Uchouten Kazoku

Among the many stars in the sky, there's always one that shines brilliantly. But from this summer 2013 lineup, there's also series that shines among the group as well. Perhaps one series that might of slipped under some people's radar is Uchoten Kazoku. (also known as the Eccentric Family)

From P.A. Works comes forth a new anime this summer. Based on a novel written by Tomihiko Morimi (The Tatemi Galaxy), Uchoten Kazoku takes the setting to Kyoto with an eccentric family. Why is the family eccentric? Perhaps one of the reason is that none of them are not actually human. Rather, they are unique or more ... specifically categorized as tanuki. The series details the family, and in particular one child by the name of Yasaburō Shimogamo - the main character and the third son of the Shimogamo.

To start off, the setting of the show takes place in Kyoto. As such, expect an old fashioned and traditional city in a modern life setting. There's the Japanese like atmosphere but combines that with elements of fantasy. That's because the characters of the show are tanuki; Japanese raccoon dog beings native to Japan. But in this story, we have this child named Yasaburo Shimogamo who stars as the main character. He has the ability to shape-shift and plays on a gender bender role in the some of the episodes. Even when we first meet him, he is in the clothes and body of a girl. Oddly enough, Yasaburo plays the role of an ordinary boy with abnormal powers. We also find out that exactly how he lives his daily lives ranging from observing human behavior, engaging in extended conversations with others, and even to warming his butt. Now, that is abnormal.

It's hard to be original these days in the anime industry. Many ideas have been explored but I find this show to be quite refreshing. It takes the Kyoto setting and transform it into an urban fantasy without violence, shounen battles, or a guy being the hero to save the day. Rather, we have dynamic character relationships with the eccentric family being a center of the plot. As for the plot itself, the majority of the series takes on an approach similar to a narrative. Yasaburo is the main character so naturally, we get to see his life from his point of view. The relationships he has with the other family and characters are explored throughout the series. Among one of these relationship that is most noticeable involves with Benten, a member of Friday Fellows. This relationship can be described as very peculiar as maybe on the lines of love/hate. From the surface, we can assume that Yasaburo has a crush on Benten even from the very beginning. On the other hand, Benten is a woman with a mischievous personality and hard to read. Most of the time, viewers will have a hard time figuring out what she's thinking. In one particular moment, she teases that Yasaburo will be her dinner all the while putting on a poker-like face with a noticeable 'smile'.

The show explores the eccentric family so naturally, we get to see their backgrounds as well as their past stories. Some of these stories could spawn emotions especially later on when some truth is revealed regarding Yaichirou and his generation. Perhaps most importantly though is how the characters deal with revelations. Eccentric Family takes on the approach of sadness and presents in a way that seems to be more natural. It's obvious that there are moments when characters wishes something that has happened never happened. However, it's too late now to change anything. Instead, the characters moves forward and accepts the truth but with a silent tone.

As with most family goes, there's also fun and comedy as well. Tomhiko Morimi's Tatemi Galaxy had plenty of comedy presented in an absurd yet very entertaining way. As for this show, it similarly has that style of comedy but presents it in a more sensational way. Yasaburo indeed has character relationships with many of the characters, some more striking than others such as Benten. On the comedy side though, Akadama is perhaps the guy that makes up one half of that duo with Yasaburo. The silliness can also be traced with the family origins in regards to their shapeshifting abilities. Yasaburo can shapeshift and takes form of a girl effectively making him a trap. But more figuratively, he likes to do so especially when visiting Akadama as a way of teasing. Speaking of Akadama, he also sometimes denies what's really there. It's silly in the way of comedy rather than being forced. There's no random scenes of awkwardness in terms of compromising positions to present its comedy. Instead, it's natural and fun. Now, that is effective comedy.

If we talk about dialogues though, this show has what it takes. The dialogues in this series can be taken in as impressive in the way of its style. The words being spoken can be taken with both a sense of realism and also fantasy. It also mixes in the a sort of complexity as family origins are explored that details to their generations. As such, viewers should absorb and take these dialogues for granted as they can be important to recall later on. Finally, the dialogues has a sense of maturity to it. At times, it might come out as silly but its presentation makes it dramatic to listen to.

The term 'fantasy' spells out many ideas. In recent years, anime series have taken on the fantasy to the virtual world, to ghost haunted schools, or to a dark age when Titans are the dominance of its land. However, Uchoten Kazoku takes on the fantasy theme and conveys it in a more traditional way. The tanuki is just one prominent example relating to traditional Japanese folktale based on its raccoons possessing the ability to shapeshift. In such legends, the tanuki uses such ability to cause mischief. This folktale legend can be seen as parallel to this series in the case of Yasaburo. Then, there's also Benten whose character spells out mischievous all over her face. There are also other mystical creatures such as youkai and tengu.

Though the show has an impressive stance and presentation, there are sometimes I scratch my head and wondering what's really going on. The drama around the show sometimes also becomes almost overdramatic and focuses too much on Yasaburo. Additionally, there's a certain lack of diversity in terms of its mythological creatures. Along with that, some of purpose relating to the characters are also vague as a narrative often explores them in concrete details. In this case, narrative takes on a more textbook approach where we sometimes have to go deeper with what Yasaburo sees the modern world as. Finally, there's bits of fan service showing in the case of Benten as a form of tease. Heh, maybe she' just a femme fatale or something but good luck reading her. She's not a textbook with an answer key.

Uchoten Kazoku is adapted from P.A. Works. As a production studio, fans should be aware of their works by now. Their most recent project, Red Data Girl also takes on some Japanese traditional themes and transformed it into anime form in modern era. As for this series, P.A. Works once again puts their talents at work. It does look a bit different though with the character designs looking more simple with nothing breathtaking. The raccoons of the show has an innocence to them while Benten is designed with a mischievous figure. Masayuki Yoshihara's direction of the series also takes on that narrative style so some characters talking might give them a more direct way of speaking; sometimes as if conveying to the audience of their feelings. The backgrounds looks interesting enough though to convey the modern setting of a Japanese folktale lore.

A less noticeable factor of the series could be the soundtrack. As far as music goes, Uchoten Kazoku takes on a natural style of tone with its smooth OST. Yoshiaki Fujisawa coordinates the music and makes it calm to listen to but at the times forgotten since the dialogues and comedy dominates the music base. The OP song also presents an odd feature of an opening while the ED song ("Qué Será, Será) has a more catchy tone. But for all else being said, I give praise to Yasaburo's VA Takahiro Sakurai for voicing the main character. With over a decade of experience, we can clearly see a talent in his character as Yasaburo as whether being a guy or a girl. Additionally, Benten's VA Mamiko Noto gives her character that mischievous tone of voice.

Overall, I would describe this series as fascinating in the sense of its narrative. It's not every day where we see raccoons running around in a human community. But more importantly, we can see a main character's point of view in a modern Japanese city. The dialogues spoken in this series may be difficult at times to interpret or absorb. However, make no mistake as they tie in with a lot of the themes together. As one of the underrated series, I definitely recommend giving Uchoten Kazoku a try especially if you're a fan of comedy-drama or if you've previously enjoyed The Tatemi Galaxy. It's a tale of family fun, storytelling, relationships, and brilliance.

Uchouten Kazoku opens with Shimogamo Yasaburou, an energetically laid-back shape-shifting tanuki, giving us a quick rundown of his hometown of Kyoto. This is a city with a storied history of mostly-regular humans, proud tengu magicians, and oh, playful tanuki shape-shifters, of course and here, he tells us, there are endless quantities of amusement to be had. As the camera follows him deftly navigating the beautiful cityscape, he declares with conviction that while he is a tanuki, he's far too proud to be a mere tanuki and is instead one who passes his days admiring tengu and imitating humans. He assures us that he is so ... busy that he doesn't even have time to be bored.

The introduction now complete, the opening theme plays.

And with that, the frenetically paced Uchouten Kazoku is now over. As if to drag the show back down to earth, his younger brother appears and bestows upon our main character that which is most dreaded by every magical shape-shifting bohemian, a responsibility—and one from his mother, no less! It quickly becomes apparent that although he neglected to make mention of this in the introduction, he is in fact the third of the four sons of a once-prestigious and close-knit family of tanuki. Although you might suspect, due to the now-conspicuous absence of this little bit of important information in his introduction or simply just due to his nature, that he is somehow resentful of this, he in fact makes no real effort to escape from these bonds. And so we have settled into the basic premise of this series.

Though not without frequent bursts of excitement, this is now a much slower show and its many strengths begin to reveal themselves to the viewer. With its vivid reds and yellows that perfectly capture the fall season, saturated yet earthy greens, and fantastic nighttime blues, this show likely has the best color palette of any anime from 2013. (The doubtful are invited to consider episode 6, titled "Taking in Fall Colors," which is about just that: taking in fall colors.) Combined with the excellent way that texture is used in the visuals of this show, this makes for amazing backgrounds; as the viewer may have already noticed during the introduction, Uchouten Kazoku's Kyoto is an inspired city of lively streets, fanciful props, and amazing interiors. Also worth noting is the way that the animators expressively use the body language of the whimsically designed and deceptively minimal characters. For an obvious example of this, you could watch the way that Yasaburou moves even after taking a female form in the first episode, although it's really something that deserves your attention throughout the entire series.

