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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- Funimation's pre-release before it airs in Winter 2022 in Japan. Can I say that this is truly the pairing of 3 industry giants: director Naoko Yamada, scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida, and music composer Kensuke Ushio, into one hell of an amusing show that has been done with KyoAni's Koe no Katachi a.k.a A Silent Voice and Liz to Aoi Tori a.k.a Liz and the Blue Bird. Add Science SARU's unique visuals, and you have a seasonal masterpiece in the making. Some background of this show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Heike For an early premiere episode, the story of the Heike from the POV of a person is just as intriguing as it is a Japanese History class of exchange between the Heike warriors and Taira clans. And in comes this child: the Aoi Yuuki voiced, heterocoloured orphan girl (Biwa) to tell of revelations while passing around as a musician who lost her precious dad from a simple skirmish, and she prefers dressing up as a boy. She is quite the attracting character whom can see the future, for one. And of course, she can throw quite the fit in the royalty setting, though socially and etiquettely inept and taught by Taira no Shigemori adopting her into the family. Seriously though, this show is just like attending a Japanese History lesson and learning of its famous lore in animation form. Gonna expect a lot of good things for this one. |
KANLen09Sep 15, 2021 10:57 AM
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| Wow oh wow. The art direction, the storyboards, the scenery, the use of color. the mix of simple character designs combined with intricate details when it matters, the already mesmerizing music of this show, the splendid voice acting of familiar actors like Sakurai Takahiro.. The opening is so beautiful. The ending is great as well. The soundtrack felt so familiar, I always listen to A Silent Voice's soundtrack when reading Manga, so I just knew that the same composer did the music for this anime and I was right.. I love that guys style. He knows how to make simple but yet heart-wrenching beautiful pieces. This was flawless, it felt like the opener to a movie. I'll revisit some scenes since I missed some of the lore-based parts. The plot pace felt a bit fast. (edit, I rewatched the entire episode, which is something I never, ever do.. but this episode deserved it. What a beauty. It also cleared up everything I had missed, which just makes this even better obviously.) A super ambitious project. I loved it, and I'm looking forward to more. |
shayed__Sep 15, 2021 9:34 AM
| Well, Naoko Yamada has really managed to create her own distinctive directorial signature. I really like the non-generic art style and the atmosphere overall. My only problem is that there was too much exposition in a short span of time, so I wasn't able to really grasp it all. Overall, really promising project, let's hope it won't be too rushed. |
| Oh, that was a nice start. The art style and the animation of the show look really different and tbh, really well done IMO. I'm definitely gonna keep my eye on this show. Aside from the art style, the OST is from the GOAT, Ushio Kensuke himself. Really relaxing and beautiful. For now, I think the plot looks promising but definitely gonna take a while to grasp everything in. Surely looks really interesting to me and I'm actually looking forward to this one. I hope they surpass my expectations with this one. |
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| The year is 1170, that is the year when Fujiwara no Motofusa's men was attacked and humiliated, so this is the year when the anime starts. I don't remember if it was mentioned but Biwa is the name of the lute, that is where the girl's name comes from. I liked it when she recited from the original Tale of the Heike (her intonation was very beautiful) but otherwise the anime had a very strange choice when it come to the soundtrack. The direction wasn't nearly that good as I expected from Yamada Naoko, the story was a bit rushed, but nonetheless it was a promising first episode. I like McCullough's translation of the first lines of the Heike Monogatari more than the way it was translated in the anime: The sound of the Gion Shōja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind. The sāla flower is the flower the was shown a few times in the show. |
IshitatesoSep 15, 2021 9:31 AM
夏草や 兵どもが 夢の跡  |
| Really good stuff. Not sold on the overall story or premise of the show but it certainly has promise to be great, i really like the mc. As expected of yamada, the overall production was stellar. Alot of great directing, and the whole episode had a ton of animation and movement. Ushio was great as well as expected from him. Very hyped to see where this goes. |
| I can definitely see the quality in this show. The artstyle is unique, the animation is solid, and the concepts for the story are already interesting, but everything else is all over the place. The OST has some good bits but some of the songs really don't fit the scene, the dialogue is often confusing, the direction often looks good but other times feels too sparse for an artsy show like this and the pacing seems bounces all over the place (from fathers death to having the kid already be friends with the boys is quite jarring to watch). This could be solid show going forward, but for now it is just alright. |
| Interesting first episode |
| i literally cried in the first five minutes. the animation, the direction and the soundtrack is already amazing. |
  無限の |
| Nice art style , had an nice start The op was pretty good |
sonu711Sep 29, 2021 8:27 AM
| https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ [WATCH THIS^^^] |
| Even without the incredibly talented artists from KyoAni, Yamada's style shine easily wherever she goes and with whoever people she works with. Also, it good to see her new work has many old buddies of her working to make it as good as possible, good for Yamada too since they will make her feel at home to some extent. Since Saru's animation style fits her like a glove, which is surprising TBH. Impeccable start, gonna be hard waiting every week for another episode, but highly excited nonetheless. |
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| The overall direction was incredible and the animation was stunning. The first 5 minutes had me hooked in all honesty. I can definitely see this being AOTS at least. |
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| Looking forward for more episodes. Pretty interesting anime and I serously love the voice actors. Yuuki Aoi and Saori, perfect duo! The directors are amazing too so hopefully this anime will impress me even more. |
   “You yourself have to change first, or nothing will change for you!” ' |
| This seems to be going to be my favorite anime this season. I am already in love with the artstyle and music. The story at this point is huge plus for me. [  ] |
