Otogizōshi (anime)

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Otogizōshi
お伽草子
Genre Historical, Mystery, Action, Fantasy, Adventure
TV anime
Director Mizuho Nishikubo
Studio Production I.G
Network Flag of Japan Animax, Nippon Television
Original run July 6, 2004 – March 29, 2005
Episodes 26
Manga
Author Narumi Seto
Publisher Flag of Japan MAG Garden
Magazine Flag of Japan Monthly Comic Blade
Original run February 10, 2005 – July 8, 2005
Volumes 2

Otogizōshi (お伽草子 Otogizōshi?) is an anime series, produced by Production I.G.[1] The manga was written and drawn by Narumi Seto (瀬都ナルミ).

Contents

[edit] Story

[edit] Overview

The first part, set in ancient Japan, recounts the struggle to obtain the five Magatama to fulfill desires and the greed of the mighty. The bond between the party is formed and the powers of the Magatamas are unleashed. The second part, featuring modern Japan, tells us about the strange events the broken Magatama cause. The near-Apocalypse is to be prevented and Hikaru searches for her brother.

[edit] Heian Chapter

The plot of the first thirteen episodes is set in the middle of the Heian Era, where the people of the capital of Kyoto are in deep agony, focusing their last hopes on the retrieval of the five Magatamas. The Magatamas, being five colored stones in the shape of a half Yin-Yang, represent the five elements: Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth. Legend has it, that if all five of them are laid together, their circle of Affinity will save the capital from its suffering. But that's not all, whoever places the last stone is to become the new emperor of the capital.

Three of the Magatamas are scattered all over Japan. The Emperor, relying on the prophecies of Abe no Seimei, an onmyoji, delegates the task of recovering the three lost Magatamas to Minamoto no Raikō, who is the eldest son of the (Mitsunaka) Minamoto clan. Raikō is struck by an epidemic and barely able to move. Therefore, his younger sister, Hikaru no Kimi, takes his place, disguised as a boy and carrying her brother's name. With her subordinate Watanabe no Tsuna, she seeks to collect the missing Magatamas. While on the journey, she is supported by three people that aid her in any way possible: Usui Sadamitsu, Urabe no Suetake, and Kintarō. Hikaru's allies (except Tsuna) were ignorant of her as disguised as boy throughout anime series. She encounters fierce battles, sees the dark depths of the human soul, and falls in love with Mansairaku, a sarugakushi. Hikaru and her friends succeed in collecting two(earth and water) of the three missing Magatamas; only the Magatama of fire is left.

Hikaru returns to Heian-Kyo without the Magatama of Fire, having failed to retrieve it from Shutendouji, who plans on attacking the capital. After the ministers of the court refuse to believe what Hikaru tells them, the capital faces imminent attack. Hikaru and her helpers, with the exception of Urabe, attempt to stop Shutendouji and collect the Magatama of Fire from him. Meanwhile, Urabe seeks to find out Seimei's true purpose for collecting the Magatamas. After Urabe steals the Magatama of Fire from Hikaru, who succeeded in collecting it, Urabe refuses to hand it to Seimei unless he tells her his true purpose.

It's found out that Seimei does not plan to create the circle of Affinity with the five Magatamas, but the circle of Enmity, which places the Magatamas in reverse order and brings about the destruction of the capital. Seimei believes that the capital's true salvation lies only in its destruction and eventual rebirth. Urabe is shocked, and flees Seimei with the Magatama of Fire, running to a certain place to hide for her safety, and also to inform Hikaru about Seimei's betrayal. However, she had been killed by Seimei's servant, Matsumushi.

In the final battle, Hikaru confronts Abe no Seimei, only to find out that he is none other than Mansairaku, her love. Threatening the capital with destruction by the reversed power of the five Magatamas, Mansairaku is now her greatest enemy. She tries to shoot him with an arrow but she is constantly held back by her feelings, and when she finally manages to shoot, she barely hits him. Hikaru keeps demanding that Mansairaku stop his destructive spell, but he does not listen. She charges towards him with her dagger, but fails to pierce his heart, and he continues with the spell.

Just after the final pillar of light appears and the destruction of the capital begins, Hikaru starts to play her flute, a sound that Mansairaku always loved. Hikaru then tries to remove one of the Magatamas and stop the spell. When she tries, her flute falls on the Magatama of Fire and breaks it, causing the spell to end. As a result, Hikaru's and Mansairaku's souls fly to heaven.

As the capital settles from its near destruction, Sadamitsu and Kintaro, the only surviving heroes of Hikaru's group, lay to rest the souls of Hikaru, Tsuna and Urabe. Kintaro asks Sadamitsu one question: " Where did they go?"

Sadamitsu only answers " They went off to this place full of flowers, some place far away."

[edit] Tokyo Chapter

The next thirteen episodes focus on the reborn characters and their modern life in today's Tokyo. Hikaru being the landlady, all of the helpers in her previous life live under one roof together. Hikaru, owning a fragment of the Magatama of Fire, again accompanied most of the time by Tsuna, is in search of her lost brother, simply referred to as Raiko-Sempai. Her brother has been missing for a year now, only leaving obscure photos and a clueless sister.

While the story evolves, Hikaru is confronted with even stranger events, like the appearance of a ghost train on the Yamanote-Line. Sometimes she meets a strange man in connection with the events, who names himself as Mansairaku. These events however take place at locations, that represent the five ancient elements and are located all around Tokyo, drawing a pentagram over the Yin-Yang symbol the Yamanote-Line describes together with the Tozai-Line.

Eventually Hikaru finds out the old spell of the Heian-Mansairaku has failed, but the power of the Magatama is still active. And as the Magatama of Fire is damaged, the circle remains broken, resulting in a conflicting output of the Magatamas power. Again her city is at the brink of destruction, but with the help of her friends and Mansairaku, she manages to merge her fragment with the rest of the Magatama of Fire, restoring the circle of Affinity and saving the city. After that, Mansairaku vanishes, having fulfilled his duty as the city's guardian, for he was the one who put it in danger in the first place, and Hikaru's brother returns.

[edit] Episodes 25 and 26

While the first twenty-four Episodes are forming two connecting stories, the last two only focus on one character of the Tokyo Chapter. Episode twenty-five takes place one year before the events of the Tokyo Chapter and focuses on Urabe, a fortune teller and only female helper of Hikaru. Urabe solves a mystery and joins the others by living with them.

The last episode is preserved for Mansairaku, reflecting on his deeds and making some open questions clear by him talking to a stranger about his mission to guard the city.

[edit] Characters

The following characters appear in the anime episodes:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Otogizōshi (anime) (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 23 July 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Works by Production I.G
Feature Films
Television Series
Original Video Animations
Video Games
Languages