Sarazanmai

What the hell? How is the anime community not praising this anime as much as it deserves to be praised? This may literally be the single most well thought out, most original and visually impactful show of this entire year and it's getting no attention!

I'm not a biased Ikuhara fan boy; I rated Revolutionary Girl Utena a 7/10 and Mawaru Penguindrum has been sitting on my plan to watch for years, I honestly had no clue what I was going to get myself into with this anime but oh boy am I glad that I started watching this!

The story is indescribable. It's bizarre and hilarious ... but at the same time intelligent and intriguing. The concept is both complex and challenging to understand but at the same time, it's straight forward and essentially persona 5 but with anal. (10/10 description right?)

The characters are unpredictable and their "embarrassing secrets" just add to their 4 dimensional personalities! They all start off simplistic but even after one episode, they are built into mentally complex and peculiar people that somehow strangely connects with the viewer.

Visually impeccable. The art and animation is phenomenal and peppered with deep metaphors within every frame underneath a layer of simplicity making it a pleasure to watch for both types of viewers: viewers who want to be challenged and viewers who only care for the surface level details and visuals. The fluidity of action sequences is insane and the heavily stylised worlds adds character to the anime which makes it tower over most shows this season.

What's the more insane than anally defeating monsters as a turtle gang? Anally defeating monsters as a turtle gang while singing. It's hilarious but honestly, the music is actually great: from the police duet to the opening to the kappa gang anal song; every piece of music is excellent and fits the scene it's in.

And on top of all this: you won't be able to predict anything in this anime because honestly, I don't know if even Ikuhara himself could! Which, if you have seen over 1000 anime like I have, makes a show 10x more enjoyable to watch!

Story: 8
Art: 10
Sound: 8
Character: 8
Enjoyment: 9

(8+10+8+8+9)/5= 8.6

MAL Rating: 9/10

Sarazanmai is Kunihiko Ikuhara’s first director project since 2015. It’s been four years since we were graced by his body of creativity. This man is no doubt a legend. Whether you enjoy his style of creative content or not, he has been involved with outstanding anime that people still talk about today. These include the iconic Sailor Moon, the infamous Revolutionary Girl Utena, and one of the most bizarre shows of the past decade, Mawaru Penguindrum. Yuri Kuma Arashi may have been one of his lesser known projects but to make a comeback with this show called Sarazanmai is a feat of itself. Be prepared ... to be graced again by his absurd talent that few can step into the shoes in.

To ask the obvious, what is Sarazanmai really about? Looking at the synopsis will probably raise a few eyebrows just judging by its bizarre plot. Within the first episode alone, we are introduced to mysterious creatures based on the amphibious youkai demons known as kappa. Anyone who is familiar with Japanese folklore will recognize their character design. With their green bodies, duck-shaped mouths, and long legs, you can’t help but find this show to be decorated with bizarreness. Of course, this isn’t a big surprise considering Ikuhara’s unorthodox style. What actually make a break for the show is the unusual storytelling. With our main characters connected by the bizarre creature known as Keppi, this evolves into a labyrinth of crazy adventures.

Indeed, the opening episode of Sarazanmai is devoted to establish our main characters – Kazuki Yasaka, Tooi Kuji, and Enta Jinrai. Their personalities are what you can easily find in middle school students. However, the show’s story reveals more about their secrets with every episode. This connects to the overall tone of the main plot as the boys are tasked to collect the Dishes of Hope for Keppi. As strange as it sounds, the overall execution of this idea makes a lot of sense. It helps us understand these boys besides what they seem to be on the surface. On the other hand, there are also two policeman – Reo and Mabu who fights against Keppi’s Kappa Kingdom. The show sets a tone for carefully exploiting characters’ motives. With Reo and Mabu’s involvement in the plot, everything gets even more complicated.

But truth to be told, Sarazanmai itself is not an overly complicated show. Some longtime fans of Ikuhara may take time to get used to this anime as it’s his first directing project with a main set of male characters. However, don’t let that alarm you. His unorthodox style can still be felt with the overall craziness of the show. As one of the core themes, we have character connections. The show builds on how humans convey their feelings and hidden desires that each of us have. The elephant in the room can also be addressed as well with some noticeable BL tones. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact meaning of this show as a whole but understanding the connections and desires of the characters is ever so important.

On a scale of 1 to say…100, Sarazanmai can be judged for a variety of content. Ikuhara delivers his own creativity that does a lot more than just telling or showing. Sometimes, I feel like he can write just about anything he sets his mind on. Even before I watched the first episode, I knew what a ride this would be with the charismatic character trailers. The show seems to communicate through visual dialogues and graphic sequences. What we have here is more than just a straightforward story. In fact, many of the first episodes follows a monster of the week format but always staying connected to its central themes. Asakua (the setting of the show) is also a beautiful place for this show’s motifs. However, don’t be alarmed if you’re not Japanese. The show may take some more time to digest but once you get sucked into this, there may be no turning back.

Of course, it’s easy to say Sarazanmai is a niche type of show. You either like it or will reject it as a dumpster fire. Anyone who is unfamiliar with Ikuhara’s creative mind will get lost easily. Hell, it took me a half dozen times to get this show myself. Also, I wouldn’t say the story itself is outstanding. To believe that sounds outlandish considering at least half the show follows like a loop-like format. There’s not much plot developing despite different events happening. To say the least, I’m not too surprised by the overall content of this show’s plot elements. Still, there’s definitely praise to give for this show with how eyecatchy it is. The charismatic dances is one of the prime examples of being able to hook a viewer on in the early stages. While not being an idol show, it’s distinctive of how much energetic aura it contains. Just looking at a group of kappas performing in outrageous dances will get you staring at your TV.

Guess what? Kunihiko Ikuhara is back and he brings with him his avant-garde creativity. What Sarazanmai delivers is a show people will talk about for many reasons. The most common one is just how peculiar it is especially in regards with the overall execution. There’s a set of characters that brings you human emotions despite how offbeat the show may get. You may have to watch this more than once to really appreciate what it is. But for now, I just want to say, welcome back Kunihiko Ikuhara. Welcome back, you magnificent Brainaic.

Sarazanmai is a prime example of a show that falls under style-over-substance, and those who are aware of the industry's state should already know that this field of anime hasn't exactly been very praise-worthy in the recent years. This is.... an addition to the overall selection we have. Not much more since its substance is so lacking that it lessens the impact of its style + those who know the director won't see anything new. Moreover, it recycles animation and entire scenes to such extent that it becomes partially skip-worthy. The repetition level is extreme, especially during the first half of the show.

If we look ... into the audiovisuals and directing, Sarazanmai comes with high values. Directed by Ikuhara Kunihiko, Sarazanmai was expected to be a polished work driven by passion, and, if we limit our judgement to production and ignore the repetition, it's easy give a *shrug* and say "yea, whatever". It's hard to agree and almost as hard to actually care. When exclusively looking into technical achievements, practically any term relevant to art, art directing, visual execution and animation techniques could be described with a wide spectrum of praising adjectives. I don't see the point in doing any separate writing work to go into detail with this. In short, if you want to see how good modern anime can look like, this is your must watch series from this anime season.. unless you have any other type of demands in which case watch something else because it still sucks.

And now to why this show is not very impressive from other departments.

Assholes. I am not entirely sure why this work was so deeply inspired by the action of inanimate objects and living things alike entering and leaving the anus(es) of all sort of weird looking monsters and whateverhteshits, but it happens to unbearable extent. It just feels childish and, well, shit. Something that could have easily been avoided ends up playing significant role in the series. Since this was clearly a driving factor in the director's own vision, it gives an unnecessary bad impression of the entire show already early on, and due to it being one of the scenes that are repeated almost every damn episode, it is hard to overlook.

Then we have the characters, who... exist. At least most of the time. I am already done with this criticism , by the way, because there just really is nothing to talk about for the characters are quite literally "nothing". Okay, bit more: It becomes obvious soon after the start that the entire cast is just a part of the animation and story, sometimes nothing but tools that exist in that moment for no other reason than to act out a lame joke. Due to this, the main characters' own, non-existing personas rarely have the opportunity to put weight on any action. To make it clear as possible: this show doesn't have a single character who could be considered an actual self-aware person who has their own will.

