Fuujin Monogatari (Windy Tales)

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 風人物語

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 13

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Sep 11, 2004 to Feb 26, 2005

Premiered: Fall 2004

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Sky Perfect Communications, Culture Publishers

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: Production I.G

Source: Original

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Themes: Iyashikei, School

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: G - All Ages

Statistics

Score: 7.27¹ (scored by 4,334 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2941²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #4937

Members: 19,345

Favorites: 126

Available At

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Resources

AniDB

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Synopsis

Nao, an 8th grader, is one of the only two members of a Digital Camera Club, where she also serves as the manager. It's a mystery that she shoots nothing else but the skies and clouds. One day, she finds a cat on a rooftop where she usually shoots her camera. It's a cat that knows how to manipulate the flow of a wind. Shocked to find a strange animal, Nao loses her footing and falls off from the rooftop!

Miki is the other member of the club, and also Nao's best friend. Mr. Taiki is the teacher who's taught the cat how to manipulate the flow of a wind. Ryoko is a girl who has a huge crush on Mr. Taiki. And there's Jun, who helps Nao and Miki look for a cat that can fly. Then, there's Yukio, who is the widow of Mr. Taiki's deceased brother.

On the outskirts of this big city, a town off the "Wind Handlers," has been formed—and a mysterious Wind Festival is about to begin...

(Source: Production I.G)

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Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Ueshima, Nao

Main

Nazuka, Kaori
Japanese

Kataoka, Miki

Main

Hanamura, Satomi
Japanese

Nomura, Jun

Main

Irino, Miyu
Japanese

The Wind Cat

Supporting

Karin

Supporting

Noto, Mamiko
Japanese

Yoshino, Ryouko

Supporting

Iwamura, Aiko
Japanese

Makino-sensei

Supporting

Nakamura, Akio
Japanese

Yukio

Supporting

Mizuno, Risa
Japanese

Mr. Taiki

Supporting

Sugiyama, Ooki
Japanese

Atsuko

Supporting

Ogasawara, Arisa
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Oshii, Mamoru

Producer

Tanaka, Shinsaku

Producer

Ogisu, Hirotsugu

Producer

Nishimura, Junji

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"風の詩 (Kaze no Uta; Poem of the Wind) ~WINDY TALES~" by YuU

Edit

Ending Theme

"夕陽の色だけ (Yuuhi no Iro dake; Only the Color of the Setting Sun)" by Windy-S

Reviews

Jan 13, 2024

bloodbath13

Recommended

"Fujin Monogatari" stands as an epitome of artistic brilliance within the realm of anime, captivating audiences through its unparalleled animation style and gripping storyline. Effortlessly transcending the boundaries of conventional narratives, this masterpiece defies description, leaving one in awe of its multifaceted allure.
At the core of "Fuujin Monogatari" lies an animation style that can only be characterized as a visual symphony. Each frame is meticulously crafted, elevating the art form to new heights. The vibrant palette and dynamic character designs seamlessly merge with fluid movements, creating an immersive experience that transcends the boundaries of traditional animation. The visual storytelling in "Fuujin Monogatari" becomes a language ...

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Apr 29, 2023

ohohohohohoho

Recommended

when the show opens with Nao's obsessive photographing of the clouds, and she explains that she's not really photographing the clouds, but the wind, the first thing it made me think of was Monet, not really painting the haystacks, but the light. light is the medium that activates visual representation for the human eye. what we're seeing is not the thing itself, nor interlocked fields of solid colors, but a frenetic play of light. what is the wind here?

it's some kind of interstitial, permeating and supportive element to daily life. Iyashi-kei always has a kind of animistic, spiritual element to it (hence i've always thought ... to myself that Blame! is in part like Iyashi-kei without any divine harmony, no benevolent gods or spirits, only the chaotic god of the out of control, autoimmune-diseased netsphere and megastructure itself, conjuring new sentient forms and new material out of thin air).

the wind rises when the heart is moved. daily life is kind of a vehicle toward finding these moments. it's not riding the motorcycle, it's not becoming an idol, it's not the first kiss. these are all just the clouds, the haystacks. occasions to feel the wind. it's because of the wind that we are even motivated to pursue these mundane objects and events. but what is it about a first kiss that stirs up the wind? in the episode about the cherry blossoms it's acknowledged that a poem about missing the cherry blossoms can be even more profound and beautiful than one about seeing them. amid these sorts of missed opportunities and connections, does the wind move, or not?

i don't think the series shows a moment of this kind, but i am inclined to think yes. or rather, it shows such moments, but never with the wind moving, even while it seems to acknowledge that it should. it doesn't put two and two together here. however, i can also certainly imagine a first kiss so terrible, so unsatisfactory or unwanted that nothing moves at all. perhaps there are both pleasing and unpleasing failures and misrecognitions of these kinds.

perhaps really it would NOT be the failure to get at the desired thing that leads to the wind's stillness, but actually getting the thing most deeply desired, bringing the end of desire itself, the lack of the constitutive lack of subjectivity. the final gust of wind. with no wind left, there's no reason to go on searching for moments and situations that make the wind fly.

