of the thief" in Japan (Do not kill, do not steal from the poor and do not rape women) and how some abide by these rules, while others (the scumbags) do not.

Other stories then are a bit more light-hearted. Like the episode were Heizo's pipe is stolen while he was sick and he by accident stumbles upon the man who has stolen it. It's enjoyable to see Onihei play with the poor thief on the one end, as well as his own personal underlings on the other end.

Animation

Yeah, I eventually had to stumble upon this one, eh... While a lot of things are enjoyable about Onihei, the animation is often not that great. The direction, the backgrounds and the basic character animation is good or even great. But the movements can be somewhat awkward at times... and the lighting... Boy, do I have an issue with the lighting. And that's one thing I never thought I would say about an anime.

This is the first time that I see an anime where light and atmosphere is being added in post, as a 3D effect upon 2D images. The result thus also varies between "interesting" (as the choice itself) and really, really awkward to look at.

I can't be the only one noticing something wrong here, am I?

Let's just say that this method works at certain moments, while it just simply distracts at other points in time.

Music

The overall music choices are good. Though i can't really judge how it compares to the TV-series of the same name. Is the same music being used or remixed, or is it entirely new? I dunno.

The most notable thing is once again: The opening theme ("Edo o Hashiru"). It's instrumental and shorter than usual (only 1:00 instead of the usual 1:30), but it's really good. It's like a perfect mix between classic Japanese music and jazz, and it works!

Overall enjoyment

I'm not going to lie: I initially dropped it after the first episode. The first episode had Onihei's crew torturing one of their captives. And while this certainly is a practice that was done in real life in the past; it's not really a positive depiction of your hero and his team IN THE FIRST EPISODE!

"How was the first episode?"
"We nailed it..."

But in order to give accurate feedback for my "halfway point" blog post, I did decide to give it the 3-episode test. I soon found out that the disturbing imagery was only in the first episode and was toned down further down the line. The stories in the following episodes did pick my interest enough to keep watching until the end; even if the series had its high and low points.

After the last episode I was left wondering whether or not I would advice this series to anybody else. And while at first I did come up with a negative answer (it's just average and forgettable), the entire backstory sure does make it worth checking out. Even if only to support Mr Maruyama and help him complete his dream projects.

Overall, I give this series a 7/10. It's not bad, it's "above average".

Check it out if you want to know more about the figure of Hasegawa Heizo, or why Masao Maruyama was interested in him. If not interested in either, then you can easily skip this one.

Until next time, V out.

V reviews - In this corner of the world: A better war movie than The Wind Rises

For the past two weeks, the Anima festival was happening in Brussels. Too bad I found out about it a little too late. Why? Because the festival had the first Belgian air dates for "Your Name", and I was just a little too late to get to see it.

But after biting away my disappointment, I found out there were still some tickets left for another anime movie that was recently released: "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni", which is released in Europe as "In this corner of the World".

The movie information and trailer caught my attention. And since I totally missed out on Your Name, I wanted to double down on watching this film. So I drove to Brussels through the pouring rain, parked my car in the overpriced Flagey parking, sat down in these worn-out uncomfortable theater seats and watched it. But the end result made the entire trip worth it!

"In this corner of the world" is kind of flying under the radar in the west, since its name is not "Your Name", nor "Sword Art Online the Movie". But it is a movie that requires your attention. So let's review this and get the show on the road!

V Reviews - In this corner of the World

Backstory - The manga

"Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni" is a Japanese seinen manga created by award-winning writer/mangaka Fumiyo Kōno.

Her published works tend to be on the short side (1-4 volumes) and usually tend to be slice of life dramas. And since she was born and raised in Hiroshima, most of her stories are about the atom bomb and the aftermath of it. While she is too young to have experienced the bombing herself (°1968), she grew up in a city that has experienced this drama first-hand. This means that she has heard lots of first-hand stories from people around her. Family members, neighbors, everybody who lives in Hiroshima has their own story. And Fumiyo absorbed those stories and turned them into works of her own.

Until now, Fumiyo's most recognized work was "Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms", which received several awards and was turned into a live-action movie as well (which also garnered lots of praise and awards). This story was about a family of survivors of the atom bomb.

"In this Corner of the world" on the other end is the story of a young woman that has to experience the hardships that the second world war brings to a family of common people. And once again, the manga has gained lots of critical praise.

Backstory - The movie

In 2012, a project to animate this manga was first announced, but then postponed due to lack of resources. In 2015, a crowdfunding campaign was launched in order to help finance the project... and by god, it got almost double the requested money. Calling this a success is an understatement.

By October 2016, the movie was finally released in Japanese theaters. And now the producer is taking the movie all around the world, to show it at movie festivals.

And this movie adaptation is aiming to become a big success. Seriously, look at the Accolades of the wiki page. It's only been released for less than half a year and the list of awards already are too long to mention on a single A4 page. In the Japan Academy Awards, it even beat out films like "Your Name" and "A Silent Voice" in the category of best animated movie.

And this is just the beginning. I'm curious what it's going to do at the big Film Festivals (like Cannes, Sundance, etc), not to mention next year's Academy Awards (it will be nominated, mark my words).

The Story

The story of this movie portrays the life of Suzu, growing up from a kid in Hiroshima into adulthood. She's a dreamer and an talented artist. But most of all, she's an airhead with little to no care in the world.

But as has long been tradition in Japan, a young man (Shuusaku) asks for Suzu's hand to her parents and she is being married off without even seeing the guy once. Okay, she sees him once while being "disguised".

Master of disguise, everyone!

Shuusaku and his family lives in the harbor city of Kure, which lies in the south of the prefecture of Hiroshima. So Suzu has to move to Kure and shortly thereafter she has to marry the man (with a hilarious joke concerning the "marriage night" and umbrella's - you'll get it once you see it).

