Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon

What are you looking for in an anime? A crime-fighting twink and a shithead puppet? Here's an anime for you, and a decent one at that. Karakurizoshi Ayatsuri Sakon is an above-average anime - not necessarily amazingly amazing, but not mediocre - about a wandering ventriloquist and his puppet, a Meiji-era puppet by the name of Ukon. In the name of spoiler-free content, I won't be dissecting the anime or manga's contents, but the mysteries are decent.

Sakon is an appealing, albeit relatable character; Ukon is his foil. There's enjoyable side characters that draw you in, such as Kisaragi-sensei, the idiot kansai-ben photographer Zenkichi, and ... the 'tomboy' Akizuki Shiho - and plenty more. The interplay between Sakon and Ukon and other people is interesting, and psychoanalyzing it might maximize that enjoyment for you. The character designs are fair, and the animation can be quite foul at times, while at other times it being breathtaking, and the soundtrack... is actually better than I was expecting. If one wants a good tune to listen to, Sayonara wa Iwainaide is pretty beautiful, and Koe is as well.

You can maximize enjoyment by going in with the mindset that this isn't some high-level, make-you-feel-smart detective series, but instead almost a relaxing anime to watch drama unfold. If you go in expecting some amazing Sherlock Holmes-esque stuff, you'll be easily disappointed.

Rewatchability for me was a good 9 or 10; you notice a lot more the second and third time of watching, and it's fun to catch easter eggs you don't notice when you're caught up in the mysteries.

Overall, it's an 8/10 perspectively. However, I enjoyed it a lot more.

This anime is one more of what is called oldy but goody and there are many reasons as to why that is.

This anime about a boy and his doll solving mysteries mostly involving murders has an unique feel to it that i havent as far seen any other anime manage to emulate. There is a peacefull feeling to it as you watch and listen to this anime the story that just keeps giving you one piece and then another of a greater mystery or we get to learn more Sakon and his relaitonship with his talking doll Ukon. The stories are not those typical ... mystery animes that keeps on milking itself with another bad mystery with no sence after another. Every story that one watches here has a great relaxing yet tence feel to it. In honesty whenever i watch this i feel myself sucked in so much that i tend to forget that i just watched through 3 episodes and 1 mystery. Since they fit so well together

What makes this anime so beatiful and peaceful is the art but also the music that is around it. From the good opening to the great and peacefull ending song they both come together great at showing how this anime got both exitement and a certain relaxing feel to it.

One might say that the relaitonship between Sakon the boy and the doll Ukon is kinda typical in an anime sence but in another sence its also greatly unique. Ukon is that supportive figur that gives Sakon what he lacks and their combination is what makes much of the anime.

This anime is great in everything it does. With a story that is easy to remember and get sucked into and with characters that you feel with or dislike. I think honestly i liked everything about this anime and there isnt much that i can think about that is bad about it and hopefully many more will watch it so it never gets forgotten as with many other older yet great anime.
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For me this anime is one of those hidden gems meaning its old but it never loses to other anime that it can be compared to. I believe this anime willl keep its age for a very long time.

After searching for a long time for a good mystery anime, I found Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon. I was a bit sceptical at first, as the animation looked a bit too old for my taste. But I gave it a try, and I actually enjoyed it more or less.

Story: 5 out of 10 (Minor spoilers)

The story revolves around Sakon, a puppeteer, and his bunraku puppet Ukon. Together they solve mysteries behind murders that happen within a group of people. Each arc is around 3 episodes, displaying nearly the same type of cases, i.e. ithey are a bit like locked room mysteries, so the suspects and ... murderers are always one of the people in a group. But the problem lies in how they try to conceal who the actual culprit is, by giving of obvious hints. That makes all of the stories actullay really pointless, because it's really predictable for the viewer (atleast for me xD) who the murderer is. Some twists here and there wouldn't hurt. But one of the biggest problems is that quite a lot of sidecharacters die before Sakon can solve the mystery. This just narrows down the amount of suspects, making it easier for him to point out who it is. Every culprit is then revealed by one of the murderered persons spirit possessing Ukon (the puppet). But it's actually not really obvious if that's the case, it is possible that Sakon does that to make the culprit frightened. Ukon then talks in that persons voice. And, the mystery is solved, more or less.

Art: 6 out of 10

The art isn't that bad for being an anime from the late 90's, though the effects are quite bad at some part. A cut of head doesn't look like a mannequin head with pink flesh and nearly no blood. That's just one of the minor things that may lower the quality of Ayatsuri Sakon. The wardrobe change is limited: nearly no wardrobe change. The characters look quite good, and some scendery's are beautiful.

Sound: 7 out of 10

I personally disliked the opening, it's a typical J -Pop song. But the ending song is really good, it's a bit mysterious, yet beautiful somehow. I felt that it represented Sakon in a way. The other soundtracks aren't that memorable, though I liked the one called "Koe" (Voice). Both the ending song and this song is more of the traditional type.

Characters: 6 out of 10

We have Sakon, our main protagonist, a mystery magnet. When he's not holding his puppet Ukon, he's quite a shy boy. He's also quite a bishounen (I personally think that he's quite cute). But when he holds Ukon, he becomes more brave, speaks up a bit more, and also, gains confidence.
Sakon is also more calculative when he is with Ukon. All of these traits come out like that because for Sakon, Ukon is the only friend he has. But here's the creepy thing, Ukon is like a human boy when with Sakon. He has the opposite personality of Sakon, yet, Sakon is the puppeteer, so he is obviously the one making Ukon talk. Sometimes, Sakon makes Ukon say "rude" things, which leads to him telling Ukon to not be rude. I think that's really creepy, because it feels like Sakon talks to himself, and not to an actual person. (Sakon and Ukon has the most dialouges in this anime.)
We don't actually know of Ukon is a magic or supernatural puppet, who becomes alive when Sakon holds him.
If that is actually the case, then it becomes less weird that Sakon talks to Ukon when they are not entertaining the audience. Otherwise, I think that Sakon has some sort of Dissociative identity disorder, which has come up because of him getting bullied. But others don't seem to think that he's mentally unstable. Another weird thing is that Ukon and Sakon's aunt Kaoruko fight quite a lot with each other. Ukon is used as a comic relief. Though I feel that Ukon is actually a magic puppet.
Sakon doesn't either seem to feel much remorse after quite many has died because of the murderer, although it's not his fault, I felt that he would be the type who would blame himself.
Sakon seems to be a really kind and softspoken person, but he is still quite an incomplete character. He doesn't seem to show his feelings quite well, making him look kinda emotionless, and the lack of emphathy is unsettling.


Kaoruko Tachibana, Sakon's aunt, is one of the characters that pops up more than the other side characters. She's an assisstant police inspector. Although it's her job to find out the culprit, she's as dumb as a crayon. She just jumps to conclusion very fast, it doesn't even take her five minutes after inspecting the crime scene before she starts sprouting nonsense. She's quite a silly character, whom I dislike.


Enjoyment: 7 out of 10

Even though I got easily bored of the story arcs, I enjoyed this anime. The last arc focused on Sakon and his family, making it more interesting and worthwhile. You could actually understand why Sakon is the way he is, in a way.

Overall: 6 out of 10
So all in all, it's quite good anime as something to pass your time. It's not that good in the mystery department, but it's somehow interesting in a way.