Anime Hidden Gems – Three That You Probably Missed

Japan produces a lot of anime each year, and only a fraction of it gets licensed for streaming in the U.S.

It’s easy to miss some good ones despite the fact that the number of series released in America per season is fairly manageable. Throw in one’s own preferences for certain types of stories and genres and a kind of tunnel vision sets in. We don’t even notice the series that are outside our comfort zone.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of not enough time. The descriptions of this or that anime don’t appeal, so you don’t give them a chance.

It’s understandable. Also, the anime seasons come and go so quickly, don’t they? It’s summer now but soon enough it will be fall, which will morph into winter, and then it’s spring again.

So here are three anime series that you probably missed when they were first released. None of them are flashy action stories or made a huge splash when they debuted, though I think all received good reviews, especially the one I’ve placed at No. 1.

In any event, I can wholeheartedly recommend all of them. At the very least, they’re something to watch while we wait for the return of My Hero Academia and the concluding arc of Bleach to air this fall. ;-)

3. Blast of Tempest (Zetsuen no Tempest)

Put a shonen story together with a looming apocalypse, supernatural powers, and a fantastic murder mystery - and you have Blast of Tempest.

Hazake Kusaribe, a powerful female mage, gets stranded on a desert island by her traitorous lieutenant Samon. She puts a wooden doll - a magical communication device - in a bottle and sends it over the waves. The bottle reaches Mahiro Fuwa. Mahiro is a rich kid whose parents and adopted sister Aika were murdered the year before. He agrees to help Hazake escape the island in exchange for the mage’s help in solving the mystery of who killed his family.

Mahiro teams up with his best friend Yoshino Takigawa to aid Hazake in her fight against the members of the Kusaribe clan who betrayed her. Compared with Mahiro and his rough attitude, Yoshino is the good kid and nice guy of the pair. He does, however, keep one secret from Mahiro - the fact that he and Aika were dating behind Mahiro’s back.

Huge eyes appear in the sky above Japan and start turning people into metal. This event is connected to the Tree of Exodus, which Samon is working to resurrect. Hazake says that they must stop this from happening in order to save civilization.

Hakaze’s Kusaribe clan - Samon’s original clan - is supported by the Tree of Genesis, which opposes the Tree of Exodus’s awakening. As Mahiro and Yoshino get swept up in the conflict, they must decide which side is the right side for the fate of the world.

Some elements of the story hark back to Shakespeare’s Tempest, hence the name. Blast of Tempest is a quality production with beautiful, fluid animation and a memorable music score.

But what really makes Blast of Tempest stand out for me is the mystery surrounding Aika. Aika (in flashbacks) and everyone’s memories of her haunt the story from the very beginning, creating an underlying tension that increases with each episode. The question of what happened to her informs Mahiro and Yoshino’s every action, all the way to the final episode when the answer is revealed. The mystery gives Blast of Tempest that extra edge that makes it truly memorable.

And now... I need to say a few things before I talk about the next anime.

There’s a missing genre when it comes to anime released in the U.S. Think about it. We have shonen, shojo, action, fantasy, historical, isekai, and quite a few other genres.

So what’s missing? It’s a genre called josei.

Josei is stories for adult women, usually with a woman as the main character. It’s often romance, though not always. It’s not shojo for girls, or magical girl stories such as Sailor Moon or Madoka Magica. I would define it as stories for women with a woman main character who has agency and the ability to determine her own destiny.

There are so few josei anime that make it to the U.S. that it’s hard to think of one off the top of one’s head. There’s Nana, and possibly Fruits Basket would fit in this category. There’s also an older josei anime called Diamond Daydreams that I can recommend.

I’m going to guess that there’s a lot of josei manga in Japan, but that most of it never gets translated into English or made into anime. It’s basic sexism... the belief that stories about women just aren’t as exciting as stories featuring men (a belief hardly unique to Japan - Hollywood has it too).

And - too often - even josei focuses on romance stories. Nothing wrong with romance, but as the automatic default genre for ‘a woman’s story’ it gets a little tiresome.

My point is this. I would love to see more josei stories from Japan. We’re in the 21st century now and past the point where we should be required to justify why stories about women are worthwhile.

2. Hanasakeru Seishonen

Oil magnate Harry Burnsworth proposes an odd challenge for his teenage daughter Kajika. She is to choose her future husband from among three candidates. The catch is - he won't tell her who they are. Her job is to find that out for herself.

