What They Say:
The East Star and the West Star… It is said that the separated stars were once connected by the supernatural chain called the “Dragon Stream.” Both stars enjoyed their own prosperity, but such a peaceful period came to end. They come to be bombarded by chaotic vibration of time, and entered into a series of war. Joanne d’Arc is born to save the world, the only person knowing the reanimation of a transcendence technology called “Shinki,” meaning God’s vessel. She foresees an emergence of deliverer and makes her way to the East, together with Leonardo da Vinci, the man of the insight. In the East, her foresight of “deliverer” refers to the most delinquent guy, Nobunaga Oda. Is Nobunaga is the true deliverer? Or, is he only the devastator?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
If there was a series that I had a hard time wrapping my head around in the lead-up to its broadcast, it’s this one. With it being a series with some strong production credits behind it that’s tied to three stage plays being done in Japan, it just plain felt weird in how they were tying it together since a decent piece of it in that form simply wasn’t going to be available. And not just to Western fans watching the simulcast, but a good number of Japanese fans as well simply due to availability. But when you put some creative people behind a project like Shoji Kawamori writing this (though not directing) and animating it at Satelight, it’s definitely worth a look. And just the prologue alone here where it shows us history in the mid 1400’s and the kind of war that was playing out, it’s easy to be drawn into the visuals alone.
And that’s all that it’s really able to do, at least through the first half of the episode, as it comes across as this simply weird but beautiful mishmash of things without any coherency. We’re introduced to an array of people, from Nobunaga to Hideyoshi and of course Jeanne d’Arc and other familiar names from history like Mitsuhide. It all has a larger than life beautiful feeling with the animation and designs as we see how the world here is different as we get feudal style mechanized suits that gives us not so giant robots to cause swaths of damage across the battlefield. It’s lusciously beautiful in its own way as it paints a picture of how World War I would look if done in this time period. And amid all of this, there’s the simplicity of those that are hoping for someone to come and save them all, which is the tale of East Star and West Star and trying to figure out who is who and if they really are saviors.
And within this grand and epic feeling story, we also see that there are local orbit starships at the least, which has its own involvement in the story since it makes it easy to get around some. Watching this show, we get introduced to so many characters and different locales in this time from history that it really does come across as too much. Watching this with full attention, it left me wondering just what the purpose is here, though I figure some of it is just a given by the inclusion of certain people like Mitsuhide and Nobunaga since there are such strong stories about them over the years and you’re just supposed to know. The thrust of bringing together three peoole that want to change the world having seen the way such devastation has fallen across the eland because of the tools that mankind uses now has a certain energy to it, and it’s all very manly. But it’s just not compelling in terms of actual story here that hooks you.
In Summary:
I went into this show with little in the way of expectations, largely because the whole promotional side of it was so vague in so many ways, that I was completely open to whatever it wanted to do. Using familiar names from history reworked to tell something that obviously wants to be grand, epic and sweeping, Nobunaga the Fool is a work that capitalizes totally on its visuals and sells itself easily in that regard. It’s gorgeous to look at and really shows just what TV animation can be like if you put your all (and budget) into it. But after the episode, even with what exposition they do throw down, I have no real clue about what it is they want to do besides save the world. There’s so much going on here that wrapping your head around it while taking in all the visuals may not actually work. I’m intrigued but the first episode so completely puts me off in terms of characters, story and initial accessibility that I’m likely not to return to this.
Grade: C-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
