520https://goombastomp.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/11/TheHeikeStoryfeatured.jpg In the Japanese History course I took during university my professor decided to focus on the lives of commoners the farmers the merchants the soldiers. She explained that when learning about history people tend to only pay attention to the moversandshakers. I understood where she was coming from history aficionados tend to gravitate toward largerthanlife figures. If not those then theyll key in on big events like wars. I know why they do this: with an ocean as massive as human history its often necessary to use a central figure to moor yourself. Beyond that theres the obvious: these people are cool. Yet you lose something in focusing on them. You might not get a sense of what life was like for the average person in 100 years someone learning about the 2020s might not know how you or I lived. On focusing on battles and their commanders you tend to see everything on a macro level and you lose that human element. One of the most striking things about Heike Monogatari is how personal it is despite focusing on powerful figures. The Taira clan Heike translating to House of Taira were about as powerful as they came in Heian Japan.They were the type of guys to wage wars over slights thats fuck you money if Ive ever seen it sent their children to marry other nobles to secure alliances capital and rubbed elbows with the emperor until they disastrously didnt. Heike Monogatari has all the makings of a war epic but that ultimately isnt where Naoko Yamada places her efforts. Yes theres certainly political intrigue therere certainly battles to be had but this isnt the shows focus and indeed as Ill get into its not its strength. Instead we key in on how these events affect the members of the Taira clan swept up by their leaders greed. When watching Heike Monogatari we see the Taira not as unapproachable leaders but as real suffering people. In class my professor joked once that the nobility would spend their days in court writing poems about the beauty and impermanence of life. Heike Monogatari achieves this beautifully showing that Yamada didnt aim to put a textbook to screen but a poem a tale. Its important to not just critique in terms of your goals for a work but also in terms of the creators goals. Its annoying to see reviews of this show criticize the show for not putting more emphasis on the historical battles when that was never its intention. In terms of being a poem I think Heike Monogatari succeeds wonderfully. Its the most beautiful anime I only kind of understood and it deserves more eyes on it. 520https://i.ur.com/5EmiiAy.jpg Heike Monogatari is beautiful in many ways the most basic being that its absolutely gorgeous to look at. The easiest way to make me like an anime is by giving it uniquehttps://anilist.co/review/6983 visualshttps://anilist.co/review/6224 and Heike Monogatari delivers. Some have said that every frame of Heike Monogatari is like a painting and I have to agree. The characters are softer looking than what you typically see. They strike a balance between realistic and stylization that most anime seem to forego in favor of one extreme or the other. Its a bit hard to explain its the type of thing that you can understand by just looking at screenshots. You just know its different from the standard fare. Heike shines with its character design but it blinds with its backgrounds. Whether our characters find themselves in a lush bamboo forest a snowy garden a sandy beach or in front of a blossomed sakura tree its an absolute visual treat. This is what really makes this show look like a painting and I appreciate the care that Naoko Yamada put into making every frame pop. When watching my eyes were constantly glued to the screen. For once Im going to be an elitist and demand you watch this on a TV or a computer instead of a phone. 520https://i.ur.com/XVxZlh3.png The soundtrack is no slouch either. While Heike Monogatari is a period piece its music isnt constrained by its time period heightening the uniqueness of the viewing experience. The OST features classicallyminded music that fits the time period including Biwa singing and playing the instrument shes named after. Its always a powerful moment when we see Biwa rendered with snowwhite hair against a black background as her voice becomes much stronger. The OST also features EBMhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronicbodymusic and rock music from Agraph. Perhaps the best examples of the eclectic OST are the OP and ED the OPhttps://www..com/watch?v=EobZT17Rf38 being a soothing alternative rock song while the EDhttps://www..com/watch?v=vIV4xfxnsXg my favorite song of the OST is a brooding song featuring rap cold horns and electronic sounds that emulate breathing/wind. Heike Monogataris weakest link is its plot. Fortunately this isnt particularly damning. Im not being completely glib when I say that this is the most beautiful anime I only kind of understood. The list is bigger than you think anime hell art in general can be downright esoteric at times. Evangelionhttps://anilist.co/review/13151 Kaibahttps://anilist.co/review/6224 SteinsGate 0https://anilist.co/review/3555 Serial Experiments Lain Tales from Earthsea and everyhttps://anilist.co/review/3970 damnhttps://anilist.co/review/3981 season of FLCLhttps://anilist.co/review/4178 are anime I enjoy but found hard to parse for one reason or another. Heike Monogatari is one of those anime. 520https://i.ur.com/kcl5Yrg.jpg Giving credit where credits due Heike Monogatari is easier to understand than any other anime on that list. Unlike say Evangelion you dont need to comb an encyclopedia to get what characters are saying the tools to understand Heike Monogatari are in the anime itself. You just need to be very attentive when you watch. Its not a bad idea to rewind some scenes when watching this. Hell you might want to bring a notepad. It might feel like a chore but it is doable in the watch threads I followed a viewer was able to make an accurate relationship chart just by viewing that increasingly looked like a kudzu vine after each episode. Discussion threads in general were a godsend for me. Heike Monogatari doesnt really do exposition. Sure characters will discuss and explain things to one another but it never feels like its for the viewers benefit. This is because the Heike Monogatari doesnt aim to be a textbook and theres a reason for this it doesnt need to. If you recall Heike Monogatari is an adaption an adaption of a very wellknown tale at that. From what I hear Japanese viewers would be very familiar with the events of Heike Monogatari. Japanese viewers would most likely find the story very accessible and they could fill in any gaps the anime left. Because of this Yamada could give more focus to the characters. Problem: Im not a Japanese viewer. 