Hyouge Mono
a review by TheGruesomeGoblin
a review by TheGruesomeGoblin
Events that happened historically will not be considered as spoilers. The fictional twists and turns present in Hyouge Mono however, will be, and shall be appropriately hidden as spoilers.
"Oh, the hilarity. Perhaps his life may not end as a mere field messenger." ~Nobunaga Oda
#A Quick Overview#
First of all, what even is this show? Is it an action show? Is it a comedy show? Is it a show about feudal Japan conspiracies and politics? Is it a show about aesthetics and the tea ceremony? Is it a show about the life of a real actual teamaster/daimyō that actually historically existed? To briefly answer, it's all of the above and more.
Hyouge Mono is an adaptation of the manga by Yoshihiro Yamada and it was done by the studio Bee Train (several Dot Hack anime, Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, Blade of the Immortal, El Cazador de la Bruja, and more) and it was their last anime before going defunct/dormant in 2012. There's a bunch of weird stuff with the anime, like how Yamada distanced himself from it partway through despite it seemingly being overwhelmingly faithful to the original manga or how they had to change the opening twice due to the fact a member of the band that co-composed the music was arrested and then the band broke up following this event.
Putting all of that aside, Hyouge Mono is a ridiculously enjoyable ride for a 39 episode long anime about feudal Japan, political plots and betrayal, aesthetics and tea, and of course war. That being said though, if you're looking for a gory action show about samurais or something of that nature, you probably won't find it here. This is not to say that this show has no action, but it is done with restraint and dispersed throughout the entire show. Mind you, when action does happen because it's so much more focused on the characters and the scheming going on, it has much more of an impact than if the show was nothing but the action.
I think there's two sides to this show. There's the life of Sasuke Furuta, our main character throughout the entirety of Hyouge Mono and his struggle of trying to be both a warrior as well as an aesthete. Then, there's everything that happens around and behind Furuta's back. Some of which he remains entirely oblivious to, until it's far too late...
#Betrayal, Blood, and Tea#
I wasn't exactly sure what sort of show this was when first watching it. It's a feudal Japan anime, and the main character is obsessed with the tea ceremony. Got it! Apart from the aesthetics and the tea ceremony angle of the show (which is actually really more interesting than it may sound at first), I had a general knowledge of how things ended up turning out with Nobunaga Oda and etc. But initially, it doesn't seem like that's the main focus.
Sasuke Furuta is the main character, after all. Not Nobunaga. So I went, "okay, it's about aesthetics and tea, and this buffoon who seems like a walking generator of hilarious facial expressions." and continued on.
But if this was literally all it was, I'm not sure I would have stayed the entire thirty nine episodes. A stumbling buffoon of a main character who literally becomes aroused at the sight of a good tea cup, tea jar, or tea scoop is weird and unique, but it'd get old if that was all it was. Picture my surprise when it turned out it wasn't, and I'd end up viewing Sasuke Furuta as one of my favorite overall anime characters.
But then you get into the action, the betrayals, war, the conflict of rivaling ideas of aesthetics, the spread of Christianity and it's just... and then you remember Furuta/Oribe really existed historically and while it's mostly fictional, we really do see Furuta's progress as a person, as a warrior, and as an aesthete... it's just... it's just great! After seeing Furuta's shenanigans in the first episode I was disarmed and thought while there would probably be a serious plot, comedy would end up winning out.
Then Nobunaga just brutally outright cuts down a disrespectful merchant and that moment just left an impact on me. I didn't know at that moment this show would somehow manage to strike this great and honestly bizarre balance between Furuta's love of aesthetics and tea and the bloody wars, politics, and schemes of feudal Japan.
#Extravagance vs Simplicity#
One of the main conflicts present throughout the entirety of Hyouge Mono is the idea of extravagance vs simplicity. Tea master and eventual teacher of Sasuke Furuta, Soueki Senno believes that the an imperfect world of simplicity/imperfection would be best. Yet, extravagance runs rampant. Large castles with gold covering the outside, gigantic towering warships, completely golden tearooms... Nobunaga at one point rides an elephant outright into town. Nobunaga Oda is essentially the personification of everything that goes against the idea of simplicity. This conflict is deeply intertwined with the political conspiracies and rivalries of this show.
"I want my tea room to be made of gold. Because why the hell not."
