Shrine of the Morning Mist

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Shrine of the Morning Mist
朝霧の巫女
(Asagiri no Miko)
Genre Comedy, Magical girl, Slice of life
Manga
Author Hiroki Ugawa
Publisher Flag of Japan Shōnen Gahosha
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Young King Ours
Original run March 2000 – August 2007
Volumes 5
TV anime
Director Yuji Moriyama
Studio Chaos Project
Gansis
Network TV Tokyo
Original run July 4, 2002 – December 26, 2002
Episodes 26

Shrine of the Morning Mist (朝霧の巫女 Asagiri no Miko?) is a manga and anime series in the modern fantasy genre that delves heavily into the practices and beliefs of Shinto. It was written and drawn by Hiroki Ugawa and was published in Shōnen Gahosha's Young King Ours. In North America, the manga and anime are licensed by Tokyopop and Media Blasters, respectively

It tells the story of Yuzu Hieda, a high school freshman and one of three sisters, all of whom are miko at the local Shinto shrine. When her childhood love returns, it is discovered that dark gods have a great interest in him and Yuzu is recruited to gather fellow female students into a "Miko Council" to fight off a full-scale mystic assault.

The priestesses have talismans which focus their powers and are used when attacking the dark kami.

Contents

[edit] Characters

[edit] The Miko Council

In the dubbed version, the Miko Council is referred to as the "Priestess Club".

Yuzu Hieda (稗田 柚子 Hieda Yuzu?)
  • Voiced by: Ai Shimizu (Japanese), Zoe Martin (English)
The protagonist of the series, is the middle sister of the Hieda clan, all of whom have trained to be Shinto priestesses. She is a powerful mystic, but naive. She is fixated on her childhood friend Tadahiro, believing they are destined to be together. Her talisman item is a ceremonial dagger.
Seiko Rikiishi (力石 征子 Rikiishi Seiko?)
Yuzu's best friend and first recruit to the Miko Council. She is enthusiastic but unlucky with boys, and pretends to be more worldly than Yuzu when in reality she is just as naive. Her talisman item is a spear.
Chika Yurikasa (百合草 千佳 Yurikusa Chika?)
Although she is the same age as the other girls, has a body that resembles that of a ten-year-old. She also has a cutting, nasty streak and never hesitates to speak her mind. Her talisman item is a tamagushi, a ritual wand made of a branch with leaves.
Izumi Sakibara (岬原 いずみ Sakibara Izumi?)
  • Voiced by: Rie Kanda (Japanese), Alissa Brodsky (English)
A bespectacled girl who is obsessed with UFOs and aliens, and convinced there is a connection between UFOs and the demon invasion. She thinks Chika is extremely cute and loses no opportunity to glomp her, much to Chika's disgust. Her talisman item is a set of ofuda.
Shizuka Midoh (御堂 志津歌 Midō Shizuka?)
A quiet, demure and extremely wealthy girl who hero-worships Yuzu. She tries very hard to be the epitome of Japanese femininity. Her talisman item is a ceremonial fan.

[edit] The Hieda Clan

Kurako Hieda (稗田 倉子 Hieda Kurako?)
The Asagiri Shrine's head priestess, the Miko Council's mentor, and Yuzu's homeroom teacher and older sister. She is extremely knowledgeable and intensely disciplined, and puts the Council (including her sister, who is already a priestess) through continual, rigorous training that borders on the sadistic. Her talisman items are a bow (she is a skilled archer) and a large ring that can encircle foes.
Tama Hieda (稗田 珠 Hieda Tama?)
The youngest Hieda sister and a priestess-in-training. She takes a perverse glee in teasing her sister about Tadahiro, but is basically kind and loving. Her talisman items are a pair of hand chimes.
Naonori Hieda (稗田　直範 Hieda Naonori?)
The father of the Hieda sisters. He lives at the shrine but does not appear to be a priest; his job is unknown but apparently exhausting. His principal problems are a distrust of Tadahiro's intentions towards Yuzu and the tendency of the rest of the family to almost completely ignore him.
Tadahiro Amatsu (天津 忠尋 Amatsu Tadahiro?)
The cousin of the Hieda sisters. A boy Yuzu's age, he is her childhood friend and they have been carrying a torch for each other for five years. Tadahiro has the power to see the spirit world through his left eye, which is a different color from the right, and is a target of the demons in consequence.
Koma (こま?)
  • Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Vibe Jones (English)
A bakeneko or "demon cat" who protected Tadahiro's grandfather. She normally appears as an ordinary-looking black cat, but can take human and cat-woman forms to fight. She has an alarming fondness for cake.

[edit] Yagarena

Michimune Ayatachi (乱裁 道宗 Ayatachi Michimune?)
An ancient sorcerer who serves Yagarena, a dark god who wishes to return to the Earth and plunge Japan into darkness. He has the power to summon demons from just about anything, which he uses to menace Tadahiro and Yuzu.
The Twilight Priestesses (黄昏の巫女 Tasogare no Miko?)
Are three "dark miko" recruited by Michimune to fight the Miko Council. Their spiritual powers are roughly equal to those of the Miko Council, but their skill is greater.
Kukuri Shirayama (白山 菊里 Shirayama Kukuri?)
Mizuho Hamaji (浜路 瑞穂 Hamaji Mizuho?)
Yukie Uranami (浦波 雪絵 Uranami Yukie?)
Masashi Kusugi (楠木 正志 Kusugi Masashi?)
A handsome student in Yuzu and Tadahiro's class. Although popular, he is arrogant and cutting and does everything in his power to hamper and humiliate Yuzu. Chika took some pictures that led her to believe he was having a romance with Tadahiro. In reality, Kusugi is a disguise used by Michimune to infiltrate the school and hamper his enemies.

[edit] Themes and References

The Miko Council has a tendency to give their mystical attacks nonsensical names in the tradition of sentai shows and magical girl anime. There is also a reference to transformation sequences, in a scene which ends with the girls retreating to a locker room to change into their priestess uniforms.

Izumi's unrequited crush on Chika appears to be a satire on both lolicon and yuri anime. There is no loli relationship since Chika is the same age as the other girls. Also, with no romantic interests for any of the girls aside from Yuzu, there is no proof or disproof of lesbianism.

Chika's mistaken idea that Tadahiro and Kusagi are lovers might be a satiric reference to yaoi anime.

[edit] Setting

The real-life city of Miyoshi was used as the basis for the location of the anime. The real Miyoshi also has an abundance of mist in the morning (hence the series' title), and the folktales recorded in Inō Mononoke scroll (which inspired much of the anime's story) took place on a mountain near Miyoshi City. The mountain in question also appears prominently in Shrine of the Morning Mist.

[edit] External links

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