I'm not talking about planting rice.
But this story isn't about planting rice alone, of course they plant rice and sometimes fight demons as the synopsis says, but that's assuming that planting rice isn't an activity humanity has done and improved on for ages, a span of time so long that took decades of arduous progress and development until the current state which doesn't even remotely resemble any of the techniques you actually see in this show, but if there's 1 thing that was necessary for that to happen, it wasn't ingenuity, or creativity, invention, progress, all of that comes after.
I'm talking about patience.
This is a story about patience and hard work, simple as that, and those themes are replicated into almost any facet of the story and characters, excluding developments that specifically occur to discuss the other side of the coin involving too much patience, or conformity, which I won't discuss because it involves heavy spoilers, just know this is one of those shows that argues against it's own messages and themes to truly dismantle them into a genuine exploration of the topic. -This is what good writing looks like, beyond storytelling and logic, even a bad story with a good thematic heart creates an outstanding product.
I can confidently say that this is one of the best videogame anime adaptations.
Sakuna's characters are honestly VERY annoying at the start of the show, they complain too much, they don't do anything but loaf around, and they actively act against their current situation. Being that 4 of the 6 main characters are children (albeit one of those a god), it's expected for you to hear them whine and display a lack of responsibility. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THE CHARACTERS ARE BAD, IT MEANS THEY HAVE A LOT OF SPACE TO DEVELOP.
I'm absolutely tired of the 2024 anime landscape where characters have to start off already strong, yes they can throw a ball 1000 meters with no training, yes they have effortlessly ridden the world of a horrible menace, but in the end, all it takes is for them to be immediately likable, and for secondary characters to constantly remind the audience about the character's supposed "weakness". Development for these characters is then forced and unnatural, where the writers simply create the illusion of progress without actually letting it feel earned.
Sakuna is not that show, in a breath of fresh air, these characters actually develop throughout the story into important roles for the survival of the group, they all get past their biases and past mistakes/incorrect assumptions. Come episode 12, I realized this show could make me emotional for the characters even with no more than those 12 episodes, because I've seen them grow and can compare the difference between their original selves and their new, better selves. I was happy and satisfied to see these characters grow with a real journey behind them, unlike the characters from most modern anime who use their "appealing personality" to carry their entire arc.
THIS is how Sakuna rewards patience. The characters grow slowly and steadily, mimicking the rice harvesting process, which is a ridiculous theme-story connection, but only a show about planting rice could do it successfully.
Not only that, but even if you remove the growth aspect of the equation, this show's characters have pretty simple yet interesting backstories, one of the characters is a 3 year old who has regressed to their 1 year old self due to severe trauma, and I think that is insane, trust me when I say that's far from the only surprise this cast has in store.
Being an adaptation of a videogame, the story is admittedly a little awkward, while I didn't feel it to be rushed at all, the plot has a lot of holes that are clearly explored in the source game and not in the show, it seems the writers preferred to focus on the great characters, losing some of the story in the process. I am more than fine with this, because as I already mentioned, this character driven show does that aspect spectacularly. The story too, is quite simple, Sakuna the brat is banished to the island where her parents met, so she can clean the island of demons while planting rice, because she's a harvest goddess so well cultivated rice increases her power. It's a simple premise and the execution isn't far off either, the first half of the show dedicates it's time to the story of the crew learning to harvest rice, with a few character-grounded episodes in between, while the later half explores the necessary steps to go deep into the mountain to destroy the evil demon within. The simplicity of the story is one of those aspects I find agreeable, so if you are reading this to figure out weather you want to watch the show, consider the story itself is simple, with the characters being the focus. That doesn't mean this story isn't emotional, I was genuinely surprised at how much the show managed to deliver emotional beats. Similarly, that doesn't mean the story is senseless, I was just less often surprised at how much plot points interconnected, tho I must confess they are often thematically relevant in discussing the virtues of rice farming as well.
We love us some fantastic animation, and I cannot say this show has "fantastic animation". I lean more towards "golden", it rarely feels unfinished or unpolished, but I won't pretend the most ambitious shot in the show isn't in the opening. It has some CGI rice, which off putted a lot of people out of watching the show at the start, but it's honestly not a big deal as the CGI doesn't play off the 2D animation too much, it's easy to dismiss it to the background because it's unimportant.
Where the show truly shines visually is the designs. HOLY are some of the designs in this show great! The main cast all has a different build and palette, which is one of the elements that originally attracted me to this show, watching the character of Tauemon be chonky next to an overgrown baby truly shows the range. Then you got the demon designs, including the absolutely cute bunnies and other animal monster creatures that are inspired by Yokai, I can say some of those design are a little uninspired, including a recurrent enemy that just looks like a Stalmoblin straight out of breath of the wild, but any important design tends to shine a lot more and express a ton of personality, that totally makes up for the mid-budget animation. This of course also applies to the general environment design of the game giving everything a pretty unique sheen as well.
I also appreciate the large amount of bunnies and unnecessary details that bring a lot of charm to the animation, despite it's limits.
I think sound is pretty much awesome. It's not the peak of sound design, but it doesn't stay short. Great soundtracks, and generally good voice acting, tho I imagine some people would be bothered at some of the squeaky voices and accents.
Ultimately, this is a show I'd rate pretty highly on characters and themes alone, all those aspects play off within eachother, making a satisfying watch that rewards those willing to get past the initial appearance of the characters, because they are an absolute highlight in a landscape where stories rarely dare to make through development without resorting to storytelling tricks.
It has souch an appealing and tranquil vibe but knows when to turn away from it to deliver on the experience, I believe it transmits the experience of growing rice through it's story, phasing and atmosphere, truly one of the biggest anime recommendations I can give!