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excalibur977436 said: Will this be released weekly starting from today? From what I understand yes, consider it like an early fall season anime. |
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| The visual narrative was awesome and slice of life (comedic moments) were to the point also the animation are fluid and visual are incredibly beautiful as well as music is addicting . Really looking forward to this series |
| cant wait for all the anitubers to suck this series off for being unwatched, good episode, 9/10 |
| Nice first episode. It will recount the inevitable downfall of a mighty clan so I cant wait to see how things will play out |
| It's kinda interesting but m confused about what the premise is supposed to be |
I don't know how signatures work   |
| This look sooooo good. Loving it! |
| wowowow first saru production without yuasa and they're KILLIN IT |
| I would guess is this a movie, based on the overall visual looks. And the palette remembers me of Kaguya Hime. This one have potential to be at the top of fall season. |
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| The artistic sense was great and obviously pretty much reminiscent of the director's style. I think it was a bit convoluted? Like many events happening one after each other without a real sense of breath, but the point and information got through so I guess that is not much of a problem if it is just this episode that feels like this |
| Pretty interesting start. Nice atmosphere, visuals, and OST. |
SerafosMay 22, 8:47 PM
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| The first episode is pretty nice! I love the historical stories of Japan. OP is great too! |
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| That was quite special. The character dynamics were just so good. And even though the tone of the story is dark the humour worked well. |
| Quantum ille canis est in fenestra |
| Great episode 1 The animation definitely feels like a mixture of Yamada's style with Science SARU's animation. Not complaints, but obviously can't match Kyoto Animation when it comes to animation. The story was interesting and episode 1 really flew by. The suspense building was very well done. At times, the story felt a little rushed, but I suppose that's necessary if they want to adapt such a dynamic story in 11 episodes. I did enjoy the OP/ED, but I couldn't help but feel that the music felt a little out of place for a historic adaptation. Especially the upbeat guitar BGM they used around the 8:20 mark felt super awkward. Considering biwa is one of the main components of show, I'd figure they'd utilized that more. What really made this episode great was the acting by Aoi Yuuki. My god, she can act. Even the non-dialogue sound she makes are just otherworldly. Really carried this episode. |
| Production wise, the first episode's pretty impressive but I won't lie, wasn't quite as blown away with the actual episode. It wasn't as obnoxious and forced as the Kaizoku Oujo premiere a few weeks back when it started airing, but it didn't particularly grab me. I will say though, it doesn't help that I'm in kind of a dry phase with anime now with not watching much until the fall season has a couple of shows I love. Hopefully I get more into this with future episodes. For how talented I can see Naoko Yamada is as a director, I want to eventually like one of her shows at some point. This one's by far the best opportunity so hopefully its more engaging with the next episodes. |
| It is interesting. nice opening and very good ending. |
| My prediction is that this is going to end up being a companion piece with Yuasa's next film Inu-Oh coming out next year. There's a lot of interesting similarities between the two (they literally perform Heike Monogatari in Inu-Oh), and given that they were in development at the same time, I doubt that this is just a coincidence. |
| People who put MAL stats in their sigs are losers lol |
| A shame Yamada left Kyoani for this. |
| :v |
| I was surprised when Bilibili notified me about this episode's release, didn't expect the pre-release to be so early. Watching it felt like attending a history class... in a good way. The plot was interesting especially with the eye to foresee the future which some characters inherit. Looking forward to seeing how the story will progress. |
| This is very promising and it looks great. The music and direction are pretty good as expected of Ushio and Yamada, but it could've used a bit more time to flesh the world and storyline. Nonetheless I'm interested to see how this unfolds. |
    beep boop bop pow |
| the animation is amazing. i was drawn to the colors from the start. the red hitatare worn by the five kaburo was so vivid across the earthy palette of the background, that you can't look away. the bright ocean teal of biwa's eye when she was forced to shut the other brown eye as it had been covered with (red) blood, which saw the ruin to befall the taira clan. i assume that biwa's father is a travelling performer, a biwa playing priest/monk. interestingly, biwa-hoshi were known for their narrating of the genpei war and the epic heike monogatari as they went. since the biwa itself is a story-telling instrument, to have the young mc named as "biwa", you are seeing the story told from her eyes (which in this adaptation, she can see the future with). at least that is what i think. a very nice detail i noticed is that in close-up shots, you can see the socket of the eyes below the eyeball. the eyeball itself isn't connected completely to the eyelid or eyelashes as well. my favorite part of this episode was the reading of half the lines from the opening verse of heike monogatari, with biwa accompaniment, and the white camellia of the sal tree blooming to drop alongside the words. it is fitting as this is the first episode, it is commencing the beginning of this series has begun. now i have to buy funimation's subscription for probably three months straight, as this exists there. oh well. |
| This looks very promising |
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| I'm 100% sure that if Biwa was a boy they will show her butt and Penis, but because she is a girl nothing will be shown lol. Just like what happens in mushoku tensei when they show Rudy naked 😒 Anyway the anime seems promising, great opening and good ending themes and the story seems to be interesting + it's from studio science saru |
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| Starting off the next season (or ending off this season?) with a banger. Fell in love already! |
| As expected from Naoko Yamada and Science SARU, this is off to a seriously strong start, already very promising on all fronts. Already really liking the characters, visuals and overall atmosphere of this episode, and I'm very interested to see how this progresses. |
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