Thursday, December 19, 2013

12 Days of Anime: #7--Kaisei

12 Days of Anime Eccentric Family Screenshot 1

Turn around, dammit! (A/N: Some spoilers in this post.)

12 Days of Anime Eccentric Family Screenshot 2

Eccentric Family offered an interesting glimpse into a different world running parallel to ours, where creatures of myth really exist. My favorite aspect of the show was how it dealt with the little nuances of living as a tanuki, or a tengu, or whatever in modern-day society. A lot of things were familiar, especially on an emotional scale, but living as a being that's not at the top of the food chain changes your perspective a bit. Their society has different rules and considerations that don't apply to humans, partially because of their powers and also because of a drive to survive. And I think that one of the best examples of those differences was Kaisei.

She spent a majority of the show as a disembodied voice, a twinkle in the shadows, a conveniently placed ladder. However, we did get a pretty good sense of her character. She seems to be the one member of her family who isn't out for power or glory, quietly subverting them while staying out of the spotlight. I liked her immediately, and wondered when or if we were ever going to see her.

12 Days of Anime Eccentric Family Screenshot 3

When she finally does make her appearance, it's with little fanfare. It took me a minute to realize who she was. However, despite revealing herself to the audience and a few other characters, the person who she's trying to help--Yasaburou--never lays eyes on her. I'm sure that this is symbolic of something, although I haven't figured it out yet. The Japanese ideal of purity maybe? I don't know. In any case, if a show can get me to buy into the merits of a relationship without worrying about the fact that they're cousins, they're doing something right.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.

7 comments:

  1. Really all the women in _Uchoten_ are cool. My favorite is Benten, though.

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  2. "Ridiculous mecha" is becoming one of my new favorite subgenres. :D

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  3. Benten is pretty awesome too! Honestly, I was expecting someone else to write about her for the 12 Days, but I haven't seen anything yet...

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  4. I liked that ambiguity, especially since she was helping them out because it was the right thing to do, not because of romance. Hurray for multi-faceted character motivations!

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  5. Yessssss, Auquarion Evol might not have been good like at all from a logical point of view but DAMN it was fun to watch with my friend.

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  6. You mean two episodes (I guess three as of today) ago? I don't think we're supposed to know yet, I think it's less a plot hole and more "someone put them there and they haven't told the audience/main characters yet".

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  7. Kaisei was awesome, I think to her it's a bit of a game she's playing with Yasaburou right now, although I was never quite sure if they actually liked each other romantically or are just sort of close the way the brothers all are.

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