Anime: Amatsuki

Story: 5/10 (Warning: possible spoilers in this section)

The story is so simple that you might miss it if you were looking for something complex.

The inconclusive/unclear ending made me give this aspect a rather poor score. I had to think hard to understand what the whole story was about and I'm not sure if it's an accurate understanding.

Since the story can be hard to follow, I believe it's best to summarize my understanding of it to reveal it's values. The main character is called "the blank page". He's has power unknown, but perceived to be on the same level as god, as he is not bound to fate as others under god are. His power is coveted by the spiritual leader of the humans and head of the demons (in terms of their relationship to heaven). It appears that it has a more present power, but it cannot be drawn out consciously, but the actual underlying power matches the symbolic name - he is unbiased. He doesn't hate demons nor humans. Humans and demons hate each other and the demons believe that heaven favors the humans who vastly outnumber the demons. In the end, the main character's actions are the sparks that ignite the creation of a harmonic coexistence between the demons/spirits and humans, which in the past has never widely caught on.

The answers to riddles of the demon who attacked the main character in the beginning, never get answered as the actual answers to them are different for everyone depending on their beliefs. They are symbolic, there simply to open the mind of the viewer and look at tough questions through another perspective.

The moral of the story seemingly is to not to always believe in popular belief, especially if your mind and heart disagree.

Animation: 7/10

Animation seems to be a bit better crafted than in other anime in terms of detail and relatively unique special effects.

The visuals have a great amount of detail. Expression changes seem to move much more than the facial features - a subtle tilt of the head, movement of the arms and shoulders, breathing, etc. A bit more body language you can say. Character chins moves when talking (in close-ups). Characters are a bit more active in showing their thoughts - if a character is still mad, their eyebrows will at least twitch rather than stand there like a statue. Trees, I noticed, were beautifully done. There were many different species of trees represented. The temple grounds were highly exquisite.It was done like a palace. Even merchant houses were highly detailed.There was subtle artwork done on the walls in the houses and intricate designs done on framework. The Nihonbashi/Edo Castle area was very detailed too. I actually paused and went back over a few times to soak in the detail. They did well to try and replicate an image of history.Good use of shadows and light. If there was more vibrant color depth,it could almost qualify as movie quality.

The unique camera angles provided cool effects. There are some perspectives that gave sort of a 3-D effect. Example: after the battle at the Princess's temple, the temple guardian leader used a longbow to point at Kuchiha. The bow scaled big to small according to distance,which was a very cool 3-D effect that obviously was memorable.

Oddities: In one scene, they weren't swinging their arms while walking (hands free their sides) and were simply bobbing up and down (the camera cut off their legs). Another scene, Kuchiha vs. demon horde, sword slashes were simply trails of light and the damage caused was laughable. The horde moved like waves of still pictures on puppet sticks. Might be a style, might be cheap/lazy techniques.

Sound: 6/10

Sound is subtle and unobtrusive, yet soothing and mood setting.

Background music was very subtle, but it was there lending it's soothing tones to improve the quality of the show. Ambient sounds and the sound of crowds and extras were well done. I like how far characters went to get to a quiet spot to talk privately with each other.

The OP and ED songs fit my tastes extremely well. I liked them well enough to get sit through the OP and ED more times than not.

The sound effects aren't done any better than other anime in terms of realistic quality, like when someone gets kicked in the face, you tend to hear the unrealistic smack (cabbage smash) more than the the grunt or yalp of pain. Or you can hear the sound of someone placing their finger on someone's nose to quiet them, but you can't hear the sound of the hands resting on their shoulder.

Character: 6/10

Characters are simple. They have little background. You learn of their personal characteristics bit by bit as the show goes on.

Kuchiha and Shamon's mini background story mirrors the main story. The way Shamon defended and brought up the Kuchiha, despite demon inside her and his profession to exorcise such things, is very similar to the effect that the main character is having on the world of humans and demons.

The samurai incidents were a cool history lesson (on social class structure) and it was played out relatively well, though had comical endings that only fantasy anime sense could bring out.

Character design is done better than some recent animes I've watched. Hair and eyes are very well detailed. Lower lips are defined. Older people are sufficiently wrinkled and the wrinkles actually match their facial expressions which adds a bit of realistic accuracy. Their costumes are very detailed as well, but it's like every other anime, it's their everyday wear and seems to be fairly indestructible.