On Furuta's side of the show, as he further progresses towards becoming celebrated tea master Oribe Furuta, he becomes one of Soueki Senno's students and desperately works in one day surpassing him. But again and again, his efforts either derail or backfire, or he does little more than what Soueki Senno refers to as "mere imitation".
The spread of aesthetics into the political struggles could perhaps be shown best through the changing of castles as the show progresses. Nobunaga Oda's Azuchi Castle is grandiose and the sides are covered with gold and painted in black. Following the Honnō-ji Incident which resulted in Nobunaga's death, the traitor responsible Mitsuhide Akechi paints Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle white, as if mirroring Akechi's belief that he was right in betraying Nobunaga whom greatly favored his own family over his other retainers including the Akechi clan. Following Mitsuhide's defeat, Soueki Senno (who was the one to recommend the original Azuchi Castle be painted in black) recommends to outright burn down the castle as if Mitsuhide had defiled it. It mirrors Mitsuhide's very short lived reign being put to an end.
When Hideyoshi comes into power following this, he claims one of the other castles Nobunaga had built, which could be seen as a representation of Hideyoshi's rule overall. He has ended up taking over from Nobunaga, and his reign and behavior is similar to Nobunaga (much to Soueki Senno's chagrin). The castle when compared to Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle is much flashier and less imposing.
Aesthetics aside, the clashing of different ideas and mindsets throughout Hyouge Mono is really interesting and great. Moving on to the "meat" of this review, the characters...
#Sasuke Furuta, later known as Oribe#
Furuta is probably one of my favorite main characters of all the different anime/manga I've watched/read. He's probably not at the top, but he's up there. He's just so... not like what you'd expect a main character to be. He's not some skilled samurai that can take down dozens and dozens of other samurai. He's a scheming and conniving buffoon at times, but when it's called for, he's completely loyal and willing to do what's asked of him.
While others are seeking to procure more military accomplishments for they're more focused on their duties as warriors, Furuta goes around looking at others' masterpieces and trying to further his own success as an aesthete. Whereas others are scheming to overthrow and betray those in power, Furuta is swapping a masterpiece tea scoop with a counterfeit one of his own making. His schemes are so minuscule in comparison to that of the other characters, yet he even successfully swipes the lid of one of the three legendary tea jars that are said if one collects all three, they essentially own all of Japan. He even captures a castle by persuading the enemy to accept a tea bowl (a crude valueless tea bowl at that) and surrender the castle to Nobunaga using the threat of execution to cloud their judgments long enough to accept his "deal".
The anime doesn't actually cover the entirety of Furuta's life (the manga is still ongoing at 23 volumes, and the anime only covered the first 9 or so), but we do see him progress steadily further and further towards his goal of becoming a teamaster. In the first episode we see him as a mere warrior with only a small amount of land to his name, literally stumbling around picking up the shattered pieces of an exploded masterpiece teakettle for his lord, Nobunaga Oda. By the end of the anime, he has numerous masterpieces in his possession, he has craftsmen making his own works, and is in good standing with the one who takes over following the inevitable fall of Nobunaga.
Yet even when he becomes more successful, he remains more or less the same at heart. His buffoon or even his scheming moments never grow tiresome to watch, especially after witnessing the other hidden faces of some of the other characters. But that's not to say Furuta doesn't actually possess any character development. There are various moments that causes him to either change or make difficult decisions that test him. One such moment almost even causes him to give up on the idea of becoming a master aesthete entirely.
There is one in particular that, while it's subtle, is a clear indication that Furuta has been deeply changed. In the first handful of episodes, Furuta is seen in awe of rather grandiose works. But following the fall of Nobunaga Oda, the lord he was serving and deeply loyal to, he begins to favor simpler and more imperfect things and stops looking at the works he had obtained previously with as much admiration he had been. To such an extent that he values the beauty of a mere flower blooming in the rain more than the masterpieces he had been so infatuated with.
#Other Characters#
As this is a thirty nine episode long show, there are numerous other characters beyond Furuta. Far too many to cover all of them. Hence, I'll only focus the major/important ones. But there are supporting characters such as Ieyasu Tokugawa, Masamune Date, and Mitsunari Ishida that while are only minor supporting characters more or less in Hyouge Mono (or at least what the anime covers), they aren't exactly "minor" historical figures.
Let's start off from the top.
