When two young men swap worlds, they’re in for some very different troubles.
What They Say:
The stage is the world of Amawakuni, where mankind coexists with the many gods. There, a boy called Arata is wrapped up in a coup d’état led by the Twelve Shinsho, wielders of swords called Hayagami. When he is accused of murdering a princess, Arata escapes to a forest, where he finds himself transported to the modern world.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga by Yuu Watase which began back in 2008 and has seventeen volumes so far, Arata: The Legend is a new series from Satelight and JM Production. I’ve seen a few Watase shows in the past, from the overly long Fushigi Yugi to the shorter and more interesting Ayashi no Ceres, but I didn’t pick up on the manga for this release even though Viz Media is bringing it out. While I like her ideas and generally her characters, the execution has always been the harder point for me since they were drawn out and made odd leaps at times. With this series, there’s a certain trepidation going into it, especially as I don’t believe an episode count has been set, but when I see Satelight in the credits I always find myself wanting to give it a chance.
The series revolves around a young man named Arata Hinohara, a seemingly nice guy who is pretty good at the physical side of things but is realizing that some people he thought were friends are anything but. At the same time that we see what’s going on with Hinohara, we get introduced to a very different world. Literally. Taking place in a land called Amawakuni, we meet another young man named Arata who has grown up in the Hime Clan, the tribe who provides the necessary princesses for various ceremonies. Unfortunately, Arata is a young man and not interested in being part of these things, except that he was raised as a girl and everyone was told that he was, making them believe that they had who they needed all lined up. Of course, you can tell from looking at him that he’s a he, but he does carry himself well enough in that manner as well so as to pull off the ruse when necessary. Life in the clan is difficult because of the lack of a proper young woman to truly do what needs to be done as an important ceremony is approaching where they need someone to assume the role.
Arata is moved to do what needs being done, namely to fool the Princess and the Twelve Shinsho for the ceremony, but he’s not convinced he can pull it off for the three days that’s required. Unfortunately for Arata, the ceremony begins in a bad way as the Princess is assassinated and he gets framed for it pretty easily, making an already difficult situatoin far more so, particularly as the Twelve Shinso watch on in silence, apparently ready for a revolution all of their own. Where it gets really complicated is that as Arata is on the running, wanting to get so far away, so is Arata Hinohana, who is making similar wishes that causes the two to swap places in their respective worlds.
Hinohana’s arrival in Amawakumi is certainly complicated and confusing since he is fully himself, not just a mind swap, and the unreality of it all hits him in a big way, particularly since he’s being chased for the kill by the one who killed the Princess. It makes for some good action as Kannagi gets to do a bit of a hunt and sets up where at least part of the series will go in regards to Hinohana and the Shinso. It’s also welcome that Hinohana manages to get some information right from the get go about what’s going on, and that he has to take on Arata’s role here, but that’s not entirely welcome with him because of the way the other Arata was framed. But with the bullying that he had suffered in his own world, it’s potentially an opportunity for Hinohana to stand tall. But he’s been beaten down so badly in his life that it’s not something he can just do easily and without some amount of internal conflict. All of which Kannagi will end up forcing him to deal with.
In Summary:
The opening episode of Arata: The Legend has a lot to deal with and it mostly seems to get it right for now. The focus on Hinohana at first is good as it establishes his being bullied and then shifts to the other world where we see Arata framed for a murder he didn’t commit and a revolution inside the Twelve Shinsho. While the how of the two young men switching places is left to the side, and Arata’s time in modern Japan left for another episode, we get to connect surprisingly well with Hinohana as he deals with being thrust in this unusual situation and realizing that he does have some real power with which to work. And that can change the mindset of any young man, particularly one that’s been bullied and can lash out as needed to react to bad situations. Satelight has a good looking show here with what it does and the opening episode brings in a whole lot of material but mostly manages to make it work without being too all over the map. There’s certainly enough hooks in here and it has the potential to be a pretty strong series, dependent on the pacing and just how much is actually accomplished across it.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.