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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 7 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:911#1552] |
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(Rent-/ Watch+) 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 earn a definite Buy rating from me. 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 and dream that the modern arc was never even made. Last updated Friday, March 02 2012. Created Friday, March 02 2012. | ||||||||
| Watch | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
 Dreamer
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[series:911#2279] |
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I didn't know what to make of this anime at first. In the beginning, it seemed interesting.... but as the series progressed... well, not as I expected. Art, Animation & Character Design I didn't think the art was all that great. In fact, I would almost say it's down right ugly, especially how some of the characters eyes were drawn. The second half of this series is even worse. The animation itself wasn't bad however. Although, the second half on seemed to lose a few frames and got choppy. Overall, it seemed your typical frame rate. As for the character designs.... eh, nothing special either. Some of the characters were down right ugly... such as "Kintaro" and "Mansairaku" in both incarnations. Music The theme started catching my interest ever so slightly. It wasn't anything good but I did catch myself watching through the opening credits just to listen to it.... which is quite unusual of me. The ending theme wasn't that bad either. But in-between, nothing I can recall. Episode & Series Story First, I enjoyed.... for the most part, the first half of the series. Let me explain. This anime can be broken down into two segments. You got your first half that takes place in the feudal era, then you got the second half that takes place in modern day Japan. The first half of the story telling seemed interesting at first.... a simple plot about a group of people who are out in search of unique stones. There's some decent fights, interesting characters and the likes. However, about midway when you think the protagonist, "Hikaru" will be destroyed to oblivion, the story would take an even more of an interesting twist, or at least you would think it would be "intersting". But, oh no. Instead, we get just the opposite. Thus the second half takes place in modern Japan and it's..... horrible! It seemed the animation & art took a serious dump.... not that it was great to begin with and the plot was just...... boring and silly. The only interesting part was how the characters were all there but in a different form... or rather "life". And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why our Mansairaku couldn't simply cut to the point and ended the whole thing with a simple conversion with our protagonist! Instead, we've got it dragging out for episode after episode. The whole plot lost it's appeal thus ruining the first half. Overall, nothing interesting here. This is an anime that could have been a pretty good story telling but ended up down the drain. It almost seemed the writers themselves got bored with half way through and drawn out a boring lackluster conclusion. Avoid if you can. It's a marginal "watch" if you're really bored. Last updated Friday, November 28 2008. Created Friday, November 28 2008. | ||||||||
| Avoid | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
 DisFunctional
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[series:911#863] |
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*warning lots of spoilers The first 13 episodes was in the Heian period. It was about Hikaru retrieving the stolen good luck charms, called Magatama (made from jade and crystal), to restore peace to Kyoto. There was 6 Magatamas in total and i think 3 had to be found. Overall the story line was pretty much the same when it comes to finding these Magatamas. summary - little history about the people and their village, little fight, and one of the thefts turns out to be a good guy trying to get rid of these Magatamas. 2 or 3 episodes later they have the Magatama and moves for the next one. That's how quick it was. You're left with "oh, was that it?"... Moves to the next village and the same thing again... great story line there. From episode 14 to 26 we are in the present time with the main characters reincarnated. Strange events happens in the city of Tokyo and Hikaru and co investigates these events. you would think this will all link up and makes sense in the end... no it doesnt. It was a silly waste of time. In the end all she had to do was return a little fragment of Magatama and these events would stop. Mansairaku (the wizard/priest) whose been waiting a 1000 years for her reincarnation, could've sat her down, had a cup of coffee, and said, "mate, you've noticed all these strange events it's because..." followed by "this is how we're going to fix it... we'll meet at this place at this time and since i can stop time, i'll take you there to avoid trouble" and "oh if you dont believe me, watch this..." By the 23rd episode, i was angry/disappointed. Angry that they wasted my time for a no plot story and to top it of they were still trying to waste my time by adding a pointless crying in the end. I was screaming in my head, "all you have to do is place that fragment back and everything will return to normal. Wtf with this pointless crying? get on with it and stop wasting my time!!!" Last updated Monday, December 24 2007. Created Monday, December 24 2007. | ||||||||
| Buy | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
 Violet D
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[series:911#1393] | |
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I found this at Hastings and started watching it. It is a bit suspenseful and full of happenings that are going on. I want to try more episodes because I want to know what did happen to her brother and if she ever finds him again after he has disappeared and she wants to know who the guy with the red hair is and why does he know her name and her brother and I do to. Look this one to buy or rent if you get a chance. A change of pace and intrigue.
Last updated Thursday, April 27 2006. Created Thursday, April 27 2006. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Series Web Site | http://www.production-ig.co.jp/anime/otogizoushi/ |
