House of Five Leaves

Not a lot of action but makes it up in art and a good plot. Indeed a grand anime.

Unique artstyle, slice of life in samurai era. There's very little fighting but the storyline is so well done. It's like the opposite of watching an episode of bleach where very little content is presented. After watching 2 episodes I came back thinking I was on 4-5th episode because there's so much going on.

This is a mysterious character study of a show, focusing on the members of the kidnapping gang called "The House of Five Leaves", and giving the viewer some (but not all) of the information on the group's founding and purpose. It is carefully interspersed with flashbacks, and focuses around yowaki-hero Masa, whose social anxiety and meek personality bely extreme strength of character and capability with his sword. Yaichi, the gang leader is ephemeral and incomprehensible, challenging Masa and luring him into the dishonorable world of yakuza. The bar owner, theif, and prostitute that make up the other three 'leaves' of Sarai-ya Goyou make this a multifaceted story of tentative friendship and self-discovery, hidden behind a smoky curtain of kidnapping, robbery, and intimidation. The atmosphere of this anime is indescribable, tense yet slow without being dull, light-hearted and hopeful without being cheesy, funny without being comedic and serious without taking itself too seriously. All of the components here - art design, plot, character, voice acting, editing and music (unexpected in its genre and styling; the opening and endings are both light dance-pop, while the instrumental background tracks are sharp, almost Italian-sounding strings) - come together to create an experience of period Edo that is rarely explored. I found myself both intensely satisfied by the short 13 episode season, and hungry to dive into the manga to find out more about the characters, city, and setting that I experienced here.

The art style is reminiscent of Japanese woodblock printing which was famous in some French circles around the late 1800s (reproduced as lithography). In fact, some of the music hints on Parisian. This was a time period when Japonisme was really influencing the world of (graphic) art. What a great touch on a great anime.

Truly good. Really unique. The art style is just detailed enough and very balanced. Characters interact in interesting ways and the complex story is revealed with superb timing.