Uchouten Kazoku

No thread on this gem yet? Is there really no one else watching this? Thus far into the season this seems to be the best new thing out there, well paced, intriguing and the characterization is top notch.

Not a comedy, unlike you might be led to believe from the pictures around and the name, though often funny.

Based on a novel by the same author as the excellent The Tatami Galaxy.

Info: Other Wiki Anidb ANN

Edit: If a mod passes by, can they change the topic name to "Uchouten Kazoku". Forum doesn't like my symbols.

edited 21st Jul '13 4:20:08 PM by GabrieltheThird

Best anime of the season, but I don't really have much to say about it.

I wouldn't say that it's the best of the season, but that's due to strong competition rather than anything wrong with it

...I don't really have much to say about it. The ED's intro remind me rather strongly of Shoutoku Legend's intro, though

Oh yeah, that line in the most recent episode about how disgraceful it is for tengu to play with cameras made me raise an eyebrow, figuratively.

As of episode three, Benten show how far some people can take animal abuse.

And Father Tanuki is the best tanuki.

Yeah, I'm sure your avatar would have some choice words for that line. (I'm half-wondering if that was an intentional Shout-Out...)

Excellent show, very Ghibli-esque (especially that flooded clocktower bit)

Well, that thread title explains why I didn't find the thread...

I'm kind of not sure what to think of it. It's a bit weird. But not bad.

I watched the first few episodes. This is surprisingly good. Or should I say it's what you'd expect of the author, but the premise doesn't really tell you what to prepare yourself for.

This is going to be messy, but: This show is like what you'd get off you took Gintama's city setting, populated it with Inuyahsa's characters based on Japanese myth, then employed the subdued tone The Tatami Galaxy further softened by the lack of repetition, and focused the story on a particular family.

I like the themes of family and living life as well as you can.

I also like the music. And the plots about interpersonal small town supernatural politics.

So far I've enjoyed this series.

By the way I've hollered about the title in case other people miss it.

Episode 3: It's still utterly charming. Who doesn't want to take a boat ride out to a partially submerged clock tower? And a flying tea room? <sparkly eyes> Characters develop naturally all while building this supernatural world of political intrigue and whatnot

Benten is kind of... she's a jerk, but she has that allure confident people exude. She's an honest-to-goodness carefree person, the kind that wakes up one morning and decide that they want to pull on a whale's tail. No wonder Yasuburou isn't interested in Kaisei...

I also liked that the lead has a jerkass side to him and the mom continues to be awesome for scolding him for it. And then Yasaburou goes to his frog-bro to complain. Just like a real family XD

Okay, transforming into an entire mountain is seriously cool.

It reminds of a Touhou Project fan-comic I read once - one where all the magical characters were living in the real world.

edited 28th Jul '13 5:45:30 AM by universalperson

The fireworks battle was pretty cool but it was totally outclassed by the father's epic shapeshifting skill. Transforming into a mountain and doing so for a WEEK just to troll a bunch of tengu. Also, more revelations about their past. Apparently, the father was a good friend of the old tengu who became the teacher to his sons. Incidentally, it was the old tengu's irritation with the other tengus that got the father involved.

I really got to wonder: how did such a powerful tanuki get eaten by a bunch of humans?

He overslept?

"Humans" is a misnomer. Considering one of them is Benten they're obviously gods.

Nope, that's hardly "obvious", yet not impossible.

edited 29th Jul '13 3:29:57 PM by Tenzen12

They've repeatedly referred to Benten as human. Somehow I doubt they're all ignorant enough to not realize that she shares a name with a god, so if she's actually a god she's hiding it really well.

Benten's real name is Suzuki Satomi. I read in a blog (take it with a grain of salt) that members of the Friday Fellows get nicknames from gods as part of their group custom. Anyway, it might still be possible that there is more to Benten than she's letting on. She is able to use tengu powers for a "human".

No one seems surprised or confused that she can fly while calling her human, so I doubt there's anything especially strange. Humans can be taught magic or whatever. Heck, tengu teaching humanity how to do stuff is a time-honored mythological tradition!

Anyway, it's possible there will be some kind of twist at some point (although this isn't really a "twist" sort of series), but for now every single character thinks of her as human, treats her as human, knows she can fly, etc etc so it's just absurd to think that she's done anything that would be regarded in series as "inhuman". Presumably the characters knows what they're talking about to some extent.

Edit: I suppose she also might have a bit of tengu blood in her ancestry somewhere or something that makes her special compared to ordinary humans, but I wouldn't call that "anything especially strange".

edited 29th Jul '13 9:26:10 PM by Clarste

She can use tengu powers because the professor taught her. We saw that, remember? The implication is that any sufficiently smart human can do it as well. She is one of the most powerful characters in the setting, but it's mostly because of her intellect, her guile, and the resources she obtained with them.

edited 30th Jul '13 3:02:09 AM by Iaculus

I was under the impression that she was an Esper type with high innate potential and that Nyoigatake Yakushibou was teaching her the application of her powers. This would imply that she was naturally powerful and that not all humans can become as capable as she is, even if taught.

There's definitely a difference between "some humans can be taught to fly" and "all humans can be taught to fly" but I don't think either of them imply that she's more than human. At best she's "talented".

edited 30th Jul '13 1:04:51 PM by Clarste

Remember that this series draws heavily from mythology. In Japanese and other mythologies, the supernatural abilities of mythical beings are generally teachable if the student is cunning enough, and Benten is hella cunning. 'She's an esper' seems too... modern a concept (and modern in the wrong way, as well) to really fit with the rest of the show.

Well, I suggested that maybe she's 1/256 tengu or something, which seems exactly mythological enough. Since that sort of thing never seems to get watered down for some reason.

I don't think she is, but that's the most I can imagine her being "special".

I've kind of been imagining that she somehow stole the ability to fly from the professor, but it just being teachable probably makes more sense.

Hearing the full story just makes the False Nyoigatake incident better.