Finally we have the story. What the series is trying to say I do not know. There are weird creatures, beings that are neither dead or alive, otters/liars (word play that only makes sense in Japanese), bad and good people (note the lack of quotation marks), flying 'everything', police force ran by dudes whose entire beings are build around homosexual undertones, cross-dressing celebrities, at least one furry and kappa + gay frogs, also; truck-kun has his 1 second cameo just to run over someone. This could as well be placed in the character section, but since none of these described.. elements have any actual character value -- rather, their features are limited to what they look like and what type of a role they have in the story -- you see them here. The story events seem to be a rather obscure collection of highly random things that simply occur and not much more. Most things are rather loosely connected to each others because apparently, it's really important to make the whole thing seem mysterious even if it makes the entire story the opposite of coherent. It was hard to find any real importance or significance from the anime itself. Nothing seems to really matter much. Meaningless little tales that all play out the exact same way. After episode 01, you have seen it all, figuratively. The dialogue and Sarazanmai's themes center mainly around being connected, desire, something something meaning of life and also love exists + cats are cool, and desire twice. But at the end of the day, all it has here is its style, the rest is secondary, dragging miles behind the audiovisuals, which also got old immediately after the start.

All of these things mentioned above collide and create one hell of a weird combination. Series which core idea seems to be resolving around "desire" and "love" shows no passion, no soul and has personality-lacking characters that are not, at least in my standards, not even passing the requirements of being characters. My main question is this: How can this "desire" and "love" reach anyone under complete absence of resonance? Object don't feel either and self-insert is close to impossible. From viewer's perspective, all I can say is this show didn't even try to make me like it. "Look at me" is all it wanted. Then it asks to look at it again 10 more times, but essentially, you're just rewatching what it did already on the first time. It's not all, 100% bad, but each time when it looked like my opinion could change for something more positive, the series threw in some incredibly generic/filler-ish drama (such as the cameo of truck-kun, like mentioned before, and scene which slaughtered the heroic sacrifice trope) or alternative close up of a g-frog's twitching asshole giving anal-birth to an object the size of their own head. I am not making this up, just to be clear here.

Do I recommend this show, then? I watched it for the production and saw just about everything it had to offer by the end of episode 01. I also found it hard to accept the show without complaining about some of the decisions that were made, some of which were just downright cringey, others which just come out bland and left so little impression that they weren't enjoyable even in the given moment. The style wasn't enough to make me overlook all the things that I found to be meaningless or just garbage, which formed a decent pile by the end. After the finale, I can conclude this series is incredibly forgettable and, just like most modern anime; became irrelevant the second it ended. That's a "no" in English.

Amazon’s working conditions continue to surprise me. Sure, wristbands that track your every move are alarming enough. But(t) naked men wearing boxes on their heads and shoving marbles up their asses — truly astonishing. Although, is it?

Dude cross-dresses in female clothing. Naked frog shenanigans. Anal juice spritzing everywhere. And two cops performing a striptease. But for once, it’s not because of a Lady Gaga music video. No. This absurdity is the handy work of MAPPA studios. The same people who brought you edge-lords galore in “Kakegurui” and THE LEGENDARY TAE YAMADA in “Zombieland Saga.” ... So they’ve demonstrated their eagerness to castrate your expectations, once again, with the zaniest shit you could never imagine.

Analyzing the plot and characters of this revolutionary piece of art is a waste of time. Sarazanmai, simply put, transcends these conventions. Its primary aim is to generate hysteria. Because hysteria is quite hysterical. And by provoking this reaction, the viewer begins to think critically about the work in question. Additionally, they begin to contemplate the banal state of anime in general, and why other studios can’t be as daring as MAPPA. Originality involves risks, people. If we weren’t in an uproar, it wouldn’t be worth our time in the first place.

But Sarazanmai is worth your time. Precisely because it is an innovator in an age of copycats. It isn’t afraid to confront the unsightly aspects of modern society with its unabashed comedy. It refuses to adhere to structured plots with mundane character arcs. Over the course of the series, you may wonder what is happening. Yet you needn’t worry yourself with trivial details. Sarazanmai is not meant to be understood, but experienced. Experienced via laughter, joy, and wonder. It places you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Captivating all your senses (especially your taste buds) in a ballet of epic carnage.

Lastly, the animation is crisp and vibrant. Every component, OST included, is on point. I’m not sure what else you could ask for. Sarazanmai is hilarious, lewd, controversial, breathtaking, mind-blowing, beautiful, weird, asinine (ten, eleven, and twelve), psychedelic, and awe-inspiring. Can this be said for other, less ambitious anime?….Maybe. But will those other anime give you the most perplexing boner of your life? Only you can answer this question, by watching the beautiful folly of Sarazanmai.

“I want to connect, but I want to lie.”

Sarazanmai presents two sides of the same coin. On one side, we have desires; the sense of longing and hoping for a certain outcome. Often considered an innate part of our humanity, they can also be attributed with the darker aspects of one’s personality. They’re the deep secrets we hold to ourselves, not wanting the world around us to know about, and dreading the thought of if they were found out. But as much as the show focuses on desires, it’s just as focused on connection. The world is comprised of all kinds of connections, whether by ... blood, through communities or even with similar desires. We are all connected in some way to one another… But connections can be broken just as easily as they were formed. And even with a desire to connect with others, can we truly form the connections we want with the desires we hold still intact?

“I want to connect, but I want to take.”

Sarazanmai is the latest series of one of anime’s most stylistic and socially-conscious directors in Kunihiko Ikuhara. His ability to tackle thematic topics such as love, adolescence, destiny and power hierarchies through surreal plotlines and symbolism is arguably unmatched in the entire industry. Lauded as a visionary by fans, Ikuhara seems to increasingly escalate the bizarre nature of his works as they’re churned out. Sarazanmai does little to change this notion, taking viewers on a journey that’s honestly hard to describe on first impression. It should come as no surprise that the show can be very difficult to follow at first despite how overtly direct it is in its ideas. There’s such a unique blend of sexual symbols and homoerotic imagery on display that could easily warrant essays analysing just those aspects. But my interest in the show lies more in the characters here, with Ikuhara having crafted in my opinion an oddly compelling character drama in the span of 11 episodes.

“I want to connect, but it’s not meant to be.”

The main cast of Sarazanmai consists of three middle school students, all vying to protect the desires they hold dearest. The first of the trio to be established, Kazuki Yasaka, also happens to be the most fortunate of the group on the surface. Liked and appreciated by practically everyone around him, it’s not until his more startling hobbies are brought to light that reveals a clearer picture of Kazuki. He’s a child burdened with self-guilt, feeling responsible for crippling his younger brother because of his own selfish wishes, and as a result tries giving him the happiness he felt was taken away. But make no mistake, Kazuki’s actions are made for his own sake, not his brother, and show a fundamental flaw in his character: maturity. Kazuki understands his own mind and wishes, but is unable to recognize the minds of others, and without the latter remains wary of the connections he still has. Until he’s able to appreciate others more, his struggle with connection can only continue.

“I want to connect, but you’re so far away.”

Toi Kuji is an interesting case in that he acts as a direct opposite to Kazuki initially. The delinquent to Kazuki’s upstanding persona, he ironically counters Kazuki’s self-centredness through being the most empathetic and mature of the three. He understands the feelings and relationships of others best, and despite some troubles with communicating his own thoughts, connections can be formed with others. But in Toi’s case, it’s not so much about forming them, but preserving them. Toi underneath his mysterious nature and dubious actions does have respectable desires – to save the soba shop his parents owned and to get away from the illegal circumstances his brother pushed him towards. From an early age he was taught of the importance of familial bonds, though under the inkling that it ultimately came at the cost of other potential bonds. However now he arrives at a crossroad between preserving the relationship he has with his brother, or valuing the connections made through friendship more. Maybe more importantly, is he worthy of having these new connections?

“I want to connect, but I can’t be forgiven.”

Enta Jinnai is the last of the three to be enveloped in Sarazanmai’s story, whose desires are probably the most simplistic of the group, but still a core part of his character. Unlike familial love or friendship, the kind of connection Enta yearns for is romantic love, specifically toward his best friend since childhood, Kazuki. But as much as Enta might try to form that connection, his feelings are not reciprocated. Enta can clearly be seen as cheerful, innocent and the one with the least amount of baggage, but overtime it’s readily apparent how frustrated and fearful he is about Kazuki and his situation, at times even hallucinating about what his ideal romantic relationship would be like. A connection already exists between the two, just not the type he honestly wants most. A solution may seem obvious to us as onlookers, but if it were us, what choice would we make? Abandon this desire for unrequited love with someone who has never registered these emotions? Keep these strong feelings bottled up for fear of losing your closest and possibly only friend? Or end up pursuing them, and risk falling in a cycle of heartache as a result.

