(L) The Heike Story

[Stark700]

From studio Science SARU (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!) and director Naoko Yamada, The Heike Story draws inspiration from the original story THE TALE OF THE HEIKE, written by Hideo Furukawa.

But that’s not all. The iconic Reiko Yoshida serves as composer, with music by Kensuke Ushio. The series stars voice actors Aoi Yuki as Biwa and Takahiro Sakurai as Taira no Shigemori.

From Funimation Blog

https://www.funimation.com/blog/2021...ion-this-fall/

[LG-MAX 2.o]

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...yamada/.176956

The anime will be broadcast in Japan on Streaming FOD on the same day it comes out on Funimation. Are they trying to use half-truths to increase their importance?

Anyway, looking forward to it.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

Good to see Naoko Yamada direcvting something new after what happened. But why on a different studio? I hope she is still working in KyoAni.

Change of pace? Better pay? Do something new? Company loyalty is overrated.

The trailer for this is excellent:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/ZW40VnNrowY

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Dop]

Well, that sure has an aesthetic. Liked it a lot.

[leongsh]

Ooo... I am intrigued. It looks very good. The main blemish is the ending song - a rap song. It's so out of place.

[Haak]

There was some strange choice of music in the episode itself too. And it was quite "jumpy" in places.

Still a good premiere. I was already sold from the trailer anyway.

[SeijiSensei]

I found myself at bit at sea during this episode. Guardian Enzo wrote in his blog that the Heiki Monogatari is taught in all Japanese schools and thus well known to most of the audience. I'm thinking I might benefit from tracking down the novel, as I did back watching Genji Monogatari Sennenki.

It was quite beautiful though. The opening scene with the butterfly lasted a bit too long, but maybe the director was sending a message to expect the story to develop slowly.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I found myself at bit at sea during this episode. Guardian Enzo wrote in his blog that the Heiki Monogatari is taught in all Japanese schools and thus well known to most of the audience. I'm thinking I might benefit from tracking down the novel, as I did back watching Genji Monogatari Sennenki.

It was quite beautiful though. The opening scene with the butterfly lasted a bit too long, but maybe the director was sending a message to expect the story to develop slowly.

"Jumpy" is kind of Yamada's signature style.

Sensei, if you do read it - which I cannot recommend highly enough - consider that this series is more or less based on Furukawa Hideo's modern translation, which is not out in English AFAIK. However there are several fine traditional English editions, and I can't imagine you'd be disappointed. It's a magnificent book.

As for pacing, one concern is that the series is rumored to be only 11 episodes. That would be nowhere near enough time to do the source material justice, implying even more strongly that Yoshida and Yamada intend to do an extremely loose adaptation.

[BBOvenGuy]

Yuki Aoi is the hardest working woman in show business this year.

Was Biwa added to modern retellings of the story, or has she always been there? She kind of reminded me of the rescued feral cat I was helping a friend shuttle around today.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

Yuki Aoi is the hardest working woman in show business this year.

Was Biwa added to modern retellings of the story, or has she always been there? She kind of reminded me of the rescued feral cat I was helping a friend shuttle around today.

She has absolutely nothing to do with the original source material. Strictly a modern conceit. She may not even be in the modern-Japanese translation this is loosely based on - possibly anime-original.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

She has absolutely nothing to do with the original source material. Strictly a modern conceit. She may not even be in the modern-Japanese translation this is loosely based on - possibly anime-original.

That's what I figured. Prophetic sages do turn up in ancient stories from time to time, though, so I thought I'd check. Thanks.

[SeijiSensei]

I bought the McCullough edition which supposedly uses modern diction and got good reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804718032/

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I bought the McCullough edition which supposedly uses modern diction and got good reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804718032/

I envy you being able to read Heike for the first time. It would be like seeing Moribito for the first time.

I genuinely believe a legit, mostly faithful adaptation could be the greatest anime of all time, no exaggeration. The source material is that good. Someone scolded me on my website for being disappointed that we were only getting 11 episodes and that it would be severely changed because "it's better than nothing". And while that's true, it's hard to imagine anything summing up being an anime fan in 2021 better than that.

[Guardian Enzo]

Only anime would look at Heike Monogatari, say “Let’s make the Taira minor supporting characters!”, and conclude it was a good idea.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

[BBOvenGuy]

The more anime I watch, the more convinced I am that I should never, ever read source materials. They always seem to ruin the anime adaptations for people.

From my vantage point of complete ignorance, I'm enjoying what I'm seeing. So far, this is looking like one of my favorite shows of the year.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

The more anime I watch, the more convinced I am that I should never, ever read source materials. They always seem to ruin the anime adaptations for people.

From my vantage point of complete ignorance, I'm enjoying what I'm seeing. So far, this is looking like one of my favorite shows of the year.

My strongly-held advice to anyone interested in this show would be - DO NOT read the book. Enjoy the anime, which is pretty and stylish, and only when it's over read the book. But don't skip the last part, because you'll be experiencing one of the greatest stories ever told. Yeah you'll realize how badly the anime is butchering pretty much every aspect of being an adaptation, but you'll still have enjoyed watching it.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

My strongly-held advice to anyone interested in this show would be - DO NOT read the book.

Like I said, that's rapidly becoming my strongly-held advice for just about anything.

I'm an author myself, and in the remotely possible event that anyone ever wants to adapt one of my books, my plan is just to take the money and run. I've been a screenwriter before too, and the two forms are completely different, with different motivations and goals, and with different numbers of people involved in the mix. I tell my story, and they would tell theirs. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

[Guardian Enzo]

Just curious - could anyone who hasn't read the book or studied the history follow that at all? I enjoyed it because as ludicrously fast as it was paced, at least it was mostly canon. But if didn't know the story (and the names) already I find it almost unimaginable that I could have followed along.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Just curious - could anyone who hasn't read the book or studied the history follow that at all? I enjoyed it because as ludicrously fast as it was paced, at least it was mostly canon. But if didn't know the story (and the names) already I find it almost unimaginable that I could have followed along.

It's tricky, but not impossible. In this latest episode, I didn't catch on that time had passed until they mentioned that Tokuko had gone six years without producing an heir. Then I realized that the place they'd gone to was the same structure we'd seen only as a model in the first episode.

As for the conflict at the center of the episode, I just kind of went along with it. The characters do explain bits of what was going on, and at the end, Shigemori gives a nice summation of how royally screwed he is, so it works.

I know you don't like Biwa, but I think she gives the audience (at least the ones who don't know the story) an anchor-point to keep them from getting too disoriented.

On your blog, you complained that Biwa didn't seem to have aged in six years. I think she's just short. In the flash-forward bits where she sings the story, she's definitely much older, but still short. For what it's worth, I was paying so little attention to Shigemori's sons that I didn't notice they looked older until I realized that time had passed.

[Guardian Enzo]

I didn't "complain", I simply noted the fact and that I wondered if anyone on-screen would do the same.

So you're suggesting she did age normally? Wow, I don't see that at all. I mean assuming she's 10 or 11 pre-timeskip, she'd have to be like 17 now. I don't think there's any way that's the case - I'm thinking some sort of metaphysical element - but if not, it's incredibly lazy writing. Who is she, Murase Ayumu?