(L) Otogizoushi

[dreamless]

for the historical figures in ep18

Spoiler:

that guy commanding his army to attack the honnou temple should be the famous Aketi Mituhide, the one who killed Oda Nobunaga and was actually rumored to be the same guy as Tenkai.

[NoSanninWa]

Has anyone else noticed the elemental affinities of episodes 14-17? They kind've jumped out at me. I'd been kicking myself for not noticing that in the first arc, they captured the magatamas of earth -> water -> fire following the destructive cycle of the elements, so when I started watching the second arc there was no way I'd miss something like that.

This time each episode 14-17 (and I'm guessing 18) focuses on a specific element.

Spoiler for Elements in episodes 14 to 17:

Episode 14: Metal - The RR cars.
Episode 15: Water - You can't miss it.
Episode 16: Wood - It takes place in the woods on the hill. This one is a little bit weak.
Episode 17: Fire - There is a threat of fire, there used to be a firearms factory on the site AND fighting partakes of the element of flame as well.

These elements follow the CREATIVE cycle! If we continue the trend, episode 18 will have the affinity of Earth to complete the cycle.

Metal -> Water -> Wood -> Fire -> Earth (-> Metal) is the generative cycle.

Hopefully 18 will be subbed soon so I can find out if the cycle is completed, or I'm just imagining things...

[dreamless]

well...

Spoiler for episode 18 element:

it seems to be fire... I guess the one in episode 17 is just a fake fire, so they move the real fire one to ep18....

[NoSanninWa]

Or perhaps we have two episodes of fire in a row? Perhaps this destroys my theory.

[wao]

I think some eps will focus on the elements and some won't...

It seems tehre is more focus on time-travel than elements, so perhaps it will be interspersed... Out of 13 episodes you only need 5 eps for individual elements, we're at 19 and we've already had 2 elements. It's quite possible to fit the other 3 in 7 episodes.

In the Heian arc it wasn't "one element per episode" either... Did you see Tsuna's reaction to the whole "men that fight" bit in ep 17, though? Still has a bit of his old personality

[FlyByNite]

I was thinking that it was elemental related and geographic related. I think every episode starts with a map showing a part of Tokyo that the supernatural event is taking place in. I was wondering how those corresponded to the areas of the city that sent up those blasts of energy at the end of the Heian arc. Somehow the elemental energy warped those geographic areas and is the cause for all the weird stuff taking place in those areas in the present day. But if that was true they'd run out of story after 5 episodes, unless they re-used a locale.

[dreamless]

for ep19

Spoiler:

Tsuna actually proposed to Hikaru! wow!

It seems indeed the main plot has something about time rifts, I guess Raikou got those photos from future via those time rifts, and then lost forever in some spacetime anomaly, as stated by Mansaicoatu in ep18, that Hikaru would be lost forever and no longer exist in the world if she's lost in the fire. Also Mansaicoatu is called a ghost by that wolf god, so maybe he is not a living human?

about the elemental cycle

Spoiler:

hmm... it seems the elemental cycle actually starts from last episode? since this episode Mansaicoatu clearly says he's following the element of gold to the wolf god shrine. So this episode is about the element gold, and last episode is clearly of element fire... Is it a cycle of destruction again? fire -> gold?

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by dreamless

about the elemental cycle

Spoiler:

hmm... it seems the elemental cycle actually starts from last episode? since this episode Mansaicoatu clearly says he's following the element of gold to the wolf god shrine. So this episode is about the element gold, and last episode is clearly of element fire... Is it a cycle of destruction again? fire -> gold?

Spoiler for information on the five element cycle:

Yep. It looks like he's trying to follow the destructive cycle once more.

Fire -> Metal (Gold) -> Wood -> Earth -> Water

[THX]

Okay, I've watched up to episode 5. I'm seriously trying to like this series as at first glance it is exactly the type I like. People say it is on par with Juuni Kokki (my favorite anime) and this alone has been pushing me to watch more of this anime. But I find myself bored by what I've seen so far.