The strongest aspect of all, however, is the writing, and as such Uchouten Kazoku features an amazing cast of characters. While Yasaburou doesn't completely embrace his familial obligations—certainly not to the degree of the eldest Shimogamo brother—his relationships with his immediate kin are shown early on to be his most significant and enduring ties and as they should be, they are all great characters, from the eldest—the comically severe Yaichirou, to the youngest—the endearing Yashirou. But the best non-Yasaburou member of the Shimogamo family might just be the unnamed matriarch, who plays many roles over the course of the series but is always a fun character due both her quirkiness and her naturally likable demeanor. All of the main characters are given the development that they deserve, and Uchouten Kazoku deserves credit for doing so in such a way that it feels like part of a natural progression where the viewer is increasingly drawn into the lives of its characters. Although this can be mostly attributed to the thoughtful way in which the story progresses, some credit should be given to the production for the excellent way in which all of the flashback scenes were executed. Flashbacks can easily feel tacked-on and tacky, especially when silly effects, bad transitions, and other such missteps are involved, but the flashbacks in Uchouten Kazoku are not only well-integrated, but also executed to a standard that is higher than much of the rest of the show, lending them emotional impact and narrative strength. The main characters aren't the only fun and interesting ones, however, as almost any given supporting character from the scheming Ebisugawa brothers to the perpetually grumpy Akadama-sensei has the ability to steal the spotlight for entire scenes. Both the writing and the production deserve to share the credit here, as the supporting characters are not only written in a way that makes them instantly likeable, but are depicted on screen in a lively and colorful way that is on par with the main cast. (If you've been keeping count, you may have noticed that I've neglected to mention one of the four brothers. Well, he's currently a frog in a well and for the purposes of this review, there isn't too much more that I should say about that, but I suppose that it should be noted that he is both one of the funniest and most interesting characters.)

Arguably even more impressive than it's cast, however, is the way that the it can effortlessly evoke meaning from absurdity. For example, I did not expect to truly feel bad for a frog in a well—that is to not just have a meaningless emotional response due to some cheap puppy-kicking, but to actually really truly feel bad for a frog in a well. Though Uchouten Kazoku presents itself as a slice of life comedy with whimsical supernatural elements, it flexes its storytelling muscles in a big way on an episode-to-episode basis, so is not only thematically rich, but crafts a meaningful emotional narrative over the course of its thirteen episodes. The key to this is perhaps the way that elements of the story are quietly and thoughtfully built up over the course of the slice of life portions of each episode, leading to catharsis much more naturally than is obvious to the viewer.

I want to finish by talking about yet one more important character that I've intentionally avoided even making a passing reference to thus far, and that is the cryptically beautiful figure who is now only referred to by the name of the god Benten. Though she makes appearances as early as the very first episode—the world of Uchouten Kazoku is a small one after all—she remains an enigma for much of the series. This is largely due to the fact that as much is said about Benten by the other characters in the show than is said by Benten herself, which leads me to why I chose only now to bring her up: Benten frequently serves as the focal point of all of the strongest elements of this series. Captivatingly beautiful to almost every character in the show, the impassioned moments that she inspires are many (but not all) of the most powerful scenes of the series. But Benten isn't just your archetypal muse character who sits around looking pretty while legitimately interesting characters swarm around her and do legitimately interesting things. She herself has a hand in almost every single major plot event of the series and is furthermore the main actor in, or at least an active participant of, many of the best scenes, so while her appearances are sometimes infrequent, they are always memorable. The best aspects of Uchouten Kazoku just seem to become even more apparent whenever Benten is involved. Indeed, everything from the quality of the writing to the quiet strength of the soundtrack and the ability of P.A. Works to deliver sublime visuals seems to be on display during moments like late in episode 3 when Benten waves her fan, and as if on-command, everything immediately comes together to create one of the best scenes of the entire show.

As something with no significant flaws that come to mind, I wholeheartedly recommend Uchouten Kazoku to anyone whose interest is even slightly piqued by this review. Though often restrained in its pacing and contemplative in tone, the show is much more engaging than you might think. Even if you think that you will find it difficult to appreciate the writing or the humor, P.A. Works does a great job of creating an immersive experience for the viewer with the superbly-crafted setting and soundtrack lending the series strong atmospheric qualities as well. Just watch it—I'm sure that you won't be lacking in things to appreciate.

In this day & age it's sometimes very hard to find something original, the anime as a form of art has now become so generic & predictable with typical shounen & typical ecchi spewing around us from all direction that it is really hard to remember sometimes that this is not only a form of entertainment (or rather shameless fan service) but it is also a form of art. And fortunately there are still anime's like "Uchouten Kazoku" still being made to remind us just that.

Story
This was actually based on a novel by Tomihiko Morimi which is the story of a family, of a certain ... peculiar family at that, cause the members of this family aren't human. This is a story of a "Tanuki" family. Early on our protagonist tells us about the world he lives in, a fictional version of modern Kyoto, where Tanuki, Tengu & Humans co-habit, humans are obviously at the head of the food chain, and Tengu's are creatures that can fly. So what are Tanuki's? They are shape-shifting raccoon dogs (bet you didn't see that one coming). This is the story of four brothers of a tanuki family , their mothers & their friends; the head of the family that is their father was eaten by a group of human called "Friday Fellows" who eat tanuki every year as a tradition in their year end bash. I know this seems confusing so far, but believe me under this weird exterior there is a really beautiful story. We get to observe the life of this family through the eye of one of the brother's, our main character Yasaburo. We get to know this beautifully imagined fantasy world, face the challenges you have to face by being a shape-shifting tanuki, and get to know the truth behind how the head of the Shimogamo family really died.

From the small little funny bits like Yasaburo warming his butt (or else he will catch could); to his weird shape-shifting practices; to all the allegory about an actual loving family-life, the nature of humans & the corruption in our political circle now-a-days everything is written in a almost flawless way. There is layer upon layer of details on every scene & intelligent dialogues throughout the show.

The story is almost flawless in what it tries to achieve, it gets 9 out of 10 from me.

Characters
The characters are so meticulously imagined by the writer that it really shows the amount of dedication & care he really gave his work. From the responsible yet too much trying older brother Yaichiro, to the carefree yet guilt ridden Yajiro, to the "most idiotic of the blood" Yasaburo, to the timid and shy Yashirou all the brothers are so well developed characters. There is their loving mother (who is one of the most realistic mother figures I have seen in an anime); the mysterious & unpredictable Benten (who you will be constantly wondering about, if you should love her or hate her); their angry & irritable sensei Prof. Akadama; the loveable Kaisei; and many other artistically written characters.

Most of the characters are so well written & well developed that is really unique in this times cause now-a-days most of the animes have 90% generic characters (even some good ones do lack in this department).

It gets another 9 out of 10.

Art/Animation
This anime also features very unique art, all the character designs are delicate and drawn with style, the backgrounds are colorful, all in all it does portray the wacky & weird image we get from the story quite nicely. Occasionally there are some scenes which are a bit flawed or feels out of place but overall the art & animations fits the nature of the theme that the writer tries to convey almost perfectly.

It gets 8.5 out of 10.

Sound
The opening theme is "Uchouten Jinsei" by milktubIt & the ending theme is "Qué Será, Será" by fhána,. I really like the opening song which fits nicely with the sense of wackiness this anime first tries to establish in its viewers, I get where the ending song is coming from, it was definitely aiming to get in touch with the other side of the story that was the beauty of it but I don't think the song does add that much on the total experience. It might seem a bit unusual but I liked the sound effects used in the actual anime much better than the actual opening and ending theme, there is a bit of keyboard (or other instrument) piece in some of the intense sequences which is quite beautiful, and the other bits used on emotion sequences were quite exceptional to me too.

The sound gets on the whole solid 9 out of 10.

This is the kind of anime that reminds me of why I am still sticking with this genre of entertainment. Just when the anime world is filled with generic hero fights endlessly to save the world or a girl or closet pervert hero gets caught in between lots of big breasted & scantily clothed females if you really look hard enough you find gems like this. This kinds of stories rejuvenates the believer in me (on a side note it also makes me sad that I don't know Japanese, or I could have read the original book).

This is a must watch anime & one of the best of the season and of 2013. Don't waste your time reading this review just go watch it.

Overall score -

9 out of 10.

I've been meaning to revisit Uchouten Kazoku aka The Eccentric Family for a while now. See, when I wrote my first review, I was going through a phase where my tastes were sine-waving between exploitation lover and dirty elitist, which didn't go over well with a lot of my readers at the time. And by Christ was that phase bad. I mean did I really say the show sucked by comparing it to Utena? That's like saying Texhnolyze sucked by comparing it to Legend of the Galactic Heroes. My views on the show haven't changed since then, but now that I've mostly embraced some sort ... of middle ground between enjoying Ingmar Bergman and Russ Meyer at the same time, I thought I'd give a second shot at describing why I wasn't into PA Works first "good" anime, as most people call it.

Let me just reiterate before I start that I by no means hated the show when it was finished and that I was exaggerating for comedic effect as well as to counteract all the unanimous praise regarding an anime that I desperately wanted to like and yet it failed me more than a racing horse that kept farting tires out of its ass whenever it ran half a mile (don't think too much about that metaphor. I certainly didn't). With original source material written by the man behind The Tatami Galaxy and an artstyle completely different from PA Works' usual stuff, something that not even PA Work's second elitist-bait show could get away from, you'd think nothing could go wrong. Well this show and Kyoukai no Kanata sure showed me.

