Meiji Gekken: 1874

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 明治撃剣－1874－

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 10

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 14, 2024 to Mar 17, 2024

Premiered: Winter 2024

Broadcast: Sundays at 23:00 (JST)

Producers: Ai Addiction Inc., Crunchyroll

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Tsumugi Akita Animation Lab

Source: Original

Genre: Action

Themes: Historical, Samurai

Duration: 27 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 6.34¹ (scored by 3,476 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #7965²

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

Popularity: #5855

Members: 12,336

Favorites: 37

Available At

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@meijigekken1874

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Streaming Platforms

Crunchyroll

6.34

Ranked #7965Popularity #5855Members 12,336

Winter 2024TVTsumugi Akita Animation Lab

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Episodes: /10

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Synopsis

Year 1874. Shizuma Origasa, once a samurai of the Aizu Domain and now working as a rickshaw puller, embarks on a quest to locate his missing fiancée, Sumie Kanomata. However, an unexpected turn of events thrusts him into the ranks of the newly established police force, entangling him in the pursuit of a conspiracy aiming to topple the government.

Simultaneously, the Moriya yakuza clan welcomes a guest, Kyoushirou Shuragami, a proficient swordsman. Within the clan, which is linked to the mastermind orchestrating the government overthrow, Kyoushirou strategically positions himself for personal gain.

This sets the stage for the unfolding drama of destiny between Shizuma and Kyoushirou, where ironic encounters and separations await Shizuma in the course of his journey.

(Source: MAL News)

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Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Origasa, Shizuma

Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi
Japanese

Shuragami, Kyoushirou

Main

Mikami, Satoshi
Japanese

Kanomata, Sumie

Supporting

Kurosawa, Tomoyo
Japanese

Hinazuru

Supporting

Kurosawa, Tomoyo
Japanese

Koume

Supporting

Satou, Miyuki
Japanese

Midorikawa, Junpei

Supporting

Makino

Supporting

Yasuda, Rikuya
Japanese

Kamejirou

Supporting

Toki, Shunichi
Japanese

British Ambassador Parks

Supporting

Bifu, Hitoshi
Japanese

Gotou, Ginji

Supporting

Watanuki, Ryuunosuke
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Ben

Producer

Yoshida, Masaru

Assistant Producer

Tamamura, Jin

Director, Episode Director

Kameda, Ryouji

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

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Ending Theme

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Reviews

Feb 8, 2024

perseii

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

Preliminary (4/10 eps)

This show is decent historical fiction in the vein of Golden Kamuy, with a really interesting setting and a sprawling plot. It is just threatening to buckle under the weight of its own ambition and weak production value. While it is not a show for everyone, I am shocked at how few people are even throwing a glance at it as it is airing (Winter 2024).

The early Meiji period setting is one of the most exciting times in Japanese history and the best thing this show has going for it (it is in the title, after all). A civil war has just ended. A ... new government has been established, but its authority is still in doubt. Modernization continues at a relentless pace, and many people feel left behind. Western colonial powers are fighting for control of Japan. Crime and corruption flourish. I find all of this fascinating, and it's easy to see why this is a popular setting for period action dramas (Rurouni Kenshin, Like A Dragon: Isshin!, The Last Samurai, etc.).

We get to see a good variety of characters with many different backgrounds and (hidden) motivations. Even the main character is a rickshaw puller making ends meet while hiding his past as a samurai of a fallen clan. The characters are (mostly) grounded and have realistic goals; no cute anime girls or a kid with a sword and a dream. The show still has fun with outlandish character designs, like the one-eyed swordsman with long silver hair and dual katanas. Some characters fare less well; several women share a simple "geisha in kimono" look and are difficult to tell apart (just take a look at their thumbnails in the "Characters" section here on MAL).

Unfortunately, these characters, while interesting in concept, are closer to cardboard cut-outs than actual people. They are almost always either in the thick of action or "talking business", and they don't get a lot of time to show off their personalities and emotions. We do learn about the main character a bit more, namely his personal quest, his can-do attitude, and his good old-fashioned sense of duty and justice. Some viewers may find him uninteresting, but I think he's fairly charming and a good lead for this type of story.

