It’s Monday again. That means that the weekend is over. However, it also means that there is a new general discussion thread. So, it isn’t all bad! As always, feel free to use this thread for questions, comments, recommendations, etc.
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So last week I yet again rewatched an unusual favorite - one that I rewatch fairly often, but have never seen discussed anywhere - Kemurikusa.
It was obviously made on a limited budget, and Wakaba is sort of tedious and annoying with his non-stop chatter about how interesting everything is, but still, there’s just something about that series that really speaks to me.
A lot of it’s the world. It’s so bleak and such an odd combination of familiar and alien. And it’s so well presented.
Mysterious settings are tough to do well. If they’re too alien or too inconsistent, then they just end up weird and inexplicable, but if they’re too familiar and logical, then it’s too easy to figure out what they’re all about and they lose that sense of alienness. The world of Kemurikusa is neatly balanced - it’s thoroughly bizarre underneath the familiar trappings, but it always feels as if there is some underlying logic and order to it, even though we don’t know what it is. Obviously at this point, I know its secrets, but I can still feel that sense of slowly unfolding mystery - that there is a logical explanation for all of it, just out of my grasp.
And a lot of it’s the characters (except for the most part Wakaba). They’re all anime archetypes, but… well, let’s just say that even that is part of the underlying logic of that world. There are in-universe reasons why they’re each who and what they are. And they are all appealing in their own ways.
And the story ultimately is very compelling. It retains most of its mystery right up until the final secrets are revealed, and then all the pieces fall into place.
I’d really like to see this get a remake some day. I like it already, but I can just imagine what it could be with a bigger budget and another episode or two (the last bit before the climax in particular was obviously rushed).
Anyway… I enjoyed it as much as I always do, and just wanted to say something about it…
Interesting, I haven’t watched this series, but a lot of what you wrote about is similar to what I like about some other series like Heavenly Delusion or more recently, Usuzumi no Hate (manga). Hell, this alien yet familiar world building could even describe a show like Adventure Time, albeit with a more whimsical flair. I will check this one out.
Wow…
Sort of peripheral to your point, but…
Heavenly Delusion was new to me, so I looked it up and discovered the original manga is by Ishiguro Masakazu, the author of one of my all time favorites, SoreMachi. I don’t know how I didn’t know that this existed, but I’m all over it now.
SoreMachi is a sort of breezy SOL with bits of weirdness tucked around the edges and an absolutely stellar cast of characters. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with the weirdness front and center.
Anyway - Kemurikusa is indeed broadly similar to Usuzumi no Hate, but with the significant difference that the characters themselves know next to nothing about the world - aside from what they’ve gleaned in the time they’ve lived there, it’s as alien and inexplicable to them as it is to us. Actually, in some ways, it’s even more alien to them. We can recognize that they live in a derelict railroad car and travel through city ruins, but to them, it’s just a box with round things that they found and the world is just a place of open spaces and enclosed spaces.
But now I’m off to binge the Heavenly Delusion (Tengoku Daimakyo) manga.
The anime adaptation of Heavenly Delusion is excellent and I highly recommend it. My main complaint about it is that the season ends at a really interesting point and there has yet to be any season 2 announced. After watching the show, I quickly binged the manga because it is always setting up tons of mysteries and presenting clues that only pay off way, way later.
I read through the first two volumes of the manga yesterday - through chapter 13 - then went back and reread the first volume, since I unsurprisingly could make no sense of it at all the first time through. That was all my brain could take.
I should get through quite a bit more today, since I have a feel for what’s happening now. And I’m absolutely enjoying it - thanks for the heads-up.