Having both become a professional shougi player and lost his family in an accident at a young age, at 17 Rei Kiriyama finds himself adrift in life. A situation which slowly starts to change through his interactions with the three Kawamoto sisters.
A character drama with a central shougi theme, moderate number of slice of life and school life segments, a few romance elements, and a large amount of comic relief in the form of exaggerated character behavior.
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Ep 1 did a good job of summarizing various times of my life, from the main character’s bedding and apartment to his joys, emptiness, sorrows, and friendships.
The creators also nicely portrayed the ‘exaggerated character behavior’ exhibited by many Japanese everywhere when they ‘let their hair down’. It’s a characteristic brand of silliness which, at this point, genuinely seems culturally-based.
The creators also capture, in spades, that singular prize in anime, an ephemeral handle on the multi-dimensional heartbreaking beauty of Japan. A richness capable of bringing the dead back to life.
Paydirt!
Ep 5:
Man, the quality of this surpasses other series by so much that it’s almost from another planet. I had long forgotten that anime could be this good.
The characters, events, and arrangements in this brilliant episode are more common than one might suppose, and the different kinds of pain shown are depicted with firsthand accuracy.
No other medium can take one places the way this series has, seemingly effortlessly.
This show is in another league entirely from that less remarkable shougi-related series, Shion no Ou.
In ep 8, the MC and we are forced to spend time with the MC’s personality-disordered adoptive sister, Kyouko, who pinches the same nerve as Lady MacBeth in Kurosawa Akira’s movie, Throne of Blood. Washizu Asaji (鷲津 浅茅) in another guise. Kyouko-/Lady Washizu-esque characters pop up periodically in anime for the very good reason that they abound in real life (if you doubt this, I encourage you to read up on Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder). I actually met a woman–a real piece of work–who bragged to me that, when verbally threatened by her then-husband, calmly told him that… Read more »
Ep 13 employs the expressive anthropomorphic power of the Chuo-Ohashi Bridge. Although barely discernible in the darkness, the the piers of that bridge vaguely resemble hollows from the anime, Bleach, and, apropos this series, the “Standing Death of Benkei“. We have learned that becoming a professional shougi player means nothing less than a commitment to fight, like Benkei, under unrelenting pressure, until death. The only thing worse than loss and demotion being retirement. -:- -:- -:- Which is why the silly Sumisu-san breakfast scene on the day of his match with the sociopathic, animalistic, hyper-masculine ‘villain’, Gotou, hits the spot,… Read more »
Ep 14. Just now had to rewatch it. Unbelievable. It’s even better than watching from 2:18 in this video, even better than reading about Cheng Man-ch’ing’s advice to “invest in loss“. From the miasma of delusion, to Shimada 8th-Dan‘s beatific expression, ep 14 addresses art, shame, depression, doubt, arrogance, wisdom, being a student, being immature, being a teacher, being mature, learning, humility, generosity, selfless love, vocational calling, and the fact that no one achieves anything significant entirely by themselves. We have all benefited from help. At least up to this point, it’s vital that the main character be enrolled in… Read more »
Well, that honeymoon ended abruptly. Or, did it? * * * In my experience with real-life people (who, like Kyouko, exhibit symptoms of Cluster B personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder), unlike Kyouko, the seeds of their ‘all-U-can-eat’ emptiness were planted WAAAY before middle school and matured over time like periodontal disease. And, like periodontal disease, Kyouko deserves more attention not only from her pop, but from the creators of this series. She’s a mess. What we learn of her situation from her–what?–20 minute series total backstory so far is that Kyouko is even more… Read more »
Holy Mary mother of Motown! Ep 15 is the best yet, and I didn’t think anyone could do better than ep 14.
Who knew an anime could be this rich (no wonder Nikaido is fat). Although several have criticized the unevenness of the comedy, it’s been a decent palate cleanser and hasn’t bothered me yet.
An outstanding series, as densely-packed with beautiful truisms as Akagi.
2/5 of the way through Ep. 16. This is beyond everything I’d ever hoped to see. It feels even more effective than The Master of Go at portraying mortal man consecrated to his vocation, although that just may be because 3-gatsu is more recent.