like in Cardcaptor Sakura when Sakura has the nightmarish vision of a world where the characters don't have a desire for each other anymore during her final trial, and it revitalizes her to keep fighting (appropriately, the series ended for 20 years at the moment she finally confessed her own feelings). i wish Fuujin Monogatari explored this a bit more, but i also can't complain much about the episodes that we got. well.. maybe i would've replaced the one with the stupid squirrel (plz forgive me...).

i would have to admit that this is not the kind of premise i go for too much these days, but it was nice to watch and offers some things to think about, if one chooses. i actually really liked the episode where Nao keeps passing these auditions to become an idol and she's just like "why me? this is terrible. why did they have to decide that i'm special?" which i thought was quite truthful. and all of her classmates start thinking there really is something special about her, while she's exactly the same. i was dreading the outcome of her auditions. maybe the apparent disaster represented by Nao, who won't even submit her photos to contests, winning the opportunity to become an idol, is echoed by the impossibility of Yukio and Taiki ending up together, or Makino-sensei and the married school nurse he clings to.

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Feb 5, 2015

NavyCherub

Mixed Feelings

Slice of life as a genre has a small problem. By itself, there is not much to base an entire show on – there has to be some sort of focus, a setting or concept that allows for individual stories to exist while also providing a solid base that pulls all of the ideas together. Fuujin Monogatari takes its identity as an episodic slice of life show to heart, almost to a fault – the individual episodes contain themes and ideas that are usually interesting and sometimes even compelling, but there is just about no connection between episodes thematically. The consequence to this is that ... Fuujin Monogatari is a show of widely varying quality.

Not to say that there is not a string tying the show together, loosely at least. That string is the titular wind, which the main characters (among others) can control at will, for some reason. This seems like it might be an important mechanic that would set Fuujin Monogatari apart from similar shows, such as having the main characters using the wind powers in otherwise normal situations to make them more interesting. In execution it is actually not so. Instead, the show offers a low key usage of the wind powers, mostly used for interesting visual effects while the story and the characters take breathing time. This is also useful for the viewer, as this downtime provides a relaxing section of an episode where one can reflect on the events that have occurred; on the other hand, these scenes could be replaced by just about any sort of relaxing or visually interesting scene, making the wind mechanic seem like little more than a gimmick in the end. A very pretty gimmick.

The art in the show is a juxtaposition of purposefully rough character designs and almost impressionist background art, which works to a good effect and is most definitely the strongest part of the production. The minimalist design of the characters allows for exaggerated yet meaningful motions and facial expressions, and they also give the characters a definitively “Asian” look. There is not much detail in their designs; luckily, the show avoids characters looking too similar to each other by keeping the cast small, though in darker scenes where you can't see the color of their hair they look a little too similar. The backgrounds, though, are consistently beautiful. It's almost a shame that Nao is so obsessed with taking pictures of clouds, because the world of Fuujin Monogatari is lovely and detailed, contrasting in many ways the simple character designs – though they both share the sketchy, purposefully rushed-appearing aesthetic, keeping the overall feel of the show internally consistent, despite the huge difference in detail.

There are also some cool visual ideas used sparingly in the show - portraying texts with handwritten-looking colored text on the screen, or a phone call by overlaying the characters onto each others' settings, or flashbacks and dreams indicated with characters filled in with a single color. On one hand I appreciate that it did not abuse these things, but on the other they feel a bit wasted, sometimes only being used once in the whole run.

Similarly, the soundtrack and voice acting are lovely but subdued. This is a good thing – the sound is never overbearing, but is consistently supportive of the atmosphere that Fuujin Monogatari naturally builds. Voice acting is done in a subtle way, never overacting but also hardly ever relaying strong emotion, even when a scene calls for it, which is unfortunate.

However, the most hit and miss aspect of the entire production is the writing. As I stated before, there is little consistency when it comes to theme. Supporting others, avoiding responsibility, and finding your worth are all examples of ideas that Fuujin Monogatari plays with, but none is given a decent amount of time before the next comes along to take its place. In this sense, Fuujin Monogatari tries to live up to its main character Nao's goal as stated in the very first scene – to capture the wind. Like the wind, Fuujin Monogatari moves and changes as it pleases. Consequentially, not all episodes are created equal. There are a handful of absolutely amazing, perfectly executed episodes, and it is not a coincidence that these episodes tend to make good use of the interesting visual style matched with an equally simple concept as well as Nao as a competent narrator, but there are many more flops, usually too self-indulgent to come off as meaningful.

The episode about trying to get a perfect picture of a runner, for example, manages to use Fuujin Monogatari's strengths to much better effect than an episode about helping a momonga learn to fly, even though the latter has much more to do with the show's distinguishing idea. I should also point out an episode that takes place almost entirely in the nurse's office, featuring a fever dream contrasted by a completely normal conversation which utilizes Fuujin Monogatari's visual style to an extent never matched again.

If only every episode was as simple and effective as that one, this show would be an instant classic. As it stands, though, it is a compilation of mostly uninspired stories interspersed with small moments of genius. If you are a fan of the slice of life genre, you will definitely find plenty to like in this show, but people less patient with the trappings of the genre will frequently have their patience tested.

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Fuujin Monogatari

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Characters & Voice Actors

Ueshima, Nao

Kataoka, Miki

Nomura, Jun

The Wind Cat

Karin

Yoshino, Ryouko

Makino-sensei

Yukio

Mr. Taiki

Atsuko

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Fuujin Monogatari

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

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