I came across this anime by pure coincidence. Out of the very few fall anime in my “to watch” list, Donten ni Warau was not in consideration. But out of boredom, I decided to watch the then released 3 episodes of this anime and I was undoubtedly hooked. Personally, I thought that this anime was just to my tastes. An anime that focuses on brothers’ relation with a cool (yet doting) big brother, a haughty middle brother (with a complex) and a cute little brother with an interesting speech pattern.
This anime was perfect. It made me laugh, cry and a feel a fluster of various other emotions. But then came episode 7 and that’s where things go wrong. Awfully wrong.
After an extremely emotional episode the last thing you would expect from the next episode would be a back story of a random character. I’ll be honest, this pissed me off greatly. I don’t care whether the back story was necessary or not (seemed like unnecessary romance sub-plot to me but I might just be bias) but it was almost inappropriate to deviate (in fact neglect) the death of the main character and the aftermath of such tragedy on the brothers in such a way.
In the following episode, I was more than ready to forget the previous episode’s pacing until Soramaru got over the death of his brother in an extremely baffling way in a single episode. Perhaps “getting over” isn’t the right phrase here but nevertheless, his optimistic attitude was sudden and seemed almost out of character for a person who was so obsessed with surpassing his brother.
This wasn’t enough to make me dislike the show though. After all, I had already gotten attached to the characters of the anime more than I was expecting. And perhaps because I liked the characters so much, I was appalled at “unexpected plot twist” of this anime. It wouldn’t exactly be wrong to say the twist was kind of cliché; but more than that, to me, it was low. The kindest character turns out to be the villain, has a twin partner-in-crime, and his background was a farce. Oh shocker!
Normally, I would’ve rolled my eyes at such a development. But having previously felt touched by how Shirasu was saved by Tenka and in return swore loyalty to the Kumou family, I was disheartened more than anything at the revelation. And so even though it turns out that Shirasu's background was a sham and he had ulterior motive all along, I can’t bring myself to hate the character. Rather than that, I can’t help but blame the author since it was the kind of plot twist that isn’t exhilarating or exciting but instead simply disappointing to the point I couldn’t wholeheartedly enjoy what happened afterwards (including Tenka’s return, unfortunately). Now I know that it was hinted that Shirasu is still attached to the Kumou's but the fact that he wouldn't be together with them doesn't sits well with me.
As far as the sound and art is concerned, DnW has pretty standard art with smooth action scenes with no major flaws. The opening and ending songs are suitable for the mood of the anime. The ending song especially was one of my favorite of the season. The background music is very fitting for a historical anime and overall had a very pleasing feeling.
I enjoyed the first half of this anime more than anything. In fact, I’m extremely dejected at how I gradually lost interest in an anime that I considered was bound to be one of my top favorites this season. But despite all my nitpicking and complains, I was satisfied that the anime at least had a happy ending. It’s a shame that Donten ni Warau couldn’t be a “masterpiece” for me, but it was a compelling anime nevertheless.