Value: 5/10

This show feels like a piece on history (social structure) and morals more than an actual original story.

I could tell that there was a good deal of knowledge of history which was used to back the story up. I can't vouch for the accuracy, else I would've given the story a bit better score if it were. The characters aren't too cool or charming or stand out as someone memorable. The story seems incomplete. The music and visuals are outstanding though.

The world of spirits didn't get enough air time, in my opinion. A great amount of creativity could be shown off through this. It's too bad it was simply treated as a passing side show.

If it weren't for my interest in the history portion and the great visuals and music, I would have dropped this. The team must've believed in the formula, less is more, in regards to the subtle visual details and music/sound implementation, and they really pulled it off well - I tend not to be impressed when certain styles get overdone.

This was good to pass the time, but not worth collecting or watching again.

Enjoyment: 6/10

The ending ruined my impression of this series. I give it credit though, I did hope for another episode when it was actually over, since I wanted to know more. It's just that the negatives seem to outweigh the positives when I think back on it as to why I enjoyed it up to this point. Writing this review was one way to realize what I liked and didn't like and why I continued watching. After writing this, I can I say I liked it, but not enough to recommend.

Please rate this and tell me how you like this, and maybe I'll write you back.  This review is based on the Ureshii avi fansubs and may be revised if DVDs come out.

Quick Take: Amatsuki is the Studio DEEN 2008 producion from the manga of the same name by Shinobu Takayama. It tells the story of Rikugou Tokidoki, a history-challenged Tokyo high school student, who is mysteriously translated back in time to Edo period, where he meets Shinonome Kon, another person in a similiar position as him, and Kuchiha, a female samurai who saved his life. It's a tale of the supernatural, cultural and historical past, as well as a light romance and action series, using beautiful women, no ecchi, and noble bishounen. How could it fail? By being an unfinished half a glass.

Animation: Wonderful pedigree!  I'm the glad director, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, had some time between doing Real Drive, Zipang and Le Chavalier D'Eon, for this short series to fit in his schedule; he's an accomplished director of Edo period historical fiction (Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai X). Since Studio DEEN does excellent computer 2D and 3D, and this series has a 6 volume, solid manga for a storyboard start, it's got a good pedigree and all the elements for a good series. However, it's slightly marred by the shortness of the series, feeling unusually compressed and lacking in some connecting narrative. The animation is excellent, however. Expect only pretty people in this series, as character parts seem in short supply.

The animation liberally uses forced perspective, lens flare, blur, and other cinematic techniques, which give it a slight film feel. Good color choices for the set and setting. There is no evident usage of resused cels, and static cel and pan techniques do not appear overused, which is a plus. Bishounen character design by Shinobu Tagashira (Shounen Onmyouji, D.C. Da Capo, Hunter X Hunter) reminds me strongly of Shounen Onmyouji, with various spiritual beings and a certain sweet character of the protagonist Tokidoki that comes out both in voicing and in animation. Background art is excellent. There are very few props or machines, as the series success is in bringing out the historical and cultural nature of the Edo period. Often when talking, however, characters don't move anything except their mouths, which is a definate minus. It's mostly a successful outing, earning a 8.5 in animation, losing only a point for a lack of whiz-bang and general eye candy, and half a point for using a standard animation trick to save time and money.

Sound:
Technicals: The soundstage produced by Frontier Works is at least as effective as their previous work on Shounen Onmyouji, with excellent foley, deep soundstage (in my fansubs), some directionality, and good sfx and quite excellent ambience.

Seiyuu: Amatsuki uses several of my favorite voice actors: veterans Jun Fukuyama (Watanuki in xxxHolic, among many other roles), who voices the hero Tokidoki Rikugō; his sidekick, voiced by Koji Yusa (Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy) is Kon Shinonome, playing his more-experienced and world-wise buddy. They shine as characters thrown from the future into the past, and voice their respective characters with depth and finesse. Rounding out the buddy group is Romi Paku (The Law of Ueki as Kousuke Ueki, Teresa in Claymore, Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist ) as Kuchiha, a mixed-human swordswoman, cursed by bloodline to be an inukami (dog-goddess) and who has a dark backstory, voicing her critical part with depth and maturity, and making her the most beautiful dog demon I can recall.