Wait, is she starting to strip...? During her wedding?

Suzu has to live in this new environment, while proving herself to be as useful as possible with this new family. And that isn't easy, especially when her sister-in-law (Keiko) returns home after her husband died early and Keiko got into arguments with her in-law family. In this process she had to leave behind the shop of her late husband (which was forced to close down anyway) and she had to leave behind her son with her in-laws (in order to inherit the family name, I guess?).

But while this setup of a movie would be somewhat stale, I didn't mention the name Hiroshima without it playing a pivotal role in this story.

Yes, this is wartime Japan in World War II and everyone somewhat falls victim to it.

Shops start to close down, food supplies are being rationed, black markets flourish, bomb shelters are being built, the military police is being suspicious of everybody and so on and so on.

Yup, that's all that is left to eat today...

And while the majority of the movie consists of Suzu getting used to her new life, the second half of the movie starts to become more dramatic.
The moment you really feel you got to know the characters in this movie well, the war starts to creep in... really close.

Air raids become more frequent, people are being torn away (quite literally) and tears are being wept. Even Suzu herself is unable to escape unscathed.

This is only the beginning...

And after tragedy hits her really hard (no spoilers), she wants to return to her family in Hiroshima. All this while the movie makes sure to show you it's just a few days before the bomb is dropped...

The only thing you're wondering when all this drama starts, is if Suzu will make it out alive. But for that, you'll just have to check the movie out yourself.

Characters

	Suzu: Innocent airhead who is being pushed into adulthood, but still has the mindset of a child at times. She's our main character and is quite enjoyable to follow.
	Shuusaku: Suzu's husband. A quiet man who respects Suzu for who she is. Seriously, in a world where women are just married off to random people, I kind of expected this guy to be either a scumbag or predator of sorts. But overall, he's quite an okay guy. He does kind of idolize the military and wants to train to become a marine later on.
	Keiko: Shuusaku's sister. Keiko is a woman with a strong personality. She's not evil or malicious, but her personality can be a bit overwhelming for Suzu at times. Keiko is a young widow who got separated from her son after falling into an argument with her in-laws. After this breakup, she returns to her own parents home together with her daughter (Harumi). This leaves her somewhat bitter and jealous of Suzu. But Suzu makes it really hard for people to hate her.
	Entarou & San: Shuusaku's parents. They gladly welcome Suzu into their family. Entarou works in a military factory. San stays at home most of the time, but has health issues. Due to this, she relies on Suzu to do the household chores.
	Harumi: Keiko's daughter. She gets along really well with Suzu and vice versa. While not said out loud, it's clear that Suzu sees Harumi as a replacement for her sister. She really cares for this little girl.
	Sumi: Suzu's younger sister. The two get along really well, but they get separated when Suzu marries. They do see each other a few more times in the movie and you still see the close bond these two have. She is considered to be a beauty and does take advantage of her looks by charming soldiers into obtaining goods and even a ride to Kure.

There are more minor characters floating around in this movie, but less time is spent on them. These include Suzu's parents and grandmother, Suzu's "evil" big brother, Suzu's early boy-crush (Tetsu) and a few others.

Animation and sound

This is really a well animated movie. It's animated by Studio Mappa, known for recent hits like Yuri on Ice, Rage of Bahamut, Kids on the Slope and Hajime no Ippo the Rising. If anything to compare it by, I think Kids on the Slope does come the closest. It uses a similar color palette.

The character design require some getting used to (they feel a bit chibi-like at times). But once you get used to the art style, you can get sucked into the movie.

Other than that, the environments are amazing to look at. It sometimes feel as if I'm looking at photographs instead of animated backgrounds.

The music is created and performed by singer/composer Kotringo (Rieko Miyoshi), who has also received some awards for this score (which should say something about the overall quality). If you want a feel of what the soundtrack sounds like, take a look at the trailer.

One song that did jump out from the movie was the opening track, which is typical Western church music (kind of a weird choice). It's probably a coincidence, but I couldn't help but notice it.

Analysis

This movie is adorable to watch, yet very captivating at the same time.

Yes, it does tend to drag itself a bit halfway through. But when the tension of the war comes, it really makes you live the emotions along with the people who are experiencing the tension.

And while the movie makes sure not to show too much of the bloody results of the war, the few times when war does chime close to our family, it really packs a punch. While I did not cry myself, there will be plenty of people who will be needing their Kleenex.

Also, the last 5-10 minutes are a bit weird. The movie does it best not to show too much of the war horrors that happened post the A-bomb (not unlike the infamous first few volumes of Barefoot Gen). But then there's suddenly a few scenes with a girl and her mother which are utterly disturbing and kind of misplaced in this movie. It comes out of left-field and has a big impact on the final moments of the movie. But it also makes you wonder: "Was that really necessary?"

But overall: Do I like this movie? Yes, Yes I do.
In fact, I find it to be better than The Wind Rises. The Wind Rises is the Oscar-winning Ghibli movie that is also a "slice of life" drama set in World War 2.

But I personally found The Wind Rises to be a bit boring. Yes, it has pretty visuals and it was Miyazaki's (supposed) last movie (now we know better!). But that's about it. Outside of the plane building, there's not much substance to that movie. The love story and drama is just mediocre at best.

tl;dr? This review in one image

In "In this Corner of the World" there's so many things present that one part does not outweigh the other. It's a better overall experience and a must-watch if you want to learn anything about Japan during World War 2 and how living in Japan during the wartime was like.

Overall, I'm giving this an 8,5/10. If this movie plays in a theater or film festival near you, go and watch it! You will not regret it!

Until next time, V out.