“I want to connect, so I won’t give up.”

Three distinct personalities all different from each other are brought together through the strangest of ways – being transformed into kappa and having their shirikodama removed from the anus, before having to fight zombies and remove their shirikodama in order to become human again, assisting the Kappa kingdom in their ongoing war against the Otter Empire. The premise is certainly original, but the themes are what take centre stage here. How connections between people are forged, strained and how that pain can affect each other being the most overt example, but for as much as the series shoves connections at the audience, the relationships between the cast are formed rather organically. The way each character’s darkest secrets are revealed after each fight is what leads to the natural bonding in the show. There’s a trust created as they rely on one another whilst holding their own goals that would put each other at odds, a dynamic rarely explored in anime and is reinforced through the explicit symbolism. But these bonds may also speak to the level of trust required in a world not accepting of their desires, with the backdoors of society being the one place where people can freely express themselves. Or perhaps the world is not as it seems, and in reality is controlled by an industry feeding and profiting off our desires through corporate means. Or maybe it’s just saying that it’s ok to be gay. This is both the beauty and difficulty of Ikuhara’s works; always shrouded in so many visual metaphors that it presents itself as a puzzle, almost devoid from the typical standards of storytelling but still encapsulating a myriad of ideas and messages, to where viewers are inclined to decipher the dense tale themselves. It’s not a style that everyone will enjoy, or even acknowledge, but for those who do, it’s part of the charm, something that is constantly gleaming off of Sarazanmai

“I want to connect, but I want to betray.”

Now while I am personally a fan of Ikuhara and this series, there are some glaring issues I have with Sarazanmai, most notably due to how this eccentric tale is contained in only 11 episodes. Ikuhara, as beloved as he is by many, is known for his many tropes, from wacky animal hijinks and overly flamboyant poses, to increasingly surreal and almost gratuitous imagery, to the worst of his traits: his re-use of animated scenes. Sarazanmai features all of these quite regularly throughout its broadcast, to a degree where it can be no longer inviting for viewers unfamiliar with Ikuhara’s work. But speaking for myself, watching so many of his trademarks on display leaves very little room for the show to breathe when it needs to. The director’s previous work, Yuri Kuma Arashi, is the worst example of this. To quote a review for the series: “Watching Yuri Kuma Arashi is like trying to memorize the first 100 digits of Pi. Succeeding might technically be considered an accomplishment, but good lord is it meaningless.” Thankfully Sarazanmai does not become this insufferable, staying a joy to follow moment by moment whilst remaining coherent on top. But the quirks do leave their marks on the series. For a show so based around connecting to its characters, the audience is given little incentive to care for the characters in the first place. Factor in the repetitive tropes, a breakneck pace and a script that beats the term “connection” into your skull, and as a result we’re left with inconsistent development and key events not able to fully capitalize on their emotional impact. I truly believe it would have benefited from having more time available to explore the world, the cast, their backstory, etc. in order to tell a more complete story without rushing to the finish line. But alas, we fans get what we are given.

“I want to connect, but we’ll never meet again.”

Ikuhara’s history as a director is riddled with him having to compromise in some way on most of his projects, whether it be the numerous limitations that faced the production team for Yuri Kuma Arashi, or him completely abandoning his position on the Sailor Moon TV series. But with Sarazanmai, it’s hard to tell if there were any issues the crew faced. Very rarely does an anime emerge with the kind of intensity that Sarazanmai brought in the first episode. At face value, the show is visually stunning, using a multitude of vibrant colours and attractive character designs that immediate distinguish it amongst the crowd. The show has a knowledgeable understanding of colour theory, with red, blue and yellow used to help define the personalities of the main trio. The series also features a surprising amount of action that’s animated very well. I find it extremely praiseworthy that despite MAPPA being credited as the main studio, the first 4 episodes were produced by Ikuhara’s small team at Lapin Track and look no different from MAPPA’s work on the project. The show is like an explosion on the screen, bringing Ikuhara's vivid creativity and imagination to life.

“I want to connect, but I can’t express it.”

The music for Sarazanmai is fantastic and well-voiced even with how repetitive it can be. Each of the fights feature the same tracks over re-used animated footage of the same dance sequence most episodes. The show takes inspiration from musicals with how it uses a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic songs that help propel plot and character development, another rarity to be found in the medium. The themes of desires and secrets mesh well with the musical format, utilizing the basic structure and common song format to help give the series a theatrical essence in these moments. The voice acting is also excellent in conveying the appropriate tone, clarity and emotions required from each scene, effectively helping to humanize the characters. The soundtrack was composed by Yukari Hashimoto who also worked on the soundtracks for March Comes in Like a Lion, Toradora, Osomatsu-san and one of Ikuhara’s other works, Mawaru Penguindrum. Yukari has a knack for combining traditional Japanese motifs with modern electronic-style music to create a collection of tracks that’re uplifting in their own distinct way. The opening and ending themes are also bangers if that means anything to you.

“I want to connect, but I can’t.”

Sarazanmai, as much as I may like it, is an anime I find difficult to recommend, simply due to how hard it is to describe the kind of experience someone is in for. And in a way, that’s how Ikuhara’s works differ from the norm. There’s a story to be found and characters to move it forward, but they rely on interpretation to the point where my experience could end up completely different to that of the average anime watcher. But what I will say is that Sarazanmai sums up a bit of every original work from Ikuhara: The structure of a battle closing each episode with meaning behind each foe faced from Utena, the comparison of love and desire from Yuri Kuma Arashi, and the way society works with a shredder to destroy what the world doesn’t accept from Mawaru Penguindrum, all while maintaining its own identity. Sarazanmai is a weird show, but the weirdness is not complicated, as it constantly bears two sides of the same coin. Connection is an important part of the show, and our lives, but the show is also about hidden desires – the embarrassing parts of ourselves we don’t wish to share. The truth is we all have weird parts about ourselves, and we’re afraid we won’t be accepted if we admit those things. Yet in Sarazanmai, admitting those desires allows for real human connection to foster, and there’s something worth fighting for in that.

“I want to connect, so Sarazanmai.”

I need to start with a lengthy quote from Richard Feynman:
“In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas—he's the controller—and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're doing everything right. The form is perfect. It ... looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. So I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they're missing something essential, because the planes don't land.”

This here is a cargo cult anime. Specifically, a cargo cult imitation of “symbolic” and “deep” anime. You might believe this show actually means something - if you’re a character in The Emperor’s New Clothes, or maybe a literature teacher operating on a “blue curtains symbolize the protagonist’s inner turmoil” logic. But it doesn’t. It’s just a bunch of random flashy crap thrown in together to imitate other works that have real symbolism in them - 2deep4you bait. This show is personally insulting to me as someone who actually likes entertainment that can be broadly defined as Art House, because it validates the opinion that “Art House” is nothing but pretentious pseudo-deep wankery putting on airs to distract from its creative bankruptcy. Actually, only a third of the show is pretentious flashy crap.
The other third is literal crap - as in, scatological “humor” cringy to anyone who’ve outgrown the phase where hearing the word “butthole” sends them into hysterical laughter. Oh, I should elaborate that it isn’t humor that we, the audience, are supposed to laugh at - it’s humor done at our expense. The purpose of all the gross-out stuff in the show is exactly that - to gross us out. It’s the artistic equivalent of leaving a flaming poop bag on the porch, ringing the bell and running.
Wonder what the last third is? Stock footage. Yes, fucking stock footage. Welcome to 1970s, where anime are piss-poor children’s cartoon that have up to 25% of the episode taken up by the reused footage of some transformation sequence because they literally don't have money to draw more scenes. Except in this case, money is not the problem, lack of talent is. Again, “creative bankruptcy” is the only adequate description. And the fact that some people go through mental gymnastics to somehow defend the practice of literally copypasting already existing material as some sort of “style” is just pathetic. I guess every recap episode ever was the true pinnacle of the art of animation all along.