The actual story itself is, as of Episode 4, something of an ambitious mess. In addition to the large cast, there are simply too many factions, shifting allegiances and plot developments to keep track of. Every episode just feels packed to the brim (this show does not have an OP and still runs a full 28 minutes). I am not sure if the Japanese audience finds these story points familiar, but other viewers might have a hard time if they do not know much about the history. I have read only a little about this period before, and I think I am just barely keeping up.

It's tough to say whether the show will tell a coherent overarching story. At the moment the show seems content to throw characters into cool situations and introduce new ideas. We get to see stuff like one-man yakuza raids, an assassin that uses hallucinogenic gas, and a mixed martial arts tournament. The show does not cut loose into full insanity and comedy, however (like Golden Kamuy does), leaving the show feeling a little safe and dull. This is all decent fun, but I am hoping the slowly-building conspiracies and conflicts pay off in future episodes.

The production quality is not the best, but I get the impression that the studio is doing the best they can with very limited resources. The animation in character interactions and fights is not exactly smooth, but creative and expressive in places that counts. There are some shots that are visually striking, thanks to impactful camera angles and lighting. Overall, the production is doing a decent job of supporting the story and the atmosphere, even if it just does not have the level of polish that would turn heads.

It has been a solid start so far, but with an uncertain future. Like Golden Kamuy, it has a fascinating setting, cool characters, an action-packed story, and even inconsistent production quality. If you really enjoy historical fiction or are interested in the time period, you should definitely give this show a try. If you can enjoy a dizzying plot with interesting ideas, and can overlook some thin character work and roughness in quality, you may enjoy this show.

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Mar 17, 2024

alecavalleri97

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

I can sum this series up in two words: chaotic and disappointing. Not the worst watch ever, visuals and voice acting are ok, but the plot is unnecessarily complex, some parts feel a bit forced and the final is both predictable and anticlimactic. Oh, it should be noted it has no opening or ending song, there's only an instrumental track during the ending credits, and the episode length variates between 23 and 30 minutes (not including the ending credits).
This story has three main actors: the protagonist Shizuma, the deuteragonist Kyoushirou and the villain Buhei; all of them have their objectives, and they end up colluding ... while pursuing said objectives. Even with the many (too many) minor characters it should be an easy enough to follow story, shouldn't it? But wait, there's also the Japanese government involved with its own agenda! And the yakuza are called into the fray too! And if that wasn't enough, somehow even the Brithsh ambassador gets a part to play, albeit minor... I'm not saying the main actors fall into the background, but there's really too many things going on at the same time and it might take some serious concentration not to get lost as the plot unfolds.
Let's go a little more into the details.
We have Shizuma, an ex-samurai who joins the police force to increase his chances of finding the fiancée he lost contact with during the Boshin War (January-May 1868); when he and his buddy get into a fight with some military guys they are helped by Kyoushirou, who was sent by a yakuza clan to settle a dispute between them and the military. But Kyoushirou isn't yakuza, he only joined the clan because they have a connection with the target of his revenge, Buhei, who killed his father six years prior the beginning of the story. Buhei, on his part, wants to stage a coup and bring back the "samurai era", and to do that he joined hands with the yakuza (to gain manpower) and some former samurai lords while at the same time planning assassinations of government's exponents. At the same time, the government is tight on funds and when they hear that Kyoushirou's group has access to a place called El Dorado, where they suppose there's a lot of gold, they set their sights on them. To top this free-for-all off, the British ambassador has a girl spying around just because it's always a good thing to know what's going on, she helps unravel some mysteries but it's not really fundamental for the plot to advance.
Do you think it's too much? This is just the premise.
Buhei's minions try to do away with Kyoushirou, and even Shizuma is out for his blood after his buddy, who was tailing Kyoushirou because he's a suspect in a murder case, gets killed; at the same time, Kyoushirou stirs up trouble between two yakuza clans who work under Buhei to get a chance to getting close to him and kill him, but ultimately fails and has to run away from the yakuza too. After saving the Prime Minister from an assassination attempt Shizuma finds out that his long lost fiancée, Sumie, is now working under Buhei to get her revenge on the Meiji government because of what they did during the Boshin War, and since he doesn't want to kill her he decides to leave the police force... only to come back almost immediately after finding the real culprit for his buddy's death, a minion of Buhei that had infiltrated the police forces.
Now Buhei's plan is at its final stage and almost ready to be put in action: they'll use hot-air balloons to drop some bombs over the imperial palace and kidnap the emperor during the confusion, then stir up a rebellion of former samurais and overthrow the current government using the emperor to justify the legitimacy of their claims; the government gets wind of this (IMHO pretty stupid) plan and sets off to thwart it, partially failing because of Kyoushirou's group's intervention but things still turn out for the best, with Shizuma managing to convince Buhei's major ally to let bygones be bygones and thus neutralizing the risk of a samurai rebellion.
In the meantime, Kyoushirou has set sail for the ship where Buhei's hiding to kill him once for all and finally take his revenge, but in the end he spares him, only cutting his hair to "kill his pride"; all that's left then is Shizuma and Kyoushirou's final confrontation, but even that doesn't get a proper closure since Buhei, who's completely lost all of his marbles, shots him in the back before (most likely) dying in the fire that started during a previous fight on the ship.
So in the end the government is still penniless, because the El Dorado was just a farm in Hokkaido where people who didn't fit in the new Meiji society took refuge, and at risk of a samurai uprising (that historically will happen three years later and will be known as the Satsuma Rebellion or Seinan War), Buhei's presumably dead, Kyoushirou's 100% dead, Sumie's dead too (she took a bullet destined to Shizuma and in any case was terminally ill) and the last scene is Shizuma scattering someone's ashes in the air while on a hill that overlooks the El Dorado farm.
As I said at the beginning, it's not the worst executed anime I've ever seen or the one with the most confusing plot, I was actually quite invested in it until the last two episodes started to rush things; the characters too are so-so, some are identified only by their hairstyle or clothing color and this makes it hard to recognize them (i.e. Sumie and another girl she's close with could be the same person if not for their kimonos) and with such a big cast of recurring characters some of them are just there with no real explanation on who they are and why they act like so, not even hinted at, like the girl who spies for the British ambassador or the guy who works undercover for the government and is based on a really existing person.
I would certainly not recommend this anime for a casual watch because it does take some concentration to keep up with the many plots and hints dropped here and there, but I'm not completely flunking it either because it has some good ideas that maybe, given more episodes, could have been executed better.

