Historical pieces aren’t something you normally associate with anime. Don’t get me wrong,
stories set in, say, the age of the samurai are about as easy to come across as the air
we breathe, but a story fully devoted to the retelling of an almost entirely nonfiction,
ancient part of history- tossing aside the glorified samurai and bushido code for genuine
insights into ancient Japanese politics- isn’t all that frequent. Perhaps that’s exactly
why Heike Monogatari, the tale of the Heike, immediately stood out to me amidst the many
great anime airing right now. I will preface with the fact that Heike Monogatari is, at
the end of the day, based on a full-length Japanese epic and real history collected over
time by oral tradition of biwa-playing bards, meaning that there are a lot of characters,
dozens of moving political pieces, and the expectation that you can keep up with remembering
the numerous Japanese figures involved at this point in history, like Taira no Kiyomori
and Go Shirakawa Tenno. But if you are willing to take that burden and really put in the
effort to watch Heike Monogatari, I think that the stunning artstyle, emotionally charged
story about family and the hardships of living in the political realm, and wonderfully immersive
atmosphere of the show will leave you with an unforgettable experience.
The story follows a young, fictional girl in the midst of the Genpei War, a period of
national civil war between the Taira and the Minamoto clan. The Taira clan, also known
as The Heike, hold immense authority over Japan. And when the young girl slips up and
disrespects them, her father pays the price of that crime with his life.
Just to give you a taste of how serious things were taken and how drastically they could go wrong
Soon afterwards, as if by the strings of fate itself, the girl is found by Taira no Shigemori, the eldest
son of the heike clan. Instead of being the arrogant, power-hungry royal that we expect
him to be based on the Heike members we’ve seen thus far, Shigemori is the exact opposite.
After hearing the girls story about her father, shigemori vows to take her in instead of letting
her be killed. That is, only after witnessing the power of the girls eye: that she can see
the person in front of her’s future with one of her eyes, and that with Shigemori,
she saw the downfall of Shigemori and the Taira clan and rise of a new ruling power
in japan.
But shigemori, instead of feeling shocked or failing to believe the girls words about
this, actually trusts it. Because Shigemori has a power in his eye too, he can see the
spirits of the dead. Shigemori is reminded of the toll of war, the lives that have
been taken by his clan and the terrible deeds that one must do to rise to power. Himself included.
And thus, upon taking in the girl, named Biwa, afterwords we continue to follow the lives of one of the Heike’s
most vital families and the happiness and sorrow that being a powerful family brings
in one of Japan’s most tumultuous periods.
Now, I realize that from this small plot synopsis it doesn’t seem to be the totally historical
piece i made it out to be at the very beginning, but Biwa, the main character, is really the
only purely fictional part of this tale. Biwa offers this outside view of everything going
on; with her eye, she can see the future of people, BUT makes it clear that she doesn’t
tell people about the future because its dangerous. She sees the politics unfold, knows how things
ultimately happen, but at the same is emotionally connected to these people. Biwa is so important
to this story, being this fictional character with the ability to see the often horrifying
future of these people, to bring these characters together. Because there’s so many moving
parts, so many different historical figures, having Biwa and the plotline she drives with
Shigemori and his family is very important to keeping this anime from doing too much.
Instead of watching the word for word retelling of the heike story, it really follows Biwa
as she trudges through this historical period and encounters everything that happens.
But the thing I want to mention most of all about heike monogatari, what i personally
felt instinctively engrossed by was the atmosphere. If you couldn’t tell by the art style, this
anime is produced by Science SARU, the studio behind Devilman Crybaby and Ping Pong The
Animation among others, renowned for their very unique, almost cartoonish and incredibly
dynamic animation style. What it loses in i suppose incredible realism, it gains in
each of their anime’s ability to really capture a full range of emotions and feelings
in the characters that are drawn. Not to mention the anime is directed by Yamada Naoko, behind
very famous anime like K-On and A silent voice. So the cast behind heike monogatari is very
strong, which is why its very surprising to me that such a gorgeously made anime is pretty
unpopular and unheard of this season. Combined with the OST, heike monogatari really makes
me feel like i’m witnessing myself how the heike lived, what it was really like back
then. Which sounds cheesy, but with the exception of really great anime like Mushishi, there’s
very few anime that have such an entrancing atmosphere. The close attention to character’s
facial expressions; the inclusion of the environment in many of the shots; the focus less on the
actual characters, but instead the lives they are living.
I also just think the story itself is super interesting. To be fair, it does get complicated
at times, mainly at the very beginning where you don’t really know any of the characters
but the anime kind of expects you to. But once again, i’ll mention that the anime’s
ability to draw on so many different storylines while still making each character feel distinct,
and developing each of them, is really well done, something i attribute to the great cast
working on the series. For example, just look at Shigemori’s family. Following Biwa, we
witness small stories and pieces about each of these family members; Tokuko, Shigemori’s
sister who must marry into the royal family to bear a child for the sake of the heike’s
political power. Having to marry only a boy years younger than her, but at some point
finding that she did end up falling in love with him. Koremori, Shigemori’s oldest son
who always felt more at home with the arts and poetry, but must rise to meet the expectations
placed on him as a political figurehead and deal with the treachery and horrors of war;
of course, Shigemori, the son of the head of the heike clan, who faces a difficult internal
struggle as he decides whether the emperor of japan who the taira clan owe their power
to or his father, the head of the clan, is more important to him once they start warring.
Someone who can’t ignore the horrors of war that he sees, who never gets power hungry,
who fights for the pride of his clan rather than its glory and fame, and seeing those
morals can survive in such a cutthroat and dangerous society. These are only a few among
many of heike monogatari’s most important characters and the stories they share; only
6 episodes into this series, this is somehow only a sliver of everything that has happened.
Each character has such interesting personalities to them, and having them in such a beautifully
crafted world is the makings of an incredible anime, even if it never receives that credit.
I recommend watching it, getting through the first couple episodes even if they get confusing
at times, and I think it’ll pay off personally. Tell me what you think, and as always...