Sometime around the show's end, I read an excerpt that stated that Uchouten was adapted from a book that was actually the first part of a planned trilogy that hasn't been completed yet. And by Christ did that show, because the way this anime played out was like Durarara channeling Ghost Hound in every single negative way imaginable. The anime starts off by throwing you into its fantastical world with no explanation and letting the character interactions do the talking; which sounds cool at first until you realize that by the end of the premiere, they forgot to give you a reason to care and expect the audience to just go along with the whimsy with the promise of paying off at the end.

See, I'm really opposed to this style of storytelling. Just because a good groundwork is required to make an engaging show doesn't mean you're supposed to rely on said groundwork for said engagement. Because more often that not, said groundwork isn't actually as good as it wants you to think and by the end of the show, you realized you got hoodwinked and all you can do is cry whilst Stephen King laughs at you. Every scene should have momentum. It should have a point. And hopefully at the end, said point is actually interesting.

This problem is that you need a plot to have an interesting point and when I realized by the second episode that Uchouten is all story and no plot at all, it just lost me. I know it's a style of storytelling that a lot of people seem to not mind considering the stuff that makes it onto MAL's top 30, but I personally tolerate said style at best and despise it at worst. Characters talk with each other in an attempt to build something up, but they forgot to give me a concrete reason regarding why I should care about the build-up in the first place. And no, I didn't dislike any of the characters or anything. But as much as I like the cast of Rocky, that doesn't change the fact that the fifth film was a giant dull turd.

The show never really gave the tanukis, the Friday Fellows, and especially not Benten anything to do besides talking about their lives whilst building up to a story that doesn't seem to be in service of anything really meaty. Sure Benten riding on a dolphin whilst nude before participating in a fireworks battle is cool to look at, but to what end? Well the end is revealed in the last stretch. It's just that said end is predictable as fuck, and it doesn't even conclude in a satisfactory way, coming across more as sequel-bait to something that hasn't even been written yet. So even if you were into this show for the pure storytelling, Rage of Bahamut-style, I'd argue that the show still falls flat. Did we really need thirteen episodes dedicated to a fizzled climax and family themes are the same standard "family must always stick together no matter what" stuff you see everywhere? I personally don't think so.

Yeah, the dialogue is nice and the presentation is good, but they should inform a plot. Not be the plot. Even the "good" animation showcases have more going on in them underneath "yes, this guy can direct". I mean take Cat Soup (the OVA) for example. It also had great aesthetics and a subtle storytelling method, but in addition to being much shorter, what really makes it stand out as one of the best anime short films in the medium is that the story was about how if you screw with the universe, it'll screw you back. That's an interesting message. That's something I can't learn from high school. "Fun things are fun" is neither of those things - unless you apply said message to something really ironic like Jake Gyllenhal's "I screw people to get the story that'll allow me to obtain money, women, and power" character in Nightcrawler or something. But we're delving too far into subjective territory even by my standards right now, so I should probably wrap things up before I end up trapped in a black hole of no escape.

All in all, the reason I didn't like Uchouten wasn't because it didn't make anything exciting happen week after week (well okay that is the reason, but I didn't necessarily need sword fights occurring on a sinking ship to keep my attention). The reason I didn't like the show is because for all the creativity going into the aesthetics, the actual core is just too safe in its goals to really be filling. It's comfort food anime at the end of the day, and in my screwed-up universe, comfort food anime is about as comforting as anesthesia. You'll feel better after waking up, but you were supposed to pick up your girlfriend an hour ago.

I was onboard with this anime at first. I "got it", the tanuki are carefree, and they accept being eaten by humans. I understand that people adapt to the realities of their lives if it is all normalized by their society. I got all that. HOWEVER, I stopped getting it when they Tanuki react to their trials and tribulations as would any normal human being, except when it comes to being vengeful or hateful.
I understand that many Japanese people believe that being hateful is wrong, but hatred and vengeance is a staple of human society, the reason is purely evolutionary. It exists in all creatures, ... not just humans. When someone does you wrong, you hate them because they hurt you of course, but the evolutionary reason you hate them and want to harm them is to PREVENT MORE harm being done to you or your family again in the future.
As antagonist and protagonists go in this show, you have to turn off your brain to watch this anime. In many cases, you have no idea what goes through their minds at times. I will not post spoilers but I'll give you a story. Imagine your brother gets mutilated and skinned alive by someone in your city, then you go out for a walk with that guy knowing that he might go and mutilate more people, forevermore, and you treat him as a friend, including all the people who help him, or try to push you down to get ahead in life. I am down with Tanuki being accepting of being eaten, but I am then not down with you trying to make me feel sorry for an organism that has the defense mechanism of grass.
There is so much cognitive dissonance in this show I feel that the people who wrote this show were smoking lead fumes when they wrote the story. This truly has so much potential and yet it is an infuriatingly frustrating show. The first few episodes were fine and by the end watching more episodes was like pulling teeth. If anyone you know liked this show, just never speak to them again. They might be walking next to you as you get mugged and then they might want to go get a few beers with your mugger.

This is a story of a Tanuki who is the son of a great Tanuki. Literally, the entire season is more about his father than the main character. But let me back up a bit to explain these characters...

You have Yasaburō, the main character is a Tanuki, who'm I'll refer to as Yasa for sure.
You have Akadama, the Tengen considered a professor in this season for reasons I'm not sure of.
You have Benten, a very weird girl who is never explained.
You have Sōichirō, who is the father of the main character.
You have Soun, who is the brother of Soichiro. He's the main ... antagonist.

The rest of the characters are pointless to even mention as they have no effect on the storyline what so ever.

For some reasons I guess, the main character takes care of his professor, Akadama, who has lost his wings as a Tengen (literally) due to a reason that is supposedly partially his fault. This is never explained in detail outside of giving the accident a name (The Demonic Tree incident I think? It's mentioned exactly one time).

The story quickly goes into the character of Benten, who we quickly learn joined the Friday Fellows, captured the main characters father, and literally ate him in a pot of soup. Is she the villain? No. The anime paints her as a friend of the main character. The main character doesn't care that she literally ate his father which is frustrating in the least. As a matter of fact, he is for some reason attracted to her. Even then, this Benten character *literally* tells the main character that she will eventually eat him. And yet, he doesn't care. Okay.

Anyways, half the storyline is about a feud between the family of his father's, and the family of his uncle's (from his father's side of course). A quarter of the story is about Akadama losing his wings and him seemingly losing his sanity like an eldery person in an elderly home does (which is apparently "interesting" to other people). The other quarter is the main characters father. Notice that I didn't say the main character has any part of this story line because he doesn't. The storyline shoves in a weird tension between Benten and the main character but it doesn't develop into anything.

**SPOILERS**
The season finale is the main character and his family being captured by the Friday Fellows. They end up learning it was the working of the uncle, Soun. The end. Wait, no explanation on Ben Ten? Or the incident removing Akadama's wings? Or what happened to the Friday Fellows? Or why the main character has no remorse of his father or Benten literally eating his father? No. None of these are answered. There are no clues, there are no dotted lines to put together. I haven't read the manga (if there is one) but this is one rating train I have no intention to jump aboard.

As a matter of fact, this anime left me so wanting for an equalizer, this review is currently acting as a buffer. I feel like this really could have been a good show. But potential is not current reality. Perhaps in later seasons, they will fill in various gaps that are essential to understanding this world but as it is now, you literally don't have enough information to be able to relate to a most characters in this world. Nobody would look at someone who ate their father and not feel something. Nobody but a complete psychopath would eat someones father and not have remorse over killing the father of someone they like. Akadama is relatable but in a way that is nothing but sad, tormented by the fact that he was something great and is no longer. The father was friends with Akadama who didn't seem to give a single shit about the father's death. NONE OF IT IS RELATABLE.

I've read other reviews and some of them just straight lie. Some claim each character is explained very well and go on to say the anime helps us relate by showing their past stories. The main characters past outside of maybe sometime explaining his relationship with Akadama which is where he met Benten, is never explained. Benten's past, the most complicated character in this series, is never even touched outside of the fact that she joined the Friday Fellows and ate Yasa's father. Yasa's brother who turned into a frog is explained but it doesn't explain why other Tanuki are not stuck like he is or why he's treated like some type of folk lore. His mother's past is never explained on why she's afraid of lightning, why she dresses like a captain and plays pool. Yasa's bride-to-be is never explained. She literally saves the mother and THAT'S IT. We know the uncle cut off the marriage (who'm we later learn is the main antagonist) and the mother was upset. BIG section of important story line there just kinda jumped over. The biggest past story is the Father's. We learn why he became respected by Akadama, we learn why they were friends. What we don't learn is why Akadama is okay with him literally being murdered and eaten by some fat fucks in Friday Fellows who frankly should be powerless against both Tengu and the Tanuki. We don't learn about the Friday Fellows other than they're greedy man children who eat Tanuki for seemingly no reason.

There's just not enough information and too many gaps. It's designed as a linear story but it's all over the place.

But... at least the art and sound was well done. Later seasons might also fill in a lot of the gaps and if they do, this season could make a hell of a lot more sense. There's potential but I'm not judging based on potential here.

Coming into the summer season, Uchouten Kazoku was undoubtedly my most hyped up anime. With source material coming from a novel written by the author of the Tatami Galaxy and being directed by PA Works, who have recently been on a slump in terms of producing any semi-enjoyable show as of late, I had much reason to eagerly await its airing debut while nervously hoping that PA Works would throw its budget at something more than just its production values. What resulted after a satisfactory 13 weeks was undoubtedly the best summer season had to offer.

