Uchouten Kazoku – Episode 12

No time for foolish preamble! It’s time for Yashirou to save the day!

Incidentally, I just posted a review of the Uchouten writer’s other work, The Tatami Galaxy, so when you’re done slavering over how good this week’s episode is undoubtedly going to be, you can always head over there for more writer-adoration. Anyway!

Episode 12

0:03 – Starting off right. Love the night shots

0:12 – Love the lighting as he stops. Stranded between two distant beacons, crossing his bridge alone

0:57 – Barren trees grasping at the sky. Man, every shot

2:32 – YESSS. I know that asshole next-episode-preview spoiled it for basically everyone, but still

2:33 – It’s clear even just in the narrative that this writer truly loves Kyoto. He must be very happy with this adaptation 

2:56 – Love this. The forgotten brothers have just enough strength between them to save everyone

3:24 – The moral of the story is drunk driving saves lives 

3:27 – I love that purple hue of the lightning 

5:40 – Seriously kids don’t do this at home 

6:07 – Probably my favorite line by either of them 

6:32 – Anime can do some pretty cool stuff 

7:07 – Interesting declaration. And he links it to the idiot blood. Living in the moment, I suppose – like Tatami Galaxy, enjoying the pleasures life is always offering. Can’t say that foretells good things for the Yasaburou/Benten relationship, though – she couldn’t be more of a representation of the unreachable dream

7:18 – And of course 

7:22 – I love how they’re continuously getting slammed into the windshield. Also the dude who’s so surprised his hat jumps off

7:43 – And the woman calmly taking pictures for her blog 

8:56 – Solid 3D integration here 

9:36 – This is serious, but all the same, he’s happy to have his brother back 

9:50 – Of course! 

10:34 – Quite a shot 

11:06 – Ladies and gentleman, AotY.

Gah. It’s these moments. Like cocktails on the roof, like the teahouse floating across the Kyoto skyline. The whole show is smartly written and full of human characters and gorgeous, but stuff like this… The closest comparison I can think of is FLCL – it’s peppered with these moments where every variable just sings with how beautiful this medium truly is. Goddamn, Uchouten Kazoku

11:14 – One more time! 

11:33 – Oh man, surprised me with that one. Though it really shouldn’t have – like Yashirou’s electricity trick or the railcar itself, great writers don’t just introduce clever ideas, they introduce an endless set of threads, and the ultimate weaving together of those threads is part of what makes the best stories feel so satisfying and “right”

11:59 – Yasaburou is going to crash Benten’s party in a flying railcar. Oh my god this show. I am just sitting here giggling to myself. Goddamn

12:51 – They know a show-defining setpiece when they see one 

13:06 – I was going to say “that reminds me of Ozu’s ‘you say some mean things,’” and then I remembered it’s the same voice actor. So… yeah, quite a callout

13:18 – Love the lighting in this shot. You can even see the second reflection of the lights on the water in the glass

13:22 – Dat smile. Benten stahp

13:34 – Best gag yet 

14:49 – Casting all of his values as false? I doubt it’s that simple. I wonder if they’ll go further with contrasting community responsibility with familial responsibility

16:13 – Finally. As suspected, Yasaburou’s first meeting with the Fellows might not have gone so smoothly with their leader there

16:48 – Benten stahp 

16:59 – Charged words 

17:49 – Considering that magic rope of yours, I’m sure you’d know all about that 

18:45 – Yeah, I bet you did. This guy seems super trustworthy

19:32 – Nice color scheme 

20:08 – The professor in full battle attire 

22:02 – Of course. Well, it is a very nice restaurant

23:00 – Yep. Directly contrasting the life-well-lived against duty to family and society. One episode to go aaaggghhh

And Done

Well, that episode was like fifty kinds of perfect. Dear lord. Even that railcar-against-the-moon shot alone would have made for a worthwhile episode, but it was funny and fast-paced and full of great little character moments and beautiful and pulled in lots of old threads and has basically drawn every single element of the story into two adjacent rooms in an upscale restaurant of downtown Kyoto. Give me the next episode. I am dying