Ep 17 This. This series addresses all of my favorite themes: the beauty of Japan, Japanese cultural tradition, creative identity, camaraderie, the psyche, and even less interesting subjects such as family relationships–depicting them all deeply, richly, and naturally. Anime had truly begun to disgust me. My early contempt for it and everything it represents had begun to return with exaggerated force. But this series and a handful of others justify the existence of the entire medium. This episode makes clear that the effect of someone with either or both Narcissistic Personality Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder on the life of… Read more »
Now, this has been an emotional roller coaster. While the end of Part 1, up through ep 22, felt a little bit rushed and watered-down, it was still nice, and they did give out a great prize: that mustachioed guy growing rice on the roof.
This is right up there with Akagi and Hyouge Mono, a must-see and much, much more than a story about shougi.
Ep 23 (part 2 ep 1) felt brutal with all the poorly-drawn, hard-edged closeups, and the cake-eating scene almost made me retch, just as the creators intended, I suspect. Any criticisms I levy at this series are minor compared to my appreciation for it. Among many other things, it is a masterwork of juxtaposing the emotional textures created by seiyuu, pauses, and the hardness and softness of line and colors. And the creators manage all of this with an obviously poor grasp of human figure drawing which, try as they might, they minimize but cannot completely hide. -:- -:- -:-… Read more »
Ep 24 (part 2 ep 2), “Chaos” – The depth and economy with which this series paints characters is unmatched by any of the anime I’ve seen. Unequivocally, Gotou is the bomb. And, with this new awareness, I’ve simultaneously become conscious of just how tired I am of waiting for Kiriyama, the MC, to sh*t or get off the pot about everything in his life, tired of seeing his hair floating amniotically in the otherwise wonderful ED, tired of his repressed lusting after his foster sister. But it’s a generational thing. Gotou has matured and is able to make the… Read more »
Ep 25 (part 2 ep 3), Wow, man! Never has fat been so fabulous. Nikaido is such a winner! He has joined my personal pantheon of godlike anime characters. I enjoy every second of his presence in the show. And we learn more about Kiriyama, more than enough to not only forgive his indecisiveness, but to accord him plenty of respect simply for existing. In keeping with the rest of the series, Kiriyama’s situation is feelingly presented. He and Nikaido make a great desert island duo–“10”. On the other hand, although many times her actions have been spot-on, it would… Read more »
Ep 26 (part 2 ep 4), I delayed watching this, as I’m dead sick of the subject of bullying in Japan. Within the series, the creators resolved the plot problem beautifully, yet more superhumanly and unrealistically than Marvel Comics. For a Japanese high school girl to stand alone against a clique of bullies–to voluntarily commit social suicide on behalf of someone else–would require a level of self-awareness, a level of independence, and an acceptance of the inevitability of death which are above average in adults, and rare in high school students. From someone the grandfather’s age, I would expect such… Read more »
Ep 27 (part 2 ep 5) is beautifully done and seems plausible. However, nothing less than human greatness would be required for it to occur in real life. This episode reminds me of when the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, wrote his Open Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu, aggressively defending Father Damien of Molokaʻi from Hyde’s attacks. Before posting the letter, Stevenson gathered his family around and requested their opinions. He feared being sued by Hyde, suffering possible financial ruin, and having his family driven into poverty. It was a moral conflict of the highest order, and a… Read more »
Ep 28 (part 2 ep 6) This bullying arc is amazing. Insightful depiction of how the chickenshit teacher couldn’t handle the writing on the chalkboard. The question really is, what, exactly, can most academics, university librarians (as opposed to public librarians), and so on actually do? While this series does a terrific job of encouraging youthful viewers to grow a pair, Children Learn What They Live. And contemporary Japanese society is jacked up to the core. I had not one but two opportunities to work there, and could not be more relieved at having dropped the ball both times. A… Read more »