Well, so far everything I’ve said applies to any anime directed by Ikuhara, and this is supposed to be a Sarazanmai review, but that’s exactly the point - there is literally nothing in this show that isn’t a rehash of Utena/Penguindrum/The-third-one-Kuma-something-I-couldn’t-bother-to-look-it-up-it’s-the-same-shit-anyway. Its name should be Ikuhara Anime: The Animation (Part 4), because that fraud has a single bucket list of ideas that he just keeps reusing for the last 30 years. Let me do you a favor - search for “Ikuhara bingo” on google pictures and take a couple of seconds to study the results. Congratulations, you’ve seen all of the Ikuhara-directed anime and no longer need to risk getting cancer from actually watching them.

I would give this a negative score if I could. It’s not just bad, it is the opposite of art and the world is a worse place because it exists.

ALL ABOARD THE IKUHARA HYPETRAIN!!

Sara!! Sara!! Sara!!

SARAZANMAI!!!

Before you read the review you should know you do not have to watch other Ikuhara anime before this one. It is his shortest anime (11 episodes) and it is filled with good writing even though he mostly has made long shows (39 and 24 episodes) Sarazanmai is the most underrated show this season generating a low 7 MAL score when it should be a high 8. It is full of interesting symbolism, gorgeous animation, hilarious comedy, and the most intense anal action we have seen in an anime thats not weird fetish hentai.

Story: 10/10
Three kids turn into ... gay frogs when a kappa eats them and extracts their kappa zombie through their asses. They have to dive head first into the anuses of dead perverts to extract their desires so that they can make a wish. I don’t know about you but that's creativity to me.

Art: 10/10
Well what did you expect from the studio that made Kakegurui and Yuri on Ice?? The sakuga is incredible. I love the dances and all of the animation. It is very similar to Monogatari at times and SHAFTs art.

Character: 10/10
Kazuki, Enta, and Toi are all great characters, they get more development in 4 episodes then 99% of the shows this season.

Music: 10/10
The frogs sing, the otter cops sing, the opening is hype, and the ending is from the band that made the Bunny Girl op. They could add a music tag with all of the insert songs and they are all 10/10. I would listen to the whole soundtrack on repeat.

Enjoyment: 10/10
A thrill ride that never stops. Half of the show is pure enjoyment and sex jokes, the other half is metaphors that take a lot of attention from us viewers to comprehend fully. It is definitely worth your attention like any good puzzle. If an anime that challenges you to read between the lines and understand its message is what you're looking for then you will surely enjoy a poignant adventure.

Step aside Attack on Titan, make way for Sarazanmai the real AOTY.

“Jesus Butt-fucking Christ, what the hell is this?!”

Art… kero.

It’s no secret that Kunihiko Ikuhara is one of the most out-there anime directors, conjuring up several queer-focused, high-concept mystery box anime on whatever themes he feels like exploring. This fact has only become more apparent over time as Sarazanmai becomes his third anime in a row this decade to focus on this type of narrative. In 2011, Mawaru Penguindrum focused on themes of changing one’s fate, with a compelling cast of characters and marvelous setpieces across a tight, binge-worthy 24-episode plot. Yuri Kuma Arashi came 4 years later, focused on love, lesbian relationships, and desire over ... the course of 12 episodes, only 4 of which I managed to get through before quitting. It had none of the coherence or humor of its predecessor, and its exceptionally gratuitous and insufferably blunt nature on such themes further turned me off. The lack of compelling or even consistent characters served to solidify my disappointment, as gorgeous as most of them are. Now, 4 years later and with only 11 episodes to work with, Sarazanmai focuses on the struggles of forming and keeping connections, as well as the painful, even shameful nature of secrets through the lens of gay kappas. I don’t think it’s quite as exciting or compelling as Penguindrum, but it’s certainly an improvement from its predecessor, bringing back some of the loveable quirkiness and solid writing that made Penguindrum so engaging.

Visually, this might be my least favorite entry in Ikuhara’s repertoire, but it’s mesmerizing to look at. The joint efforts of Studio MAPPA and Lapin Track (the latest in this decade’s horde of new studios) pay off as charming character designs move beautifully across vivid and sometimes exceptionally animated setpieces. These setpieces are so good that the anime reuses them throughout almost every episode, just with new designs and sequences being added to the action setpieces at the end of most episodes. This probably has the most reused animation of Ikuhara’s shows yet, as the sequences shown here are the longest to date. That, along with the repetitiveness of the first 5 episodes and the fact that each of the “battles” that make up half of each climax setpiece feels exactly the same, drags everything down. The finale resorting to a slideshow sequence towards the end doesn’t help matters. The CGI is also more frequent than ever, though rarely is it truly awful. Thankfully, the animation is still more fluid and full of sakuga moments than Yuri Kuma, and its art style is about as charming as that of the previous two works, thanks to the aesthetic brilliance of Ikuhara and chief director Nobuyuki Takeuchi, who did some of the best sequences of Penguindrum, like the library scene in episode 9.

The music falls into a similar boat. "Massara" by KANA-BOON is an energetic and enjoyable OP that gets me a bit more excited for what our trio of gay middle schoolers go through next. Surprisingly, given my distaste for their song on Bunny Girl Senpai, the peggies do a wonderful job with the equally energetic rock ED, "Stand by me”. The OST is where the show falls a tad short, with barely any memorable tracks outside of the mediocre song they play at the climax of nearly every episode (regardless of who sings the bulk of it in any given episode), and a few small jingles. It’s probably the weakest OST of all Ikuhara’s shows.

The writing is where I was worried, given how much I grew to dislike Yuri Kuma before dropping it. Thankfully, outside of occasionally abrupt editing and a few trashy cliffhangers, coherence and good character writing are actually present again, even if the pacing becomes an issue every now and then. The main trio each come with their own easily identifiable baggage and fun interactions that make their dodgy actions not detract from them as relatively likable characters, at least outside of a few idiotic cliffhangers. For the most part, even if they aren’t exceptionally engaging, they’re consistent, and the emotional turmoil they deal with regarding their horrible actions and their difficulties regarding human connection is easily felt. The supporting characters and major antagonists are also quirky and entertaining, even though the main antagonist of the series is just an evil thematic entity, making him not as fun as the two gay cops that slowly come to oppose our protagonists and the kappa prince who guides them. Said prince (named Keppi) is the most entertaining and quirky character of the lot, as he is responsible for the funniest moments of the show. Part of why I feel this way is that the show never resorts to abrupt tone-shifts despite the abundance of cute and or quirky comedy moments which Keppi instigates or is otherwise involved with.

As for how Sarazanmai unravels each character, it’s not only poignant and heartfelt but surprisingly brutal. It’s hard not to feel bad for some of these people despite how awful their actions are, especially Toi. Even with the painful realities of the characters in Penguindrum, the problems were always fantastical in nature, not like Sarazanmai where characters are traumatized by murder and witnessing their loved ones getting run over. Their dynamic, slowly developing, and sometimes charismatic personalities make it easier to feel for their suffering and the awkward situations they often find themselves in. Of course, the themes of the show revolve around the cast’s suffering, and barring a few forced moments of characters breaking character for one scene, the themes come in cleanly and powerfully, despite some of the exhausting repetition of the show’s big thematic setpieces. It helps that, again, there’s logic to the transformation sequences and most of the characters’ actions, and the themes aren’t presented in a gratuitous or illogical manner, unlike Yuri Kuma. The show does get a tad rushed and melodramatic towards the end, and it does fall into one of my least favorite writing traps regarding one of its mechanics, but that’s not enough to stop the show from being emotionally or thematically resonant. Hell, they actually use one of the tropes I generally dislike and make one of the most gut-wrenching character moments out of it. This doesn’t mean the show is great, especially with the absolute mess that was the finale, which just spells everything out while being a complete clusterfuck.

It’s unfortunate that the show becomes wearisome and rocky in places, and that the reused animation and setpieces tend to take up a third of the length of most episodes. However, the relatively solid writing, cute comedy, and vibrant presentation keep this self-unraveling mystery box show entertaining, and even powerful at times. It’s certainly not my favorite Ikuhara work, but it’s still one of the better shows to come out this year if you can look past the finale… kero.