Story (9/10):

Shimogamo Yasaburou is the third of four sons in ... the Shimogamo family, a tanuki (raccoon dog) family that lives in a modern, fantastical depiction of Kyoto where tanuki, tengu (crows), and humans live “peacefully” amongst each other. His late father, Soun, was once the Nise-emon (which is basically the leader) of tanuki society, and after his passing, the four sons of the Shimogamo family became notorious for being “idiots that failed to inherit their magnificent father’s blood.”

The story starts off with a leisurely pacing that sees us follow Yasaburou’s life as somewhat of a carefree delinquent. A seemingly episodic format with entertaining happenings that ranges from competing in mid-festival airship battles to starting bathhouse quarrels characterize the series as unpredictable and messily composed, but fun nonetheless. This is where the magic begins. The entirety of the series, despite its episodic happenings, has an overarching storyline in the form of a quasi-mystery concerning the enigmatic disappearance and unfortunate fate of Soun. Immediately, red flags for a melodramatic mess should be raised by now; however, Uchouten Kazoku chooses the path less traveled. Although the pacing of each individual episode changes from time to time, seeming to speed up as we reach the climax, the actual structure of the narrative is both well-planned and controlled. By building a strong exposition that seems disorganized at first, the rest of the story plays out like putting the rest of the pieces into a jigsaw puzzle that explains the nonsensical events that seemed to have no reason to occur before all was said and done.

Thematically speaking, Uchouten Kazoku holds true to the ideals frequently repeated to the audience throughout the anime. Living life to its fullest with no unnecessary desires along with coming in terms with the past are just a handful of messages that are conveyed not only through the dialogue, but also through the actions of the characters too. Speaking of dialogue, when it comes to entertaining conversations, Uchouten Kazoku is filled with quality exchanges and witty retorts. Although action scenes are sprinkled throughout the story, much of the series is heavy on dialogue. Despite this, Uchouten Kazoku still finds a way to be entertaining and gripping.

Overall, the brilliance of Uchouten Kazoku’s story lies behind its execution and fantastic dialogue. Although there are no deep, philosophical questions posed or any interesting social/political debate to be argued, it’s this very simplicity that makes the experience all the more endearing.

Art (9.5/10):

The animation quality and details behind Uchouten Kazoku is something that took me by surprise as the show progressed. PA Works have often been known for their visually stunning backgrounds and fluid animation; however, with the exception of Hanasaku Iroha, the settings they have created felt very generic or empty, despite high production values. With Uchouten Kazoku, PA Works nailed nearly every fathomable criterion regarding an anime’s artistic set.

The crowning achievement of Uchouten Kazoku was its rich and detailed backgrounds that depicted a fantastical, yet grounded image of the city of Kyoto. From iconic landmarks like the stunning Kamo River to the moonlit roofs of the city’s diverse buildings, the detail behind the show’s setting was both technically sound and richly enchanting. Not only does one have desktop background-quality images scattered plentifully throughout the series, but the scenes are fluid and alive. Background characters will walk about and have distinctively different designs and the flora and fauna are just as vivid and full of personality as the characters. Character designs done by Kumeta Kouji (of Zetsubou Sensei fame) accurately reflect the personalities of the wide variety of characters the series have to offer, each carrying a distinct charm.

Overall, the visual set of Uchouten Kazoku was consistently stunning. From the lively and inviting atmosphere to the quirky yet lovable character designs, the series may perhaps be the best-looking show of this year.

Sound (9.5/10):

When it comes to Uchouten Kazoku’s OST, there seems to always be a track that compliments the scene. Being a show that blends together a generally upbeat and lighthearted mood with scattered moments of melancholy, one can imagine just how many different types of tracks the OST has to offer. In between the laid back piano/flute arrangements and the heavier string pieces are addicting electronic tunes influenced from various genres ranging from traditional shamisen to jazz. The modern flair to an otherwise traditionally influenced soundtrack brings a playful air, making the experience all the more entertaining.

Similar to Morimi Tomihiko’s other work, The Tatami Galaxy, both the opening and ending sequences somehow find a way to have a hidden “significance” of sorts. Although director Yoshihara Masayuki opted to do so in an audial manner rather than a visual one (like Yuasa Masaaki did with Tatami Galaxy), the impact was equally made. The opening song, Uchouten Jinsei, plays out as a lively piece that may sound a tad too gritty at first, but grows onto oneself after a while. The lyrics complain about a boring world, yet champion one to find the fun in it and to be happy with what one has in life. The ending, Que Sera, Sera, is a calming ballad that has its meaning behind its name. “Whatever will be, will be” conveys not only the meaning of the song itself, but of the series as a whole.

While I wouldn’t go as far as saying there were many standout performances, voice acting was solid all around, with a diverse cast of well-fit roles. The narration given by Sakurai Takahiro’s Yasaburou was a great lead voice, articulating clearly and keeping an interesting tone.

Character (9/10):

The characters in Uchouten Kazoku do what they do best – compliment the story perfectly. Of course this always comes at a cost, but when it comes to Morimi’s previous work that also utilized its characters to augment the story’s depth and entertainment value, the product was excellent. With Uchouten Kazoku, much of the same can be said with its result. Yasaburou is a fine lead whose carefree yet lively personality demonstrates the quirky nature of the series. The rest of this eccentric family each carries unique and lovable characteristics that make up an incredibly diverse and entertaining cast. From the stoic Yaichirou to their doting mother, characterization is thorough and pronounced throughout most of the show.

Outside of the immediate family, Uchouten Kazoku provides the viewer with a further extended array of memorable personalities. Standouts such as the ever-so mysterious Benten and the annoying, yet oddly funny Ebisugawa twins, Ginkaku and Kinkaku, are some more examples of a central cast that uses each character to his or her fullest extent throughout the span of the story. Speaking of utilization, as I’ve said before, it is what makes the cast so great. More often than not, shows throw together too many characters to the point where some roles feel unnecessary or simply added on without proper prior planning. In Uchouten Kazoku, each character fits more than just his or her role, but acts as an integral part of the story’s development. To put it in laymen’s terms, it’s hard to actually imagine the story being complete if any one of them didn’t exist.

Enjoyment (10/10):

As advertised, the point of Uchouten Kazoku was to have fun, and boy was there a lot of fun to be had. Despite starting off a bit slowly, failing to showcase what the series really had to offer until a few episodes into the series, the majority of the ride was highly entertaining. Even the aforementioned gaffe of not giving their all in hooking in potential viewers cannot be blamed on the staff, for the set-up episodes, albeit a bit slow-paced, were absolutely integral to the composition of the series as a whole. I admire this decision because it was a worthwhile investment that acted as a backbone to the series, and it paid dividends as the series reached its climax.

Overall:

Technically stunning, intelligently constructed, and wonderfully enjoyable, Uchouten Kazoku is a complete package that squeezes everything out of its limited scope. It takes its creative premise and skillfully crafts a highly entertaining experience that relies not on cheap conventions, but its own ambition, to keep its viewers constantly on the edge of their seats. The best anime of 2013 thus far, and one of the best in years, Uchouten Kazoku is that diamond in the coal mine that I would not hesitate to recommend to any fan of the medium.

Average score: 9.4/10
Weighted score: 9/10 (Absolutely loved it, a must-watch)

(if the rating confuses you, take a glimpse at my rating system on my profile for clarifications)

On saying goodbye, our great father split his blood into four. The eldest inherited only his sense of responsibility, the second inherited only his easy-going personality, the youngest inherited only his innocence, and me, well, and I inherited only his idiocy. What held us, diverse brothers together was the love of our mother, deeper than the seas. The farewell we bid our great father, sometimes, one heartfelt separation can unite the ones left behind.

- by Shimogamo, Yasaburou, 3rd Son of the “Great Tanuki of Kyoto”, Shimogamo, Souichirou


Uchouten Kazoku or Eccentric Family is a story about a strong family bond that is pure, heartwarming, and inspiring ... to see. Because of this show bizarre premise, it caught me off guard. I thought this show will be a goofy, comedic, and nonsensical type of show. But it’s the complete opposite. It is a serious, well-structured piece that is consistent from start to finish. It is a work deserving of praise of its own.

The show is pretty slow-paced in introducing and establishing its cast of characters. Even though the show has only had 13 episodes to work around it, It not only it manages to introduce them in a natural passion but set-up a firm foothold on how important they are in illustrating important plot point, in only a short amount of time. This is impressive script writing. For every character, we meet and every interaction they make expands the audience's understanding of the story. It gives us time to know each character properly even though they express more on action rather than words. It is a great example of showing who your characters are in anime format.

Sometimes monologues and dialogues are not much needed in describing your characters. By understanding their behavior and action is more than enough for you to care for them. The show does on occasion use internal monologues and dialogues in describing certain scenarios and characters at the start and before the ending. But they are not lazily used to spoon-feed its audience but rather confirm what the audience perceives and gains in the story. This adds value to the words the character says and presents a huge impact on the internal message the show delivers. There is a built-up when the characters actually say something important. I can even tell how the Shimogamo Brothers loved and cared for one another despite their difference by seeing how they interact and communicate with each other, how they love their mother so much by obediently following her ridiculous request that is against their own will, and how they look up adore and respected their deceased father by humbly admitting they are a bunch useless tanukis in a melodramatic manner in comparison. There is a bunch of good examples of the subtle portrayal of character personality in this show that I deeply respected and appreciated.