I know... romance again. But Hanasakeru Seishonen only uses this marriage game as a starting point. The story actually turns into a political thriller, at the heart of which is Kajika and the choices that she makes.

The three men Harry referred to are: Eugene, an heir to one of Burnsworth Oil's subsidiaries; Prince Rumaty, the grandson of King Machaty of the fictional oil kingdom Raginei; and Carl Rosenthal, the son of the oil magnate whom Harry Burnsworth beat out for control of Raginei's oil export market.

As Kajika becomes involved in the three men’s lives, she begins to discover secret information that links her family to the Raginei kingdom.

Kajika is a strong female lead. She makes her own decisions and doesn’t look to others to rescue her. She’s also genuinely likable and someone you can root for.

Despite its reverse harem look, Hanasakeru Seishonen has more to offer than just that. All of the important characters are interesting and given character arcs of their own, and the international political intrigue angle really spices up the story. It’s also a nicely multicultural mix of East Asian/Southeast Asian/white characters, all of whom are equals playing on the same level in a non-forced way.

I really recommend Hanasakeru Seishonen, especially if you’ve never seen a josei anime before. Maybe - like me - you’ll wonder why we don’t see more anime like this in the U.S.

1. The Eccentric Family (Uchoten Kazoku)

The Eccentric Family is a charming story about humans, tanuki, and tengu in contemporary Kyoto.

The main character is Yasaburo Shimogamo, who appears to be a teenage boy, but who is actually a tanuki.

Actually, his entire family are tanukis. Tanukis are raccoons, technically raccoon dogs, and in Japanese folklore they are considered to be tricksters and shapeshifters.

The Shimogamo family is the eccentric family of the series’ title. The mother of the family dresses in prince drag, while the eldest son Yachiro bosses Yasaburo (the third son) and little Yashiro (the fourth son) around. The second son Yajiro currently lives as a frog at the bottom of a dry well. (In other words, he’s a tanuki pretending to be human who is now pretending to be a frog.)

Yasaburo looks after Professor Akadama, a gruff elderly tengu who - like the Shimogamos - masquerades in human form. (Tengus, in Japanese legends, are supernatural birds of prey, like flying yokai.)

Benten, a beautiful human woman, is an ambiguous figure who may be a friend or a foe. Prof. Akadama taught her how to fly like a tengu when she was young. Yasaburo is wary around her as she is rumored to have had something to do with his family’s great tragedy.

The tragedy is that the father of the family was cooked in a hotpot years ago by the Friday Fellows, a social group that celebrates the year-end by eating tanuki hotpot.

The Eccentric Family is a slice-of-life fantasy show told with wry humor, and it has some genuine laugh-out-loud moments that catch you unawares. The writing has that quality I really appreciate where all the characters take responsibility for themselves and their actions and the unique makeup of each person - their personal history, character, and conscience - is given its due.

The first season is full of quirky and gentle humor, but underneath the fun you can feel that the father’s death has cast a long shadow over things.

Particularly as to Yajiro, the brother who lives in the well. We get the feeling that he’s running from something; that he feels guilt. Though he’s pleased when his brothers visit and bring him fried chicken, there must be a reason why he stays in frog form and isolates from the family.

(Yajiro is clearly stretching the limits of shapeshifting here, as he is a tanuki pretending to be human pretending to be a frog who is eating a piece of chicken.)

The mystery of who was really responsible for the father’s death is revealed at the end of the second season of The Eccentric Family, bringing closure for the family at last.

The Eccentric Family is just a delight on so many levels. It’s a comedy, a paranormal fantasy, and a tribute to accepting the weirdness in people. The Shimogamo family is strong together because of their tolerance of everybody’s quirks and strangeness. The inescapable conclusion is that eccentric families make the best families. If you watch The Eccentric Family, you may find yourself agreeing with this conclusion as well. :-)

News Roundup - K, Kuroko's Basketball and More

Some recent anime news... the sequel to K has finally been announced. They haven't said whether it will be a new series or a feature film, but I'm betting on a film since K: Missing Kings was a sequel to the series and it ended on a cliffhanger. So it would make sense to continue the story in the sequel's current format, i.e., a movie.

In other happy news...

The third season of Kuroko's Basketball will air starting in January 2015! I'd fully expected it to air in either spring or fall. I'm thrilled that they're giving us the final season so quickly. The manga only ended in September, after all.