Written and edited by: CodeBlazeFate
Proofread by: Peregrine

Where I typically talk about anime, this opinion is something which is a great source of shame for me and quite controversial, but here on MAL and other mainstream anime forums I feel quite at home saying I don’t personally care for Kunihiko Ikuhara. Do I think he’s a Satoshi Kon level, visionary genius? Yeah, who wouldn’t think so? But do I personally like his storytelling and find his direction entertaining? No, unfortunately I do not. I think it’s really forced and heavy-handed, and I hate how esoteric his shows become because of this. Revolutionary Girl Utena is a show about simple human chemistry, but ... when filtered through the lens of Ikuhara it becomes one of the few original anime in history which feels oddly ridden with filler. Mawaru Penguindrum is a show not quite as simple as the former yet still thematically straightforward with its discussion of broken families and dysfunctional affections and aspirations, but again, when filtered through Ikuhara it becomes a nigh incomprehensible tornado of abstruse symbolism I had to watch three times to fully wrap my head around. And then you get to Yurikuma Arashi, a show which simultaneously pretends to be retarded, while also pretending to be genius, but then, IS actually retarded.

I would’t say Ikuhara shows have bad character writing per se, I don’t know anyone who would, but I think at the very least it’d be a fair diagnosis to say they have very convenient character writing. Ikuhara is the kind of romantic who believes in the likes of fate and karma, and so do his stories. Every character is meant for something, and even if their characterization is partial to another direction or even if their personas are something you yourself can relate to and have taken down another path in life, Ikuhara’s self-made destinies will always have the final say. Recently, a little known show called Game of Thrones ended, and many viewers found themselves listless by the conclusion when they realized the places all their favorite (main) characters closed their arcs was exactly where they had been planned to all along even though they’d been coaxed there by overly suggestive and straight-up bad writing, which was the true issues the fans had. This is usually my experience watching Ikuhara shows: well established, empathetically humanized characters getting lead astray by an auteur who doesn’t share any of my sensibilities whatsoever. However, the fact the disconnect between the creators and the fans was spawned by incompetence is the obvious undoing of the Game of Thrones comparison, because the disconnect between Ikuhara and myself is simply subjective on my part and purposeful on his. Whether someone such as myself likes it or not, Ikuhara places narrative impetus and thematic inspiration behind every single development in his stories, and characters under his purview will always go the way the were meant. I think a lot of what perturbed me watching Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mawaru Penguindrum was the characterization being so strong, even though that’s a good thing (most shows can’t even deliver on), because when the story would forcefully pull them the directions Ikuhara wanted in service of his message, I’d start getting pissed off. And this is honestly why I loved Yurikuma Arashi so much. The cast is comprised of nothing but plot devices and thematic mouthpieces, so at no point was I under the false assumption they were actual, human beings. I got the point from episode one and just sat back and relaxed myself in the hurricane waves of symbolism and the cutest, fluffiest, most visually appeasing art design outside of Kyoto Animation. That all said, this paragraph was just a demonstrative analog to say he doesn’t do that here. Ikuhara finally wrote real characters, not plot devices, not author-inserts, not caricatures, not anyone who only makes decisions because fate this, destiny that. He wrote people who make decisions based on their actual human emotions and motivations. He wrote living, breathing characters, and it made for what I’m calling a serious contender for his best show yet.

If you don’t know Ikuhara, don’t read this review. If you do, he’s back at it again. This time it’s otters versus kappa, a war of symbolism to serve as a podium for what I can only confidently boil down to his current thoughts on the human collective’s capacity for greed and what it reflects back on to the individual, specifically posing the question if greed can hold genuine emotion or if it’s just animalistic craving. The kappas, our three main protagonists, are forcefully enlisted by a kappa deity who “extracts their desires” to make them become a sort of humanoid kappa themselves, where they can only return to being human once they’ve taken a desire from someone else by consuming their shirikodama. According to Japanese folklore, a shirikodama, the organ kappas are said to eat when attacking a human, is said to contain the human soul, but in the show it is more precisely said to be the location of “desires” specifically and only. This is clearly Ikuhara saying your desires are what make you human and form your soul, and this isn’t very unlike him looking back at Yurikuma Arashi. In addition, while fully retaking their human forms after having eaten someone’s shirikodama, their deepest secrets are put on display for the others to see, which is probably him saying the parts of yourself which you wish to keep hidden the most are what ultimately ground you within yourself and define your soul…or something like that. The otters, our two main antagonists, are voluntarily enlisted by an otter deity who has them “extract desires” in much the same way as the kappas do, only whereas the kappa extract people’s desires completely to calm them down, the otters extract desires only far enough to allow the victim to see them, become invigorated by them, and use them as an excuse to lose control. While we Westerners probably see otters as little more than cute animals, in Japanese folklore, otters have been vilified if not outright demonized all throughout their history as deceitful spirits much in the same vein as something like the kitsune, which if you’ve seen more than three anime you’re probably well acquainted with given its constant reoccurrence as a motif. In some prefectures, otters are sometimes seen as kinds of kappa themselves, which is a great segue into a big point of confusion I could see many having towards this show which I kind of mentioned a second ago and experienced myself while watching. For a good portion of the show, in much the same way as otters being similar in lore to kappa, the “good guys” and “bad guys” of Sarazanmai don’t seem to be all that different. As far as the viewer can understand, both the kappa and otters are extracting peoples’ desires, and while the end goal of that extraction is as clear as I explained, WHY they’re doing it is what’s left in the dark.

This is where you really have to put in the detective work to figure out the Ikuhara-isms. Given his past works, I began trying to study the visuals, but it was more than a bit of a challenge because they seem to contradict what is supposed to be actually going on. The kappas are calming peoples’ restless souls while the otters are pushing individuals who’ve managed to contain themselves over the edge, but when you watch their transformation sequences, the imagery suggests the opposite. The kappas’ transformation sequence I’ll link here, https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/74950, is explosive, unconfined, expressive, and takes place in a loose hand-drawn environment spiraling out of control with the characters trying their hardest to ride the wave, and the otters’ transformation sequence I’ll also link here, https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/75522, is littered with boxes, assembly lines, shutting stamps, and takes place in an angular mechanical environment with the characters confined to a single square and only shown dynamically via low detail projections. Needless to say, this is obviously the opposite feeling of what they’re actually doing respectively. What had everything finally click for me was this cut which always appeared at the end of the kappa’s transformation sequence, https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/74952. It reminded me of a certain cut from Yurikuma Arashi’s transformation sequence, https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/73972, where the characters’ clothes are ripped off to return them to their most genuine state, (because Yurikuma Arashi is a show about accepting homosexuality and rejecting social homophobia just in case you’re reading this review having not seen that show). In that cut, their shredded clothes become part of the effects and drop detail until they basically just look like leaves, and this particular cut from Sarazanmai used that exact same visual style. Comparing the two scenes’ meanings with one another speaks volumes. In Yurikuma Arashi, the clothing are what was obscuring the soul, the nude skin, the purest form of the characters, but in Sarazanmai the characters are already naked, so Ikuhara is now clearly taking it one step further and saying their bodies themselves are what’s obscuring the soul, which would explain why they’re blown away just as the clothes were from Yurikuma Arashi. Ultimately, the kappas are calming people down by extracting their desires, but it’s only after they’ve seen their deepest secrets as I mentioned earlier the victims’ stress is fully released, almost as if the victims only needed to be witnessed in their purest form and sincerely accepted to become tranquil. The otters don’t do this. The idea they could quell someone’s anxiety simply by accepting them for who they are and by accepting their desires for what they are never even crosses their minds, because they don’t think desire is a feeling with true emotion behind it. When they extract desires, they first ask their victims if what they’re about to extract is “desire or love.” To me, this question shows how divorced their concept of the two really are, and the lyrics to the insert song which plays over their transformation sequence confirm this.

-Neutered dogs, bare your teeth
-Mere insects coasting through life, live passionately.
-Don’t let go of your desires
-Don’t let go of your desires
-We’ve attained two fates
-We’re all alike, one life form
-Wring out the desire
-Wring out the desire

And this is sung all while chanting “soiya,” as in the efforts karateka use when striking their target. Clearly, the otters see humans with these secret desires, not love or general emotion, as animals who are declawing themselves to try and fit into human society. They don’t view desires worth hiding as something to define yourself with, but rather as something to be ashamed of. This is why they criticize their feigned modesty and seek to “wring out” their desires to show the world what they really are, and it’s this which someone as free spirited as Kunihiko Ikuhara obviously has a problem with, hence the main conflict of the show.