It has a good transition when it comes to emotional drama and character resolves that make sense. It also gives way to a steady progression of the story, a well-executed and refined melodrama is always a bonus in layering your characters, and it certainly gave an impact for me on serious moments. The OST and visual presentation of the show help immensely in setting up the mood. It is well crafted and brilliantly timed to the point I shed some tears watching this show. If a show made me care about a bunch of fictional fur balls that aren’t even human, to begin with, this show is amazing.

Another thing that made this series great is that is has a good production value for a TV series. It has fluent animation, detailed scenery background, and precise audio design. The technical aspect of this TV series is comparable to a high-quality motion film. It felt like I am “Watching Spirited Away” or “Pom Poko” in a series format. The animation is dynamic and exciting. The setting is unique and has a special identity of its own. There is love in creating this background design and remain consistent throughout the series. If you pay attention close attention to the audio effects of the show you can hear some subtle sound. A good example is you actually hear a sound when a person touches a rock, yeah that’s some detailed sound design. Uchouten Kazoku has creative OST that is good on many occasions, not only it excels drama and melodramatic moments but also in silly moments. I also forgot to mention despite the bizarre premise, Uchouten Kazoku is plausible for being a slice of life show. It combines both visual and fined tuned music in creating a soothing atmosphere. This show is relaxing to watch.


{Miscellaneous Thought} (This is where I insert minor spoilers)

Characters have a deep respect for the elderly and adults. This is clearly shown on how they behave in front of an elderly Tengu's even though they are an objectively obnoxious and grumpy old man, They still treat them with respect and vigor. A good reflection of Japanese culture. This anime promotes being nice to your elders and loving your tsundere grandpa's which I think is a great message.

The show is creative when it comes to character encounters. Ever experience your big brother that transforms into a giant tiger that will bite out the asses of your annoying bullies? Or have you experience a family feud with your relatives instead of bad-mouthing, they shoot each other with fireworks in the sky? Do you have an older that is so useless he becomes a frog under a well? This show kind of does these ridiculous ideas and it is hilariously funny.

And these makeup with my other point what I see the show did excellently, it has intelligently made comedy. It can be explosive, relatable, and sometimes give some simple giggles on mundane things. It took advantage of the mere fact that our characters are shape-shifting tanukis in formulating these clever jokes. It experimented with some awkward but funny moments that are clearly unexpected. The comedy and drama have a decent amount of spaces between each other so you won’t be expiring sudden mood swings in the show. It gives you time to access the situation without being rush in the narrative. You can easily tell whether the scenario is serious or easy going. It's lovely.

Even the short stories the adult tell are fun and exciting to hear. It inflates the basic lore and facts behind the setting kind. It also a simple way to know the character that doesn’t have the chance to have a spotlight by hearing out their own historical story. This is another clever technique in showcasing character flashback and background story while at the same time younger character learns from it and be influenced in the process. It shows how great characters are during their prime. It established your character in a short amount of time. It makes a respectable approach to decease characters. Characters are best remembered on things they did and done while they are still alive. They should not be remembered by the way they died. I think this show did a really good job how to respect and love the decease.

I think ED "Qué Será, Será by fhána is one the wonderful addition of this show. It is not only a beautiful song by itself but it also functions as a small intro story about Benten Life. I get excitedly happy and depress every time I listen to this song. It tells an interesting story to remember.

The only few complaints that I might have of this story is maybe the Ebisugawa brothers. Well, their primary purpose is to annoy and serve as comic relief in most parts of the story. They really inherited their father's nasty trait of being deceitful little Tanuki’s. Another is some characters remain mysterious and not utilize enough in my opinion. An example Benten peculiar motives even though the show did this some justifiable foreshadowing of her action but I still see some lack of exposition but I wish it will all be answered in the 2nd season. It is also the same with Kaisei, which has a decent amount of foreshadowing in earlier episodes. Though Kaisei indeed represents a bigger role in the story and had a special debut in the grand scheme of things, It feels sort of lacking. She can be better flesh out, being indifferent from her father and brothers is not enough of a character built. We need to know more about her and the same goes for the ending of the story. Did it leave as some bewildering question? What is the Friday Fellow Agenda? Why is stewing tanuki a sacred tradition? Who they are? Why they are so mysterious and what makes Benten wanted to join them? Is financial and political gain the reason? What happens to Ebisugawa, Soun? After the exploit? So many more questions made right after the ending of the last episode. I wish all be answered in the second season. The story doesn't feel closed conclusion.


{Final Thoughts}

Uchouten Kazoku is one of those few anime that I have some unexpectedly great experience with. It promotes love and passion, respect of your own identity, acceptance of whatever you are, and enjoying the small things in life. It defines the meaning of family and how important in one's life. How critical our parents and the elderly in shaping our life. I know this sort of idea and concept is not cool or badass and sometimes embarrassing to talk about. But at the end of the day family matters the most. Society might think you are useless and garbage, most of the time, But a family can accept who you are and what you are. It doesn’t matter if you are Human, Tengu, or a Tanuki. What matters is that you have a life that you can share the fun with the people who care and love you. The message of the show is great and solid. I wish I can see more of this anime in the future. Creative, educational, inspiring, and self-revitalizing. Sometimes when I forget what I wanted in life and lose track of it. I always wish and pray, just a little glory for my family and friends. It is more than enough for me to be satisfied in life.

Because What’s Fun is Good! A Family is by itself is Fun and Exciting! Uchouten Kazoku is Good!

I am sorry, I really wanted to like this one. Why does a unique show with a beautiful aesthetic, great music, and some really good ideas, have to be brought down by a seriously uncomfortable romance and a story that fails to deliver?

The Eccentric Family follows the story of a family of tanukis, on a mission to uncover the secret of the father's death at the hands of humans. Now I will say that the one aspect I liked about the cast of characters is that the tanuki family felt very tight knit, like a true family. They are, well, weird, but that doesn't change ... their love for each other. In that aspect, the show did something right.

Also, giving credit where it's due, it really isn't like anything else. and the visuals, as I mentioned, are beautiful. The scenery always looks vibrant and inhabited, the animation is well executed, and the action sequences felt impactful. The music fit the moods and were very well orchestrated.

Now, the show runs into it's major issue when a bland and downright unhealthy "romance" is brought into play. Benten was a downright frustrating character, and every moment she was on screen detracted from my enjoyment. She gets everything her way, she forces herself on the main character, she proudly kills tanukis constantly, and yet the narrative doesn't frame her as a bad person at all. Yasaburo acts like such a doormat that he actually was ok with her, someone who kills tanukis and would love to do the same to him. I even felt that at some moments, the show sexualized this aspect of her personality, which was even worse. She gets no sort of consequences for anything she does, and we are supposed to accept it because "that's the way the world is".

Well, it would have been a much more interesting story if Benten actually challenged how she treated tanukis after meeting Yasaburo, but season 1 doesn't appear to have that at all, and the story delivered here did NOT make me want to watch on. Or better yet, not have a romance subplot at all! Romance doesn't need to be in absolutely every story, and The Eccentric Family's failed attempts at making me want to ship a mass murderer of tanukis with a tanuki is a prime example of a story that didn't need a romance. Even if they had taken the gloves off and made her a full villain instead of someone who constantly does bad things and yet is somehow sympathized with way too much by everyone else, the story would have been better.

So in short, when I watch this show, I get disappointed by what could have been. Maybe if you can handle the badly-written romantic subplot, you'll get more enjoyment out of it than I ever could.

the show has a great sound and the animations are amazing. I would say that is a reason to watch. But there is one problem: it is boring. I could not really get attached to the characters at all and it seemed the series did not go anywhere. There is a lot of phylosophy and you will see a lot o weird quotes about the nature of life. Problem is I wanted to enjoy this series and I did not find anything compelling me to finish it besides my desire to see where everything is going. The answer is nowhere. As many other recent anime ... is just an intro to the manga and nothing more. The only thing that is interesting is the apparent love triangle of Yasaburou Shimogamo with Ben Ten and Kasei but this does not get any closer to resolution by the end of the series. Also the only characters that are not paper thin (Ben Ten and Kasei) are never explained at all. My advice is this: read the manga and if you like it then watch the anime. As I said it is just an introduction to the manga and is not very convincing. I cannot say I did not enjoy it but it is far from a masterpiece.

Eccentric family follows Yasaburou the third son of his family who also happen to be tanuki. They live in Kyoto where tanukis, tengus, and humans live side by side of each other. While the tanuki and tengu are aware of each other, the humans are oblivious of their existence. Yasaburou spends most of his days not doing much other than lazing around or taking care of an old tengu. While this is the story, the plot of the show is Yasaburous older brother being elected as leader of the tanuki, and yasaburou having to deal with a women named Benten and the Friday fellows who ... eat tanuki once a year and were also responsible for his father's death,Souichirou. The show places emphasis on the mystery of souichirous death, but not on the who since it was already obvious but more on the the how and the why.
The buildup of the show was pretty good with several amazing moments in them, but it’s the whole payoff of the show that is disappointing. The whole mystery of Souichious death was better than what was actually revealed, and even the way it was revealed wasn’t the best way to be delivered. The entire execution of the election after the reveal of the mystery was very poor as well. Since the entire family is put into great peril after the truth is revealed, but by the end they are saved in the most predictable manner possible. It’s also odd that in this world where humans are oblivious to to tanukis and tengus there are a lot of supernatural stuff that happens in front of many of them. Anyway in the end the show was decent when there wasn’t much going on, but it became unsatisfying when they had to place the plot on the forefront.

