Nurarihyon no Mago

NURARIHYON NO MAGO

Also know in the west as "Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan" this Shounen JUMP manga has been adapted into an anime with a split title across two season, with the second title carrying the addition of "Rise of the Demon Capital".

OVERVIEW - Primarily a "Fighting" anime, the story follows the 12yr old 3/4th human Rikou Nura, grandson of Nurarihyon, lord of all the Yokai. The first season deals mostly with Rikou's human ties, his initial denial of his Yokai self, a literal split to begin with, and his eventual acceptance of his true nature, his role in the Nura Clan's future and his growing power and influence. The second season is pretty much all about the rise of an ancient threat, the strong link to his own family's past with this threat and Rikou's fight to become strong enough to sever the ties that span 400 years.

REVIEW -  To say this series has slick production would be an understatement. Highly stylised depictions of the various Yokai are everywhere, and not once does the animation slip, the 3D perspective effects are only noticable as 3D because you cant really hand-animate that way and almost all of the special effects from the Yokai's abilities are handled the same way. Its one of the first things you notice about the series, its that good. 

The story itself is somewhat odd in the first season, with a heavy focus on Rikou's human side and that life. There's a great deal of humour as he tries to keep his friends from finding out the truth about him, his home and Yokai in general, made harder by the fact that his circle of friends consist of a group known as the "pure cross paranormal detective corps" or variations of that theme (depending on the sub/dub's own interpretation of the term used in Japanese) lead by a fanatical rich-kid who comically never manages to see a Yokai, dispite the entire group being chased, attacked, kidnapped, cursed and almost killed by them on multiple occasions. 

As season one wraps and Rikou is shown to have accepted his dual heritage, role and nature, season two opens with an explination of why he felt the way he did, and the first appearance of his "Yokai" or "Night" self. It also sets up the fact that unlike most other Yokai, the Nura clan's leaders wish to live in harmony with humans, rather than killing/eating them, as this is a major point for the coming arcs. 

Season two deals with the rebirth of an ancient Yokai and the revival of her clan in Kyoto. It first shows the events of 400 years before, when Nurarihyon and the early Nura clan arrived in Kyoto, seeking prestige and power. The clash over a human woman that Nurarihyon fell in love with caused a shift in power away from the Kyoto clan and to the Nura clan, which is why Nurarihyon is refered to as the leader of all Yokai. It then covers Rikou's training in his true Yokai abilities, then the move into Kyoto, the secret link between the Nura clan and the Kyoto-based Omyoji (exercist/priests) clan, the Keikain and culminates in the decisive battle between the leader of the Kyoto clan, Rikou and the result of the "thousand year wish" of the Kyoto clan. Ending on somewhat of a cliff-hanger, the manga has gone further but the anime has yet to announce a third season.

My problem with this series is two fold, first is the massive personality change in the lead character Rikou. His "day" personality is this simple, passive normal kid trying to hide a big family secret, the "Night" personality however is arrogant, cocky, way too full of himself and seemingly uncaring about the concerns of his "Day" self. Even once they have "united" in the ending of the first season, this divergance carries on into the second season, which is almost exclusively all about the "Night" version. I find it hard to understand, empathise or care much at all about the "Night" Rikou, frankly he pisses me off with his "spoilt brat" attitude and air of entitlement. There are moments when he breaks that behaviour, but they are rare and far too few and far between. 

My second problem is the massive shift in series dynamic from the first to the second season, including changes in character personalities for inexplicable reasons. In the first season a lot of time and care is spent in developing the characters around the human "Day" Rikou, alluding at romance in places and dealing with a lot of the day-to-day issues of a middle-school kid. This is actually quite fun, and for me the better part of the anime, as the "Night" Rikou aspect is all about "fighting" (by which I mean postering, talking, trading threats and about 10 seconds of actual combat, most of which is single-picture pans) yet in the second season the school friends are strictly third-string characters who's inclusion seems only to be a "nod" to the first season. Add to that the change in character for Yuna, who in the first season was a shy, quiet girl with a "silent strength" and introspection who becomes little more than a shouty, one-dimensional story-tool to allow for the re-appearance of the 13th head of her family from 400 years ago. Also suffering from personality re-edits are Aotabo and Kurotabo, becoming almost comedic characters save for when they need to "fight", Karasu Tengu who moves from being a strong personality to an apologetic sounding board for Nurarihyon's exposition and Nurarihyon himself, though it could be argued that his change is due to letting Rikou take a more active role. 