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Mar 17, 2024

KANLen09

Not Recommended

Meiji Gekken: 1874 - Thank effing God that we're done with Crunchyroll and their absconded Originals branding.

I love history...when it comes to anime, and Japanese history is FLOODED with stories like these that adds the animation element and makes the entire product interesting. Shows like mangaka Satoru Noda's Golden Kamuy and the modern original interpretation of Hideo Furukawa's The Tale of the Heike into Heike Monogatari, those shows are truly standouts when the topic of history or historical elements are the core function of the stories directed to the people. Japan itself has fought many valiant battles outside of its home country, as well as ...

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Poll: Meiji Gekken: 1874 Episode 1 Discussion KANLen09 - Jan 14	36 replies	by Collins89 »» Apr 20, 11:31 PM
Poll: Meiji Gekken: 1874 Episode 3 Discussion IzanaSolos - Jan 28	15 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Apr 15, 7:50 AM
Poll: Meiji Gekken: 1874 Episode 2 Discussion IzanaSolos - Jan 21	15 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Apr 15, 2:27 AM
Poll: Meiji Gekken: 1874 Episode 10 Discussion KANLen09 - Mar 17	21 replies	by RobertBobert »» Apr 9, 12:21 PM
Poll: Meiji Gekken: 1874 Episode 9 Discussion KANLen09 - Mar 10	8 replies	by Epiroogu »» Apr 1, 1:37 AM

Meiji Gekken: 1874

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Characters & Voice Actors

Origasa, Shizuma

Shuragami, Kyoushirou

Kanomata, Sumie

Hinazuru

Koume

Midorikawa, Junpei

Makino

Kamejirou

British Ambassador Parks

Gotou, Ginji

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Ending Theme

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Meiji Gekken: 1874

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

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