Masao Maruyama had always talked of his passion for anime production in so far as the creators which he was privileged, in his own words, to foster at Madhouse. The utterly insane time, staff, and budgets he put behind people like Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Rintaro, and the legend Satoshi Kon were in part what eventually bankrupted the studio, and after Madhouse forced him out, fledgling geniuses he was fostering there like Mamoru Hosoda and Masaaki Yuasa had to leave for their own studios too. Even after this series of unfortunate events, though, he had no intention of halting his practice of elevating geniuses when he founded MAPPA, and he wasted no time bringing in and cashing out on gods’ works like Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno’s Terror in Resonance and Kids on the Slope, and he even backed lesser known but equally deserving Sayo Yamamoto and her passion project, Yuri on Ice. I vividly remember reading about Ikuhara’s time trying to get Yurikuma Arashi off the ground at Silver Link of all places and thinking about how awesome it would be to see Maruyama pick up his next pitch now that MAPPA was stabilized, and when I saw their name alongside the announcement for Sarazanmai I couldn’t help feeling proud. The result? Not only is Sarazanmai the prettiest, most gorgeously well produced Ikuhara show by leaps and bounds, but it’s also MAPPA’s penultimate animation production. I was constantly blown away by the visuals, and they seriously pulled out all the stops on Ikuhara’s brilliant reused animation clips including but not limited to the ones I linked earlier. The aesthetics are among the most irreplaceably unique in the medium, and the consistently above average work the animation staff put into the basics like expressive character art, detailed background artwork, crisp 3DCG environments, and all the flair to back up Ikuhara’s typically unhinged direction made everything all the more impressive, and that’s not even mentioning what I’m calling Yukari Hashimoto’s best soundtrack yet with endlessly creative lyrical insert songs working with the voice actors themselves as vocalists. Sarazanmai is simply a delightful addition to the medium I think anyone can appreciate on a technical level, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to boast about the magnificence of the production before closing off this review.

Sarazanmai was amazing, and as much as I poke fun at Ikuhara’s eccentricities, I can’t help but become further and further endeared to them as time goes on, and not to sound too pretentious, simply after I started actually receiving and fully comprehending the messages his shows were sending. If you’ve found Ikuhara’s past works to be difficult, you certainly won’t find Sarazanmai any easier, but if it means anything, please know I myself used to name Ikuhara as my least favorite director in the medium, and now his works are some of the most exciting treats I can get out of such a stagnating market. Back when I was rewatching Mawaru Penguindrum for the second time and bitching about it on forums, someone gave me a piece of advice I think would be an appropriate thing to give heading into Sarazanmai. I was talking about how frustrating it was having already gotten the point of the series yet still not having completely parsed all the symbolism itself. Someone replied with something along the lines of the following, which I would quote directly but unfortunately didn’t bother saving. The symbolism in Ikuhara shows isn’t the point, it’s just a garnish. It’s just making it so every part of the experience feeds back into the original message. It’s not as though you’re going to study these images and suddenly gain an entirely new meaning from the show. It’s more that having all that imagery reinforces the message and allows you to view it through different lenses. The message itself comes from the heart, and if you can manage to pin down any one character and just listen to their emotions, you can find the purpose of the insanity a lot easier than you could’ve otherwise.

Thank you for reading.

Imagine an anime just like the premise of Persona 5 by altering desires, but instead of stealing people's hearts you steal people's anal virginity.
And if that doesn't sound weird enough to you, then I guess you'd enjoy it.

This is some borderline-hentai super gay fanservice right here involving magical frog shotas, especially in the first few episodes, and I had no clue whether to like it or not at the beginning. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but as I continued to watch the anime it gladly went somewhere, yet it was still so mediocre.

Just so people know, I've seen a couple of episodes of ... Penguindrum and never once did it step into something as risky and... weird... as this. No. That's not a good thing. Honestly, how childish and unaware are people?

Hypothesising from the first cover I thought that it'd be about adventures and summer; maybe even a surfing anime or something along those lines. Oh, and also, it's a musical now. Even if I somewhat thought that it would be beforehand. I can give it credit for that cop song though, it's really catchy even if it is immensely repetitive and I wholeheartedly respect the ED.

However, the symbolism is so obscure in certain areas that it seems really out of context, and even then the theory itself that people are saying doesn't really make that much sense, and this is coming from a person who has experienced those things. Most of the “symbolism” if you want to somehow call it that as it's your only way to defend this garbage, in some areas completely makes no sense. Otter symbolism? I thought they were supposed to be good? Or maybe the anime just showed that in such a poor way that I never understood? Honestly, if symbolism is your only excuse to like this anime then be off because there's much more that's better to it than the minor symbolism that everyone's looking too deep into. Yes, symbolism is effective and all and I understand it, but it's extremely minor and unique ≠ good. If anything, I actually preferred the earlier episodes.

The “leak” part of the episodes are great, and so are the three main characters with quite some good storytelling with them that's enough to make me rate this an 8 or so, however it severely lacks with its repetitiveness. Practically. Every. Single. Episode. That lasts for half of every episode going over the same thing and singing the exact same songs to the point that all of the great and entertaining just becomes irritating and obnoxious. Also, the animation is barely an issue, so commenting on how good it is will not affect my score. The only time I'd consider animation to be worthy would be through aesthetics used. And yeah, the animation is really pretty, but you could say that for most of MAPPA's work, not just Sarazanmai itself.

Some of the people's desires, if I were to even call them that, are so random that they're not even entertaining. I'm just like “what...?” One episode involved some masochistic guy who wanted to be a football and get kicked by his girlfriend, and that all begun because he took their football... Excuse me? No extra depth? No backstory to those random characters? Random waste of time by constant repetitiveness? Welcome to Sarazanmai, kero.
Sarazanmai has just become a generic comedy slice of life musical with yaoi frogs. Then you have an actual story beginning to develop two thirds into the anime? Don't look into it deeper. Really. That's not a pun or anything, I'm saving your skin so you don't have to appreciate absurd garbage and follow a bandwagon.

You think it's good because of the characters and whatever their “backstory” is? Just go and watch something else, where it does it a whole lot better than Sarazanmai. The story seems to give and never take, showing us a few things just because of the same scene. Constantly. Listen; if you want to express meaning through the same exact scene, then at least let us get to know more about every character beforehand and express emotion instead of looking cliché and done in a “different” way because never does that ever occur.
Almost everyone loved episode 11, but for me, it barely made sense, and not because I didn't understand it. One of the cops wanted a hope plate too, and they fought over it with a bit of screaming on both sides. Eh, that's about it. No need to overreact to the same thing that happens in every episode, but now it has a bad villain so eh! Aw no, I'm totally crying! This character that had no development just had a whole episode based on them to minorly shift their development upwards a bit. That makes sense and sounds entertaining, right? Well, even that is rare. Symbolism? Please, it would be trashy either way. I've forgotten most of the characters and I saw that episode only 2 days ago. That's how minor and irrelevant the side characters are.

Consider it as an alternate version of fanservice.

Overall, I do respect this anime a whole lot and it has somewhat begun to improve in certain areas, but its other areas and its severe repetitiveness are obnoxious as hell. I can't forgive that. And budgeting definitely wasn't an issue. With its good art, that's their own fault. I'm positively sure that it was intended to be repetitive as hell in the first place.

TLDR: Just because something's unique or is “symbolic” doesn't mean you should accept mediocrity and constantly reused scenes.

Connections. Bonds. From hopes and dreams, leading to desires and indulgence.
For the people we love and care for, time past, present and future. We all have them. But what happens when that "Dish of Hope" that we oh-so want to claim becomes a hindrance to others who want them too to fulfill their ambitions, and what's up with the secrets becoming public? Ultimately, what happens to that connection that we long for the most?

This season, famed director Kunihiro Ikuhara and his production team from Utena and Penguindrum introduces this series to us: Sarazanmai, not just a story about the generational war between the Otters and ... the Kappas, but of a much sinister and not-so-complicated plot of human ambitions and connections that Ikuhara's formula of "nonsensical, unpredictable" shows are known for. Similar to his past directorial works (including Yurikuma), he stated that as much as Yokai (supernatural monsters) stories are made for children, this is his first attempt at changing the narrative for the adults, plus in addition, male-centric protagonists as opposed to the female-centric ones before.

A foreword before I start my review, this is my very first exposure on Ikuhara-sensei's work, and while I have heard of his shows mentioned at the beginning, this is still mind-boggling for me, so criticize if you must, but take my words with a grain of salt if I fail to mention any references.

