Onihei

A story about life, honor and righteousness and a wonderful glimpse of the Edo period. In general a few shades short of perfection, but well worth a watch,

This anime series is centred on Heizou Hasegawa; the head of the Arson Thief Control Office in the city of Edo (historical Tokyo). Each episode sees him taking on a different case, along with his team. The antagonists tend to be a murderous bunch; quite happy to kill anybody who gets in their way or may be a witness.

I really enjoyed this series. The individual stories are intriguing and the look does a great job of capturing the era... or at least what I imagine it was like. While Heizou Hasegawa is clearly the hero of the show he isn't perfect by modern standards; using methods of the time that would be unacceptable now... something I approve of as, as I don't think the past can be judged by current standards. While the cases are important we also get an insight into Heizou's private life and some looks at his past. It is violent at times, expect severed limbs and some torture, but that is justified by the stories. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to older anime fans.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

+ good voice actors deliver touching dialogues between characters + sword fights are tense, e.g. Heizo the inspector/ protaganist fending off an assassin + no out of character behaviour: plot and decisions are driven by characters' consistent personality + promotes social justice, empathy towards inequity prevalent in Edo period society, and leniency / rehabilitation towards redeemable thieves, especially the Robinhood types + flashbacks show how Heizo grew from a bitter, impulsive trouble maker to a wise inspector with iron fists and a warm heart + violent scenes were plot driven, not gratuitous. Some cases are solved by simply tracking and arresting non-violent thieves; murderous criminals meet swift and violent end + social commentary / philosophical remarks, e.g. Heizo laments a female thief's downfall, "women, they have no past or future; just survive in the present" elevates this series beyond a simple action crime series, because characters prompt viewers to observe the story and case in a humanized way with social context, making the episodes more meaningful

• opening theme song is jazzy with saxophones, which doesn't complement the period of the series, and took me some time to get used to
• plot twists are few, since you can predict characters' decisions
• some episodes include intense sword fights between robbers and police, with gore and dismemberment; there are also cases of sexual assault (hinted, not shown). These episodes are unpleasant, but realistic of the crimes committed in that period

* I enjoy the series because it partly reminds me of Samurai Champloo, the characters are interesting and likeable, Heizo is the 200% chilvarous ideal friend, boss, and husband: he's fun and generous with his friends, fair and kind to his squad, empathetic and respectful towards women, youths and children; his virtues and awareness is almost ahead of his time.

I saw news that season 2 may be released in summer 2019. I look forward to seeing the characters again!