The main character or characters of the the story are Yasaburou and and the rest of his family of the Shimogamo household. Yasasburou himself is a rather carefree person who takes care of an old tengu mostly due to how fascinated he was about tengu at a young age. He is also caring about his family and tries to rescue them whenever they are in trouble. Yasaburou also has three brothers with the oldest, Yaichirou being the most responsible of the 4 and is also trying to be the leader of the tanuki. The second oldest is the Yajirou who is a frog who lives in a well because he forgot how to turn back into a tanuki, and probably anything else. Finally the youngest is Yashirou with not much else other than being young and innocent in nature. They all live with their mother who was probably the most fascinating of all the characters due to her more eccentric nature when she’s in her prince persona and also because of her mother nature. There’s more family than them since their father's brother, Souun split off to create his own family household, and they are their main rivals with Souun and Yaichirou competing to be the leader of the tanukis as well as other problems.
Other characters outside of the family is Akadama, an old tengu who is unable to fly anymore due to a certain incident. He also kidnapped a girl who now goes by Benten when she was just a teenager mostly because he was infatuated with her, to the point that he even taught her how to fly. Akadama himself is a rather stubborn and arrogant person who doesn’t really do much unless Benten is around. Benten herself is kind of an enigma throughout the show. She is first shown as a decent enough person, but since the anime has a timeskip during the first episode her personality changes to seem more manipulative. They show more about her later on, but they never really explore more into that. Finally are the friday fellows with the only member properly introduced being Choutarou mostly due to the fact that he had some involvement with their family in the past. All the character were just fine a they are even though only maybe one or two of them were actually intriguing.

The art for the show was just fine. They are simple character designs, but very stylized allowing for the personality to be shown through appearance alone. Although i did find their ears very distracting. The anime is also very colorful as well, not the most colorful thing i seen, but enough to fulfil its purpose for the show. Background art looks pretty decent as well although not much really stands out from that. The animation is pretty good, but not really anything breathtaking or anything worth notable that stood out from the rest of the show.

The soundtracks for the show was just fine. There were a few good tracks in the show. However a few of them didn’t really work well with the scene that they were playing with which didn’t really enhance the scene only that there was cool music playing in the background and nothing else. It’s still has good soundtracks but nothing really amazing or great. The voice acting was decent as well although there were times when i felt that there wasn’t much emotion put onto some of the characters during some scenes.

the show was an ok watch there really wasn’t much that stagnated or felt like a drag while watching even when there wasn’t much going on. However it wasn’t the most compelling or gripping show that made me want to watch more.

Overall it’s an ok show which tries to be different, but ends up not really doing much. As i’m writing this there is already a second season already out, and i pretty much watch this to see what people liked so much about it. Hopefully season 2 will be much better and answer questions i had with the first season

Story:

You are put into the amazing world of Kyoto where humans live in the city, while Tanuki roam the earth and Tengu, the sky. You follow the adventures of a young tanuki (raccoon) Yasaburou Shimogamo and his family. I wont tell you much about him or his family not to ruin your fun. The important thing is that humans eat tanuki, every year a group named "Friday Fellows" eats a tanuki pot, so roaming through the city is dangerous for the tanuki. They have a society and have a ruler. I wont tell more about the story, but I was really amazed with ... the details put into it and the way it was all described. Most animes give you enough information to keep you interested in the back stories of the characters and their lives, but this anime has gotten me really interested in everyone's back story. The tanuki can change their form to almost any object as long as they are focused enough.

Art:
I was amazed by the sound and the drawings by the artists who worked on this anime. I consider this to be worth watching only for the amazing skills displayed by the staff. 10s for both sound and art.

Characters:
The characters are well designed and evolve during the series. The story mostly follows Yasaburou who is always calm and rather unfocused on anything. He is the middle child and has 3 more brothers, one younger than him. To not reveal to many spoilers I can just say that I was amazed by all of their development and their characteristics. From the oldest to the youngest you can see a lot of different approaches on dealing with their fathers death.


My Thoughts:
I loved this anime but I was rather disappointed when it ended, as there is no Season 2. The story is simply amazing and I didnt realize this until the 3rd episode when I started to get into it. With their fathers death , the brothers tried to go on with life their own way, what I thought kept them going wasn't the motivation to follow in their fathers footsteps( watch the series to find out what and who their father was) but rather the love for their family/each other.
If you have any questions or want more from me on this just pm me :) I wont put spoilers here but I can send some more detailed info to you.
Thanks for reading.

Anime rating: 9-Amazing

Uchouten Kazoku is a bizarre show. In fact, as you watch the show, you realize that the shape shifting Tanuki (originating from Japanese folklore) is the least bizarre aspect of the show. However, note that I’m using the word ‘bizarre’ as a compliment. In fact, the bizarreness is the true allure of the show.

Adapted from a novel by Tomihiko Morimi’s (the guy who blessed us with The Tatami Galaxy), the foundations of the unconventional plot is laid by the setting itself. Humans, tanuki and tengu all residing in the bustling city of Kyoto is a pretty intriguing setting, not least the tanuki being the main ... protagonists.

What this show excels at, is assimilating the supernatural aspect into the everyday life of the city residents. In doing so, it also imparts hints of allusion to the real world. For example, the fact that the humans are at the top of the food chain even though both the tengu and the tanuki (with their shape-shifting ability) are seemingly more powerful than them or the fact that they are oblivious to the antics of the other two groups. At first glance, these may look like plot holes but if we shift the context for these facts to our world, they make sense. Because, seriously, do we humans (especially in the city) generally keep track of what the stray animals are up to? No, we have better things to do. Maybe, the writer wanted to avoid turning this into a complete fantasy world (something akin to the alternate world in No Game No Life with 3 races instead of the 12 there). So, at most they could be considered as plot convenience although I strongly believe that the world that these facts help create, makes the show much better.

So, yes it doesn’t explain some supernatural aspects such as a human girl learning to fly like a tengu, but truth be told it doesn’t need to. Unlike shows that require you to turn off your brain to enjoy, here these nitpicks don’t really have any negative impact on your enjoyment as they are easily acceptable and also seem to be intentionally left out for the sake of conciseness and getting its message across.

And it does so with aplomb.

One of the two main messages has to do with the institution that we call family. The Shimogamo family is the eccentric tanuki family. The plot of the show revolves around them with the main focus being on the third of four brothers, Yasaburou. The first 4-5 episodes are sort of like a slice-of-life with Yasaburou at the center and serves to introduce the viewers to the world and the characters. There is a chance that the show may fail to hold the attention/interest of the viewer in these episodes because they are odd (or really interesting whichever way you look at it. Riding whales and mid-air firework battles easily qualify as such) and the plot may seem to be not going anywhere. So, one could lose interest and then make the mistake of dropping the show. That would be a mistake because the show really makes good use of the build-up and levels up in the subsequent episodes.

The latter parts of the first half and the whole of the second half shifts its attention to three key plot points: the death of the head of the Shimogamo family and all the tanuki of Kyoto, Souichirou, the animosity between the Shimogamo and the Ebisugawa family and last but not least the annual tanuki eating tradition of a group of humans called the “Friday Fellows”. Of course, all this has already been foreshadowed in the episodes gone by and thus the show lets go of the slice-of-life vibes and goes into a thrilling drama mode incorporating all three points into a coherent singular plot.

It uses flashbacks to good effect so much so that even lengthy flashbacks don’t feel like a drag and are just as exciting. The drama is done really well, all the while retaining the overall light feel of the show. This brings us to an important point: this show is laid-back. However, the catch is that it deals with a serious issue of death.

As such, the viewer may feel slightly uneasy about how easily the tanuki accept the inevitability of death and don’t seem to hold a grudge-filled detestation towards the ones who in a sense murdered their close ones. In fact, I felt so too. But it vanished when I realized that it was the tanuki way of living: “Live an interesting life such that when death comes, as it surely will, you can accept it and move on without any regrets”. And so, the way they view their kin being murdered is actually a mixture of the way we view murder and the way we view a natural death, inclined more towards the latter. Well, at least that is my interpretation.

The comedy is also a bit different from the norm. Here, most of the comedy is presented through unusual spectacles such as a tengu refusing to give up his bottle of beer, a tanuki warming up his butt, etc. And being a show about family bonds and such, it doesn’t fail to pull on the emotional strings of your heart.

The cast is also wonderfully full of characters who feel weird and real at the same time. The Shimogamo family consists of the deceased godly Shimogamo Souichirou, the caring and lively mother and the four extremely likeable brothers each with their own special ‘trait’. Although they have their own way of going about their lives, the love they have for each other and the bond they share is easily palpable and admirable. Yasaburo as the main lead does a great job in carrying the show forward. You feel him staying true to his belief of just trying to live an interesting life.

The rest of the cast are even more varied and interesting. From a whining old tengu to the enigmatic Benten to the equally eccentric Ebisugawa family, the show offers a host of characters who you may love or hate but will surely find amusing. Even the one normal human who gets a fair amount of spotlight, Prof. Yodogawa, has weird tastes (figuratively and literally) and beliefs.

And as with any good show, the interactions between the characters is really well executed including the dialogue of course.