Story:
The setting of the story is based in Asakusa, a city in Tokyo in the Taito district, where there exists this strange area called Kappabashi-dori (nicknamed "Kitchen Town"). More than just a famous place for kitchenware (yes, plates are sold there!), but there also exists a kappa statue (which is shown as sorta the HQ for the characters), of which our main central characters (Kazuki, Toi, Enta) broke, and there in there, a kappa appears by the name of Keppi. Being the prince of the Kappa Kingdom, the trio band of boys are subjected to helping Keppi collect the "Dishes of Hope" by getting their shirikodama (mythical organ) extracted from their anals, sing songs about the desires to collect, and by doing so, making the sound "Sarazanmai" to extract the shirikodama from the antagonists Reo and Mabu (acting as the Otters' agents)' created "desire" zombies.

However in doing so, every time the trio tries to connect with each other, in exchange, private secrets are revealed, pitting each other in extreme ways of reasoning in light of their desire. This is the baseline of the story, but Ikuhara fans will know there's more between the lines, as all characters will fight for what is right to them, and claiming the "Hope" that can settle their issues once and for all (at least for this series).
(If you need clarity, seek ANN's post about "Here's What We All Know About Sarazanmai", that's a very extensive and informative read!)

Plus, having chief series director Nobuyuki Takeuchi (who worked on Utena) is one of the major factors in achieving Sarazanmai and its valiant efforts alongside Ikuhara, who has since then matched Ikuhara's efforts (on Penguindrum) and now this series. What an amazing work.

Characters:
If you haven't seriously paid any attention to Ikuhara's works before, the characters play the main plot of his stories, sometimes weird and vague but it definitely has a "finishing line" feel to it. (Spoilers will be kept to a minimum not just because it's Ikuhara, but because there are heavy weights behind their actions.)

Kazuki, seemingly has one of the most bizarre backstories to whatever he does, and it feels like that for a reason. Back before this Kappa thing ever happened, he was proficient in soccer (or how Americans call it football), and in his childhood, paired together with his good ol' bud Enta, they were known as the "Golden Duo". And also, due to his obsession with the idol Sara Azuma, he too cross-dresses for his younger brother Haruka. Oh man, this boy is just too busy with a lot of things! But he fights with passion for anything to make sure his dreams are fulfilled.

Enta, who is "attached" with Kazuki as the "Golden Duo", his story is a bit underwhelming, but for the sake of friendship, it's the widest of long shots. So he exists as that, but due to his unforseen "bump" with the Sara Azuma cross-dressed Kazuki, he develops a crush for him. However, down the line, he realizes that Kazuki is not into soccer as he hopes as time passes, and carries Kazuki around his selfish desires to stay together.

Toi, who is the total-badass of the trio, doesn't seem like that by first choice. Once a middle-school transfer student, he resides in Kazuki and Enta's class, but seemingly has a side job for his wreck of an older brother, Chikai, selling drugs for him. And overtime it becomes an intoxication for him as his whole family isn't living the high life, and concurrently in debt with his "big, bad wolf" brother on the run, Toi has to make split decisions which affect how both Kazuki and Enta tries to mend things with him, whenever his reasoning is lost in-between moments.

Reo and Mabu, the antagonists who were once on the side of the Kappa Kingdom, now opposes it with the Otter Empire after their resurrection. However, due to the war between both factions, Mabu sacrifices his life to save Reo, in the exchange that the love that Reo had for him be not told, and together with the Otter implanting a mechanical heart in Mabu, Reo goes through an extensive cycle for Mabu to realize his love for him. What a deadly sequence of events and a road treaded to catch one's love and desire.

The side character, Sara Azuma the idol herself, we see each and every episode about her appearance on TV, with the daily "Fortune of Today" having secret meanings. And yes my friends, this is NO mere coincidence, as Wataru Okabe, the graphic designer and iconographer of Penguindrum, repeated his methodology with the ? ('A') and has become the "Greek chorus" element. Furthermore, every episode we see with the "Sara + (add episodic item)", it is still a mystery but it's fun to speculate what this could mean. Plus she is always around with Keppi, the Kappa prince, and what this means, honestly I really don't know. Keppi is a fun character though, voiced by MHA's Aizawa-sensei, his voice gives Keppi the look that is as ferocious but also comedic.

Art and Animation:
NOW this is where it gets interesting. We all know MAPPA's sturdy record of prominently great shows with cool and striking animation, but in this series, I would like to direct your attention to 2 figures:

Studio Pablo, the small art studio responsible for the overall art, backgrounds and foregrounds included. This studio, although no directorial works have been under their belt before, but it is regarded as one of, if not, the best background-designing studios that anime could ever have with very lush colourwork, high detailedness and naturalized workstyle. And Flip Flappers (from Studio 3Hz) is a very great example of bringing that creativeness and realism to a whole new angle, and if you've seen that show, Sarazanmai shares the same philosophy, and heading that directorial post is Ayaka Fuiji.

Lapin Track...? Who's that?
No doubt this is one strange studio that everyone has seen for the first time, me included. Founded under Ikuhara and his main home in the anime industry, this backseat studio has been working outsourced projects before with skillful directors under their belt, but just like Madhouse, Shaft and the bigger studios, people left to form new studios (MAPPA, here for example, is founded from directors under "old" Madhouse before). This is the first appearance for everyone, so if you happen to find a future Ikuhara show, this studio will be the No.1 thing to keep in mind of.

So unorthodox and creative-filled is Sarazanmai that while the differences from the norm are striking, it definitely gave the series a look that is unlike anything ever seen, and shows off the signature of Ikuhara as per the usual.

Sound:
To Ikuhara fans (I don't really know if this is true), sound too plays a part of his works, in those moments where we least expected it. At least the series' theme song when the episodic zombie fights come were symbolical to the items that were shared when the idol Azuma displays as "Fortune of the Day", leading up to the usual shenanigans and hops. Otherwise, the main roots (OP and ED) were great to listen to.

AND OH YES, the Kappa anal fights and Reo and Mabu's Otter duet songs! Those are the best, and while they get repetitive (and sound like the "Power Up!" BGM you hear in games), it's so fun to see the differing details between the trio (each episode featuring a different front man) along with Reo and Mabu's dance.

Overall, Sarazanmai is intriguing yet enjoyable, and is an experience not to be missed. Even if you're not an Ikuhara fan and you don't like his sense of storytelling, there is no denying that whatever he touches, turn fine wine into gold. Even when the story is all said and done, and you're left to piece everything together, don't. Because we may have just found our creative ground in an age of "copy-and-paste" tactics. So come along for the ride, and don't start weaving the lines just yet.

Kunihiro Ikuhara-sensei, we the fans and audience, await for your next surprise work.

I'm not sure what I should say about the show... I mean the animation is good and the sound fits also to the situation, but the negative aspects' preponderance.

However, the main issue of this show is that the story neither deep nor a message behind the story. I mean all the main characters have different problems in their live, and they're aiming for solving them. During the show you see how they work with their lives. But there is one Problem: the story of their life adds nothing really important to the progress of the show.

Speaking about deep. The attempt of this show for ... being deep remembers of the pseudo-deep sayings fourteen year olds are posting on Facebook or Twitter.

Frankly speaking, the plot is in every episode nearly the same: You see the situation of the main characters, they all met, after that the two police officers are singing and dancing and in the end they all transform into Kappas and do their dancing and singing act. This is the main structure of every episode and by adding some "important" story parts they let this anime look decent. But it's not decent, it's abysmally. Every time a watch an episode I'm like why am I doing this.

Some situations in the show are funny, but nothing really made me lough out loud. The jokes were OK but nothing special. It seems like this series tries to entertain but does NOT.
Frankly, I do not feel such an enjoyment watching this show. I mean the show is OK but nothing more. I really don't know if it has something to do with age or just taste, but I'm sometimes bored watching this Anime.

In conclusion, I think that Sarazanmai is an Anime that you could but should not watch. It's alright to watch but I won't define it as a must see show. Therefore, I would recommend watching something else.

Why Sarazanmai's the best show since One Punchman 1st season?

It has been a very undervalued anime, cause it's dazzling accelerated, never giving you time to think, the symbolism of the events start to mixing up and, because of that, it's logycal meaning is lost.

Even so, this is the best show for me, or, maybe, because of that.

It's strange how language and art operate. In Sarazanmai, the symbolism lost it's meaning in the viewer consciousness, but still has meaning, and even more impact, in the unconscious.
The "point" about the show is rhythm. All scenes works well and perfectly one with another, even the excessive repetition, with ... music and no-senses, the
eschatologic humor (which brings up our childhood occult memories, when our desire and self-identity was taking form).
The fact that an anime about secret desires, as the freudian impulse of life, act directly in our unconscious is not amazing by itself?
Put it together with the excellent sound track, the fantastic art direction, the character design that atends very well the demand, and you start to see a masterpiece.