The story at this point is simple and the characters are incredibly dry. The animation and action scenes are good, but that aspect is actually secondary in determining if I am to like an anime. I like having a quality story and characters which I can form opinions of. I think there is a good setting, but the storyline, even with a bit of political intrigue, is mediocre at best. The characters are all the same, relatively emotionless and cliché; I hate them all.

Now, I am not bashing this series as it is far superior to a lot of what has been coming out lately, but I feel a bit disappointed by it. I've been expecting a mature, heavy/complex storyline with strong character development. At this point, I've only seen the mature part being fulfilled. I'm wondering, does the series begin to pickup a bit later on? Does it get better?

[Dagger]

It's DEFINITELY not on par with Juuni Kokki. Otogizoushi's animation is wildly variable anyway--sometimes the battle scenes are great, and sometimes they look awful. The ordinary animation (people doing everyday things like walking, picking up teacups, whatever) generally sucks. The characters are horribly underdeveloped, but the plot has some good twists. However, the twists were hardly enough to make me like the cast. Sometimes the artwork is great; sometimes it's cringe-inducing. IMO the storyline is hardly complex, just unnecessarily stretched out... and while

Spoiler:

the modern arc could have provided a nice way to shake things up, so far it's pretty dull.

Don't watch this in hopes that some decent character development will come along, because it never really does.

[wao]

Even as a fan of the series I have to say it isn't one of the best out there, the animation was kickass in ep 1 and 2 but after that somehow it disappeared, the plot itself is actually fairly predictable and somewhat drawn out and the characters are generally not very interesting...

Definitely not on par with Juuni KOkki. Now all of you go watch Fantastic Children! Bwahahahahaha! Ahem.

[THX]

Originally Posted by wao

Even as a fan of the series I have to say it isn't one of the best out there, the animation was kickass in ep 1 and 2 but after that somehow it disappeared, the plot itself is actually fairly predictable and somewhat drawn out and the characters are generally not very interesting...

Definitely not on par with Juuni KOkki. Now all of you go watch Fantastic Children! Bwahahahahaha! Ahem.

Well, if this is not on par with Juuni Kokki; any suggestions of an anime which is similar to Juuni Kokki?

Btw, I've watched a few more episodes of Otogizoushi and it is a bit better as more has happened in the latest episodes than the previous I had watched. Although, I am really tired of the dancing character

[leslina]

From watching the sub of 19 I don't get the impression that Mansaikouto is necessarily instigating the magatama elements in the Tokyo arc so much as he's been anticipating their occurence and helping to stop them from disrupting the living world further. The wolf says to him, "you should just watch events unfold." I'm assuming that unlike Hikaru and the others who were reincarnated in the traditional sense, after his death, Mansaikouto became some timeless entity who's fate is to keep the the magatama elements he organized in the Heian arc from manifesting in a destructive cycle again. He alluded to as much as he spoke with the wolf. In the sub he says, "To correct everything is the Karma I must bear". Also, there are more questions regarding Hikaru's role. The wolf says in regards to her as she lays fallen on the floor, "Then this creature is..." we don't know who or what Hikaru is exactly. Why would the wolf know about her and why has Mansaikouto been waiting for her all this time. Remember this Otogizoushi is not exactly like the tale from the Heian Arc. The tokyo stories are independant from the Heian timeline and independant from one another as some tend to be seperate one-shots. Looking forward to the concluding eps.

[rorosama]

I dl'ed ep 20 and i wasn't impressed. Can someone tell me what kind of show is this. Action oriented, thriller or horror. Can you compare to another anime. Thanks.

[Yebyosh]

Spoiler for Episode 19:

For a while there, I thought episode 19 was Wolf's Rain : A Crossover into Otogizoushi or An Albino Werewolf in Tokyo

I fail to see where the destructive cycle based on the magatama comes into play here for this episode since:

1. There is no national crisis here except for the 'draining' of 1 yen for each and every transaction ( how do you 'drain' an arbitrary item anyway )
2. Unlike the 'water' episode where we had a Genbu statue in sight, the only thing we have here is the 'white dog'.