520https://i.ur.com/msgtJ1c.jpg I had a hard time deciding whether or not I wanted to continue watching blind or if I wanted to spend a few hours on Wikipedia reading about the Genpei War. The argument for the latter is that youd be watching it how the director intended for it to be watched. After all the native viewers would have known the story. My counterargument for that is that paradoxically because she knew viewers were familiar with the story beats she didnt intend for viewers to pour over a textbook while watching it. If I did decide to immerse myself in the war the show would ultimately stop being about the characters. Yet I couldnt shake the feeling that I was watching the show halfcocked. Its a tough decision to make and it comes down to what you want from the show. Id say its best for a viewer to watch an episode or three before deciding how they want to press forward. While I decided to watch it blind Heike Monogatari is an anime that really benefits from a rewatch and I might give it another go after reading up on the Genpei War. While watching the anime blind is doable that doesnt stop it from being kind of annoying. I stand by the idea that shows shouldnt need supplementary material to be understood. Heikes need for it is more forgivable than say Evangelions but it still impeded my enjoyment of the show. At 11 episodes Heike is on the shorter end a single cour and I cant help but think that it would have benefited from two more episodes giving its plot a bit of breathing room. 520https://i.ur.com/Q9gaOZU.jpg That said I did decide to finish it blind and there are two reasons for this. For one while the plot can be complex the outcome the thing were supposed to walk away with is decidedly not. The Taira clan was on top of the world before crashing to Earth its a Viva la Vidahttps://www..com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE story. You might not know the exact how of how they fell you dont really need to. Because two once again the plot the events leading to the Heikes downfall isnt the animes focus its the characters. Their heartwrenching battles with duty love innocence and guilt are much more poignant than any battle waged with swords could ever be. 520https://i.ur.com/XVxZlh3.png Theres no better example of Heike Monogataris focus its preoccupations with feelings instead of events than its main character Biwa. Biwa isnt a noblewoman nor a warrior. Shes a musician a storyteller. Her role generally isnt to play a part in the events surrounding her but to feel them and to impart her feelings in her songs. She doesnt even seem to age she doesnt change with the world shes simply observing it. Shes an audience surrogate for those who dont know the Tale of the Heike. Shes swept up into their troubles without greater context. Thus she doesnt latch on the battles nor the political wheeling and dealings instead caring about the people she meets. She becomes increasingly frustrated by her inability to help those she cares about which isnt helped by her abilities. She can see the future yet cannot act on it. She then finds herself haunted by the souls of the dead. By the shows end she decides that her purpose is to tell the story of the Heike for future generations. Biwa is an interesting personification of history telling us its not just important to remember events but to remember the names and the people behind those names. She tells us to remember how people lived and in a way she reminds me of the philosophy my professor had. And by God the people behind the names are compelling. I know it can be hard to shed a tear for the elite but even if youre an eat the rich type youll be hardpressed to not find the members of the Heike sympathetic. Many of them are controlled by the whims of their leader wrapped up in duty and loyalty. Whether its a mother having their child become a political token a poet being forced to become a warrior or a commander wracked with guilt after their soldiers burn a temple viewers are drawn into the people that comprise the Heike and not the largerthanlife figures. 520https://i.ur.com/YK7RqJe.jpg The final episode is really affecting. Biwa trills her instrument one final time and talks about the ephemeral beauty of life and the great equalizer that is death. The message rings powerful and I imagine it will stick with me for quite some time. All in all this should be a 10/10 anime or at least pretty close to one. So why isnt it? Well because as small as this niche is I cant help but feel that theres another anime that does it better. I couldnt help but compare this to The Tale of Princess Kaguya. As Kaguya is the top recommendation for Heike its clear Im not alone. Their biggest similarity is perhaps their visual sensibilities both aiming to emulate classic Japanese paintings. The main difference is that Heike invokes these paintings while Kaguya might as well be an linkwash paintinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkwashpainting. Heikes backgrounds are phenomenal and while the character designs are unique theyre still not mindblowing while Kaguyas art is most likely something you havent seen in animation before. If youre looking for amazing oneofakind visuals then Kaguya has Heike beat. Meanwhile their biggest difference is how they tell their stories. Heike Monogatari as much as it focuses on its characters is still a historical story while The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a fairy tale. Heike is bogged down by needing prior historical knowledge while Kaguya doesnt have this problem. Everything you need to know is in the movie itself which makes for an easier watch. Both are stories about ancient Japan but The Tale of Princess Kaguya can feel timeless and placeless in a way that Heike doesnt even though the OST certainly helps. Its a lot more approachable than Heike. 520https://i.ur.com/Jap0DDM.png As a movie one that took many years to make at that. Kaguya is a tighter story than Heike without much opportunity to get swept away. While Heike is only onecour it still can feel a bit sprawling. Finally while both have similarly dour endings I cant help but find Kaguya a more tragic figure. Bear in mind that none of this is to say that Heike Monogatari is bad its just that for all it does right theres something Kaguya does better while inhabiting the same space as it. Heike scratched a Kaguya itch I didnt know I had but it still isnt the best at what it does. Still its very very good and its become one of my favorite anime. Its a beautifully poignant take on history that Im sure will stick with me. Yes the plot is a bit unwieldy and could have been handled better but thats ultimately not the point of Heike. Its actual focus the characters and the themes they impart is where Heike shines bright brighter than many anime out there. 200https://i.ur.com/zPKVlty.png 520https://i.ur.com/Z2gsDsM.jpg