As for the art and animation, kudos to P.A work for a job well done. The backgrounds are a real treat to the eyes with a large variety of colors in use all of which fit perfectly to create the light-and-serious-at-the-same-time atmosphere of the show. Set in the city of Kyoto – people who have been there or live there might feel close to home, perhaps literally- some of the backgrounds seem to be based on real photographs. That must have been tedious work incorporating those sceneries. The animation is also fantastic and it had to be, for all those amazing shape-shifting sequences and wacky action scenes.

The character designs were admittedly a bit unusual: they seem to be very close to the norm of the industry but are actually far from it. The side views with the extra pointy facial structure and the minimalist ears were more of a miss than a hit for me. But overall, the simplistic designs managed to capture the essence of the characters they represented very well.

The audio department also contributed well to the unique ambience. The BGM, in my opinion, works very well in unison with the visuals to impart a very ghibli feel to the show. Case in point: the clock tower surrounded by water part near the end of episode 3. The opening couldn’t be any more perfect for the show with its peppy and vibrant nature and the ending is also very good. Most of the voice actors have done a great job especially in channeling the nature of their respective characters. You can really feel the dejected spirit of the frog in the well in his voice while you are equally perplexed as the other characters when Benten says something as you can only wonder what she truly means. That sort of compatibility between character and their voice is deserving of praise.

It seems that I’ve pointed out quite a number of ‘flaws’ of the show or at least that which may be interpreted by some as flaws. However, my intention was just to show that they are not really significant and so, believe me when I say that this show truly deserves to be watched and enjoyed. It stays true to the second message that it attempts to deliver: “You don’t need to live a grand life full of lofty ambitions, just lead an interesting life. That is enough”.

And so, without setting any lofty ambitions for itself, the show perfectly accomplishes what it set out to do which was just to be interesting.

At the end of it all, one cannot help but be fond of this way of life; the Tanuki way of life. Well, at least I am. But perhaps, that is just the manifestation of my idiot’s blood.

Adapted from greatly talented author Tomihiko Morimi's novels with the same names, comes this show which tells a story of Japanese raccoon dogs rather known as "Tanukis". Tanukis have been significant in Japanese folklore since ancient times. The legendary tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absentminded.
The author having all of the above traits of this animal in mind wrote a peculiar and entertaining tale that is sometimes heartwarming and fuzzy, or sometimes is supreme and anarchic. The story surrounds a family of tanuki, the Shimogamo family. They have the ability to transform into ... anything they wish, from humans to any animate/inanimate object. The family must balance between living carelessly, maintaining relationships among other tanuki families, and not getting put into a hot pot and get eaten by humans.
The characterization of the characters, their uniqueness, the wacky and deep dialogues just show the strong pen power of the author.

2013's summer season was highly dominated by some big name series with vast popularity, so much so that more than a few series slipped under the radar. Uchouten Kazoku is one of those series, which I think is a real shame for everyone, since I truly believe that this was the anime of the season and not to be missed.

This anime is, in many ways, a truly unique experience. I honestly can't say that I've ever seen anything even vaguely like it, and that it in itself was a breath of fresh air. From start to finish, there's a definite sense of originality that strives ... to remind you that this isn't just another anime popped out from a genre mould. In fact, I'd struggle to even categorise this into MAL's genres of my own accord. As a result, I very much didn't know what to expect when I opened the first episode a couple of months ago and, in truth, the first episode caught me off-guard. When questioned about it, my initial reaction was "odd... but I enjoyed it". This feeling only managed to increase tenfold.

Our story begins with, and centres around, our protagonist, Yasaburo Shimagamo, and his "eccentric family" (as the title reads in English). The first immediately unique thing that comes to eye is the fact that this family, despite first appearances, is not made up of humans at all. They are tanuki, a subspecies of raccoon dog. They are portrayed here as magical supernatural creatures that can transform not only between raccoon dog and human forms, but also into an assortment of other beings and even inanimate objects of varying scales. In fact, our protagonist starts out this series shifted into a female form!

This is hardly something new in our anime's setting, though. Here we are thrust into modern day Kyoto, where tanuki and tengu (a Japanese supernatural creature sometimes revered as a god, demon or harbinger of war) roam openly. The humans there accept this as everyday life, seemingly unbothered by the odd goings-on around them. Despite this supernatural theme however, the setting's main plus is that it does a wonderful job of immersing you fully into Japanese culture. Even without explicitly turning around and telling you how Japan's society is, you almost feel as if you're actually there, even if your knowledge of Japan isn't the best.

The main reason this setting comes to life so easily is the beautiful precision with which this anime is made. A unique art style with astoundingly beautiful backgrounds really bring Kyoto to life in a brand new colourful way, with the sounds of the city and an astounding score really plumping things out. Everything seems exciting and new, even in the slower scenes, with every neatly drawn yukata and floating cherry blossom petal managing to catch your eye. The transitions from the colourful fast paced opening (which is matched with an incredibly catchy OP song) to the much gentler ED (which is paired with some very beautiful still art pieces) has the intense feeling of taking a journey with the characters, even if all you did in reality was watch 20 minutes of truly wonderful anime.

However, despite all these aspects, this anime would truly be nothing without its characters. Like all slice of life, Uchouten Kazoku relies on them to drive itself forward. Their main selling point is that not one of them is an archetype. The entire city of Kyoto is filled with three dimensional people with enticing personalities and conflicting goals. There's not much of a sense of right or wrong within them either, much like the real world, but more a sense of which point of view the anime is taking. From Yasaburo the fool, to Yaichiro the responsible older brother, to Benten the mysterious lilac-haired tengu's apprentice, there's a whole cast of people to fall in love with. Even those portrayed in a negative light aren't characters you find yourself disliking because they're badly written - in fact, it's because they're so well written that you find yourself feeling that you should dislike them at all.

Everything about this anime just feels right. I wish it had never ended, because it was truly the highlight of my week for its short one cour run. A good message, great characters, and an incredibly engaging storyline were fully implemented to realise their true potential here, resulting in an anime I'd recommend to absolutely everyone I've ever met. No matter what type of anime you prefer, I'm sure you'll find something special in Uchouten Kazoku - an anime that's never been more deserving of the "masterpiece" label that MAL attributes to the 10/10 rating.

Good coming of age stories are hard to come by in any of today's traditional mediums. However the Eccentric family deserves full praise for weaving together a touching story about the growth of an entire family.

Let's start with the story. The eccentric family starts off pretty mild in terms of the narrative, giving the view bits and pieces of a larger overarching plot for the first few episodes as we get to know the characters. It takes place in a fictional version of Japan where 3 species; tanooki, human and tengu all live together (although its implied that the humans do not know about ... the other two). Tanooki have the ability to morph into any form they can imagine while Tengu control the wind and can fly. There is a rather peculiar hierarchy in the world with the Tanooki being low man on the totem pole and are generally looked down upon by other humans and referred to as "stupid" by Tengu characters. This all lends itself to a sort of oppressed vibe when other characters besides Tanooki are involved. At its heart however the show has a relatively sad story, and without wanting to spoil much, will leave you thinking about how much time and love you give to those close to you. The story is tight and well written and doesn't leave many loose ends but lets the viewer think about what's to come for certain characters after its over. While the story is very good its the atmosphere that makes the series what it is.

The atmosphere during certain episodes is really where this series shines the most . Whether is be on the rooftop at night after a rather stressful party or having a 4th of July esque fireworks viewing with family this show has some very special moments that completely capture what its like to be in that situation. It really makes you feel like you're right there with the characters breathing in the night air. These parts of the show are the sole reason it ascends above very good into the realm of great in my eyes.

Moving on to art style and sound though the quality takes a bit of a dip. Sound during the episodes is fine and gets the job done while the opening and ending themes are rather good. However the art could do with some polish. All the characters are pretty minimalist in terms of detail and suffer from weird clothing lines at certain points. It's not all bad, the color palate is quite rich and its clear the animators had a style they were trying to emulate. All in all the art might not be anything to write home about but it gets the job done.

Finally moving on to characters we have another high point for this show. most of the characters in the show are very well written and have different dynamics when interacting with one another. Very few suffer from cliche's and there are no characters that are frustrating to see come back on screen. Our main character is part of a family consisting of 4 brothers, one being a frog (it makes sense in context), a mother and a recently deceased father. This family is where the bulk of the good character development comes from.

With the 4 brothers we have some really great dynamics going on and you can sense a very real family like connection. You have the oldest, stern but kind and reliable brother desperately trying to be the head of the house after the tragic passing of his father. The 2nd eldest who was so torn up over his fathers death that he decides to become a frog at the bottom of a well and forget all his problems. The 3rd child and our main character who wants nothing more than to live an interesting life. And the youngest who is significantly younger than his brothers but is doing his best to be a helpful part of the family. The interactions between these 4 are top notch, and being part of a similar household myself I can attest that they act like real brothers in that situation would.

There are plenty of other very memorable characters and they all get full marks but it would take an awful lot of time to talk about all of them. Suffice it to say that there really is someone that everyone can relate to.

In conclusion, The Eccentric Family gets a shining 10/10 from me despite lacking in certain areas. For me I thought that there was so much to be gained from growing with this family and being with the characters in certain moments that it more than outweighs the negatives like the art and lack of a huge plot. This is a show everyone needs to watch, I'd recommend it to anyone over 13 who's willing to take on the more mature side of family life, all the way up to people in their 20's who need to do a bit of soul searching. Watch this, its worth your time.