Ep 29 (part 2 ep 7) The bullying arc was bumming me out so bad that I considered dropping the series. The haggard (heehee) female teacher embodies everything I hate about “humanity”. I don’t like slave traffickers, but in a typhoon scene, I wouldn’t think twice about saving Jeffrey Epstein over that frigid (you know it!) hall monitor of an ‘educator’. To keep us watching, we got a well-deserved hit of Nikaidou, stroking his bejeweled bitch in his abomination of a Meiji mansion. I would expect nothing less for my hero, Nikaidou, but if you don’t equate “Meiji” with jaw-dropping-yet-perversely-appealing… Read more »
Ep 30 (part 2 ep 8) “Adventurers”: “Those two pages…”, “…read like an adventure novel.”. — Kiriyama Damn. The only kind of relationship worth having. With anyone or anything. From a Saint-Saëns symphony, to a personal web site, to a jade carving, to a friendship, the enjoyment is amplified many, many times by an appreciation for the blood-and-guts survival adventure of which that thing is simply a record. FAR more than any creation or any performance per se, I value an awareness of the deadening forces overcome during its development. Proof positive of something intangible and eternal within us, alongside… Read more »
Ep 31 (part 2 ep 9) This episode is really channeling Bruce Lee. If you’re not conquering your weakness (11:07), then it matters not whether you’re some bald shogi player taking advantage of your opponent’s illness, Barry Obama getting the Nobel Cracker Jack Prize, or a Portland opioid addict soiling themselves. How is it that some anime creators see right to the heart of the human problem, despite living in a society oppressed by almost infinite subtle, yet ironclad social expectations? Perhaps because choosing anime for one’s career is already a middle-finger gesture in and of itself. Thirty-one episodes and… Read more »
Ep 32 (part 2 ep 10) The Japanese pamper and spoil their children, and their tolerance for whiny voices, such as Momo’s, is excessive. However, that tried and true technique, “Let us now provide the opponent’s tear-jerking back story”, worked like a charm: 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6. This little segment captured my feelings for favorite foxes. Beside the raw clarity of animal life (are you bleeding? are you thirsty?), human concerns appear as they should and as they are–irrelevant. I loved the restaurant scene in which the bald guy envisions how he’d really like to respond to… Read more »
Ep 33 (part 2 ep 11) The aloha appearance of several of my favorite supporting characters, the barbershop quartet of the Shogi Science Club! The lead “gondolier”/member spouts some of the truest truths of this truth-filled medium. Another favorite character, the indomitable, “jimi” Shimada 8-dan is revealed as the ultimate athlete who takes physical achievement for granted. Any ep with Shimada is sure to be great. An episode dedicated to humanity, freed from the lie that is society. * * * Starting at about 13:22, part 2 ep 11 contrasts Shimada 8-dan–a native mountaineer–with a “charming” manipulator and high-performance-apparel-REI-type dandy.… Read more »
Ep 39 (part 2 ep 17) At a beautiful ryokan, Shimada 8-dan’s first title match against the “bakemono burning in a burnt field”. A moving, detailed portrait of men–the “bakemono” and a newspaper photographer–near the end of their careers whose jobs are/were their lives. Aside from the fact that no one in their right mind should do that to themselves, with this episode, enough pieces have been placed for me to finally see what the creators have been constructing. All of these episodes and viewpoints have built, better than anything else could have, a monumental negative space, a Soviet-scale composite… Read more »
Ep 40 (part 2 ep 18) And the God of Shougi is a great god indeed. This episode reminded me that we live in a world where gods walk among us. The least we can do is open our eyes and acknowledge them. It is we who lack faith, not they.
Ep 41 (part 2 ep 19) Although merely a supporting character, Kokubo-sensei, in keeping with this mind-blowing series, is better designed and fleshed-out than many a main character–anywhere.
His wisdom, confidence, and advice to the lead bully are true-to-life.
While this was one of the few non-blockbuster episodes, it was actually one of the most profound.
Ep 44 (part 2 ep 22) God damn sonofabitch! BeYOND brilliant. The creators are playing my heart like Bach played the organ. How does anyone do this? Japan, such a strange place, such a complex society. Impossible for the outsider to understand. The “tragedy of the commons” seems especially Western. Traditional Hawaiian culture husbanded shared resources magnificently. From my strange cubist perspective, traditional Japanese society very well might be described as a “celebration of the commons”. A culture cherishing its commons, its shared space between images, sounds, and people. This last episode chilled, stretched, kneaded, and, at the end, warmed… Read more »