Tadatoshi Fujimaki is starting a sequel manga series to Kuroko's Basketball this December, so clearly he doesn't believe in letting things cool off. XD

I'll admit Gakuen Heaven is not one of my favorite BL stories, but I did buy the DVDs on sale and watched it (and then sold the DVDs to Bookoff...). According to ANN, mangaka You Higuri is starting a sequel manga series for Gakuen Heaven, so fans of that franchise should be very happy at this news.

I know there's been other news in the anime world lately, but my work schedule has made it hard to stay on top of it all. Oh, there is one thing...

The good people at Lawson's conbini in Japan now sell Kyuubey meat buns:

Enjoy those creepycute meat buns, Kyuubey fans!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Review

Warning: Spoilers for the entire series

A young teenage girl, Madoka Kaname, and her best friend Sayaka Miki come across a strange white cat-like creature one day named Kyubey. Kyubey offers to make their greatest wishes come true if they will sign a contract with him to become “magical girls” and fight witches.

Homura Akemi, a mysterious transfer student, tries to kill Kyubey in front of Madoka and Sayaka, who then find themselves trapped in a crazy labyrinth created by a witch. The two are rescued by Mami Tomoe, a magical girl.

It turns out that magical girls’ souls are kept in “Soul Gems,” which eventually become tainted by the girls’ despair and transform into “Grief Seeds.” Grief Seeds can be used by other magical girls to cleanse their own Soul Gems—at the expense of the original owners—witches who were once magical girls themselves.

Mami is killed by a witch, and Sayaka chooses to become a magical girl to heal the injured hand of the boy she loves, a concert violinist. But Sayaka’s choice causes her to lose not only the boy but her own sense of self and identity as a human being, and she turns into a witch and perishes.

Kyubey explains to Madoka that the magical girls of Earth actually help the rest of the universe, since their unbridled teenage emotions as they fight witches provide a kind of energy that keeps the universe in balance. He also tells Madoka that she has the potential to become the most powerful magical girl of all.

At the same time it is revealed that Homura, who has rescued Madoka numerous times, has the ability to affect and change timelines. In the original timeline Homura was the one who was rescued by magical girl Madoka, until Walpurgis Night when a powerful witch destroyed the city. Madoka saved Homura’s life with a last remaining Grief Seed and asked her to go back in time and stop her, Madoka, from signing the contract with Kyubey.

This, as it turns out, is why Homura has tried to protect Madoka from Kyubey in the current timeline and why Madoka has such potential power: Homura’s saving Madoka so many times has built Madoka’s importance up to near god-like levels.

When the Walpurgis Night witch arrives, Madoka finally makes her choice to become a magical girl. Her wish is that all magical girls will disappear before they can turn into witches, so their hope never turns into despair. With this, she becomes something much greater than a mere magical girl, turning into a supernatural meta-being with the power to rescue magical girls throughout eternity and create universes through the force of the energy she collects.

I never watched Madoka Magica when it first aired because I didn’t think I’d be interested in a story about magical girls. (See the name of this blog, above. ;-)) With only so many hours in the day, I try to fit into my anime-watching time series I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good chance of liking: shonen, yaoi, action stories, etc.

Since then, I watched the magical girls in Zettai Karen Children and found them charming and likable, and became curious over time about Madoka Magica and why it had been so popular when it first came out.

Having seen the series now, I have a number of thoughts about it. Let’s start with Kyubey.

First off, selling your soul to the devil is a Very Bad Thing and so it’s no wonder that Madoka hesitates to sign a contract with Kyubey. Of course, this doesn’t stop the usual merchandising blitz for a creepy-cute creature like this and so we have Kyubey face cakes...

Kyubey done in Legos...

A Kyubey watch...

And Kyubey to celebrate the New Year’s with (as if you’d want to).

Kyubey actually wasn’t as evil as I’d been led to believe from reading about the series. He clearly and truthfully explains the terms of the contract before the girls sign them, and if he leaves out certain information (like their souls will now be enclosed in the Soul Gems, leaving their bodies as empty shells—and that all witches are former magical girls who turned to despair), well, they never asked about that stuff now did they?

The story shows each girl going through her own process in deciding whether to sign the contract or not. There’s no coercion from Kyubey; manipulation, yes, but no force is involved. Madoka and Sayaka even learn about Mami’s experience in having Kyubey show up as she lay dying after a car accident before they make their own decisions. Clearly, Kyubey isn’t above taking advantage of people in desperate situations, but neither Madoka nor Sayaka ever face anything like that.