I pick this series up as I saw there is going to be a second season coming in the spring 2017 season and BOY!!! I GLAD THAT I PICK IT UP!!!!

Story: The story is mainly the struggle on how the characters trying to get over the father's (Don't worry their Tanuki) death as he has been cook in a stew. We mostly follow the third son, Yasaburou but I'm glad that we get to see all of the boys struggle. From the shy youngest son, Yashirou to the oldest son, Yaichirou trying to be the leader of the Shimogamo clan and that's basically it. From ... the tengu that fly high in the sky to the Tanuki just shape shifting to anything and the human just living a normal and peaceful life. The story didn't felt bored as the other characters have a certain charm in them from making the show felt flat. (I will talk more on those in characters section).

Art and animation: This anime is done P.A. work which is famous for angel beats, Another, Nagi no Asakura and Shirobako and you can see there is that P.A. charm in it from the characters design to the background having a certain spark in it to be a P.A. work. Animation-wise is ok, there's not a lot of stand out part in the show in term of animation if I have to think back is probably the sakura movement in the show where Benten was flying through the air.

Characters: I just add Yasaburou in my favorite characters list. Like I say in story every characters in the show has a certain charm in it. He is care-free person that always look after his family if there's any trouble but there is little charm of naughtiness in him that make him stands out for the typical nice guy. Then the oldest son, Yaichirou have the most struggle out of the rest of the characters. From taking care of his 3 younger brother to him about to be the leader of the Shimogamo family. Now Yajirou, at the start of the show I though he will be the most useless character in the show as he is a frog in a well. However in episode 6, we get the story that it was him that their father was cook in a stew. Although that's not the case he still felt guilty for his action and at the very end help the Yasaburou and his brothers save their mother and is now welcome back to the family with an open arms. Yashirou start out a crybaby and at the end is still a crybaby but this crybaby try to be tough when the brothers need his help. The mother does her job to raise the 4 boys to where they are today. Honest, brave and intelligent with a hint of naughtiness in it too. From her cross dress as a guy to the fact she is helpless when there is a thunder storm.
Now for Ebisugawa family, Ginkaku and Kinkaku. Like Yasaburou they have the same charm as him a nice guy but have a little charm to be naughty at some time (By that I meant a lot of time). Kaisei, Is the driving force on how the Ebisugawa family develop into a great family and setter the score between the Shimogamo family and the Ebisugawa family. The worst character in the anime and you could call him the enemy of the show Souun. Yea he can die in a pot of stew like I care about him but yet in the show they somehow make him interesting as the motive for killing his brother and Yaichirou is so that he can have their half of the city... Yea sound twisted but interesting as to why he needs so much land?? Yodogawa Choutarou, the one that want to help the Shimogamo parents. The mother is psychically injured and treat her before sending out of the forest. While for the father he actually have a talk with him before cooking him asking him "Are you ok with it?? I mean you have a family to look after??". Lastly, Akadama sensei, that old man should do shit more by himself. Like seriously, take care of yourself please!!!! I mean he can't take a bath without the Tanuki dragging him to the bath house but never the less, he is another intersting character I mean a Tangu that is a lazy pants that can't take care of himself but yet talks down to the tanuki by saying they are useless.

WOW THEY ARE A LOT OF INTERESTING, QUIRKY AND FUN CHARACTERS. I MEAN THIS SHOW COULD HAVE WON THE MOST ORIGINAL CHARACTERISTIC.
(and no I'm not being sarcastic)

Music: There is only one word to describe the opening. FUN!! The visual in this anime has a cut out picture of all the characters and how fun the song is. It really make me want to get up and dance with it's up instrumental and amazing lyrics. The ending is a typical peaceful ending. After what the characters done and all the quirky characters the show have. An ending like that is needed. The OST help in term of amplified the emotional scene in the show. From the Yajirou confess the truth to Yaichirou cry in one of the episode make it felt just heartwarming to learn that it is his brother that set to their father death really gets to you.

Enjoyment: This show can be true classics if it get more attention from the anime community. Yes, a classic to the original and fun characters to the emotional level you felt in the characters. Is an anime that is a must watch from me. Love it when during the beak scene we get to see a map of part of Kyoto and to see where is Yasaburou and his brothers at. Also, there is a lot of Japanese culture in the series but do not let something like this ruin the series. From the name of the characters to building that you can find it in Kyoto.

Recommendation: I did say this series can be a true classic if it get more attention. So it is an obvious recommendation of a watch it and while you at it go watch season 2 (when it air) too as it is going to be fabulous.

Other recommendation include udon no kuni no kiniro kemari as it does focus on the Tanuki aspect in the show but less on the Japanese culture of things and next is blind recommendation as I have not seen it yet. Natsume yuujinchou.

I have to say, I did not expect this anime to be so fantastic. It's one of those that just pulls you in. It's an anime where you fall in love with the characters, find yourself screaming at the screening, "D'aww"-ing at some points, and outright relieved at others. This was my favorite anime of the summer, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The fact that it had to end felt bittersweet. You're happy it's over, because all good things have to end, but you're sad because you know that the feelings you had towards the characters and ... the show will never be replicated.

I would recommend that, if you read any of these reviews, you give the show a chance. You won't be disappointed at all.

OVERALL: 7
In short, simply put, Uchouten Kazoku has a beautiful world setting, art style and well established characters. And these aspects I like alot, however, it is such a shame that overall these elements when tied with the plot it presented, never really drive to a satisfying end or resolution as beautiful as it's small moments are. I really really want to love Uchouten Kazoku, because I love it's characters, but it does not refine itself equally overall.

STORY: 6
When you take an overall glimpse of the plot, it's pretty shallow and petty. But the shows does a great thing of overlaying that with ... some great dialogues that explore zen perspectives of life, death, acceptance of roles, family, and identity. But those moments are so well crafted compared to this basic overall plot that's just so startlingly lackluster. Initially even that is very confusing to those not familiar with zen concepts that are a prevalent part of Japanese culture, and it doesn't help that the third dimension of tanuki, human and tengu society is another layer added on top of that. And quite frankly if they even wanted that aspect to succeed, then they need to seriously devote some more time into the motivations and circumstances of these antogonists in the same manner they did for each of the family. But if anything, I think this would have really succeeded had it decided not to even have the drama of being part of the tanuki pot or whatever and simply devoted itself to these conversations of self struggle/self contained perspectives.

ART: 9
Character designs are unique but some traits are a little startling. But the gorgeous backdrops of Kyoto and framed views make everything. Transitions in transformations and movement are also quite fluid.

SOUND: 10
The soundtrack is probably one of the most noticeable ones I've heard. Although the music uses more non-instrumental sounds, it suits very well to the variety of emotional scenes and captures the tone of the setting beautifully.

CHARACTER: 8
Very good overall. All characters are very interesting and for the most part have devoted episodes to explore their thoughts and motivations. I loved them all, even the antagonists. However this is such as shame because more perspectives were really necessary to (if you want to call it 'justify') explore these roles because what Uchouten seems to wants to do is present this gray area of acceptance instead of white and black, evil and good moralities. And for these antagonists it is a travesty that they were not given the same explorations as our family was even, therefore making no sense as to why they did such 'evil' things.

ENJOYMENT: 7
Uchouten sits at a gray area with me where although it does very well in most of the everything, the fact that it had these beautifully brilliant moments and did not translate that same treatment before the end is so disheartening.

"I guess its just a reflection of my idiot blood." The one sentence that will ring through your ears for a long time to come. But even then when idiots gather, it's near impossible to stop the on coming train wreck that will follow in their wake.

Uchouten Kazoku has a much deeper meaning to it that it looks. It's almost like a wise mans words about a feud of gods, writen in a slice of life type story of a modern style society. While its a little confusing at the start, it quickly gets interesting a base sense of the anime is quickly established which ... peaks a little curiosity as to how things fan out. As it progresses, more little things are brought to light that add slightly to the story but make a big difference when its all tied together later on.

Art style is quite exuberant in any scene that is lit by indoor lights or everyday sun where as night scenes bring about that sense of emotional calmness which is fully utilized when the pulling emotional strings of the viewers. Otherwise its quite basic with its colors in both its animated objects and its scenery as most of it are cell shaded backgrounds. Again during daylight parts, its very bright. But during night, it suits and blends with the characters very well.

Sound is for the most part well used in terms of effects and object noises. Music, seems to be much less used throughout but when it is used, it is done to its full effect to grasp the full extent of the scene at hand. Cliffhangers are annoying enough when you're into a show but when they add background music that gets your blood pumping, it really fuels the fire making you want to see what they do in the next episode.

Characters. In short they are all played out well in the end. At first some of them are confusing and you don't understand their reasoning for being such a personality, but as all the little things of the story tie together, their character, complete with life wrecking flaws are fully revealed, most times creating an emotional scene. As for back-stories, it wouldn't have hurt if some of the "villains" of the anime had a bit more of a story behind them, told as opposed to only being shown the main family and characters key to a foreshadow of story progression.

Enjoyment bar was quickly raised high as the setting of the anime was set and things got rolling smoothly. Very rarely did it drop but many many times it continued to rise and more and more was revealed. Humor had a few great points, even in the midst of all the drama. The occasional metaphorical pun and otherwise being a sheer smart ass, certainly makes up for its rather low ball in the amount of humor out it. Even so this anime still would have been great even if it had no humor at all.