Heike Monogatari ep 10: I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying!
I could probably write a master's thesis on this show, but two short little observations:
1) As I've said before, this story is about a society in transition between different eras. And it's always interesting to see how that ends up playing out in all of the little details of the show. One of the more stark ways this plays out is the combat attire. Early on, most of the Heike are decked out in very regal, mostly ceremonial armor that was indicative of a court official in the Heian Period. They even wear makeup to battle. None of this is irregular for the period, but it's a small detail that's visual coding that reinforces the themes here of these characters belonging to an old guard and not really being adept and adaptive enough to recognize the shifting of the times. A lot of the Genji Bushi wear armor that's a lot more visually recognizable as 'Samurai' armor to the uninitiated.
2) The title logo of the show in Japanese, the character for 'Heike' has one brush stroke that's off-color and blue versus the rest of the title. It's very obviously a reference to Biwa's heterochromia. That is kinda obvious though. What's a a little more subtle is that is that in the opening, every page of the credits also has one character that has the blue brush stroke. Also not that crazy, but it's cute. Usually it's the 'hei' character, but they pick others too. That's also not that crazy. But what I didn't notice before is that the Science Saru logo, one eye is also blue. No real deep meaning there but it's a fun easter egg.
I could probably write a master's thesis on this show, but two short little observations:
1) As I've said before, this story is about a society in transition between different eras. And it's always interesting to see how that ends up playing out in all of the little details of the show. One of the more stark ways this plays out is the combat attire. Early on, most of the Heike are decked out in very regal, mostly ceremonial armor that was indicative of a court official in the Heian Period. They even wear makeup to battle. None of this is irregular for the period, but it's a small detail that's visual coding that reinforces the themes here of these characters belonging to an old guard and not really being adept and adaptive enough to recognize the shifting of the times. A lot of the Genji Bushi wear armor that's a lot more visually recognizable as 'Samurai' armor to the uninitiated.
2) The title logo of the show in Japanese, the character for 'Heike' has one brush stroke that's off-color and blue versus the rest of the title. It's very obviously a reference to Biwa's heterochromia. That is kinda obvious though. What's a a little more subtle is that is that in the opening, every page of the credits also has one character that has the blue brush stroke. Also not that crazy, but it's cute. Usually it's the 'hei' character, but they pick others too. That's also not that crazy. But what I didn't notice before is that the Science Saru logo, one eye is also blue. No real deep meaning there but it's a fun easter egg.