On the plus side the series makes serious use of Japanese mythology, with almost every Yokai seen having at least a basis in actual myths, along with realistic use of their abilities. It makes use of a strong "Yakuza" element as well, with the bonding traditions of the "Clan" based on those ideas. its depiction of the scenery and especially the main house are lovingly and carefully done, bringing a real sense of prescense and reality to the often overlooked background, so neglected by many other animes. vibrant colours, exceptional use of CG in an almost seamless manner and amazingly unique effects really do make this a visually stunning and appealing anime.

I do however, have to take note here about the music. Not only is the opening/ending music (4 openers, 4 endings) nearly always completely unfitting to the anime, but the insert/score music is equally off. For the most part the score sounds like someone bought a CD of "worst crime tv series music from the late 70's/early 80's" and used pieces from that. Maybe they thought it was "cool" for a yakuza style but frankly its distracting, out of place and takes away a lot from the potential of the scenes its used in. The first opening theme "Fast Forward" has a light, airy pop-rock feel, more suited to a care-free "high school" drama, the second, "sunshine", is an attempt at an "R&B" style, full of auto-tune and way too upbeat for the show. The first ending theme "Sparky☆Start" is just an awful piece of music, full stop. bland, forgettable and lacking any kind of presence, power or emotion. the next ending theme, "Symphonic Dream" has a little more presence but is still very at odds with the show itself. The first opener for the second season, "Hoshi no Arika", is a song that tries too hard to be "cool", its off-timed drumming at the start and the forced "Anthemic" feeling chorus is at odds with the lack of feeling put into the actual performance, the second opener "The LOVE SONG" doesnt seem to be sure of what its trying to be, starting like a modern "R&B" song with tons of auto-tune then launching into a verse backed by that echo-y guitar style most famous for its use in the ending themes to the Mass Effect games, it chorus then slips into an orchestral, slow ballad type. The endings for the second season dont fare much better either, the first being "Orange Smile", a lame poppy piece with weak vocals and a theme so far removed from the anime they actually made the whole ending sequence completely unrelated to the anime, putting its characters into what appears to be a "happy smiley" shopping trip in a big city, the second, "Departure" is a female "rap" type song, lacking in emotion, power and relevance to the anime once again. 

Sadly, this in my opinion is due to two factors, the first being the result of opener/ending pieces in popular animes such as bleach or naruto becoming big-sellers, meaning popular animes series tend to end up with unfitting music sitting on either side of the story, and the second is because of companies like "Ponycanyon" who produce and sponser animes, who are also major record labels with artists to push. This seems to be why anime's change their opening/ending themes so often and why long running and/or popular animes end up with opening/ending sequences showing characters in completely different to the series/events for some reason. While its good that money can be brought in for the anime and the studio's to carry on the work, its a shame that the series are tarnished with poor, unfitting and unrelated music that takes away from the whole feel. 

As fighting series go, this is one of the better ones, stunning production, a reasonable plot and amazing visuals with unique, historical character design, let down by strange character changes, poor music and the lack of resolution across its two season.

SUMMARY -

Story -   The overal plot is quite interesting, a great idea but the odd changes that happen somehow inbetween the series make it feel like two different writers wrote each season. As a result character growth feels stunted in many cases, paused or over-written in others. As a vehicle for fight scenes however it serves its purpose well. Much more could be done with this. 6/10

Production -  Off the charts. some of the best 3D work I've seen outside of mecha animes. Fantastic locations, character work and effects, vibrant and colourful. Vocal work is of high quality too, expressing emotion and action with ease. Wonderful casting too, with Mamiko Noto's voice adding a degree of creepy to the second season villain that I honestly feel no other voice actress ever could. full marks 10/10

 Music - I've already discussed my distaste for the musical score and themes for this series, a real let down after such fantastic production in every other area. If they'd have used something more fitting to its very Japanese feel it would have worked much better than the "70's blacksplotation" cheese-fest that is present. 1/10

 Accessability - Fire up wikipedia for this one folks, as it has tons of specific historic, cultural and uniquely Japanese referances that us in the west would probably never get unless its explained to us. 1/10

Overall Impression -  A real "love/hate" piece for me, intriguing historic referances, culture by the bucketload, humour, superbly produced, a near-epic plot and wonderful characterisation in the first season are all points i really enjoy, but the awful music through out, the heavy emphasis on the "fighting" aspect in the second season, which has little actual fighting and more talking-while-facing-each-other, the unexplained changes in behaviour and character and the overbearing annoying arrogance of "Night" Rikou, so heavily prevailant in the second season really bring it down. Typical of most "fighting anime" there's also a great deal of "powering up/training" in which the hero vanishes, leaving his friends in a tight spot, only to appear at the last minute with a new technique that blows everyone away. Definately one to watch if you're at all interested in Japanese mythology and fighting anime. 7/10

 

Final Score - 25/50