There's more.

One thing that may wake up bad reactions out of people is the confusion of the script and the
eschatological humor. This anime requires a loosen posture of the viewer, because we have a culture of control: control of the script, control of the ideas, rationalizating everything, operating with logycal-thought instead of emotion or unconscious, reducting humans spectrum emotion in a shell. Getting out of that shell can be pretty emancipator, i mean, in real life.
Sarazanmai does not teach, but requires that posture to be really appreciated and valued, it is not for everyone, but, indeed, it's a master piece.

I decided to write a review for this anime because it is one of my faves for this season and it seems its greatly unappreciated. despite being extremely humorous, this anime hits serious themes that may be hard to see at first for some. I overall enjoy the fact that this is not just a happy-go lucky type of anime, but actually delves deeper into people's emotions. The main theme of the anime is human desire, which can be relatable to all viewers which also makes this anime just as appealing. I feel many people have been overlooking the anime du to its lack of ... seriousness, but I literally CRIED watching this LOL. Overall, if you are looking for a good anime for laughs and interesting plot, this is definitely what you want to watch!!!

update: im on 10/11 eps rn and do not judge this anime by the first couple of episodes !!!!! the main [plot happens towards the very end!!!

This anime is so bad.
Let me tell you something. I'm a completionist. I finish every single anime I start. But I couldn't go past episode 4 of this shitshow.
This is so bad in so many ways.
People in other reviews focused on the anal penetration aspect of the anime and singled it out as the worst part. I won't even go into that, let's just assume that's a normal way of doing things and, from what I know about Japanese culture, the implications aren't as sexual as they may be interpreted to be (think of kancho, which is played by kids).

However, even after removing that, ... this anime is so bad. The plot is extremely formulaic and repetitive, with the same sequences and songs appearing in every episode, and each plot being only slightly different from the previous one. This anime feels barely less repetitive than watching Dora the Explorer.

I do not recommend this anime for anyone. Ever. The only palatable aspect is the animation is cute, but you can get that from watching the first episode, or a poster, or a trailer and then just switch to the next show in your list.

I decided to watch Sarazanmai because i saw a GIF of the transformation scene. I thought it would a fun, goofy anime, but there's so much more to it than the surface-level weirdness. I just finished watching it and I'm in shock, I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. I cant stop obsessing over it, especially the soundtrack. The characters are so beautifully vulnerable, with incredible depth. My only problem with this show is that there aren't enough episodes. It felt a bit rushed at certain places, nonetheless i still give this a 10/10!!

“I want to connect, so Sarazanmai.”

As soon as I got to know that Kunihiko Ikuhara is going to direct this, I got excited for it. Kunihiko Ikuhara is a person who made his name in the industry for his uniqueness in series composition and storytelling which can be seen in his previous works such as Mawaru Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi.
Sarazanmai is also one of his bizarre works and it has one of those Japanese folklore creatures called "Kappa", an youkai (妖怪). The first kappa introduced in the series is a Kappa prince named "Keppi" whose noble Kappa Kingdom fell to the Otter ... Empire and now the Kappa prince Keppi has lost much of his power and became helpless against the"Kapa-zombies" whom are invisible to humans, these zombies plague the world, and are the creations of the Otters and manifestations of people's deepest desires.
One day, second-years in middle school Kazuki Yasaka, Toi Kuji, and Enta Jinnai (The three MCs of the show) get to meet Keppi by coincidence, Keppi steals their shirikodama (It translates to "butt-small-ball" it's a an organ that the kappa can extract from the butt of a person) and transforms them into kappas. "To return to your original forms," Keppi tells them, "you must fight the zombies and take the shirikodama from them." According to the legends, the kappa would drown people in the river and then extract their shirikodama. So, you'd see the MCs using the gush of water to finally get shirikodama from the zombies. And all of this might not make sense to many but it's one of it's standing points.

Art and Animation 8/10
The background art was good, character models were somewhat generic but their outfits made them stand out, however the background characters were literally silhouettes which is pretty common in Kunihiko Ikuhara's works. The animation was super fine plus it had all of the characters dancing and singing from here and there.
Can't stop myself from mentioning how the ED was literally one of the most aesthetic EDs I've ever seen! It was done by Tao Tajima, a Japanese filmmaker.

Sound 9/10
The series had 31 OSTs each character having a unique one for itself, didn't like the opening song (Massara by KANA-BOON) as much as I liked the ending song (Stand by me by the peggies) do check it out, it's pretty cool.

Characters 7/10
The series initially introduced 3 MCs: "Kazuki Yasaka", who must carry a box with him wherever he goes; "Enta Jinnai", Kazuki's childhood friend; and "Tooi Kuji", a delinquent and a school truant. Even tho they all have distinct characteristics but they do have something in common such as relations they cherish and want to protect and secrets they want to hide which are revealed throughout the series.
Then we have Keppi, the kappa prince who serves as a mascot. Sara, an idol-like person, loved by many does TV-shows. Haruka, Kazuki's younger brother who loves Sara. The gay police officer dou: Reo and Mabo, the only characters I didn't like in this series. Chikai, Tooi's older brother and somewhat his everything.

Enjoyment 9/10
I enjoyed every bit of it except the sequence where the gay police officer dou would come and dance, it was cringy and unwatchable for me. There were a lot of Japanese puns which I don't understand how they might've pulled in the dub. And it had many cultural Japanese references and references to other anime as well but none of it could stop me from enjoying it, the show deserves more praise for how much of this stuff Kunihiko Ikuhara stuffed in it.

Overall it's a solid 8 from me, only if I could understand all of the the cultural Japanese references and puns, it could've been a masterpiece to me.

This anime was very promising after the first episode, but unfortunately, it fell into that trap of becoming somewhat a kids show with a repetitive formula every episode.

I mean, come on, i liked milk chan, but even that got boring after episode 6 when the landlord came over... AGAIN.

But I digress, the story and the whacky antics are very interesting at first, BUT ONLY AT FIRST. They really don't throw much into the mix later on and i don't see them continuing to do so.

let's talk about the police officer couple... Are they necessary? Are they even part of the story?

See the problem ... here is that it tries to be random and clever with garnishes of comedy. But it's only good for a chuckle here and there on the first episode.


Animation is good. Sound is pretty good too, reminds me of old japanese anime music.

Overall, watch the first couple of episodes, then skip it, you're not missing much.

Since only 4 episodes have been released I can't say much about it yet other than the fact that this anime is ridiculous but may end up being really great.

Music: 9/10
The opening and ending are really beautiful and catchy too. The ending theme is performed by "the peggies" who also did the Bunny Girl Senpai opening theme.

Art: 9/10
By "art" I consider animation as well and this series had animation that reminds me of Kill la Kill (i.e hyperbolized, flashy and over the top) so it really fits the seemingly ridiculous stuff that happens in the show.

I said seemingly ridiculous because most of these things aren't ... that weird because they were taken from ancient Japanese mythology of the creature called the "kappa" and once you learn aboout that it isn't that bad. I genuinely would recommend this anime to others and I hope it bacomes more popular and gets a higher score than what it has now. I also love that this anime is so non chalant with all the gay stuff they put in and they treat it like it's normal; how it's supposed to be treated.

BTW: After watching the second episode, wait till the ending theme finishes and watch what happens next...

Im going to be honest for at least 10.5 episodes I did not have the slightest clue as to what was going on, but I never clicked off because the animation and soundtrack is honestly one of the greatest ever. It's also incredibly funny and gripping, I was enjoying the show but I had no idea what all of it meant. However at the finale, the absolute end, somehow I sat there my heart knowing exactly what all of it meant as cheesy as that sounds, and im not talking romantically, my brain was still confused but my heart was nodding because it understood somehow?? ... I was feeling all the emotions I was supposed to feel despite the absolute confusion that was this show. Even now if someone asked me to explain what this show was about my brain would provide to be useless but honestly your heart will know exactly what's going on. This show is unlike any other and truly in the most abstract and inappropriate sense a complete masterpiece. A totally new and unique experience, just give it a try and bear through the crackhead-ness and inappropriate metaphors for a beautifully realistic end. 10/10 would recommend, kero.
also holy shit that ed, beautiful/