The trio are quite exellent and work well together, and lead you to want more episodes. They are quite adept, and if sound were dependent only on them, it would be a 10 rating.

Music:  Opening and Ending are "Casting Dice" by Youki Kanno and "Namae no Nai Michi (名まえのない道)" by Kaori Hikita. They remind me most closely in feel and texture to the OP and ED in Shounen Onmyouji, and are very effective but just miss the mark of replay vs fast-forward. The opening montage is quite interesting, however. BGM is moving yet unobtrusive, and we get an occasional taiko and shamisen, as you would expect from a series on the Edo period.

The sound as a unit is quite excellent, earning a solid 9.

Story: Nice trip with no real destination. Based on the shoujo manga by Takayama Shinobu, serialised in Comic Zero-Sum, it's about our time-displaced hero, Tokidoki. He's a quiet, honest student, but history isn't his best subject. He's even forced to do make-up work at a high-tech history museum to bring up his failing grades. Crossing a bridge in the museum, he confronts a monster, is saved by the beautiful, cursed master swordswoman Kuchiha, and his left eye starts to see a different relm, the realm of spirits, of Amatsuki. He finds himself unable to leave the game, unable to return to his home, his time. The short series is somewhat episodic. The story is of his becoming a master of his new powers, powers which rival those of the gods. The last episode concludes an arc and starts another one, so there is an odd ending, if an ending it is.

The series has a limited amount of time to provide character development, and at several points I felt like they had left a couple episodes out. There are a lot of characters introduced, and it's hard to remember who is what and where they fit. It feels compressed, like they took 6 volumes of manga story and tried to do a Readers Digest version in 4 volumes. It felt like it should have been a 26 episode series, and as such, the story is the major problem with the series. It's technically excellent, but the story is clever if cheese-like, often moving, engaging at times, wordy at times; it's a story with a lot of historical and cultural references, and I enjoyed the ride, but felt it should have been longer, and the ending more satisfying. 7 points for providing a story that feels like it has whole development and plot chapters missing. It needs a second season to finish what it started, and some episodes in the early, middle and ending to connect three-four of the episodes.

Character: Indecisive lead character. A staple of shounen stories, the weak protagonist is revealed to be actually stronger than he knows initially, and the character development concerns his learning how to master and temper the use of his powers. Romance is slight but present, and there is a little bit of buddy banter with Shinonome, who provides the world-weary foil to Tokidoki's innocence. It's a fantasy-drama with typical shounen elements, and just enough romance to be of interest to girls. It's cute, but it's been done before, and with the exception of historical sidenotes, it's not different enough. Also, for a short series, there are too many characters; one whole episode focuses on a side character and doesn't advance the story much. However, Tokidoki's story is engaging, the side-characters get backstory, and has just enough character development of protagonist, to merit a positive remark. The antagonists each have interesting character bits, and nobody is completely evil in this series (it's a zen thing). Too many characters for a short series, really. So, on balance, and given the shortness of the series, it's rating is between 7.5-8, and I can't decide because in spite of  watching the whole thinig, I don't really know how it ends (!).

Value and Enjoyment: The series is technically well done, and the animation is good enough to merit a rewatch (and if you're a fan of the director or seiyuu, maybe the DVDs). The history and culture elements are interesting, and the characters are cute without being cloying; if you liked Shounen Onmyouji, you'll like this series. I did not enjoy the way the story leaves gaps of time and narrative, and assumes you know more than you do. I felt the lapses in story and lack of focus were problems with the series.

This series leaves me with a small hole in my feeling for how to rate value and enjoyment as highly as I'd like. If it were based solely on the animation and sound, it would be higher. So, 8 for value, and 7-7.5 for enjoyment, is the most this short series could command. In my universe, those are positive scores, but I'm afraid the feeling of "I'm missing a couple episodes here" dominates these scores. That's usually a problem of either money or scheduling.

Conclusion; An entertaining, informative summer watch,  but one with a narrative card or two missing from the deck. Good animation, good sound, nice characters, but a hole or two that made the short series feel like it had something elusive missing. Recommended, but with that advisory. Watch it, and see if you don't agree.