Ueki no Housoku

Unbeknownst to most humans, a bizarre tournament is held to decide the next ruler of the Heavenly World. In this tournament, 100 Heavenly Beings known as the "God Candidates" are required to search among the middle school students on Earth, and transfer their powers to a student of their choice. The chosen ones will then battle each other, representing their God Candidates. The victor of this tournament will be awarded the "Blank Talent"—allowing them to choose any one unique ability they so desire—while the God Candidate they represent will obtain the position of "God" and become the king of the Heavenly World.

Participating in this grand tournament is Kousuke Ueki, a middle school student who is given the power to turn trash into trees by his homeroom teacher, Kobayashi. Despite the concerns of his classmate, Ai Mori, Ueki embarks on a journey to pursue his own sense of justice after witnessing the people around him misusing their powers for selfish purposes. But as he encounters talented power users such as Seiichirou Sano, Rinko Jerrard, Robert Haydn, and Hideyoshi Soya, he realizes that achieving his goal might be harder than it seems.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ueki, Kousuke Main

Park, Romi Japanese

Sano, Seiichirou Main

Hoshi, Souichirou Japanese

Mori, Ai Main

Kawakami, Tomoko Japanese

Jerrard, Rinko Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Tenko Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Soya, Hideyoshi Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Haydn, Robert Supporting

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Kobayashi Supporting

Mori, Katsuji Japanese

Anon Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

God Supporting

Kosugi, Juurouta Japanese

Takahata, Yuuichirou Producer

Urasaki, Nobumitsu Producer

Watanabe, Hiroshi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Inoue, Kazuhiko Sound Director

Reviews

Aug 5, 2009

Ragk

Recommended

The Law of Ueki

This anime starts pretty weak. When you first walk into The Law of Ueki, there's not really anything to pull you in. It's a shounen anime. Ok, sweet, shounen I can get in the mood for shounen. So what's the main character able to do? Turn trash into trees. Awesome! wait what. He can turn trash into..... trees...

That's pretty much what The Law of Ueki will hit you with. However, that's what turns this anime into something so brilliant.

--Story--
You've read the synopsis so let's cut to the chase. The story in The Law of Ueki is definitely not its strongest point. As ... far as shounens go, The Law of Ueki is ahead of its competitors. Ueki strives towards his goals one step at a time, while meeting characters who ultimately he befriends. Stick in some backstory for the characters and you have the formula that The Law of Ueki pretty much adheres to.

As for the actual plot, I would give it a 8. It's interesting, because even God has a backstory in this anime. Although the story does take a bit of a dive in the middle, and never really fully recovers. Other aspects of the anime (I.E. the battles, which is what Shounen is pretty much about) more than make up for it.

--Art/Animation--
There's not much to comment about. Everything is done as it should be. The Law of Ueki isn't an anime that's going to wow you with its visuals. Nor is it an anime
that you can't bear to watch because your eyes are bleeding. The anime doesn't cut any corners, and battles are animated to what they need to be. There's no
slow-mo hi-def sword battles in this one. But that's really not something The Law of Ueki should even be judged on.

--Music--
The music is simply great. It's basically your daily allotment of Jpop But of course, does it contribute to the anime? I would say yes. Some
of the fights and situations in the anime really get you pumped because of the added music, and that's what I believe a 8/9 under music should do for you.
Clearly The Law of Ueki is no Yoko Kanno composition, but hey it gets the job done and it gets it done very well.


--Characters--
The strong point of the anime is right here. At first, Ueki seems kind of empty actually. However, over time Ueki begins to really become that
character you root for. Sometimes his "justice" oversteps the line and you simply facepalm or headdesk, but thats a rare occurance.

The characters are well developed, because their backstories are superb.Each character becomes unique and well defined while all contributing
to the overall enjoyment of the show. Even the character I hated the most (Saru) had his good moments. Although a part of me wanted a little more
"interaction" between Ueki and Mori, alas it was not to be.

What's the best about the characters in The Law of Ueki, is that the anime also pays attention to the villains. Although they clearly aren't given
as much attention as the main heroes, The Law of Ueki really nails it by giving them just the right amount of attention. It's not a 1 minute "blah blah blah
this is why he hates Ueki/wants to win/hates person X/wants to destroy the world" nor is it an episode dedicated to a character who ends up writen off in the recap
time of the net episode.

--Overall--
Overall The Law of Ueki is a superb shounen. The creativity behind the battles makes it a very enjoyable watch just because you think
"Well how is he gonna get out of this one?" That question isn't simply answered by "OH MY GOD HE HAS ASCENDED AND HE'S KICKIN ASS!" There's actually thought behind each battle, and that's what differentiates the average shounen from the great shounen.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Oct 5, 2011

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

The Law of Ueki is the story of several young teenagers with super powers who are fighting in a competition to gain great power. The competition starts with one on one battles but shifts to group battles for the second round, but there's a problem. There's a competitor who wants the power to wipe out humanity. You know, this plot sounds very familiar, almost like I've seen something with an identical story, but where was that...

I remember, it was Shaman King.

Be honest, you all saw that coming. The underlying plots really are almost identical. The only major differences are that Shaman King's tournament ... had competitors of all ages and the competitors in The Law of Ueki can lose their abilities but those aren't really significant changes. Hell, even the plot twist toward the end, which I won't reveal in the interest of avoiding spoilers, is the same. To be fair, the Law of Ueki does have some legitimately funny moments, but that doesn't make up for the fact that its plot borders on plagiaristic.

The characters aren't much better. They all have personalities based around common shounen anime tropes, which they play straight. The result is that they feel like very stock, listless characters. Another issue is that the main antagonist's motivations, when they're fully revealed at the end, don't match his actions. Which results a distinct impression that the writer changed his character at the last minute.

The art is decent. It isn't spectacular but it's not bad either. Although they do resort to borked proportions in a few cases.

The voice work is actually very well done. Oddly enough, the Law of Ueki has a lot of the same vocal talent as Shaman King. The music is mostly good. The only issue is that some of it doesn't suit the anime. Causing a disconnect between the feel of the action and the feel of the music.

The yuri factor is a 2/10. Mori and Rinko have some moments that seem a little homoerotic but there really aren't many.

My final rating for The Law of Ueki is a 5/10. It's average. The biggest issue it has is that it's simply too standard to stand out on its own. Everything it does with its story and characters has been done before and better. In the end it's an average shounen anime that plays it safe. If you're a fan of shounen anime, Shaman King especially, you'll probably enjoy it. Just don't expect anything new.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 8, 2021

marslander

Not Recommended

Preliminary (5/51 eps)

Nothing original about this anime. Many inconsistencies in the story line. Characters are boring and everything they do is predictable. I would have watched more of this anime if the dub was better, it's almost unwatchable. But the issue is not just the voices, the issue here lies in the script, it has this constant narrator feel. The girl, Ai, keeps narrating and describing the events as they occur, it's not necessary for that to exist here. We know how to watch anime and enjoy it without an obnoxious narrator voice coming from a character in a middle of a fight scene.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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