I loved Homura. From her first appearance, she was my favorite character. Her dead eyes and hardened manner are obviously hiding something and when we find out that she’s been fighting and losing to the Walpurgis witch through numerous timelines, all because she’s trying to save Madoka from basically Madoka herself, we now understand why she looks so weary and how she can be so patient with Madoka’s weakness and hysteria.

By no means am I implying that I thought signing a contract with Kyubey was a good thing, and I'm not being critical of Madoka for hesitating so long in doing so. I think I need to back up here and talk a bit about why I don’t normally watch shows with girls as the main characters.

I have an issue with how female characters are often presented in anime. One particular thing that really gets to me is the use of that high-pitched, extremely young-sounding voice that seems to be favored for girl characters (or even grown women characters); it’s like fingernails on a blackboard to my ears and my reaction is usually immediate and uncontrollable aversion. It brings to mind all the clichés about sexism in Japan and how females are viewed, i.e., as cutesy and sweet and—not powerful or self-directed or independent. I have a gut-level, visceral reaction to such characters and especially to voices like that.

I saw episode 8 of Madoka Magica last year at an anime club meeting and two things were apparent: one, I could tell already that I would have a problem with Madoka due to her voice and her helpless victim-like presentation and two, the series showed an intensity that intrigued me despite my reservations about the main character. Episode 8 is the one where Sayaka confronts the two jerks who are mouthing off about women in the subway car and now that I’ve seen the whole series, that is still one of my favorite scenes.

So let me get into what was Madoka Magica’s main problem for me—Madoka Kaname.

Oh, that voice. Seriously, no other female character in the series spoke with a voice like that. And I think not coincidentally—I really liked every other magical girl in the show except for Madoka. They all had their strengths, charm and vulnerabilities that made them stand out as individuals.

The episodes in the middle of the series where the stakes are raised and the situation becomes increasingly desperate were the hardest for me to watch, as Madoka's whiny, high-pitched pleading voice and constant tears irritated and exasperated me to the point of distracting me from the story.

Which brings to mind an interesting question. Can you like an anime series if you don’t like the main character?

I think the answer is yes, under certain circumstances. I couldn’t stand Light in Death Note, but the story was extremely suspenseful and kept me hooked. I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters in Steins; Gate but there again, a very taut and fascinating storyline made me watch it to the end.

Here, it could be argued that Madoka’s transformation at the end redeems her but well… I found the final episode to be a bit of a mess and not as conclusive as it could have been. (I read on Wikipedia that the final two episodes were delayed due to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami—in which case it’s a miracle the producers got the episodes done at all, so kudos to them for managing it.) I felt like Madoka went from being hysterical over everything to suddenly and calmly making her decision—like a few steps were missing in between. In other words, I didn’t see her grow into the kind of person who could make that choice at the end. It was beyond what her character had shown me she was capable of, so I didn’t quite believe it.

I also was expecting her to make a different choice—as in throwing Kyubey and his ilk completely out of our universe and eradicating magical girls and witches from the Earth timeline forever. I mean, why not? She had the power of a god at the end and that would have taken care of everything. It’s a stretch to think that Joan of Arc and the other women wouldn’t have changed world history if they hadn’t been magical girls, after all: that they couldn’t have accomplished what they did simply as human women.

The way that Sayaka was treated at the end was also surprising. The fact that she was the only magical girl who wasn’t brought back from the dead disturbed me. Again, if Madoka had the power of a god, she could have had Sayaka’s violinist friend remain healed and brought Sayaka back. Sayaka was the only girl who showed very dark emotions and bitterness. Is the subtle message here that females who fall to dark—but very human—emotions are irredeemable, and irretrievably lost? That only “nice” girls deserve to live? This is not a message I would agree with.

So what do I think of Puella Magi Madoka Magica? It’s an anime with a very strong story, well-told, and an unexpectedly mature treatment of existential questions. The background art is wonderful, particularly the witches’ labyrinths. I found nearly all of the characters compelling. The story made me think.

In other words, I thought it was very good and I’m glad I saw it.

Will I be more open in the future to watching anime that is outside my normal comfort zone? I think the answer to that is yes. No, I won’t be watching slice-of-life moe shows anytime soon, but I will consider watching series with compelling plots and characters regardless of whether the main characters are guys or girls. I’ll always have Madoka Magica to thank for that.