Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on September 27, 2012 at 2:35 PM

(Long review is long. Don’t tell me you haven’t been warned.)

Story -- First things first: There is no particular story. If you left the first or maybe the first two eps (introduction) and the last ep (some kind of outro) in their rightful places, there probably wouldn’t be a particular problem with jumbling around the rest. You’d get but a vague feeling of “Something’s not quite right here”.

“Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran” is basically one set of sub-stories plot-wise. And once you watched the first episode, the stories aren’t entirely new anymore. Spoiler? Our lovely protagonists come across a new town in search of sake or lodging and find some kind of wrongdoing going on. Before long, the antagonist is found, defeated, and the whole thing ends with Ran leaving town and Myao running after her screaming to wait up.

But that’s not to say the story’s all bad. A mixture of chanbara (~ sword action), jidaigeki (period drama), strong women, and a whole dose of comedy, it’s quite entertaining. And where there is little room for actual character development in thirteen self-contained episodes, and the “friendship” plot can be a little jerky at times, at least the characters themselves make up for that.

Granted; the majority of side characters are no-names and can be forgotten in an episodic anime such as this. Where some are antagonists that by the end of the episode are sure to be knocked out and lie in the way, some side charas are crazy, with two or three thrown in that are tied to the protagonists’ pasts; our dear main characters outshine them all with their crazy antics.

Both are strong -- Ran so even more than Myao, who tends to make a run for it. But that’s not what defines them; it’s rather their crazy antics. Ran’s taste for saké, so strong it’s a wonder she’s not an alcoholic yet. Myao has an entirely too high self-esteem. Ran shows a tendency to go broke and shove off her living expenses on her partner. Myao has a happy-go-lucky attitude, complete boldness, and a lot of stupidity, the combination of which results in a mixture of reckless, dangerous, and comedic situations or actions. But all these faults don’t stop the two from being absolutely lovable -- Myao being cheerful, energetic, and having a heart of gold; and Ran being calm and kind at heart, displaying a strong sense of justice when the series gets down to it. A weird combination? Yeah, but it works fantastically. Both Ran and Myao are memorable with all their faults and quirks, and despite the series being a little too short and too episodic to entirely allow the audience to feel with them, they make for a wide variety of entertaining moments. Both of them have their unique backgrounds, which are played upon in two different episodes; and where the friendship-building plot tends to be jerky, their interaction is both funny and quite believable despite (or because of) their quirks.

Dialogue -- It undoubtedly has its faults, especially seen as there seem to be time gaps between the episodes (e.g. when Myao first calls Ran by her name, for the audience, Ran has yet to introduce herself); but it also is quite funny, fast-paced without being too jerky, and has its number of running gags… the most memorable of which are probably Ran and Myao’s signature sentences: “Utterly inexcusable” see “The sky is sunny; my heart is sunny too”.

No particular faults in the voice acting. Can’t say anything about the much-discussed sub vs. dub issue though as I’ve only been watching the sub (the eps I got don’t even have dual audio). The background music could perhaps need a greater variety if seen in its whole, but it fits the series’ style very well.

Back in its time, the animation probably was quite good as well; but this show is more than twelve years old, and it simply can’t stand with animes of more recent quality anymore. There is action, and it is pretty fast-paced for what it is, but also short and pretty much non-offensive. There’s no blood shown, and Ran or Myao themselves don’t even seem to kill anyone, instead leaving the villains tied up or unconscious for the police to pick them up.

There’s no particular faults in the artwork. Scenery might be a little unremarkable but is quite good for this show’s age, close to reality, and where character design is still a little old-school, both costuming and general design fit well. It’s also remarkable that the series doesn’t try to gloss over dirt or stages of decay in towns too much, like a lot of other historical series tend to do.

As for the entertainment, “Tsukikage Ran” definitely has an own charm. For all its old-school animation, and for all its faults story-wise (the latter which usually pisses me off), I am surprised at how entertaining the whole series is. Where there’s no particular suspense due to the nature of the story, and the drama part might be a little unremarkable for somebody who watched at least one or two of the more heavy-hitting shoujo series, the action shown is fast and funny, and there’s a whole lot of comedy in here -- some bickering, some situational humour, but the greatest appeal lies in the characters. Both Ran and Myao are faulted to no end; but they’re all the more lovable for that. Not to mention their antics often enough result in the both of them ending up in absolutely hilarious situations.

I admit I’m not sure what attracts me the most about this series. Maybe it is that I love historical works (though there’s really not much historical info in here -- could be understood even by those who’ve slept through all their history lessons), maybe it’s that I love strong women, and that those are rare in historical series. Or maybe it’s simply the characters, who actually make the story, as episodic as it is and annoying as that would usually be, work. In any case, while “Kaze ma Kase: Tsukikage Ran” might not be among my top series, it’s quite entertaining, and I’d watch an episode again anytime when I need to brighten up a day.

Recommended for those who like comedy with drama and action, unique characters, strong females, or simply want to see the lighter side of historical anime. Must not mind that the whole thing is basically a set of standalone episodes though.

As for those who are wondering why they’re not seeing all thirteen eps I’m talking about; right now I’m still in the process of uploading. Three more eps to go. Might take a day or two, as my web connection’s being slow. Started adding small-size MP4s too (428p), but completing the set comes first, so you might need a little patience for those.

Cheers. ^_^