Nobunaga Oda
Hyouge Mono's version of Nobunaga is probably hands down my favorite iteration of the legendary historical figure. From his appearance to his attitude, to Rikiya Koyama's awesome Nobunaga laugh that remained burned into my head long after actually watching the show. Additionally, Nobunaga probably has one of the most notable moments of the entire show...
...and given what happens to him historically, he's only present for about ten or eleven episodes of Hyouge Mono, but his impact and legacy does not leave the mind of any of the characters that outlive him.
I'm willing to bet real life Nobunaga probably never actually really rode around on elephants. I mean that's just a guess but.
As Sasuke Furuta, Hideyoshi Hashiba, and Mitsuhide Akechi's lord, in the first section of the show, Nobunaga is coming close to having essentially conquered the whole of Japan, and even comes close to obtaining all three of the legendary tea jars commonly referred to as the Triumvirate. He talks of expanding beyond Japan in the future and one day conquering the Ming Dynasty and the "barbarian lands", but of course, a fall lying at the end of a deeply spun web of conspiracy awaits him.
It's interesting to note that while mostly Nobunaga found Furuta to be an entertaining person, Nobunaga could see the hidden potential within him, and would speak with him regularly, as well as test him. He once went as far as asking Furuta if he thought the Hiragumo Teakettle (the teakettle Furuta had desperately collected the shards of the lid following it exploding) paled in comparison to Nobunaga's warships, almost immediately after cutting down a merchant who had made a disrespectful comment but then rescinded it due to his fear of Nobunaga.
Soueki Senno
"Though you wipe your hands and brush off the dust and dirt from the vessels, what is the use of all this fuss if the heart is still impure?" ~Sen no Rikyū
Soueki Senno, later known as Sen no Rikyū, is unquestionably the most famous tea master and the eventual teacher of Furuta in the tea ceremony, Rikyū is present from the very first episode. A towering and somber presence almost always clad in black clothing, Rikyū is arguably one of Hyouge Mono's very best characters. I of couse say character, because while yet another historical figure, as with most of this show, a lot of details of Rikyū's life that are shown are very much fictional.
As the most well known and influential tea master of the time, having served both Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi Toyotomi who followed him, Rikyū has both power and influence over various events. While he takes on Furuta as a student, Rikyū and Furuta more than once butt heads, especially when Furuta cannot realize on various occasions that Furuta's actions and decisions as an aesthete displease or disappoint him.
Hideyoshi Hashiba
Later known as Hideyoshi Toyotomi, along with Furuta and Mitsuhide Akechi, he served Nobunaga Oda until his death. Similar to Furuta, Hideyoshi is scheming and conniving. But in a different way than Furuta. Following Nobunaga's death, Hideyoshi takes Nobunaga's place and seemingly take after Nobunaga, beginning to live extravagantly and begins to talk of expanding outside of Japan and doing what Nobunaga didn't have the chance to, conquering the Ming Dynasty. But even after defeating Nobunaga's betrayer, he finds himself still caught within the same web that ensnared Nobunaga. He's relieved when Furuta decides to stand by him...
Mitsuhide Akechi
Mitsuhide Akechi was another warrior serving Nobunaga Oda. He was unlike both Hideyoshi and Furuta. While not originally the sort that would scheme against his lord, he found himself pushed between a rock and a hard place. Encouraged by another to rebel and betray Nobunaga, yet also feeling frustration at Nobunaga favoring his own family over those others loyally serving him such as the Akechi clan, Mitsuhide is eventually pushed into committing the infamous Honnō-ji Incident resulting in Nobunaga's death. For a very short time, he took Nobunaga's place but ended up inevitably being killed and replaced by Hideyoshi.
#Conclusion#
Hyouge Mono is without a doubt my favorite anime. I give it a 10 out of 10 while acknowledging for one, there are certainly shows out there that are better looking or have better animation. The art more or less matches the original manga perfectly, and the animation is as good as it needs to be (better than I thought it'd be actually, considering it's a 39 episode long show) to present the story and characters. For two, I don't foresee a majority of people watching/liking Hyouge Mono.
Putting the fact it's 39 episodes aside, it's definitely a slow moving show. Additionally, while the show has its share of blood/action, the focus remains ever present on aesthetics and the tea ceremony, which I simply don't think will be interesting to most.
All that being said, I would absolutely recommend it if you're looking for a strong story and strong characters, and don't mind slow moving shows.
In my opinion, it's probably hands down the best/most interesting take I've seen (so far) on Feudal Japan and the downfall of Nobunaga and etc.
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