Reviews

Mar 2, 2012
Mixed Feelings
Watching Otogi Zoshi's two halves felt like I was watching two completely different titles of varying quality. The series is divided up into two different arcs with the first one taking place in Heian era Japan and the other set in Japan's modern era. The Heian arc was an enjoyable watch exploring the developments of Hikaru, under the guise of her brother Raikou, and her companions trying to gather up several magical magatama needed to halt the depraved conditions of many commoners throughout their kingdom. The arc offers solid developments on the challenges faced by Hikaru's group as they face life-threatening decisions, corruption involving those who task them with their adventure and Hikaru finding herself faced by the pressure to use her brother's identity to complete their adventure while also finding possible love with a traveling performer named Mansairaku. The final episodes to the arc feature some shocking developments that hooked me to see how events would turn out with Hikaru's group. The arc believably depicts the harsh conditions and cultural norms of the time period, as well as making use of notable legendary figures in Japanese folklore for this engaging story. If the series simply ended with the Heian arc, Otogi Zoshi would be a definite addition to my anime collection.

But with the addition of the modern era arc for another 13 episodes, the quality of Otogi Zoshi's storytelling takes a big hit. This arc focuses on the modern reincarnations of the adventurers from the Heian arc as Hikaru is the landlady of an apartment complex where she and several of her tenants get caught up in mysterious phenomena affecting Tokyo as the girl seeks out the whereabouts of her missing brother, Raikou. The whole premise is poorly implemented and contrived as the arc tries to go for some poor excuses to connect the mysterious phenomena to the events that took place in the Heian arc and it leaves a number of glaring plot holes concerning the events that Hikaru and her apartment tenants get dragged into, especially with the focus of one major character who makes a return from the earlier Heian arc.

The visual presentation for Otogi Zoshi is a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, the series features realistic-looking character designs and has its moments of fluid animation shown during battle scenes and the destruction of towns/ cities during key events in the series. On the other end though, it felt like the series was on a bit of a tight animation budget at points as there were some low-quality background shots on a number of occasions in both arcs and animation shortcuts were apparent with still shots being used on a number of occasions. The modern arc also mixes in some live-action shots of various Tokyo locales in place of animated shots of said locations whenever the plot moves to another location, clashing quite badly with the animated footage following a scene change.

Overall, Otogi Zoshi was worthwhile only for its Heian arc thanks to its solid storytelling and implementation of elements of traditional Japanese folklore and spiritualist beliefs while the modern arc was a messy premise that seemed tacked on just to drag the show out for another 13 episodes. If you share similar feelings as I do on the series and wish to get it on DVD, just buy the first three volumes containing the Heian arc if you live in America and dream that the modern arc was never even made.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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