anime: Otogi Zoshi: Hikaru & Mansairaku

[meganbmoore]

Poking around youtube, I decided to see if anyone had made Otogi Zoshi vids, particvularly Mansairaku/Hikaru ones.  Figured I'd be lucky to find anything at all, as in comparison, Spiral is the best advertised and promoted anime ever.  So I was rather happy to find several, and to find that they were quite good at that.

Otogi Zoshi is a story split into two parts.  The first part is set in the Heian period and is about Minamoto no Hikaru, the sister of the historical hero Minamoto no Raiko.  It's essentially a fantasy version of the legends involving Raiko, only featuring Hikaru, who is masquerading as Raiko because he's ill and the officials of the capital demand that he collect the 5 magatama, mystic artifacts, each representing an element, that will allow them to shape the future of Japan.  However, another advisor, Seimei, wants them for his own ends  In her journeys, she meets and falls in love with Mansairaku, an actor(with some pretty smooth fighting skills) and it's only with him that's she's able to be both sides of herself-the lady and the warrior-at once.  In the end, Hikaru and her friends are mostly victorious-they save the world, but events were set in motion that will eventually have to be dealt with, and that time comes roughly 1000 years later, when Hikaru and her friends have been reincarnated and reunited.  With one exception:  Mansairaku, who WASN'T reincarnated, but was actually alive all those centuries, and has been waiting for Hikaru to finally return.  The first half is a samurai fantasy, while the second half deals a lot with urban legends in modern Tokyo, as Mansairaku guides and protects Hikaru while she searches for the answers to what's going on, and looks for her missing brother.

At the end of the Heian arc, it's revealed that Seimei is actually Mansairaku in disguise.  While Hikaru sees the need that the people have for protection and fights for them, Mansairaku sees the corruption the capital and it's officials has become, and he believes that the only way to save Japan is to essentially start with a blank slate.  He accepts that his actual actions may be(ARE!) evil, but believes that his goal is for the greater good.  Hikaru refuses to accept this(good girl!  Don't let him destroy everyone just because he's your true love!) and they battle.  She's able to stop him, but at the cost of her own life, the only life he wanted to spare, and the arc ends with the two apparently dying in each other's arms.

Except that he DIDN'T die(or if he did, it didn't last long) and gets the "live forever without the one you love and see the consequences of your actions every day for all eternity" punishment.  And guess what?  He KNOWS Hikaru will return one day, and he spends those thousand years looking for her.  Because he knows that when he finds her, she won't remember him, and may not be the same person(and when she does return, while her core is the same, she's also very different, because, hey....modern girl vs heian noblewoman...) but it will still be her.  And she's what he regrets.  Not his actions, because while he accepts that what he did had bad results-he still believes in his motivation, and the "results" are both what he did, and the interruption of his goals-but Hikaru, because she was the only thing he saw as being "good" in that world.  "Saving the world" isn't so much something he cares about as it is something he has to do, and the only reason he really cares is because he knows that Hikaru, the person she really is, will never be able to accept anything but the same thing she wanted 1000 years ago.  What it boils down to, for him, is that 1000 years ago he wasn't able to put his love for her first, and he lost her, and everything else.  And now he has the chance to right that, by making her, and her happyness, be his goal, instead of a casualty.

And it's not even about being with her-he knows his sins make that a near impossibility-or even about having her love again-though, of course, she DOES fall in love with him again-but about making things right for her, because he knows that everything that happened to Hikaru before will happen again, and that he's the only one who can help her.  So even if all he can do is guide and protect her, then that's what he'll do.

Yes, I DO like my OTPs obsessive(and no, it's not my most obsessive OTP) why do you ask?

The vids are about 10 minutes altogether.  BTW, Ayashi no Ceres/Ceres: Celestial Legend fans need to watch at least one so that I can know if I'm the only one who thinks modern Mansairaku kinda looks like Toya...the styles are completely different but I always think that...I think it's the hair and coat, and the height(there's also the "protect, but usually from afar" bit)

I quite like these 2.  Both songs suit the characters and pairing:

" class="ljvideo">

" class="ljvideo">

2 vids, each using instrumental versions of one of the closing themes(there are 2 closing themes)

" class="ljvideo">

" class="ljvideo">

Mostly Heian era pics:
















 









Why are all but one of my modern era pics just closeups of Mansairaku?  Don't ask me, ask the Mansairaku fangirls whose pictures I stole...

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, I must start watching more anime.. Dying in each other's arms - must watch!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Re: Toya. The hair is the same color but other than that, I don't really think they look alike. Nontheless, must check this anime out :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's mostly the hair...though they both like long black coats, stalkery devotion and brooding and aren't exactly sure what a sense of humor is(though Toya comes close)

It's an excellent series. The time jump is disconcerting at first, but after the first ep or two i liked it just as much as the first arc.

Thanks for uploading my Otogi Zoushi vid

[(Anonymous)]

Just like to say , thanks , awesome found someone whoe actually linked my vids in their blog. Neat, really a surprise seeing both my previous vids up there in ur entry. Thanks :)
oh yes, not to confuse, yes i did the 2 intrusmental version.

-ypoohl