Otogizoushi (Otogi Zoshi: The Legend of Magatama)

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: お伽草子

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 26

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 7, 2004 to Mar 30, 2005

Premiered: Summer 2004

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: VAP, Nippon Television Network

Licensors: Media Blasters

Studios: Production I.G

Source: Original

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Theme: Historical

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 6.92¹ (scored by 4,395 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #4709²

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

Popularity: #5068

Members: 18,066

Favorites: 47

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

The year is 972 A.D. in Kyoto, the capital of ancient Japan. Kyoto is becoming a corrupt and run-down city; selfish samurai and onmyoji, who care only about gaining political power are everywhere. To make matters worse the city is suffering from famine and widespread disease. Unable to ignore the condition of the city any longer, the Imperial Court decides to send Minamoto no Raiko, a famous samurai well-known for his archery skills, to recover a legendary gem said to hold mysterious power to save the world. However Raiko also falls ill to disease. Instead his youngest sister, Hikaru, decides secretely to make the journey in his place. Hikaru meets many people, and has many adventures while on her trip for the legendary gem.

(Source: ANN)

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Adaptation:

Otogizoushi

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Mansairaku

Main

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Minamoto, Hikaru

Main

Mizusawa, Fumie
Japanese

Watanabe, Tsuna

Main

Miyake, Kenta
Japanese

Usui, Sadamitsu

Main

Sugiyama, Ooki
Japanese

Kintaro

Main

Mizuta, Wasabi
Japanese

Suetake, Urabe

Main

Sakuma, Kumi
Japanese

Matsumushi

Main

Minamoto, Raikou

Main

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Kuzume

Supporting

Asano, Mayumi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nakatani, Toshio

Producer

Nakatake, Tetsuya

Producer

Morishita, Katsuji

Producer

Kobayashi, Mikiko

Assistant Producer

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Opening Theme

	1: "Zen (漸-ZEN)" by Attack Haus (eps 1-13)
	2: "Ashita wa Kyou to Onaji Mirai (明日は今日と同じ未来)" by Gomes the Hitman (eps 14-26)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Hoshi ni Negai wo (☆に願いを)" by Chieko Kawabe (eps 1-13)
	2: "Cry Baby" by Chieko Kawabe (eps 14-26)

Reviews

Jan 22, 2009

Takai

Recommended

-INTRODUCTION-

Someone told me that Otogizoushi has a very realistic portrayal of onmyoudo which was the main reason for my interest, along with the ancient Japan setting. Certain character designs caught my attention too, especially Mansairaku.

-STORY- 8/10

"Some day, I wish to dance only for Hikaru-dono..."

Otogizoushi consists of two story arcs. They are very different, I would even say that in a way they contrast each other. Looking at the two arcs together, I developed some very mixed feelings about the overall anime.

The Heian Arc was amazing. The first few minutes were enough to call it a masterpiece. War, epidemic, people are dying, the world is ...

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Feb 27, 2008

Captain-Pimp

Recommended

Story - This is one of the most unique anime I've ever encountered. Otogi Zoushi is actually split into two arcs - The Heian Arc and the Tokyo Arc. While the plot for the Heian arc is pretty simple to follow (to retrieve all 5 Magatama), it gets interesting towards the end. The last episode of the Heian arc does affect, or rather, create the Tokyo arc's storyline. While it does have some supernatural theme in it, don't expect tons of action. Though it's fun to watch the reincarnation of the characters and how they live in the present time.

Art - Just knowing ...

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Mar 2, 2012

ggultra2764

Mixed Feelings

Watching Otogi Zoshi's two halves felt like I was watching two completely different titles of varying quality. The series is divided up into two different arcs with the first one taking place in Heian era Japan and the other set in Japan's modern era. The Heian arc was an enjoyable watch exploring the developments of Hikaru, under the guise of her brother Raikou, and her companions trying to gather up several magical magatama needed to halt the depraved conditions of many commoners throughout their kingdom. The arc offers solid developments on the challenges faced by Hikaru's group as they face life-threatening decisions, corruption involving those ... who task them with their adventure and Hikaru finding herself faced by the pressure to use her brother's identity to complete their adventure while also finding possible love with a traveling performer named Mansairaku. The final episodes to the arc feature some shocking developments that hooked me to see how events would turn out with Hikaru's group. The arc believably depicts the harsh conditions and cultural norms of the time period, as well as making use of notable legendary figures in Japanese folklore for this engaging story. If the series simply ended with the Heian arc, Otogi Zoshi would be a definite addition to my anime collection.

But with the addition of the modern era arc for another 13 episodes, the quality of Otogi Zoshi's storytelling takes a big hit. This arc focuses on the modern reincarnations of the adventurers from the Heian arc as Hikaru is the landlady of an apartment complex where she and several of her tenants get caught up in mysterious phenomena affecting Tokyo as the girl seeks out the whereabouts of her missing brother, Raikou. The whole premise is poorly implemented and contrived as the arc tries to go for some poor excuses to connect the mysterious phenomena to the events that took place in the Heian arc and it leaves a number of glaring plot holes concerning the events that Hikaru and her apartment tenants get dragged into, especially with the focus of one major character who makes a return from the earlier Heian arc.

The visual presentation for Otogi Zoshi is a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, the series features realistic-looking character designs and has its moments of fluid animation shown during battle scenes and the destruction of towns/ cities during key events in the series. On the other end though, it felt like the series was on a bit of a tight animation budget at points as there were some low-quality background shots on a number of occasions in both arcs and animation shortcuts were apparent with still shots being used on a number of occasions. The modern arc also mixes in some live-action shots of various Tokyo locales in place of animated shots of said locations whenever the plot moves to another location, clashing quite badly with the animated footage following a scene change.

Overall, Otogi Zoshi was worthwhile only for its Heian arc thanks to its solid storytelling and implementation of elements of traditional Japanese folklore and spiritualist beliefs while the modern arc was a messy premise that seemed tacked on just to drag the show out for another 13 episodes. If you share similar feelings as I do on the series and wish to get it on DVD, just buy the first three volumes containing the Heian arc if you live in America and dream that the modern arc was never even made.

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Poll: Otogizoushi Episode 26 Discussion hirahira - Jan 6, 2009	7 replies	by St0rmblade »» Mar 30, 2023 9:05 AM
Poll: Otogizoushi Episode 25 Discussion xchee - Oct 10, 2014	2 replies	by St0rmblade »» Mar 30, 2023 8:34 AM
Poll: Otogizoushi Episode 24 Discussion puedjies - Aug 5, 2008	9 replies	by St0rmblade »» Mar 30, 2023 8:08 AM
Poll: Otogizoushi Episode 11 Discussion xchee - Oct 9, 2014	3 replies	by TitanInsane »» Nov 13, 2021 4:55 AM
Poll: Otogizoushi Episode 6 Discussion sixinchmoth - Feb 27, 2010	4 replies	by TitanInsane »» Nov 13, 2021 12:11 AM

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Otogizoushi

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Mansairaku

Minamoto, Hikaru

Watanabe, Tsuna

Usui, Sadamitsu

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Suetake, Urabe

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Otogizoushi

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Information

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Available At

Resources

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

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