Interesting somehow that they managed to work that good ole story of that loyal Akita in somehow, though nothing seem to come of it except as a lead-in to the big story.

Is it just me or did everyone's eyes increase to 1.2x their normal size. They seem pretty big for this episode... I thought the Greys have somehow infiltrated modern Tokyo in this story.

[NoSanninWa]

After watching episode 19, I had a few insights into why we are following the cycle around Tokyo.

Spoiler for episode 19:

Mansairaku wasn't initiating things, he was at the shrine to fix them. It seems that he is simply trying to keep the flow of qi through Tokyo balanced. Perhaps things are breaking down along the destructive cycle as a result of the partially completed spell he made long ago. He then follows along in their wake and tries to repair the imbalance of qi so that things don't fall apart.

If this is so, they are going to have to do something more to fix the imbalance than simply patch things as they fall apart.

[dreamless]

Originally Posted by Yebyosh

Spoiler for Episode 19:

For a while there, I thought episode 19 was Wolf's Rain : A Crossover into Otogizoushi or An Albino Werewolf in Tokyo

I fail to see where the destructive cycle based on the magatama comes into play here for this episode since:

1. There is no national crisis here except for the 'draining' of 1 yen for each and every transaction ( how do you 'drain' an arbitrary item anyway )
2. Unlike the 'water' episode where we had a Genbu statue in sight, the only thing we have here is the 'white dog'.

Interesting somehow that they managed to work that good ole story of that loyal Akita in somehow, though nothing seem to come of it except as a lead-in to the big story.

Is it just me or did everyone's eyes increase to 1.2x their normal size. They seem pretty big for this episode... I thought the Greys have somehow infiltrated modern Tokyo in this story.

well, I think

Spoiler:

the draining of yen is completely independent from the magatama crisis. it's just the white dog who is the guardian god for money getting more money for the shrine. Also these stories in modern arc are all coming from real urban legends.

And yup I think Mansairaku is here trying to fix the spacetime crisis caused by magatama, so there's the disturbance of the gold/metal element in this shrine, and he comes to fix the problem. what happens after (the draining of yen) is no longer related to the magatama crisis.

[wao]

But while I think we can all agree Mansairaku seems more of an unaging spirit sort of thing, ep 19 makes me very interested as to what Hikaru is. Why did the wolf-dude call her what he did? I definitely must see what they do with the ending!

[NoSanninWa]

Here's an interesting thought!

According to Japanese folklore, Abe no Seimei's mother was a kitsune (fox) woman named Kuzunoha. Perhaps that's reason that Mansairaku's hair is red.

That's also the reason that Abe no Seimei was able to live for 200 years.

[runpsicat]

Originally Posted by dreamless

well, I think

Spoiler:

the draining of yen is completely independent from the magatama crisis. it's just the white dog who is the guardian god for money getting more money for the shrine. Also these stories in modern arc are all coming from real urban legends.

And yup I think Mansairaku is here trying to fix the spacetime crisis caused by magatama, so there's the disturbance of the gold/metal element in this shrine, and he comes to fix the problem. what happens after (the draining of yen) is no longer related to the magatama crisis.

Spoiler:

Actually, Mansairaku does explain the phenomenon (indirectly) by saying something along the lines of "If the flow of qi is perturbed/disturbed in any way, the qi will stagnate and gather somewhere" (I'm too lazy to dig up the finalized scripts, so I'm just using my raw translation to pull this line from). The qi in question is metal for this episode, so my personal interpretation was that money(metal) was gathering in the Shrine since the flow of qi was disrupted by the robber chipping the goldwork on the wolf statue's dais (among the other weird stuff happening in Tokyo), which lead to the qi/yen accumulating there. No comment on the quality of the plot here, but... ^^;